Ross Cheever. Source: https://www.oldracingcars.com/driver/Ross_Cheever
Team LeMans. Photo: Ihsan Khairir from Kota Damansara, Malaysia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lexus_Team_LeMans_ENEOS_SC_430.jpg)
A. J. Foyt Enterprises. Photo: Carey Akin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JeffSimmonsNo41.jpg)
Cheever Racing. Photo: nakashi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patrick_Carpentier_Red_Bull_83.jpg)
Team LeMans. Photo: Ihsan Khairir from Kota Damansara, Malaysia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lexus_Team_LeMans_ENEOS_SC_430.jpg)
A. J. Foyt Enterprises. Photo: Carey Akin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JeffSimmonsNo41.jpg)
Cheever Racing. Photo: nakashi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patrick_Carpentier_Red_Bull_83.jpg)
Ross Cheever was born on April 12, 1964, in Rome, Italy. He is the younger brother of Eddie Cheever, the former Formula One driver and 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner. Although born in Italy, Ross competed internationally under the United States flag and developed much of his professional career in Japan.
Cheever began his international career in British Formula 3, recording five victories during 1984 and 1985. He also competed in the Macau Grand Prix in 1984, 1985, and 1987. During the 1985 and 1986 New Zealand Formula Pacific seasons, he drove Ralt RT4 cars and won the New Zealand Grand Prix in both years.
In 1986, Cheever entered the American Racing Series with Brian Stewart Racing and made an unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the International Formula 3000 race at Brands Hatch with Eddie Jordan Racing. He moved the main focus of his career to Japan in 1987, winning the Japanese Formula 3 championship for Funaki Racing. He subsequently joined Dome, competing in Japanese Formula 3000 and in Toyota-powered sports-prototype racing. The Japanese Formula 3000 championship was a leading national single-seater series that developed from Japan's earlier Formula 2 competition and later became part of the lineage of Super Formula.
Cheever remained a prominent Japanese Formula 3000 competitor through 1994. Driving for Dome, Team LeMans, and Promise & Reynard, he finished second in the championship in 1989 and 1991 and third in 1992, 1993, and 1994. He recorded ten victories in the series, including seven at Suzuka from 1991 onward. In 1989, he also drove a Toyota prototype for Team Tom's in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing the car with Hitoshi Ogawa and Paolo Barilla; the entry retired with an engine failure.
In 1992, Cheever combined his Japanese Formula 3000 program with four CART starts for A. J. Foyt Enterprises. He finished eleventh at Portland and also entered races at Milwaukee, Cleveland, Road America, and Vancouver, where mechanical problems, an accident, and a practice crash limited his results. He returned to competition in 2000 as a test and backup driver for Cheever Racing during the team's transition to Infiniti engines in the Indy Racing League. He completed rookie orientation for a planned Indianapolis 500 entry but did not make a qualifying attempt. After his driving career, he worked as a driver coach at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and later left professional motorsport for real-estate work in California.
Cheever won the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1985 and 1986 while driving a Ralt RT4 in Formula Pacific competition.
He won the 1987 Japanese Formula 3 championship for Funaki Racing.
He recorded ten victories in the Japanese Formula 3000 championship and finished second in the final standings in 1989 and 1991.
He competed in the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Toyota prototype entered by Team Tom's.
He made four CART starts for A. J. Foyt Enterprises during the 1992 season.
Ross Cheever is the younger brother of Eddie Cheever, a former Formula One driver and Indianapolis 500 winner. Eddie later founded Cheever Racing, where Ross worked as a test and backup driver during the team's transition to Infiniti engines in 2000.
