#4 Eddie Cheever

Eddie Cheever had the longest career in F1 for all American drivers, spanning over a decade. Cheever had 132 starts in F1, ranking him first in all-time starts for American Drivers; he also had nine podiums, ranking him fifth all-time in podiums for American Drivers.

Cheever's road to F1 was unique compared to many other American drivers; Born in Phoenix in 1958, Cheever Moved to Italy as a child and was introduced to racing after his father took him to a race at Monza. Cheever began racing go-karts and eventually won the Italian and European Karting Champions in 1973. Cheever started in the European Formula Three championship in 1975, teaming up with fellow American Driver Danny Sullivan.

Cheever's talent was noticed by Ron Dennis, and began driving Formula Two for Project Four Racing during the 1976-1978 seasons. Cheever would have a very successful F2 career with ten podiums over those three seasons and also gave Project Four Racing their first win in 1977. Project Four eventually merged with Mclaren Formula One team, where Ron Dennis became the team boss. In 1977 Cheever was offered a test-driver contract with Ferrari; this was a dream for young Eddie, who grew up in Italy. However, Gilles Villeneuve would eventually replace him due to a broken hand from a sports car racing accident.

Cheever would get his first attempt on the F1 during the 1978 season with Theodore Racing but would fail to qualify for the Argentinian & Brazilian Grand Prix. Finally, however, Cheever would qualify for the South African Grand Prix with Hesketh Racing but would retire from the race with an oil leak.

In 1979 Cheever would run the entire F2 season with Osella having three wins and finishing fourth in the Driver's championship. With the success of the F2 season, Team Owner, Enzo Osella, would leap to the F1 grid for 1980. Unfortunately, the team would struggle during the 1980 season with reliability issues, and Cheever would only finish one race, finishing twelfth at the Italian Grand Prix.

Cheever would bounce around to a few F1 teams over the next few seasons, competing in the 1981 season with Tyrrell, having four top-five finishes. In 1982 Cheever would have his first podium, with Equipe Ligier finishing in third at The Belgian Grand Prix. Cheever would finish the season with three podiums and a best finish of second place at the Detroit Grand Prix and a third-place finish at the Caesar's Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas.

Cheever's best season in F1 would be the 1983 season with ELF-Renault, completing the season with four podiums, a best finish of second place at The Canadian Grand Prix, and finishing seventh in the Driver's Championship. However, Cheever would drive the 1984 & 1985 seasons with Benetton-Alfa Romeo struggling with reliability issues and only have one top five over those two seasons.

Cheever would end his F1 career driving for the USF&G Arrows team from 1987-1989. Cheever would have two top-five finishes during the 1987 season and one podium in 1988 at the Italian Grand Prix. However, the highlight of the 1989 season was a season-best third-place at The United States Grand Prix of Phoenix, the last time an American driver would stand on a podium at an American race.

1989 US Grand Prix of Phoenix (Prost-1st, Patrese-2nd, Cheever-3rd)

After his Formula 1 career, Cheever jumped to the American Indycar series, competing for over a decade and had over 150 race starts. Cheever had five wins in the CART/IRL Indycar series and a career highlight of winning the 1998 Indianapolis 500 as a driver and team owner. Cheever's son, Eddie Cheever III, also became a racing driver, competing in NASCAR, European F3 Championship, World Challenge, and even tested a Formula 1 car with Scuderia Ferrari in 2012.

#3 Dan Gurney

#5 Peter Revson