Eliseo Salazar | |||||||
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Salazar in 1982
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Nationality | Chilean | ||||||
Born | Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela 14 November 1954 Santiago, Chile |
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Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series career | |||||||
Current team | TRG Motorsports | ||||||
Years active | 1998, 1999, 2012 | ||||||
Car no. | 64 | ||||||
Starts | 3 | ||||||
Wins | 0 | ||||||
Poles | 0 | ||||||
Previous series | |||||||
2004-2008 2003 1996-2002 1995-1996 1994-1997 1988-1990 1986-1987 1981-1983 1980 |
Rally Mobil American Le Mans Series Indy Racing League CART IndyCar World Series IMSA Exxon WSC Championship World Sportscar Championship International Formula 3000 Formula One World Championship British F1 Championship |
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Awards | |||||||
1999 1990 |
Scott Brayton Trophy Autosport Sportsman of the Year |
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Formula One World Championship career | |||||||
Active years | 1981–1983 | ||||||
Teams | March, Ensign, ATS, RAM | ||||||
Entries | 37 (24 starts) | ||||||
Championships | 0 | ||||||
Wins | 0 | ||||||
Podiums | 0 | ||||||
Career points | 3 | ||||||
Pole positions | 0 | ||||||
Fastest laps | 0 | ||||||
First entry | 1981 United States Grand Prix West | ||||||
Last entry | 1983 Belgian Grand Prix | ||||||
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 93rd (1997) | ||||||
First race | 1997 Parts America 150 (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
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Statistics current as of 1 February 2012. |
Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela (born 14 November 1954 in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean racing driver. He participated in 37 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix (debuting on 15 March 1981) scoring a total of three championship points. Salazar currently participates in the Chilean national rally championship.
After racing in the British F1 Championship in 1980 with a Williams FW07, and winning in Silverstone, he moved to Formula One in 1981, with March. He switched midseason to Ensign, and finished 6th in the Dutch Grand Prix. In 1982 he drove for ATS, and finished 5th in the San Marino Grand Prix, a race where only 7 teams entered due to the FISA-FOCA war. His most noted career moment in Formula One came when he collided with the overtaking race leader Nelson Piquet in the 1982 German Grand Prix. After both drivers got out of their stricken cars, the angry Piquet started to punch and kick Salazar. Salazar did not respond to the assault due to the friendship with the Brazilian driver, who helped him in his first European experiences as a driver. Months later Piquet apologised to Salazar over the phone, after being told by a BMW mechanic that the engine in his car was about to expire anyway, and that Salazar avoided BMW the embarrassment of an engine failure at their home race. (BMW officials were in attendance). In 1983 he entered six races with RAM Racing, but the car was very slow and he only managed to qualify twice. He finished 14th in Jacarepaguá and retired in Long Beach with gearbox failure.
After the Chilean economic crisis in the early years of the 80's, Salazar had to leave F1, and competed with little success at the Formula 3000 championship and the South American Formula Three Championship in some races. He began to race rally in Chile, becoming the champion of the 1985 hill-climbing season in Chile in a Toyota Corolla XT.