February 11: Today in Racing

Emerson Fittipaldi proves significant in this day in racing history, driving his Lotus to beat Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell), Denny Hulme (McLaren) and the Ferrari duo of  Arturo Merzaro and Jacky Ickx to win his home Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos in 1973. 

Thirty years later, the by then two-time F1 world champion announced his return to the Champ Car series as a team owner with initial reports suggesting he would race in the series, but he later recruited Tiago Monteiro to drive.

In another bizarre Formula 1 story, Champ Car driver Mario Dominguez enjoyed the shortest F1 career in history by completing just one lap of testing for Jordan at a 2005 Silverstone test. Regular drivers Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan had taken up most of the running time and closing fog put paid to Dominguez' afternoon as it grounded the prerequisite medical helicopter.

In other race action down the years, Dan Gurney (Lotus-Climax) won the 1962 Daytona World Sportscar Championship 3 Hour  while Jim Clark drove his Lotus 49-Ford to victory in round 5 of the '69 Tasman series at Surfers Paradise in Australia amid confusion around badges on driver’s overalls while local sanctioning body CAMS still banned advertising at the time.

It was a tragic day in NASCAR history when veteran Neil Bonnett died after an accident in practice for the 1994 Daytona 500. (Photo: Motorsport Images)