Jackie Ickx Honored by Road Racing Drivers Club at Long Beach Fete

• Road racing great Jackie Ickx was honored by fellow drivers and industry at the Road Racing Drivers Club ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

• Ickx won Le Mans a then-unprecedented six times, the first in one of the closest and most thrilling 24 hour races ever held, the 1969 Le Mans, above.

• The RRDC helps young up and coming drivers.

Jackie Ickx won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times, a record at the time unprecedented and which stood for a quarter century; he finished in second place twice in Formula 1 driving for Ferrari; and he won Paris Dakar back in the days when it was still run across the vast desert of North Africa. His racing resume is almost unparalleled, yet it was not so much his racing record that was celebrated last week at the Road Racing Drivers Club as his character.

“If I had my pick of co-drivers of anyone in the world, after my own son (Michael), I would pick Jackie,” said no less a luminary than Mario Andretti, who co-drove to victory with Ickx in four sports car races in his career.

“When Jackie agreed to come tonight, I have to tell you, I was thrilled,” said RRDC president Bobby Rahal. “Because as a kid, a teenager in the ‘60s, this guy was the guy. He was the man, and he was so young at the time. He is truly one of auto racing’s all-time great all-‘rounders. Welcome, Jackie, and thank you for traveling all this way from Europe to join us.”

The Road Racing Drivers Club is an elite group formed in 1952 to promote safety and give a voice to competitors in motorsport. On the Thursday before the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the RRDC hosted “An Evening with Jacky Ickx Presented by Firestone.” The sellout crowd of auto racing dignitaries, corporate executives, and champion race-car drivers had gathered, as they have 13 times now, to honor one of their own. Past honors have gone to Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Brian Redman, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, George Follmer, Emerson Fittipaldi, Johnny Rutherford, David Hobbs, and Rick Mears. So Ickx was in good company.

A short video written and voiced by NBC Sports TV commentator Leigh Diffey chronicled Ickx’s career, saying, “His six overall victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans stood as a beacon of greatness for a quarter of a century, a mark seemingly unachievable. Three of those wins came with his RRDC teammate Derek Bell. These two were like the Batman and Robin of sports-car racing.”

“Jackie made a great impression on my life,” said Bell. “I wouldn’t say that I’m in any way similar to what he was, but he certainly taught me a lot of things. It was like having a mentor to guide you and, I think, a lot of other drivers as well.”

For his part, Ickx was humbled by the accolades.

“First of all, I am touched, very touched. It is very emotional. But it’s even more emotional when you think that this honor is also honoring the people that make racing possible. They are part of it. Not only those who get the light [shining] on top of them.”

That was Ickx, always thanking others.

The annual Long Beach dinner was one facet of the RRDC. The group does much to help young, up-and-coming drivers. For instance, in 2011 RRDC launched a free online training seminar—SAFEisFAST.com—featuring RRDC members and other industry experts in videos covering subjects from physical and mental preparation to driving techniques, driver safety, to car setup and sponsorship. The videos are updated regularly. Each week, a professional from the world of motor racing answers readers’ questions on the site in a feature called “Ask a Pro.”

Ickx, meanwhile, has made a brilliant transition from winning race car driver to revered icon of the sport. If you’ve ever seen him at Rennsport Reunion or the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, or The Amelia, where he was honored only a couple years ago, you have noticed that he welcomes fans warmly no matter how many times he is asked to sign an autograph or pose for a selfie. As his fellow drivers have said, he is a man of tremendous character, and it was that, as much as anything else about him, that was celebrated in last week in Long Beach.

Have a favorite memory from Jackie Ickx’s racing career? Share it in the comments below.