Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart, OBE[2] (born 11 June 1939 in Milton, West Dunbartonshire), better known as Jackie, and nicknamed The Flying Scot, is a Scottish former racing driver. He competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am. He is well-known in the United States as a color commentator of racing television broadcasts, and as a pitchman for Ford, where his Scottish accent made him a distinctive presence. Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team.

Jackie's early involvement with cars was in the family business, Dumbuck Garage, in Milton, where he worked as an apprentice mechanic. His family were Jaguar dealers and had built up a successful practice. Jackie's father had been an amateur[3] motorcycle racer, and Jackie's brother Jimmy was a racing driver with a growing local reputation. Jimmy drove for Ecurie Ecosse and competed in the 1953 British Grand Prix, until he went off at Copse Corner in the wet. It was only natural Jackie would soon become involved in motor racing.

After his brother was injured in a crash at Le Mans, the sport was discouraged by their parents and Jackie took up shooting. In skeet shooting Stewart made a name for himself, only just missing the team for the 1960 Summer Olympics. (He chose racing over it in 1964.)[3]

He took up an offer from Barry Filer, a customer of his family business, to test in a number of his cars at Oulton Park. For 1961, Filer provided a Marcos, in which Stewart scored four wins, and competed once in Filer's Aston DB4GT. In 1962, to decide if he was ready to turn pro, tested an E-type at Oulton Park, matching Roy Salvadori's times in a similar car the year before.[4] He won two races, his first in England, in the E-type, and David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse offered him a ride in the Tojeiro EE Mk2, then their Cooper T49, in which he won at Goodwood. For 1963, he earned fourteen wins, a second, and two thirds, with just six retirements.[4]

In 1964, he again signed with Ecurie Ecosse. More important, Ken Tyrrell, then running the Formula Junior team for the Cooper Car Company, heard of the young Scotsman from Goodwood's[4] track manager and called up Jimmy Stewart to see if his younger brother was interested in a tryout. Jackie came down for the test at Goodwood, taking over a new, and very competitive, Formula Three T72-BMC[4] Bruce McLaren was testing. Soon Stewart was besting McLaren's times, causing McLaren to return to the track for some quicker laps. Again, Stewart was quicker, and Tyrrell offered Stewart a spot on the team. This would be the beginning of a great partnership that would see them reach the pinnacle of the sport.