Alberto “Johnny” Cecotto (born 25 January 1956) is a Venezuelan former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer and auto racer.
He rose to prominence as a teenage prodigy in 1975 when he became the youngest motorcycle road racing world champion at the age of 19. Despite the auspicious beginning to his motorcycle racing career, he suffered numerous injuries and mechanical problems which curtailed his success in motorcycle Grand Prix racing. At the age of 24, Cecotto turned his attention to auto racing where he reached the pinnacle of the sport as a Formula One driver.
He later became a successful Touring Car racer. He is the last of a select group of competitors who competed at the highest level in motorcycle and auto racing which, includes John Surtees and Mike Hailwood among others. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Johnny Cecotto rose to prominence when he became the youngest motorcycle road racing world champion at the age of 19. He turned to car racing at the age of 24, reaching Formula One, and then went on to race touring cars. He retired from bike racing with twelve 500cc pole positions in twenty seven starts, which gave him one of the highest pole position per start ratios in motorbike GP history.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, his father was a motorcycle shop owner and former racer who had won the Venezuelan national championship. Johnny began motorcycle racing himself and at 17 became the 1973 Venezuelan road racing national champion, going on to win the national championship again in 1974 plus also becoming South American motorcycle road racing champion.
In 1975, he made a big impression at the prestigious Daytona 200, where, arriving as an unknown rookie on an unmodified Yamaha TZ700, he qualified on the front row. However, just before the race start, he was removed from the grid due to fluid leaking from the bike but after it was discovered to be water from his radiator the officials allowed him to re-enter the race. Obviously now starting in last place, he then passed half the field on the first lap, was running 18th by the fifth lap, on lap 10 was tenth, but towards the end of the race his bike began to overheat and he had to settle for third position In 1991, on the 50th anniversary of the race, the American Motorcyclist Association named his accomplishment as the top performance in the first 50 years of the race.
Following Daytona, Johhny travelled to Europe where he took a victory at the Imola 200 non-championship race and at France’s opening round of 1975’s World Championship, he won the 250cc and 350cc races in his first ever GP event. He went on to win three more races and beat seven-time champion, Giacomo Agostini, for the 350cc World Championship title and, aged 19, became the youngest-ever rider at the time to win a world championship.
In 1976, now with support from Yamaha’s works team, he returned to the Daytona 200 and took the victory after an epic race against Kenny Roberts. He then moved up to the 500cc class and there would be a second-place finish at the season-opening French GP but he stopped racing in this class to concentrate on defending his 350cc title, though lost to a Harley-Davidson racing Walter Villa.
In the following season, he was badly injured in an accident at the Austrian GP (in which a rider died) though came back from it to finish second in the Swedish GP, then took victories in Finland and Czechoslovakia plus won the 350cc Grand Prix at Czechoslovakia.
In 1978 he won the Imola 200 and the Dutch GP, along with four podium finishes, plus in the 750 World Championship he took three victories and three second-place finishes on his way to becoming champion. Unfortunately an injury at the Austrian GP in 1979 forced him to miss half the season though despite a disappointing time in 500cc racing he won five races in the 750 World Championship.
1980 saw him start with victory at Misano, then a win in 350cc at the French Grand Prix but he then decided to move into car racing.
He started in F2, racing a March 802 for Mike Earle Racing then did several races with Minardi, followed by a March 802 with Horag Hotz Racing. In 1981 he raced at Le Mans in a BMW M1 (with Philippe Alliot and Bernard Darniche) while the following season saw him with the March-BMW team in F2, winning races at Thruxton, Pau and Mantorp Park and he finished the season second to teammate Corrado Fabi. Following his performances, he was offered a seat in F1 with Theodore Racing in 1983 and there was a promising start when he finished sixth in his second race though he was forced to sit out the final two races.
Then came 1984 with Toleman (with Ayrton Senna) with a sixth place his best result, but during qualifying at the British GP, he broke both legs in an accident and this was the end of his F1 career. After recovering from his injuries, Johnny returned and competed in Touring Cars for Schnitzer, and his best result was second at the 1985 Spa 24 Hours with Dieter Quester and Markus Oestreich. He also finished second in a BMW 635CSi at Bathurst and he and co-driver Roberto Ravaglia received the ‘Rookie of the Year award.
In 1986 he joined the RAS Sport Volvo team in the Touring Car Championship and he (and Thomas Lindström) took wins at Hockenheim and Zolder, plus two second and two third place finishes. He also raced the Volvo 240T to a win in a Guia Race, held during the Macau GP, as well as winning in Japan (with Anders Olofsson).
He then competed in the World Touring Car Championship in a CibiEmme BMW M3 alongside Gianfranco Brancatelli and they won in the 500 km de Bourgogne at Dijon-Prenois and finished seventh at Bathurst (but as they were the first registered car to finish they were awarded first place points).
From 1988 to 1992, he competed in the DTM, finishing second in the 1990 season in a Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M3 while in 1989 he was the Italian Touring Car Champion. In endurance racing he won the 1990 24 Hours of Spa and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 1992. He won 1994’s German Super Tourenwagen Cup Championship for BMW, raced in the British Touring Car Championship in 1995 and in 1998 again won the German STC Championship. During this period there were two more races at Le Mans, the first in 1996 in a McLaren F1 GTR, finishing eighth with N.Piquet and D.Sullivan and in 1998 he co-drove a BMW V12 LM with P.Martini and J.Winklehock.
In 2001 and 2002, he raced an Irmscher Opel Omega and won the German V8Star Series Championship two years on the run.
Johnny worked as a Formula One sports commentator on Venezuelan television and his sons, Johnny Cecotto Jr. and Jonathan Cecotto became involved in racing.
Johnny Cecotto – Teddy Yip’s feast from the East – from 
