As a proud Scot and an Indianapolis 500 winner, it’s no surprise Jimmy Clark is my hero. My brother Marino—who races in the ALMS series—and I grew up in a house where we talked about Jimmy Clark and Jackie Stewart.

Jimmy died in April 1968, a little more than five years before I was born. Then, in 1993, Jackie invited me to a dinner commemorating the 25th anniversary of Jimmy’s passing. I met all of his old friends, mechanics and guys he raced against. That was when I got wondering, what is it about this guy? The stories they were telling...

He was an absolute tiger in a car, the best driver of his generation...maybe ever...and yet a very quiet, humble guy out of the car. The more I read about him and the more I talked with people, the more his exploits in race cars fired my passion. And yet I think it is as much the guy he was outside the car that is the reason he’s my hero.