Jacques Villeneuve, Gilles Villeneuve’s brother and the uncle of the other Jacques Villeneuve, is no longer in the picture. Yet his busy life deserves to be remembered. And the induction into the American Snowmobile Hall of Fame is an honor that underlines the international career of the driver born on November 4, 1953 in Berthierville, and resident of Saint-Cuthbert.
Of course, when you have a brother who is a Formula 1 champion at Ferrari, the shadow is big. Yet his record of achievement is enviable and his career lasted 47 years. It began in 1969 when he was 16 years old, in Berthierville, the family’s birthplace. It ended at the Grand-Prix Ski-Doo de Valcourt in 2016. In between, he was the first to be crowned three times world champion in snowmobile oval racing at Eagle River, the temple of ice oval racing, in 1980, 1982 and 1986. He won the Valcourt Grand Prix three times in 1986, 2005 and 2006. He was twice Eastern Pro-Tour champion, in 2005 and 2006. At 53 years old, he was winning in front of 20 year olds, and at 63 years old, he was still in the race!
His relationship with Ski-Doo began in 1979 and lasted 39 years. In 1974, he joined his brother on the Alouette factory team to race on ovals. Like Gilles, he entered auto racing in 1976. He won the Rookie of the Year title in the Honda Civic championship, then the championship in 1977. Then in 1978, he made his single-seater debut in Formula Ford, finishing second in the Jim Russell series. Then it was the rookie title in Formula Atlantic. He won this championship two years in a row in 1980 and 1981.
The doors of Formula 1 were open to him, but he didn’t make it past the qualifying stage at the wheel of his Arrows in Montreal and at the US Grand Prix in Las Vegas. In 1982, the year of his brother’s death on the Zolder circuit, he switched to the American CanAm 2-litre championship. He took second place and won the title the following year, in 1983. From 1984 to 1986, he entered the CART Indycar series with the Canadian Tire racing team. He took the pole at Phoenix, setting a world speed record in the process. He was less fortunate at Indianapolis where he had to forfeit the race. At Elkart Lake, Wisconsin, he became the first Canadian to win a race in the championship in 1986. His racing career ended in 1993. He also won pole positions on circuits such as Mont-Tremblant and Trois-Rivières. He was often at the front of the pack and won a race in GP3R.
At the same time, he raced snowmobiles with the success he is known for. He was an efficient setter on the ice and he knew how to evolve with the modernization of the machines. In the early 70’s, the machines had leaf springs. Then the Formula 1 snowmobiles had double tracks. The 440 we still know arrived in the 2000s. It is not true that at the end of his reign, Jacques Villeneuve changed his ride every year. He maintained and tuned his car with a small team. His driving was as aggressive at the beginning as at the end of his career. This earned him a few warnings. Like in 2016, he received a reprimand for reckless driving, when he was instead blinded by a fog created by the tracks on the ice, called “fiume”. Mononc was not happy and had felt it was an injustice.
He also graced us with memorable run-offs, accompanied by multiple fractures. Pelvis, legs, hips, vertebrae, his bones remember.
In 2008, he suffered fractures to his pelvis and leg in a race in Wisconsin, which did not prevent him from winning the championship in 2009.
In 2010, he was thrown in the air and evacuated by helicopter from Valcourt. But he escaped from the hospital because the championship was within reach.
In 2013, he was feared for his life after a fender bender in Valcourt that left him with a punctured lung and more multiple fractures in one leg.
In 2014, he was diagnosed with cancer, but he fought it like the champion he still is today, and he got the better of the disease.
In 2015, he announced his retirement for the love of his wife Céline, but he still came to race in Valcourt in 2016. The sale of his snowmobile and workshop trailer marked the end of the competition. It was a Wisconsin collector, Brad Warning, who bought these pieces of history that will surely be displayed in a museum one day soon. Brad had long been known to the family, and had been a sponsor for Gilles Villeneuve in his early days.
Jacques wanted to continue the adventure by becoming the mentor and engine tuner of a promising young driver, Steven Marquis, whose driving and tenacity he appreciated. But the association did not materialize after a test drive in Valcourt in 2017.
Jacques Villeneuve made an appearance on the popular TV show Tout le Monde en Parle with Guy-A Lepage. He distinguished himself with his fast voice and his colourful racing vocabulary. A French guest opened her eyes wide as she could not understand anything of Jacques’ story because of the speed of his narration. The TV passage is still visible on Youtube and deserves to be watched to better understand the character.
My uncle is not the only Quebecer to have received the honors of the Snowmobile Hall of Fame. His brother Gilles was inducted, as well as Yvon Duhamel, also a famous motorcycle racer, Jacques Desrosiers (Yvon’s mechanic) or Gaston Ferland, who is the grandfather of Sabrina Blanchet. Marcel Fontaine, the creator of the SCM and Eastern Pro races, not to mention Joseph-Armand Bombardier, without whom all this would be less popular.
The Snowmobile Hall of Fame is located in Saint Germain, Minnesota. A museum dedicated to snowmobiling and its inductees can be visited on site.
Jacques Villeneuve was previously inducted into the Canadian Motosport Hall of Fame in 2001.
Like his brother, he knew that death could be waiting for him around the corner. For a long time, he braved it and was close to it. But today, his longevity and his retirement are his greatest victory against this perfidious reaper who took the life of his older brother in the middle of his youth.
