When Jacky Ickx was born in Brussels on January 1, 1945, a key event of World War II was unfolding in his native land of Belgium: the Battle of the Ardennes. It began on December 16, 1944 with a German offensive that was eventually thwarted on January 25, 1945 after a month of combat in severely cold conditions.

His father, Jacques Ickx, was a renowned Belgian sports and automobile journalist with the daily publication Les Sports. One would have thought Jacky's driving career would have come about quite naturally given his dad's day-to-day environment, but that was not the case.

Jacky Ickx: "To make my debut in moto racing, I first had to cause my parents great concern in terms of my studies. I was near the radiator and the window [in class]. I was hot in the winter but in the summer I could watch the little birds from the open window. I didn't bother my friends nor the teachers. It explains my parents' worry because my marks were not what they hoped they'd be. My parents had to think outside the box to find ways to motivate me, so they offered me gifts to get me to work harder in class. The worse I performed, the more fantastic my presents became, especially the motorcycle. I started to do amateur competitions, and that moto helped me quickly learn the joy of finishing on the podium. In moto racing I did trial, enduro, speed, in 50 cm3. At the time, motorsports was a true apprenticeship in the sense that you did not advance to a higher class if you hadn't done well in the previous one."

Jacky Ickx made haste climbing the ranks. After becoming the Trial 50 cm3 European Champion, he moved on to racing cars in the mid-1960s. In 1966, as he was competing in Formula 2, he discovered the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"In 1966, I was 21 years old. I had done two races in the U.S. where I met a man named Skip Scott. He was running Ford GT40s at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and recruited me for his team Essex Wire. I was racing a great deal in those days, everyone could drive what they wanted in the class they wanted."

But, in 1966 the two Ford GT40s the Essex Wire Corporation had entered were forced to retire. Fourteenth on the starting grid, Jacky Ickx and his German teammate Jochen Neerpasch threw in the towel during the 11th hour as the result of engine trouble, as did Skip Scott and Peter Revson four hours later.

So began the journey that united the Belgian champion and Le Mans for nearly two decades. It's a fascinating story punctuated by many achievements...to be continued in the next installments of this interview series.