Alex Dias Ribeiro - Former F1 pilot

Serene and quiet outside the car, Alex was a hurricane on the steering wheel, or the terror of Formula 3, as they wanted the English press '70s. Although not world champion, nor has beaten all records, nor was the youngest, fastest or the most successful pilot of Formula I, Alex became known the world over for description CHRIST SAVES, he always carried in their cars, and the witness of Christian life that has always accompanied this message.

"I canceled the order from Mercedes sport, I returned to Brazil and bought a second hand Fiat ... " says Alex the end of his racing career in the charming circus of Formula I and the beginning of his career behind the wheel of Athletes for Christ.

"I came out strong accelerating curve 3 of the Watkins Glen circuit in the United States . Stretched the third Copersucar the F - 5 to the engine screaming in terror the mark of 9,800 spins and shoved a fourth . Upon quick draw foot clutch , felt back the jolt of the old 500 horsepower Cosworth , accompanied by something very strange : the steering wheel in my left hand column and all!

I was over 200 miles per hour! An instinctive attitude, pushed the wheel back and by some miracle managed to fit it on the shaft of the steering box. Slowly returned to the box , knowing he was going through the last few feet of a road that led me to many places , many emotions , many troubles , but most of all for years allowed me to do what I enjoyed doing most in life: driving a race car " walk down " and announce to the world that Christ saves . I walked slowly into the pits , cranked up the brakes and the wheels of my car stopped spinning last. It was the end of Alex Dias Ribeiro in Formula 1 and CHRIST SAVED by tracks in the world . It was the end of a dream and an ideal , was the death of a vision .

When I put my foot down boxes of Watkins Glen came down from Copersucar that morning , was standing on a very different from what was desired for my life and my career reality : I wanted to be world champion was abandoning my world not as a champion but as a loser . The bitter feeling that morning chased me for a few years : - What a waste of time ! - Twelve years going in circles not to give anything! - Soon I , who always took the name of Christ to the four corners of the world ! - What cardboard, what a shame, what a waste , so much work , so much trouble and now the END !

Unemployed , I canceled the order from Mercedes 500SLC he was entitled as a pilot of Formula I put my guitar in a bag , went back to Brazil and bought a second hand Fiat ...

Get real and change the organization and English competence by Brazilian bureaucracy was one hell cultural countershock . Stay up and still have to fight for a credential to watch the Brazil GP gave me a bad mood that could only be neutralized with the immense power of God in whom I have always trusted shaking. It was he who held my emotional shuttlecock in the darkest moment of my existence. After returning from Europe , my first job was a buyer and Eldorado PR , a Fiat resale in Brasilia .

Later that year , 1981 , I launched the book " More than conquerors " , telling the many stories that happened to me on the slopes. Then I bought a farm in northern Goiás and planted 50,000 feet jojoba . I worked three years done a convict and lived Indiana Jones type adventures . In his spare time , enjoyed my 25 - Bois cold doing horse -walkers on a tractor MF 65X called Agrippinus , or descended to the bottom of a well 25 feet deep to install a hydraulic pump , or told stories about racing and spoke of God cliques in the interior that had no shepherd.

THERE FAITH ...
The good performance ... the group from São Paulo , together with the great experience that could accumulate speaking of Christ at high speeds , in the previous 17 years have earned me an invitation to take over as CEO of Athletes for Christ in March 1986. After much thought and prayer , I decided to make the "madness " to abandon all my profitable activities and assume full-time material and spiritual administration Athletes of Christ . It was necessary a good deal of faith to change all the twenty -five dollars a month (30 % of the minimum wage) Athletes of Christ could pay me by way of salary. My initial plan was to spend three months of my job in assembling an infrastructure for the organization and then look for a job that would allow me to combine the two activities . Eight years later I still dedicating myself totally Athletes of Christ . Many athletes had an encounter with Christ . They meet weekly in eighty groups throughout Brazil and the world. In 1988 , the Athletes of Christ organization was considered one of the most efficient of its kind in the world by MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL COALITION OF SPORTS . Invitations for me to participate in the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and World Cup 1990 in Italy as chaplain of international contacts with Christian leaders from around the world arose . Invitations to lecture on sports and faith in the four corners of the world have not stopped coming, and eventually turning into a full-time missionary .
FLASH BACK...
Many years later ... heard the testimony of a goalkeeper in Portugal , come to find out that crazy guy ( me) who walked in the 70s driving a race car at over 300 miles per hour along the tracks around the world drew the attention of Collier Athletic goalkeeper , João Leite, who had met Christ recently. What intrigued the young goalkeeper was the fact that pilot always bring in their cars , helmets and overalls slogan CHRIST SAVED . In the euphoria of their honeymoon honeymoon with God , the joy of first love of every human being who meets Christ the keeper bought the idea and appeared on the field in his shirt a sporting CHRIST SAVES would have gone unnoticed to many , if he was not goalkeeper of the Brazilian team of 79 , 80 and 81 . The issue soon gained the headlines of major newspapers and magazines around the country, not because journalists are so interested in Christianity , but by the "newness " represented in terms of curiosity : this had never happened in football ! After the initial euphoria , it would fall into the routine. But as every action causes an equal reaction in the opposite direction , the 'brother' keeper returned to the headlines . Because of the controversy generated , the sports authorities forced him to withdraw CHRIST SAVES shirt , claiming that the legislation did not allow advertising on uniforms . Now , yes, it was the end of Christianity in football , " a game for men where there is no place for that sort of thing ! "
MAN MISSING...
A young midfielder who was rising as a great scorer, there by the side of Goiás, had an experience with Christ and turned his life without changing profession. He continued up the career ladder and got to wear the shirt of the Brazilian national team. One day he read in the newspaper about the response of the keeper CHRIST SAVES on shirt: "They took the name of Christ my shirt, but not removed him from my heart." When the two met had a lot to talk together and decided to raise the banner of Christ against all odds, the controversial Brazilian soccer world. Previously known by millions of fans as João Leite, goalkeeper of God, and Balthasar, the scorer of God.
WORTH IT...
Only then I realized the whole time I lived , since my encounter with Christ , in 1957 , the experience of love at first sight, when I attended my first race car at the inauguration of Brasilia . The racing bike, skateboard, slot car , shopping soapbox car , the debut track with a car built in a backyard . Evidence of Brazilian champion and first in the ranking of Brazilian pilots , the rise of Formula Ford to Formula I, always running the vacuum of Christ , none of this was in vain. Even though I had to eat " the bread kneaded the devil " in Formula I , the end of my career contributed in some way to the top Athletes of Christ . As a seed , dying on earth , in the form of plant germinates and bears much fruit . But Athletes of Christ was not born in the hearts of men and , yes , in the heart of God . It was God himself who sent people like Eddie Wazer , Abraham Smith and George Foster to encourage Leite and Balthasar . Along with many other pioneers they founded this movement called ATHLETES OF CHRIST IN BRAZIL . Today we are over three thousand registered athletes in diverse forms , bringing the message of Christ through sports .
IMPRINT:
Full name: Alex Dias Ribeiro Place and date of birth: Belo Horizonte (MG), on 07/11/48 Marital Status: Married Wife: Barbara Brook Hills Children: Carolina and Daniel Church: Batista do Morumbi Favorite Book: The Bible and "The pursuit of character," Charles Swindoll. Hero: Apostle Paul