Born in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada, Villeneuve is the son of the famous Gilles Villeneuve who was killed during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Jacques is the winner of Formula One (1997) and CART (1995) world championships and the Indianapolis 500, being one of only three drivers to accomplish all three feats (the others being) Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi). He was most recently employed in Formula 1 by BMW Sauber as a race driver until mid way through the 2006 season, and is now pursuing a racing career outside F1, including entry into the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race.