Frits van Eerd: Who doesn't appreciate the little things, is not worthy of the Formula 1

One day, he made it into the Dutch top 40 with the carnival song “Wij doen het licht wel uit”. Additionally, he’s well known as the boss of the Jumbo supermarkets. However, what Frits van Eerd prefers most is climbing behind the steering wheel of his racing car. “Racing is my passion.”

Frits van Eerd started his career at Jumbo filling empty shelves in the store. Nowadays, the 43-year-old driver from Brabant is a very successful board president and he was the man behind the takeover of about three hundred supermarket from rivals Super de Boer for a reputed fee of €500.000.000. Van Eerd earned himself the title of CEO of the Year 2009 in the Dutch business world with this impressive feat.



From small to large
Starting small and simple and taking your time to develop into a force to be reckoned with. That also applies to Van Eerd’s biggest hobby: the car racing industry. “I started racing with an old Alfa back in 1990 with the HARC, the Historical Auto Racing Club. I really enjoyed driving around at the circuit without really knowing anything about the industry,” reveals the passionate Frits van Eerd. Along with his growing enthusiasm, his ambitions also grew. “I started racing Formula Renault in 1993 and I won my first championship title three years later. I then raced two seasons in Germany before making the switch to the rally sport. I managed to win the Dutch title in this category in 2006.”

New thrills
Van Eerd is always looking for new challenges and he started looking for pastures new after his national rally title. He found new thrills racing in a huge truck through the deserts of the illustrious Dakar Rally. But the man from Veghel also found a new kick on the asphalted circuits. “I’ve been racing in the Big Open Single Seaters since 2006.”