Mike Groff

Mike Groff
Nationality	American
Born	November 16, 1961 (1961-11-16) Van Nuys, California
Retired	1999
Related to	Robbie Groff
Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
Years active	1996-1998
Teams	A. J. Foyt Enterprises Walker Racing Byrd-Cunningham Racing
Starts	12
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	6th in 1996

Mike Groff
CART Championship Car
Years active	1990-1994, 1996
Teams	Euromotorsport A. J. Foyt Enterprises Walker Racing Rahal-Hogan Racing
Starts	54
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	16th in 1991
Previous series
1986-1989 1985	American Racing Series American Formula Super Vee
Championship titles
1989	American Racing Series champion

Michael Dennis Groff (born November 16, 1961 in Van Nuys, California) is a former race car driver who competed in CART and the IRL IndyCar Series and was the 1989 Indy Lights champion. His younger brother Robbie was also a CART and IRL driver from 1994 to 1998.

Racing career

Formula Super Vee and Indy Lights

Groff made his professional debut in 1984 competing in the Valvoline/Robert Bosche Formula Super Vee series. He finished third in the series in 1985 and second in 1986. In 1986 he also made his American Racing Series debut (later re-named Indy Lights). Driving for a family team, he captured wins at the Milwaukee Mile and Road America and finished third in points. In 1987 he won at Nazareth Speedway and finished fifth in points. In 1988 he only competed in three Indy Lights races for three different teams, but finished second at Nazareth. In 1989 he competed full-time for Leading Edge Racing and captured four wins on his way to the championship.

CART Champ Car

Groff attempted to make his CART Champ Car debut in the 1990 Indianapolis 500 for Euromotorsport but failed to qualify. He made his debut three weeks later at the Detroit Grand Prix with the same team and completed the season with them. In 12 starts he had a best finish of seventh at Nazareth and finished 17th in points.

In 1991 Groff initially returned to Euromotorsport but switched to A. J. Foyt Enterprises for the final five races of the season. his best finish was eighth (three times) and he finished 16th in points. He also competed in his first Indianapolis 500.

Groff entered 1992 without a full-time ride. He qualified a second car for Walker Racing in the 1992 Indianapolis 500 but when regular driver Scott Goodyear failed to qualify, he replaced Groff. Groff made six starts that season for Euromotorsport (2 races), Walker (1 race), and Foyt (3 races) and finished 23rd in points.

In 1993 Groff joined Rahal-Hogan Racing for the 1993 Indianapolis 500 but the team could not get its bespoke Rahal-Hogan chassis up to speed and both Groff and team owner Bobby Rahal failed to qualify. Groff made six starts in 1993 for Rahal-Hogan with a best finish of ninth at Portland International Raceway. He finished 23rd in points.

1994 saw Groff return to Rahal-Hogan full-time. The team had since abandoned their bespoke chassis but were the first team to experiment with Honda's new CART engine package. The team struggled with the package throughout the season and had to purchase Ilmor-powered cars from Team Penske to make the 1994 Indianapolis 500. Despite a full-season with a well-funded team, Groff only finished 20th in points. Rahal managed a slightly more respectable tenth.

In 1995 Groff's only on-track activity was practice laps for the 1995 Indianapolis 500 with Chip Ganassi Racing, but he did not make an attempt to qualify.

IRL IndyCar

In 1996 Groff joined the new IRL IndyCar Series with Foyt Enterprises. Groff finished sixth in the series' first race and third at the second race at Phoenix International Raceway. He then was hired by Walker to race in the CART race at Nazareth where he finished 14th and qualified 11th for the 1996 Indy 500 but was sidelined by a fire after 122 laps, also driving for Walker (which was one of the few teams to participate in both CART and the IRL in 1996). Groff finished sixth in the 1996 IRL championship.

For the 1996-1997 Indy Racing League season Groff joined Byrd/Cunningham/McCormack Motorsports and captured 3 straight top-five finishes to start the season including a third at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a second at Walt Disney World Speedway (the first with the series new naturally aspirated cars). He finished 12th in the 1997 Indianapolis 500 and finished fourteenth in the championship. Groff returned to Byrd-Cunningham Racing in 1998. After finishes of 7th, 15th, and 15th to start the season, he was replaced at the Texas Motor Speedway race by John Paul, Jr.. He was out of a ride for the rest of the season.

Groff attempted to qualify for the 1999 Indianapolis 500 for Team Xtreme Racing but failed to make the field. It would be his last IndyCar appearance.

Racing record

American Open Wheel

(key)

CART results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1990	Euromotorsport	PHX	LBH	IND DNQ	MIL	DET Ret	POR Ret	CLE 9	MEA Ret	TOR 11	MIS 11	DEN 14	VAN Ret	MDO 10	ROA Ret	NAZ 7	LS 15		17th	17
1991	Euromotorsport	SRF 8	LBH Ret	PHX Ret	IND Ret	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR 11	CLE 10	MEA 11									16th	22
	Foyt										TOR 8	MIS	DEN DNS	VAN	MDO Ret	ROA 8	NAZ	LS Ret
1992	Walker	SRF	PHX	LBH	IND DNQ	DET DNS	POR						ROA Ret	VAN					25th	5
	Euromotorsport							MIL 14	NHA 13	TOR	MIS	CLE
	Foyt														MDO 15	NAZ Ret	LS 8
1993	Rahal	SRF	PHX	LBH	IND DNQ	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR 9	CLE	TOR	MIS	NHA 11	ROA Ret	VAN	MDO Ret	NAZ	LS		23rd	8
1994	Rahal	SRF 8	PHX 6	LBH Ret	IND Ret	MIL 19	DET Ret	POR 11	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	MDO Ret	NHA Ret	VAN 14	ROA Ret	NAZ 11	LS 15		20th	17
1996	Walker	MIA	RIO	SRF	LBH	NAZ 14	500	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MDO	ROA	VAN	LS		34th	0

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
1996	Foyt	WDW 6	PHX 3										6th	228
	Walker			INDY 20
1996-1997	Byrd-Cunningham	NHM 4	LVS 3	WDW 2	PHX 6	IND 12	TXS DNS	PPI	CLT 14	NH2 DNS	LV2		14th	169
1998	Byrd-Cunningham	WDW 7	PHX 15	INDY 15	TXS Rpl	NHM	DOV	CLT	PPI	ATL	TX2	LVS	30th	56
1999	TeamXtreme	WDW	PHX	INDY DNQ	TXS	PPI	ATL	DOV	PP2	LVS	TX2		NC	0

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Starter	Finish	Tean
1990	Lola	Cosworth	Failed to Qualify		Euromotorsport
1991	Lola	Cosworth	18th	24th	Euromotorsport
1992	Lola	Chevrolet	Raced by Scott Goodyear		Walker
1993	Rahal-Hogan	Chevrolet	No Attempt		Rahal
1994	Penske	Ilmor	31st	31st	Rahal
1995	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	Raced by Bryan Herta		Ganassi
1996	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	11th	20th	Walker
1997	G-Force	Infiniti	18th	12th	Byrd
1998	G-Force	Oldsmobile	32nd	15th	Byrd
1999	Dallara	Infiniti	Failed to Qualify		TeamXtreme

External links

• Driver Database Profile

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jon Beekhuis	American Racing Series Champion 1989	Succeeded by Paul Tracy