Scott Speed

Scott Andrew Speed
Born	January 24, 1983 (1983-01-24) Manteca, California
Achievements	2004 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup champion 2004 Formula Renault 2000 Germany champion
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
89 races run over 4 years
Car no., team	No. 95 (Leavine Family Racing)
2011 position	68th
Best finish	30th - 2010
First race	2008 TUMS QuikPak 500 (Martinsville)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
18 races run over 2 years
Car no., team	No. 47 (Key Motorsports)
2011 position	59th
Best finish	34th - 2009
First race	2009 Sam's Town 300 (Las Vegas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 9 1
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
16 races run over 1 years
Best finish	21st - 2008
First race	2008 American Commercial Lines 200 (Atlanta)
Last race	2008 Ford 200 (Homestead)
First win	2008 AAA Insurance 200 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 9 1
Statistics current as of December 21, 2011.

Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American (from United States of America) race car driver. Formerly a driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team, he made his Formula One race debut at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix; becoming the first American to race in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993. Speed has currently turned his career towards stock car racing; specifically NASCAR, where he has driven for Red Bull Racing and Whitney Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series. In 2012 he will be driving a limited schedule for Leavine Family Racing.

Personal life

Speed currently resides in Mt. Holly, NC, where he lives with his wife Amanda. On October 4, 2011, Scott and Amanda welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Juliet.

His brother Alex currently races karts in America and is a 3 time Stars of Karting champion and a 3 time SKUSA Supernationals winner.

Early years

Speed's career started at the age of 10 in karting, his stint there lasting from 1993 until 2001, winning the SKUSA Super Pro Title for JM Racing driving a Tony Kart Swedetech Honda in 2000 2 IKF Grand Nationals driving a 6 year old kart, and 3 IKF regional titles. He also won the 2002 Rock Island GP in 125cc Shifter Karts. He moved up to Formula series in 2001, competing in US Formula Russell and becoming champion. He drove in both the US Barber Formula Dodge and US Star Mazda Series followed in 2002, although he failed to win either title, and in 2003 the American drove for the ADR team in British Formula Three after winning the Red Bull Driver Search programme. During that year he fell ill with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and was forced to return to the United States for treatment.

2004 saw two championship titles for Speed, though, with him first winning in Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and later German Formula Renault. This was despite his worsening colitis,. His performances resulted in a drive in the inaugural season of GP2 Series for 2005, as number two for the iSport team to Can Artam. Speed was later promoted to first driver for the team, and ended the season third place in the driver championship standings behind Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen.

At the end of 2005, Speed drove the first three races of the new A1 Grand Prix series for A1 Team USA, achieving a best result of fourth in the Feature Race of the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Portugal, held at the Autódromo do Estoril.

Formula One

Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	2006–2007
Teams	Toro Rosso
Races	28
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
Last race	2007 European Grand Prix
2007 position	21st (0 pts)

Speed at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix

Speed driving for STR at the 2007 British Grand Prix

2005

Speed as Red Bull's third driver at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

In 2005 at the Canadian Grand Prix, Speed took part as a test driver for Red Bull Racing; becoming the first American driver to participate in a Formula One event since Michael Andretti's 1993 stint. He was also the test driver at the United States Grand Prix.

Following its purchase of Minardi, Red Bull Racing announced the creation of Scuderia Toro Rosso with Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi as its drivers in 2006 season.

2006

In his debut race at the Bahrain Grand Prix, he finished 13th. A week later at the Malaysian Grand Prix he retired after 41 laps due to a clutch failure.

After the Australian Grand Prix it looked as if he had scored his and Toro Rosso's first point. Later on however, he had 25 seconds added to his race time for overtaking under yellow flags, dropping him to 9th place and out of the points. He was also fined $5000 for using inappropriate language towards David Coulthard during a post-race stewards hearing.

He finished the San Marino Grand Prix in 15th place. A week later and after a decent run at the European Grand Prix he finished 11th. He retired from the Spanish Grand Prix with an engine failure and in his first Monaco Grand Prix he finished 13th.

He retired from the British Grand Prix on the opening lap with accident damage after coming together with Ralf Schumacher. Speed bounced back and ran rather well at the Canadian Grand Prix finishing 10th.

At the United States Grand Prix he qualified a career best 13th only to be taken out in a first-lap collision. In turn 2, McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya nudged his teammate Kimi Räikkönen into a spin. The Colombian then clouted Honda's Jenson Button whose front right tyre got caught by BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld who was launched into a spectacular triple barrel roll. Speed was caught up in the resulting melee. None of the drivers were injured. His teammate Liuzzi finished 8th, and scored the team's first World Championship point.

At the French Grand Prix he finished 10th, matching David Coulthard's pace throughout, after suffering from back pains and breathing problems, consequences from a Friday practice accident. After crashing during the first qualifying session for the German Grand Prix, Speed finished 12th in the race. At the Hungarian Grand Prix he finished 11th and 4 laps behind the leader in very wet and changeable conditions.

At the Turkish Grand Prix, Speed started in 18th and finished 13th, from 15 classified runners. At the next round, the Italian Grand Prix, Speed qualified 15th in Scuderia Toro Rosso's home race and made two places to finish 13th.

At the Chinese Grand Prix, Speed qualified in 11th place in wet conditions, but an equally wet race saw him slip back to 14th by the end. At the next round in Japan, Speed started the race in 19th. Suffering a power steering failure with five laps remaining, Speed was unable to finish. However, as he had completed over 90% of the race distance, he was still classified in 17th place.

Finally, at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, Speed finished 11th of the 17 cars classified after starting down in 17th.

After much speculation, Scuderia Toro Rosso confirmed on 24 February 2007 that Speed had signed to continue driving for the team in the 2007 Formula One season. He would once again team up with Vitantonio Liuzzi.

2007

Speed's 2007 season was largely disappointing, punctuated with poor reliability and several crashes. He had two separate collisions with Alexander Wurz at Silverstone and at Canada which put him out of the race. He then spun off in the wet at the European Grand Prix, in what would be his last race for the team. After the race, it was reported that he was involved in a physical altercation with team principal Franz Tost, although Tost has since denied this. Speed also went on a verbal offensive against the team, claiming that they wanted to get rid of both him and Liuzzi. Speed's future with Toro Rosso remained very much in doubt for the rest of that season. The doubts were seemingly calmed after continued testing for the team. From the pre-season through to the Nurburgring, he and the team had endured constant speculation over the status of his tenure in the no. 19 car.

However, it was finally announced before the Hungarian Grand Prix that he had been replaced by BMW third driver, Sebastian Vettel. Perhaps the only shining light in Speed's season was a fighting 9th place at Monaco from 18th on the grid, just missing out on a championship point but finishing just ahead of the Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

On 31 July 2007 Speed was released from his contract at Scuderia Toro Rosso and replaced by BMW Sauber test driver Sebastian Vettel, who was under contract to Red Bull's driver development programme. Vettel also raced for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2008 before moving on to the main Red Bull Racing team in 2009. Speed has said that no amount of money would get him to work with the Toro Rosso team bosses in the future. Nevertheless, Speed's relationship with Red Bull as a whole remains good, and he secured a Red Bull-backed drive in the U.S. for 2008.

ARCA/REMAX Series

Scott Speed pits the #2 Red Bull Toyota at Pocono Raceway, during 2008 Pocono 200.

In preparation for his impending NASCAR career, Speed entered into the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) series in selected races in 2007, and a full season in 2008. Driving the Red Bull-sponsored Toyota for Eddie Sharp Racing, Speed finished 5th in ARCA RE/MAX Series points in 2008. Speed, along with car owner Sharp, earned the Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge title in 2008. In 22 career starts since 2007, Speed has 10 top-5 finishes and 18 top-10s including 4 wins at Kansas Speedway '08, Kentucky Speedway '08, Berlin Raceway '08 and Nashville Superspeedway '08. Speed was a championship contender in the 2008 season, however the season ended in controversy, and without a championship for Speed and Eddie Sharp Racing.

Controversy

During the finale of the 2008 ARCA season, Speed and fellow competitor and championship contender, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., were battling for position. Stenhouse hit the rear of Speed's car, sending him into the wall, effectively ending Speed's chances of a good finish, and possibly a Championship. After visiting the pits for repairs, Speed's car was well off the pace, and was lapped within 2 laps of the restart. As Stenhouse came by to lap Speed, Speed accelerated and slammed his car into Stenhouse, sending both cars into the wall. Neither driver was injured, however ARCA officials parked Speed for the day, which ended his chances for a championship. Speed was widely criticized by his fellow competitors, fans and media, as well as NASCAR drivers, for taking dangerous actions on the track in retaliation.^{[citation needed]}

NASCAR

Speed made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 7, 2008 driving for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports #46 Chevy with Red Bull sponsorship. He recorded his first career Top 10 finish in NASCAR in just his second race, when he finished tenth at Martinsville Speedway. On April 25, 2008 he won his first ARCA race at Kansas Speedway in just his fourth start. On April 26, 2008; Speed recorded a back-to-back top ten finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kansas Speedway by finishing in eighth place in the #22 Red Bull Toyota for Bill Davis Racing, and won his first career race the following week at Dover. Two races after his first win, Scott scored another top five at Michigan International Speedway. On July 18, 2008 Speed won his second ARCA race at Kentucky Speedway. On Sunday October 19, 2008, Scott Speed started his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Martinsville Speedway finishing in 30th place. He finished the season in the #84 Red Bull Toyota Camry for the Red Bull Racing Team.

For the 2009 Sprint Cup season, Speed's car was renumbered to #82. He was eligible to race in the 31st Annual Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, as his car was one of the top 6 Toyotas in points.

He began his quest for rookie of the year in 2009. He won his first ever Rookie of the Race honors at the prestigious Daytona 500.

Scott Speed won the pole for the Sam's Town 300 in his Nationwide Series debut on February 28, 2009; he also broke the track record with a speed of 182.451 mph and a lap time of 29.597. Unfortunately, he collided with Kyle Busch early on and finished 40th.

After failing to qualify for Darlington and Sonoma, Speed competed in Joe Nemechek's #87 Toyota. He failed to qualify for the April Texas race.

Red Bull Racing's #82 finished 36th in the 2009 owner's points standings, missing a guaranteed entry into the first five races of 2010 by one position. Speed did successfully attempt the 2010 Daytona 500. He led several laps late in the race after not going to pits with about 19 laps to go. The next week at Auto Club Speedway, during a rain caution, Scott did not pit and it appeared that the Sprint Cup Series was going to have another first-time winner, but Speed ran out of gas. Scott was in the top 12 after the Food City 500 which guaranteed him a spot in the top 35. During the Michigan race in June, he was angry with his temporary teammate Casey Mears. When they were running 34th and 35th respectively, Casey collided with Scott and he spun out, causing a caution. Scott's temper flared and Casey was replaced by Reed Sorenson for most of the remainder of the season. On November 26, 2010, Speed was released from his contract at Red Bull Racing to make room for the returning Brian Vickers who underwent heart surgery in June 2010. Speed's best finish with Red Bull Racing was fifth at Talladega on April 26, 2009.

Speed was without a ride for most of the 2011 season; he drove for Whitney Motorsports for a number of races at the end of the year. In 2012, he plans to run a limited schedule for Leavine Family Racing.

IndyCar

Speed attempted to qualify for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with Dragon Racing. However, he struggled to get the car up to speed and was replaced on the final day of qualifying by Patrick Carpentier, who promptly crashed the car in practice. Speed also turned down a chance to earn $5 million as part of a promotion at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for drivers not running the full Indycar season. Just hours after the crash that claimed the life of Dan Wheldon, Speed said it was too dangerous for Indy cars to run on oval tracks

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
2002	Formula Dodge National Championship	?	11	5	2	135	3rd
	Formula Mazda	Doublefield Racing	4	2	1	218	18th
2003	British Formula Three Championship	Alan Docking Racing	14	0	0	3	23rd
2004	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Motopark Academy	16	9	8	402	1st
	Formula Renault 2000 Germany	Motopark Academy	14	3	4	293	1st
	Asian Formula Renault Challenge	Shangsai FRD GT Tires Team	2	1	1	N/A*	NC*
2005	Formula One	Red Bull	Test driver
	GP2 Series	iSport International	23	1	0	67.5	3rd
2005–06	A1 Grand Prix	USA	6	0	0	23†	16th†
2006	Formula One	Toro Rosso	18	0	0	0	20th
2007	Formula One	Toro Rosso	10	0	0	0	21st
	ARCA RE/MAX Series	Eddie Sharp Racing	1	0	0	195	N/A
2008	ARCA RE/MAX Series	Eddie Sharp Racing	21	3	4	4925	3rd
	Craftsman Truck Series	Bill Davis Racing	10	1	1	1250	25th
	Sprint Cup Series	Red Bull Racing Team	5	0	0	366	55th
2009	Sprint Cup Series	Red Bull Racing Team/NEMCO Motorsports (2 races)	35	0	0	2690	35th
	Nationwide Series	Michael Waltrip Racing	13	0	0	1591	34th
	Rolex Sports Car Series	Chip Ganassi Racing	1	0	0	21	62nd
2010	Sprint Cup Series	Red Bull Racing Team	36	0	0	3178	30th
2011	Sprint Cup Series	Max Q Motorsports/Whitney Motorsports	13	0	0	0	68th
	Nationwide Series	Kevin Harvick Incorporated/Key Motorsports	5	0	0	53	59th

* Ineligible for points due to competing in less than 75% of the races in the championship.
† Includes points scored by other drivers for A1 Team USA.

Complete GP2 series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	DC	Points
2005	iSport International	SMR FEA 3	SMR SPR Ret	ESP FEA 2	ESP SPR 3	MON FEA 4	EUR FEA 16	EUR SPR 12	FRA FEA 15	FRA SPR 18	GBR FEA 4	GBR SPR 2	GER FEA 4	GER SPR 3	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 19	TUR FEA 5	TUR SPR 4	ITA FEA Ret	ITA SPR 15	BEL FEA 4	BEL SPR 4	BHR FEA Ret	BHR SPR 19	3rd	67.5

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2005	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull RB1	Cosworth TJ2005 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN TD	USA TD	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	BRA	JPN	CHN	-	-
2006	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR1	Cosworth TJ2006 3.0 V10 14 Series	BHR 13	MAL Ret	AUS 9	SMR 15	EUR 11	ESP Ret	MON 13	GBR Ret	CAN 10	USA Ret	FRA 10	GER 12	HUN 11	TUR 13	ITA 13	CHN 14	JPN 18†	BRA 11		20th	0
2007	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	AUS Ret	MAL 14	BHR Ret	ESP Ret	MON 9	CAN Ret	USA 13	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	EUR Ret	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA			21st	0

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2005–06	USA	GBR SPR 11	GBR FEA Ret	GER SPR Ret	GER FEA Ret	POR SPR 13	POR FEA 4	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	UAE SPR	UAE FEA	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	USA SPR	USA FEA	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	16th	23

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
2011	Dragon Racing	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY DNQ	TXS 1	TXS 2	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NWH	SNM	BAL	MOT	KTY	LSV	NC*	0*

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

* 2011 season in progress.

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2011	Dallara	Honda	DNQ		Dragon Racing

External links

• Official website
• Scott Speed at Racing Reference
• Profile and 2006 statistics

Sporting positions
Preceded by Esteban Guerrieri	Eurocup Formula Renault champion 2004	Succeeded by Kamui Kobayashi