Scott Tucker (racing driver)
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| Scott Tucker | |
|---|---|
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| Nationality |  American |
| Born | December 25, 1955 Kansas City, Missouri |
| 2012 Ferrari Challenge Rolex Sports Car Series American Le Mans Series Intercontinental Le Mans Cup |
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| Current team | Level 5 Motorsports |
| Former teams | Kolles Racing, Kelly Moss Motorsports, Hope Financial Racing |
| Wins | 58[citation needed] |
| Previous series | |
| Le Mans Series, KONI Challenge Series, IMSA Lites, GT3 Cup, SCCA | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
|---|---|
| Participating years | 2010 - |
| Teams | Kolles Level 5 Motorsports |
| Best finish | 10th (2011) |
| Class wins | 0 |
Scott Tucker (born December 25, 1955) is an American race driver. Tucker's early career involved private equity investing in several different fields including, real estate, hotels and restaurants, internet technology, financial services, energy and automotive. He began his racing career in 2006,[1] while maintaining the chairmanship for Westfund, a U.S.-based private equity firm.[2]
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[edit] Personal life
Tucker grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and attended Kansas State University studying business administration. In 1991 Tucker was convicted of felony mail fraud and making false statements to a bank and imprisoned for a year.[3] Tucker is currently involved with the private-equity firm Westfund[1] as well as the payday loan company AMG Services.[4] In 2006 Tucker began his interest in motorsports, first participating in the Ferrari Challenge series.
Tucker is married and has two daughters, and owns residences in Kansas City, Aspen, Colorado, and Las Vegas, Nevada.[5]
[edit] Racing career
[edit] Ferrari Challenge
In 2006, he completed a full season in the Ferrari Challenge. His first race in March at Homestead-Miami Speedway was his third event as a sports car driver. His best result was a fifth-place finish at Portland International Raceway in Oregon. He won third place in one of two North American races at the World Finals in Monza, Italy. In 2007, Tucker participated in his second full season in the Ferrari Challenge, claiming his first career win in May at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.
In 2008, Scott Tucker developed Level 5 Motorsports entering the Ferrari Challenge Series as a new team owner and driver. As driver of the new team, he won six of the 13 races entered, finishing second overall in the final drivers' standings. Tucker won both of the North American races at the World Finals in Mugello.[6] In addition, the same year, Tucker expanded his and Level 5 Motorsports racing circuit by entering the team in four Rolex Sports Car Series races in a Ferrari V8 Crawford GT with Ed Zabinski.[7] In 2009, Tucker won 10 races,[8] the most ever in Ferrari Challenge's history. His Boardwalk Ferrari team won the Dealer's Championship.[8]
With the development of Level 5 Motorsports, Scott Tucker as the team owner and management continued to compete in the Ferrari Challenge series from 2009 until present as time permits.
[edit] Rolex Sports Car Series
Scott Tucker began competing in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in a partial season during the year 2007 with a best finish of eighth position at Iowa Speedway.[9] In 2008 Scott Tucker debuted in the Rolex 24 at Daytona driving a TRG Grand-Am GT Porsche in the Rolex Series driving with Ed Zabinski, Jack Baldwin, Martin Ragginger and Claudio Burton finishing 28th in class due to an engine failure in the 20th hour of the event.
After the Rolex 24, Scott Tucker entered Level 5 Motorsports in 3 additional races with Ed Zabinski in the Rolex Series.[10] Tucker and Zabinski's top finish was eighth place at Iowa Speedway.[11] They also competed in the Rolex Sports Car Series races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec.
In 2009, he teamed up with French sports car drive Christophe Bouchut and earned a career best finish of third at Watkins Glen International.
Tucker drove both cars at Homestead-Miami Speedway, teaming up with Bouchut in the No. 55 car. In 2010, Tucker added to his team four-time Champ Car World Series champion Sébastien Bourdais and veteran drivers Richard Westbrook, Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Emmanuel Collard for the 48th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Fielding the No. 55 and No. 95 Daytona Prototypes, the team earned a podium finish in third overall and even led the race for eleven laps.[12][13]
Tucker and Level 5's progress through the race was part of a documentary entitled Daytona Dream.[14]
[edit] American Le Mans Series
Tucker competed in the American Le Mans Series in 2010 alongside his campaign in the Rolex Sports Car Series, this time entered in the spec racing Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC) class. As in Rolex, Tucker divides driving duties between both Level 5 cars. Tucker, along with Bouchut and new teammate Mark Wilkins, won the 12 Hours of Sebring in the LMPC category. The trio went on to win three further races during the season, at Laguna Seca, Miller, and Mid-Ohio. Tucker won the LMPC class championship and was named the American Le Mans Series Rookie of the Year.
Moving into the LMP2 category for 2011, Tucker and his Level 5 Motorsports obtained a new Lola-Honda prototypes. Tucker was part of the winning team in the 12 Hours of Sebring. Due to a lack of competitors in LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series, Level 5 concentrated on the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup rounds in Europe.
[edit] 24 Hours of Le Mans
Tucker and Level 5 teammate Christophe Bouchut were able to join the driver line-up of the German Kolles team for the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving one of two diesel-powered Audi R10 TDIs. The two, joined by Frenchman Manuel Rodrigues, failed to finish the race.
In 2011, Tucker scored his first career Le Mans podium result, combining with co-drivers Christophe Bouchut and João Barbosa in Level 5 Motorsports' Lola B11/80 Honda Coupe for a third place finish in LMP2. The result came in Level 5's debut race as an entrant in the race. [15]
[edit] SCCA
In 2006, Tucker entered his first sports car race in February, driving a Subaru at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. He switched to a Ferrari and earned his first career victory in his third SCCA race at Texas Motor Speedway near Dallas. After crashing in June at Heartland Park Topeka, he competed in four additional SCCA races, as well as three addition SCCA races in 2007.
In 2008, he competed in four SCCA events in a Ferrari 360 and set the track record in La Junta, Colorado for fastest lap in the Touring 1 Class.[16] In October, he placed third in the SCCA Runoffs in Topeka and teammate Zabinski finished first.[17] It was the first time in history that two Ferraris had finished in the top three of the SCCA National Championship.
In 2009, Tucker was the national title holder at the SCCA Runoffs Hawk Performance Touring 1 race[18] at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. He won the class again in 2011. Tucker won his first SCCA Trans-Am Series race (in the TA2 class) in August 2011 at Road America.[19]
[edit] 24 Hours of Le Mans results
| Year | Class | No | Tyres | Car | Team | Co-drivers | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | LMP1 | 14 | M | Audi R10 Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel) |
 Kolles Level 5 Motorsports |
 Manuel Rodrigues Christophe Bouchut |
182 | DNF | DNF |
| 2011 | LMP2 | 33 | M | Lola B08/80 HPD HR28TT 2.8L Turbo V6 |
Level 5 Motorsports |
Christophe Bouchut João Barbosa |
319 | 10th | 3rd |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Racing's One-in-a-Million Story The Wall Street Journal
- ^ ALMS: Scott Tucker’s Bucket List AUTO-RACING
- ^ David Heath (2011-09-28). "Race car driver Scott Tucker drew an elaborate facade around his payday loan businesses". iwatchnews.org. Center for Public Integrity. http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/28/6656/race-car-driver-scott-tucker-drew-elaborate-facade-around-his-payday-loan-businesses. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
- ^ David Heath (2011-09-26). "Payday lending bankrolls auto racer's fortune". iwatchnews.org. Center for Public Integrity. http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/26/6605/payday-lending-bankrolls-auto-racers-fortune. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
- ^ Armen Keteyian (2011-09-26). "How "payday" lenders pull off crippling rates". cbsnews.com. CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/26/eveningnews/main20111913.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.1. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
- ^ "Matos Joins Potent Supercar Life Level 5 Motorsports Lineup". Grand-am.com. 2009-01-15. http://www.grand-am.com/news/index.cfm?series=r&cid=20362. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ "Scott Tucker News". News.speedtv.com. http://news.speedtv.com/topic/Scott_Tucker. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ a b http://www.zoominfo.com/search#search/profile/person?personId=1276845443&targetid=profile
- ^ "First Race For Level 5 Ferrari V-8 Crawford GT a Success". Grand-am.com. 2008-04-04. http://www.grand-am.com/news/index.cfm?series=r&cid=15856. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ "Scott Tucker Bio". http://www.grand-am.com/drivers/driver.cfm?series=r&did=2125.
- ^ "Iowa Speedway Results". Grand-am.com. 2007-07-14. http://www.grand-am.com/schedule/results.cfm?series=r&eid=47&sid=32. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ Results GRAND-AM
- ^ "Westbrook drives to Podium finish in Rolex Daytona 24hrs - Richard Westbrook". Richardwestbrook.co.uk. 2010-02-19. http://www.richardwestbrook.co.uk/news/2010/02/19/westbrook-drives-to-podium-finish-in-rolex-daytona-24hrs-prototype-debut/. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ "Daytona Dream". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1744587/.
- ^ "AUTO RACING - LE MANS: Audi Wins Le Mans Thriller". Auto-racing.speedtv.com. 2011-06-12. http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-audi-wins-le-mans-thriller/. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ "Continental Divide Region SCCA - LAJ Track Records". Scca-cdr.org. 2010-06-21. http://www.scca-cdr.org/Race/LAJ.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ http://www.scca.com/popup/raceresult.aspx?event=12416&file=519[dead link]
- ^ "AUTO RACING - SCCA: 2009 Runoffs Ends In Style". Auto-racing.speedtv.com. 2009-09-28. http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/scca-2009-runoffs-ends-in-style/P2/. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ Ebben Captures Hometown Trans-Am Series Win at Road America, SCCA Trans Am Series, August 20, 2011, Retrieved 2011-08-24
[edit] External links
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