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Tomy Drissi

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Tomy Drissi
Drissi at Road America in 2016
NationalityAmerican
Born (1958-12-09) December 9, 1958 (age 65)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
American Le Mans Series career
Debut season2003
Current teamBAR1 Motorsports
Car number9PC
Starts26
Wins2
Fastest laps0
Previous series
1999–2005
2005–2006
2006–2010
2009–2010		Trans-Am Series
Rolex Sports Car Series
Speed World Challenge
Trans-Am Series
Championship titles
2009Trans-Am Series
Awards
1999Trans-Am Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
4 races run over 3 years
2015 position57th
Best finish50th (2013)
First race2012 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma)
Last race2014 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
11 races run over 6 years
Car no., teamNo. 14 (TriStar Motorsports)
2016 position64th
Best finish57th (2015)
First race2010 NAPA Auto Parts 200 (Montreal)
Last race2016 Road America 180 (Road America)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of August 27, 2016.

Tomy Drissi (/ˈdriːziː/ DREE-see; born December 9, 1958 in Hollywood, California) is an American stock and sports car racing driver, and an advertising executive in the movie industry. A long-time competitor in the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series, he was the series' 2009 Champion. Drissi currently competes in the American Le Mans Series for RSR Racing in the Prototype Challenge class; he also competes on a limited basis in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Xfinity Series as a road course ringer.

Career

Drissi first became involved in motorsports through his participation in illegal street racing, primarily on Mulholland Drive in Hollywood's Hollywood Hills, starting at the age of 16.[1][2] He began legitimate competition in 1993, when he became involved in vintage racing, primarily at Willow Springs Raceway.[2] Drissi's driving style proved "too aggressive" for the fragile vintage cars,[2] and he moved to standard, modern race cars, making his debut in professional racing in 1999. Competing in the SCCA Trans-Am Series, Drissi won Rookie of the Year in his initial season.[1][2] He would score his first win in the series the following year at the Long Beach Grand Prix.[2] Competing in the series both before and after its mid-2000s hiatus, he won the first championship of the revitalized series in 2009.[1]

Drissi also competed in the SCCA World Challenge series between 2006 and 2010; in 2003, he had begun competing in the sports cars of the American Le Mans Series,[2] where he would make his primary effort in racing outside of Trans-Am; he currently drives in the series for RSR Racing, competing in the Prototype Challenge class, co-driving an Oreca FLM09 with Bruno Junqueira and Roberto González.[3] As of 2012, he has scored two class wins during his career in the series,[3] both coming during the 2011 season at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and at the Baltimore Grand Prix.[4][5]

Drissi also competed in nine Rolex Sports Car Series events in 2005 and 2006, posting a best finish of ninth on the road course at Phoenix International Raceway in September 2005.[6]

NASCAR

Drissi at Montreal in 2010

In 2010, Drissi made his debut in stock car competition, driving the No. 82 Dodge Charger for MacDonald Motorsports in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, competing in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.[7] He finished 18th in the event; the following year he would drive in two races in the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 75 Ford for Rick Ware Racing at Watkins Glen International, where he finished 27th, and at Montreal, finishing 34th.[8] Drissi also competed in a single NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race in 2011 on the road course at Portland International Raceway, driving the No. 12 Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing;[9] he would finish 22nd in the event.[10]

Drissi drove the #26 car for Rick Ware Racing in the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series road course races at Road America, Watkins Glen, and Mid Ohio Sports Car Course with a best finish of 25th place. In 2016, Drissi joined TriStar Motorsports' #14 Arthritis Foundation Toyota, for the road races. On lap 17 of the Zippo 200 at the Glen, Drissi was injured during a 5-car pileup in the esses. It forced him to withdraw from the rest of the race as well as the following week's race at Mid-Ohio. Drissi recovered from the injury and returned to the #14 team weeks later at Road America where he finished 26th.

Sprint Cup Series

Drissi in his Xfinity Series car at Road America in 2015

In 2011, established as a "road course ringer",[11] Drissi was hired by Max Q Motorsports, which had entered into a partnership with Rick Ware Racing,[12] to drive the team's No. 37 Ford, sponsored by the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.[13] Drissi was not approved by NASCAR to compete in the event due to not having sufficient experience in the heavy Sprint Cup cars; Chris Cook substituted for Drissi, qualifying and driving the car in the event.[14][15]

Drissi returned to Infineon (now known as Sonoma) for the 2012 Toyota/Save Mart 350, being hired to drive the No. 10 Chevrolet, sponsored by Ice Age: Continental Drift, for Tommy Baldwin Racing.[8][16] Drissi returned to Sonoma in the 2013 Toyota/Save Mart 350 for NEMCO-Jay Robinson Racing, driving the No. 87 Toyota sponsored by The Wolverine,[17] and drove again for the team at Watkins Glen International with sponsorship promoting The Counselor.[18]

In 2014, Drissi returned to the Cup Series, running for Identity Ventures Racing in the No. 66 Toyota with sponsorship from Hercules.[19]

Trans-Am ban

During the race at Mid-Ohio on August 15, 2015 he started from pole position in a Tony Ave Racing machine, but lost a couple of places after battling with championship contender Amy Ruman coming out of "The Keyhole". Drissi drove aggressively towards the front, spinning out his teammate Paul Fix and was parked for 1 lap as punishment.

When the caution came out he passed some cars – which he got penalized for later on in the race – and drove next to Ruman and showed his unhappiness with her by touching her car a few times lightly. After serving his drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, Drissi waited for Ruman, who was leading the race at the moment, to drive just behind him and then he tried to block her from putting him a lap down. Coming out of "The Keyhole" Ruman made the pass and Drissi purposely crashed into her and both cars went back across the track taking out himself, Ruman and Doug Peterson, one of Drissi's teammates, who was running second at the time, causing the maximum suspension allowed by SCCA for Drissi, which is one full calendar year. Not only is he suspended for one full year, he is also disqualified from the race and therefore lost his points and prize money. Drissi appealed the penalty but the appeal was denied due to a baseless setting and the penalty was upheld.

Ruman said during a post-race interview, which aired on CBS Sports Network: "Tomy Drissi is the most unprofessional, unsportsmanlike, unimaginable, worst driver in what he calls a professional sport. What he did was unacceptable today, he trashed my car, he blacked us, we were winning the championship, this is the third year in a row he's hit me, he has a vendetta against me. He's unprofessional and it's unacceptable what happened here today."[20]

Personal life

Drissi is the owner of a Hollywood advertising agency that produces film displays for promoting upcoming films in cinemas.[2] He is married to Lacy Livingston Drissi.[1]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Xfinity Series

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References

  1. ^ a b c d "About Tomy Drissi". Tomy Drissi official website. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Adams, Bruce (July 27, 2003). "L.A. driver does his speeding legally now". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  3. ^ a b "Tomy Drissi". American Le Mans Series. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  4. ^ McCurdy, Rob (August 7, 2011). "Slick day at Mid-Ohio". Mansfield News Journal. Mansfield, OH. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  5. ^ "Kane, Al Masaood win American Le Mans Baltimore Grand Prix". Sports Car Illustrated. Treasure Island, FL. September 3, 2011. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  6. ^ "Tomy Drissi - NASCAR Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  7. ^ "News And Notes - NAPA Auto Parts 200 At Montreal". SPEED Channel. Fox Sports. August 24, 2010. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  8. ^ a b "Said, Drissi to drive at Sonoma". NASCAR.com. Turner Sports. July 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  9. ^ Resshaw, Kaye (July 21, 2011). "Chris Evans and Tomy Drissi heading to Portland with BMR". RacingWest. Thousand Oaks, CA. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  10. ^ "NASCAR-Pro West-Bi-Mart Salute to the Troops 125 Results". ESPN. July 24, 2011. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  11. ^ Pistone, Pete (June 23, 2011). "Road course ringers invade Sonoma". Eye on NASCAR. CBS Sports. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  12. ^ "Drissi joins RWR in alignment with Max Q Motorsport in Sprint Cup Series". Rick Ware Racing. June 21, 2011. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  13. ^ Shacklette, Buddy (June 25, 2011). "Hired guns on the road again for NASCAR". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  14. ^ Adamczyk, Jay. "#37 Team News and Links". Jayski.com. ESPN. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  15. ^ Pilgrim, Andy (June 28, 2011). "There were some drivers, believe it or not, who raced clean throughout..." Andy Pilgrim official website. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  16. ^ Coble, Don (June 19, 2012). "NASCAR notebook: Concerns grow as speeds top 200 mph barrier at Michigan". Athens Banner-Herald. Athens, GA. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  17. ^ DiZinno, Tony (2013-06-20). "NASCAR's Sonoma 2013 road course ringers, analyzed". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
  18. ^ "Tomy Drissi in NEMCO No. 87 at The Glen". Rotoworld. NBC Sports. August 8, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  19. ^ Bonkowski, Jerry (June 19, 2014). "Hercules' next battle will be against 42 NASCAR drivers". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  20. ^ "Tomy Drissi banned from Trans-Am for one full year". Motorsport.com. DeGroot, Nick. September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tomy Drissi.
Sporting positions
Preceded by SCCA Trans-Am Series Champion
2009 		Succeeded by
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