Scott Speed

Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American race car driver. He was a driver for the Toro Rosso Formula One team. He made his first F1 race start at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix. He was the first American to race in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993. In 2008, Speed started racing in NASCAR. For 2009 and 2001, he drove the Red Bull Toyota Camry full time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Speed attempted to qualify for the 2011 Indianapolis 500, but did not make the race.

Scott Speed
Born	(1983-01-24) January 24, 1983 Manteca, California
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career
76 races run over 3 years
2010 position	30th
Best finish	30th - 2010
First race	2008 TUMS QuikPak 500 (Martinsville)
Last race	2010 Ford 400 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 3
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series career
16 races run over 1 year
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)
Last win	2008 AAA Insurance 200 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 9 1

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

Early years

Speed started kart racing at the age of 10. He moved up to Formula series in 2001. He was a champion in US Formula Russell. He drove in both the US Barber Formula Dodge and US Star Mazda Series. Speed won the 'Red Bull Driver Search' program. In 2003 he drove for the ADR team in British Formula Three. During that year he fell ill with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease. He returned to the United States for treatment.

2004 saw two championship titles for Speed. He won the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and later German Formula Renault. This was despite his worsening colitis. This performance earned him a drive in the first season of GP2 Series for 2005. He 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.

Formula One

Speed at the 2006 Canadian 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 for the United States Grand Prix.

After the purchase of Minardi, Red Bull Racing announced the team would become Scuderia Toro Rosso. Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi would be the drivers for the 2006 season.

In 2006, Speed's first race was the Bahrain Grand Prix. His best finish of the season was a ninth place at the Australian Grand Prix. He would have finished Australia in the points, but had 25 seconds added to his race time for overtaking under yellow flags. At the United States Grand Prix he qualified a career best 13th. He was taken out of the race in a first-lap collision.

Scott Speed's 2007 season was disappointing. He had equipment breakdowns and several crashes. He spun off the circuit in wet conditions at the European Grand Prix. That turned out to 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. Tost has since denied this. Speed also said that they wanted to get rid of both him and Liuzzi. Before the next race at Hungary, the team announced that he had been replaced by Sebastian Vettel.

ARCA/REMAX Series

Scott Speed pits the #2 Red Bull Toyota.

To get ready for racing in NASCAR, Speed raced in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) series. he enter several races in 2007, and a full season in 2008. He drove the Red Bull-sponsored Toyota for Eddie Sharp Racing. Speed finished 5th in the points in 2008.

During the finale of the 2008 ARCA season, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit Speed and sent him into the wall. This ended Speed chance at a good finish, and possibly a Championship. After repairs, Speed intentially ran his car into Stenhouse, sending both cars into the wall. Neither driver was injured. ARCA officials parked Speed for the day.

NASCAR

Speed made his Craftsman Truck Series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 7, 2008. He drove the Morgan-Dollar Motorsports #46 Cheverolet truck with Red Bull sponsorship. In his second race, he recorded his first Top 10 finish at Martinsville Speedway. He won his first career race on May 30 at Dover with Bill Davis Racing in a Toyota. On Sunday October 19, 2008, Scott Speed started his first Sprint Cup Series event at Martinsville Speedway. He finished in 30th place. He finished the Cup season in the #84 Red Bull Toyota Camry for the Red Bull Racing Team.

For the 2009 Sprint Cup season, Speed's car number was changed to #82. He won his first Rookie of the Race honor at the Daytona 500. 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 182.45 mph and a lap time of 29.42 seconds.

For the 2010 Sprint Cup season, Speed was still in the #82 car. He had a disappointing season, with only two top ten finishes. At the end of the year, Red Bull Racing release Speed from his contract. This move was to make room for the return of Brian Vickers and the addition of Kasey Kahne. Vickers was returning after heart surgery. Kahne was signed for a one-year deal.

Red Bull Racing Lawsuit

Within two weeks of leaving Red Bull Racing (RBR), Speed filed a lawsuit against the team for breach of contract. Breach of contract means that one person or group in the contract (RBR in this case) did not do the things they should have done. Speed is asking for $6.5 million US$ in the lawsuit. Speed alleges (says) that Red Bull

significantly reduced its financial commitment to Speed's race team and was unable and/or unwilling to provide [Speed] with 'supporting equipment' satisfactory for a driver of [his] skill to [be] effective [to] compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Speed is claiming that Red Bull did not give his race team enough money or himself good enough race cars. Without the best race cars, it is hard to race at the same level as the top teams.

On July 28, 2011, Speed place a lien on RBR's property in Mooresville, North Carolina. The lien is for the race shop and the land it sits on. A lien is a legal tool to keep RBR from selling the property. The property can be used to ensure a debt is paid. RBR purchased the property for about $3.3 million US$.

IndyCar

Speed attempted to qualify for the 2011 Indianapolis 500. He drove a car entered by Dragon Racing. He was having trouble finding enough speed in the car to qualify. Dragon Racing put Patrick Carpentier in the car to test it. Carpentier spun and crashed the car. Dragon did not have another car for Speed to use. Speed was unable to qualify for the race.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Final Placing
2002	Formula Dodge National Championship	?	11	2	5			135	3rd
	Formula Mazda	Doublefield Racing	4	1	2			218	18th
2003	British Formula Three Championship	Alan Docking Racing	14	0	0			3	23rd
2004	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Motopark Academy	16	8	9			402	1st
	Formula Renault 2000 Germany	Motopark Academy	14	4	3			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	0	1			67.5	3rd
2005-06	A1 Grand Prix	USA	6	0	0			23†	16th†
2006	Formula One	Toro Rosso	18	0	0	0	0	0	20th
2007	Formula One	Toro Rosso	10	0	0	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	4	3			4925	3rd
	Craftsman Truck Series	Bill Davis Racing	16	1	3	n/a	3	2058	21st
	Sprint Cup Series	Red Bull Racing Team	5	0	0	n/a	0	366	55th
2009	Nationwide Series	Michael Waltrip Racing	13	1	0	n/a	0	1591	34th
	Sprint Cup Series	Red Bull Racing Team NEMCO Motorsports (2 races)	35	0	0	n/a	0	2690	35th
2010	Sprint Cup Series	Red Bull Racing Team	36	0	0	n/a	0	3178	30th

^↔ Competed in less that 75% of the races. Not eligible to score championship points.
^† Team results.

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 L 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 L 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 Ret	BRA 11		20th	0
2007	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2	Ferrari 056 2.4 L 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

Personal information

Speed currently resides in Mt. Holly, NC, where he lives with his wife Amanda Mathis.

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

Other websites

• Official Scott Speed site
• Profile and 2006 statistics Archived 2006-06-14 at the Wayback Machine