Buddy Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American racing car driver. He is best known for winning Indianapolis 500 2004 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the Daytona 24 Hours 2009 for Brumos Racing.
Video Buddy Rice
Careers
Initial years
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Buddy Rice is the son of a former drag racer. Rice's grandfather came from Indianapolis and left his interest in racing for Rice's father. Rice saw her first race when she was six years old. He started racing in go kart when he was 11 years old. Rice playing baseball in high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and attracted the attention of students and professional scouts. However, both Rice and her father decided she would pursue a career in the race instead.
Rice's professional career started in 1996, when she was driving on one of the US F2000 shows; he finished eighth after the second start. He also drove in the Dodge Shelby Pro Series, winning from a pole in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 1997, Rice drove in F2000 to Lynx Racing/DSTP Motorsports, completing all four points and winning in Phoenix. He also won the 1997 Valvoline Team USA Scholarship, where he represented the United States at the European Cup. in Europe.
In 1998, he won from the pole at Nazareth. He finished seventh on Toyota Atlantic points, and won the Gilles Villeneuve Memorial Award. He finished fifth in the Toyota Atlantic championship in 1999, driving for Lynx Racing.
He won the Toyota Atlantic 2000 title race, which received attention from Red Bull Cheever Racing. In 2001, he tested with Red Bull Cheever Racing in November in California.
IRL IndyCar Series
In August 2002, Rice had her first race at IRL for Red Bull Cheever Racing at Michigan International Speedway. Hired initially to replace the accident-prone Tomas Scheckter, owner Eddie Cheever's team found that Scheckter's contract was more iron-clad than the first thought. Team Cheever then runs three entries (joins the owner of their team), and the crew and the best part are given to Rice. Rice loses race by inch to Scheckter, but makes a mark in the series. He competed in the last five races of the IRL IndyCar Series season with Red Bull Cheever Racing, scoring four top-10 finishes and two top-five finishes in five starts.
In 2003, Rice competed in 13 of 16 races for Red Bull Cheever Racing but was replaced by a more experienced Alex Barron.
In November 2003, he attempted a one-time ride in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the Homestead circuit before being summoned by Bobby Rahal to drive Honda Mortgage No. 1. 15 Argent when Kenny BrÃÆ'¤ck was injured in the final race. accident at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003.
In 2004, Rice began in pole and won a shortened Indianapolis 500 rain, her first Indycar race victory. He finished third in the IRL championship that year, earning five poles, three wins and leading 342 laps. After his victory at Indy 500, his sponsor told him that they would buy him the car he wanted, he chose 1949 Mercury Eight.
For 2005 he and Vitor Meira joined Danica Patrick. However, Rice was injured in an accident at Indianapolis during practice, and was not cleared for the race. Ironically, BrÃÆ'¤ck later replaced Rice.
The 2006 season started tragically for Rice in the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway when team-mate Paul Dana of Letterman Rahil Racing team was killed in the final training session. Rice and his team-mate Danica Patrick pulled out of the race. Rice started her racing season in 2006 at St. Petersburg, Florida. His 500th Indianapolis race ended in the early crash with HÃÆ'Â © lio Castroneves. After the IRL season ended, he raced in the Champ Car World Series race in Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for Forsythe Racing and finished 10th.
For 2007, Rice joins Sarah Fisher at Dreyer & amp; Reinbold Racing. He earned 3 of the five finishes in the first half of the season and finished 9th on points, his best result since 2004. He was defended by the team for the 2008 IndyCar season, the highest point coming with a fourth finish at Watkins Glen. He finally finished 16 points.
He did not participate in the 2009 IndyCar Series season after being released from Dreyer & amp; Reinbold Racing at the end of the 2008 season. Furthermore, his long term partnership with Red Bull also ended and was not updated.
He ran for Panther Racing at the 2011 Indianapolis 500 as his teammate for JR Hildebrand driving a Honda Dallara No. 1. 44.
Grand Prix A1
Starting the 2007-08 season, Rice signed a contract to drive A1 Team USA in the A1 Grand Prix international racing series. He drove in the first two rounds of the season with the best finish in position 13 in the Zandvoort feature race before handing a seat to Jonathan Summerton for the remainder of the season.
Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Rice competed in several Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in the early 2000s. In his debut in 2000, he finished second in Watkins Glen on TRP Lola Nissan. In 2002 he produced second at 6 Hours Watkins Glen and fourth at Homestead and Phoenix, riding Miracle Riley & Scott Ford.
The racer competed in Daytona 24 Hours from 2005 to 2008, with the best results of 9 in 2006. He also ran in Utah from 2006 to 2008, collecting 7 more in 2006.
In 2009, Rice won 24 Hours of Daytona at Brumos Racing Riley Porsche. He spent the second half of the season as teammate Antonio GarcÃÆ'a in the spirit of Daytona Coyote Porsche, where he finished fourth in Barber in his only top 10.
Rice is racing for Spirit of Daytona in 2010 Rolex Sports Car Series, rejoining GarcÃÆ'a. He helped Spirit of Daytona get the first podium for the team at Six Hours of the Glen in 2010, collecting third place. He also produced 5 in three races and ended the season in 11th place.
He has even finished the race without his left shoe.
His last Grand-Am race was the 2011 24 Hours Daytona, where he completed 9th in Action Express Racing Riley Porsche.
Maps Buddy Rice
Personal
In her spare time, Rice collects and returns the classic car. Rice loves spending time with his wife, Michelle. Their first child, Mina, was born on April 9, 2008.
Motorports career results
American open wheel racing results
(races in bold indicates pole position) (Races in italics shows the fastest lap)
USF2000 National Championship
Atlantic Championship
IRL IndyCar Series
- 1 Rahal-Letterman Racing pulled Rice and teammate Danica Patrick out of the competition when team mate Paul Dana was killed in an early morning training accident.
- 2 The race runs on the same day.
- 3 Not paying points, exhibition contest.
Indianapolis 500
Champ Car
A1 Grand Prix Complete Results
(races in bold indicates pole position) (Races in italics shows the fastest lap)
NASCAR
(lock) ( Bold Ã, - Pole position is given by qualifying time. Italics - Pole positions received by points standings or practice time. * Ã, - Most lead round. )
Craftsman Truck Series
International Champions Contest
(key) ( Bold Ã, - Position pole. * Ã, - Most rounds lead. )
References
External links
- Official Site
- Wetland Rice-Driven Driver Statistics in References-Racing
- IndyCar Drive Pages
- Buddy Rice on the Honda website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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