Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American race car driver who has competed in numerous disciplines, including open-wheel, stock car, and rallycross racing.
Scott Speed was born in Manteca, California and graduated from East Union High school in 2001.[1] 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 the Formula series in 2001, competing in US Formula Russell and becoming champion.[2] He drove in both the Formula Dodge National Championship and Star Mazda in 2002, finishing third and eighth respectively.
After returning in 2004, Speed won two championship titles, with him first winning the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and later the Formula Renault 2000 Germany, despite his worsening colitis.[3] His performances resulted in a drive in the inaugural season of GP2 Series for 2005, as number two at iSport International, to Can Artam. Speed was later promoted to the first driver for the team, as he collected five podiums and 12 top 5 finishes in 24 races. He ended the season third place in the drivers' championship standings behind Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen.
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.
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. Montoya then clouted Honda'sJenson Button whose front right tyre got caught by BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld who was launched into a 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 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 but was 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 February 24, 2007, that Speed had signed to continue driving for the team in the 2007 Formula One season.[6] He once again teamed 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,[7] although Tost has since denied this.[8] Speed also went on a verbal offensive against the team, claiming that they wanted to get rid of both him and Liuzzi.[9] Speed's future with Toro Rosso remained very much in doubt for the rest of that season.[7] The doubts were seemingly calmed after continued testing for the team. From the pre-season through the Nürburgring, he and the team had endured constant speculation over the status of his tenure.
However, it was announced before the Hungarian Grand Prix that he had been replaced by BMW third driver Sebastian Vettel. The best result of Speed's season was 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 July 31, 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.[10] Speed has said that no amount of money would get him to work with the Toro Rosso team bosses in the future.[11] Nevertheless, Speed's relationship with Red Bull as a whole remained good, and he secured a Red Bull-backed drive in the U.S. for 2008.[12]
ARCA Re/MAX Series
Speed pits the No. 2 Red Bull Toyota at Pocono Raceway, during the 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 with teammates Ken Butler Jr & Pierre Bourque, Speed finished 5th in ARCA RE/MAX Series points in 2008. He was in prime position to win the championship, but in the final race, he was wrecked by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who was another contender for the championship. Speed, along with car owner Sharp, earned the Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge title in 2008. In 22 career starts from 2007, Speed scored 10 top-5 finishes and 18 top-10s including 4 wins at Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Berlin Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway, all occurring in 2008.[13] 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 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 two 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.[14]
For the 2009 Sprint Cup season, Speed's car was renumbered to No. 82. He was eligible to race in the 31st Annual Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, as his car was one of the top six Toyotas in points. He began his quest for Rookie of the Year in 2009, and he won his first-ever Rookie of the Race honors 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 182.451 mph (293.626 km/h) and a lap time of 29.597 seconds. However, he collided with Kyle Busch early on and finished 40th.
After failing to qualify for Darlington and Sonoma, Speed competed in Joe Nemechek's No. 87 Toyota. He failed to qualify for the April Texas race.
2010
Red Bull Racing's No. 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 successfully qualified for the 2010 Daytona 500. He led several laps late in the race after not going to the pits with about 19 laps to go. The next week at Auto Club Speedway, during a rain caution, Speed did not pit and ultimately ran out of gas. Speed 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, an incident occurred between Speed and his temporary teammate Casey Mears; when they were running 34th and 35th respectively, Mears collided with Speed and he spun out, causing a caution. Mears was replaced by Reed Sorenson for 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; causing Speed to file a lawsuit against Red Bull accusing them of violating his contract.[15] Speed's best finish with Red Bull Racing was fifth at Talladega in the 2009 Aaron's 499.
2011–13
Speed was without a ride for most of the 2011 season; he drove for Whitney Motorsports for several races at the end of the year. In 2012, he ran a limited schedule for Leavine Family Racing in the No. 95 Ford;[16] it was announced in August that he would return to the team for 2013 to run the majority of the season.[17]
Despite scoring Leavine's first top-ten finish at Talladega, Speed was released from the team after Atlanta in September.[18]
IndyCar
Speed attempted to qualify for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with Dragon Racing.[19] 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 to participate in the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championships. Just hours after the crash that claimed the life of Dan Wheldon, Speed said it was too dangerous for IndyCars to run on oval tracks.[20]
Speed joined Andretti Autosport in 2014 to drive a factory-backed Volkswagen Polo and later a Volkswagen Beetle. He finished third in points with three wins. He won the Global RallyCross Championship in 2015, 2016, and 2017, collecting a total of ten wins.[23] In 2018 he won the Americas Rallycross Championship (ARX), also with Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross, claiming two wins.
Speed returned with the Subaru factory team for the 2021 Nitro Rallycross Championship, where he was runner-up with one win and four podiums in five races.
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