Paul Tracy

Paul Tracy
Paul Tracy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Second Qualification Day for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Nationality	Canadian
IRL IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2002
Current team	KV Racing Technology, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Car number	15, 14
Former teams	Team KOOL Green Vision Racing
Starts	9
Best finish	22nd in 2009

CART / Champ Car World Series
Years active	1991-2007
Teams	Dale Coyne Racing Newman/Haas Racing Marlboro Team Penske Team KOOL Green Forsythe Racing
Starts	261
Wins	31
Poles	25
Best finish	1st in 2003
Previous series
1988-1990	American Racing Series (Indy Lights)
Championship titles
2003	Champ Car World Series Champion

Paul Tracy (born December 17, 1968 in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) is a professional automobile racer who competed in the Champ Car World Series from 1991 to 2008. He is nicknamed "PT" and also goes by the nickname "The Thrill from West Hill".

Racing career

Early years

Fascinated by cars since boyhood, Paul raced go-karts at Goodwood Kartways near his hometown until he was 16. At age 16, in 1985, he became the youngest ever Canadian Formula Ford Champion. He was also the winner of the final Can-Am race at the age of 17; in that same race he achieved the record of the youngest winner in Can-Am history.

Tracy worked his way up through the North American open-wheel feeder series' culminating with winning the 1990 Indy Lights Championship, and in the process set a record for single season wins with nine.

Penske and Newman/Haas years

Tracy making his third start for Penske Racing at Laguna Seca in 1991

The following year, he competed in his first IndyCar event at Long Beach and at mid-season became a test driver for Penske Racing. He was scheduled to start a select number of races for Penske in 1992 and ended up starting 11 races, many of his starts as a substitute driver for the injured Rick Mears.

His first full year of IndyCar competition came in 1993 and he won five times with his first win coming at Long Beach and the others at Cleveland, Toronto, Road America and Laguna Seca. Paul led the series in laps led and was voted most improved driver by his peers. The 1994 season started out slowly for Tracy as he scored just two points in the first four races. He rebounded from his poor start and finished on the podium in eight of the final twelve races with victories at Detroit, Nazareth, and Laguna Seca. His third-place showing in the points gave Penske a sweep of the top-three slots with Al Unser, Jr. winning the title and Emerson Fittipaldi second. That year, Tracy also tested with the Benetton Formula One team at Estoril.

Despite three successful seasons at Penske racing, Paul switched to Newman/Haas Racing for the 1995 season. Although he won two races (Australia and Milwaukee) and finished 6th in the championship, Tracy returned to Penske racing for 1996. His return to Penske was a disappointment as he finished the season with no wins and 13th in the championship. A back injury also forced him to miss two races. 1997 was a roller coaster season for Tracy. He won consecutive events at Nazareth, Rio de Janeiro and Gateway, to take the points lead. The season went downhill soon after as he finished 26th or worse in each of the final five events to slip to fifth place in the championship. His wins were the 98th and 99th for Penske Racing in CART; they had to wait 3 more years for their 100th.

During this period (1994-1995) Paul Tracey also dabbled as a professional downhill mountain bike racer. He raced for Yeti Bicycles and made appearances in the pro class at famous bike races such as the legendary Kamikaze at Mammouth mountain. During this time Penske developed a special upside down suspension fork for Yeti Cycles and Paul. Kaiser Aerospace in partnership with Yeti Cycles built one of the first thermoplastic carbon fiber bicycles for Paul at a cost of 1/2 million dollars to produce.

Team Green years

File:PaulTracyCleveland.jpg

Paul drove for Team KOOL Green from 1998–2002.

Tracy left Penske racing again to race for Team KOOL Green for the 1998 season. The year was a struggle as he finished no better than fifth in any race and ended up a disappointing 13th in the championship.

Several on and off track incidents during the year earned him the wrath of CART officials and he was excluded from the 1999 season opener. Although he missed the first race, Paul still had a very successful season as he recorded seven podium finishes and had victories at Milwaukee and Houston. He finished third in the championship.

The 2000 season was also a success for Tracy as he won at Long Beach, Road America and Vancouver and finished fifth in the championship. Paul sat on the pole for the Michigan 500 with a new track record speed of 234.949 mph (378.114 km/h).

Paul's fourth year with Green in 2001 was one of the worst of his career as he went winless and finished 14th in the championship. 2002 was another year of struggle for Paul. He did win a race at Milwaukee but failed to finish 10 of 19 races and was 11th in the championship.

Tracy competing in the 2002 Indy 500

With Team Green, Tracy returned to the Indianapolis 500 in 2002 for the first time since 1995. A late-race caution flag for a crash appeared at nearly the same time he passed Hélio Castroneves for what would have been the race lead. This incident proved controversial due to the lack of evidence from camera angles showing whether or not he was ahead of Castroneves. Debate continued on the issue of whether the caution flag was timed to stop a CART driver beating the regulars of the rival Indy Racing League, which is run by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George. Perhaps as a result of this, he was voted CART's Most Popular Driver Award.

Forsythe years

Paul Tracy made his off-season move to the Player’s/Forsythe team for the 2003 season and had one of the best ever seasons in Champ Car history. He became the first driver in 32 years to win the first three races of a season, scoring victories in St. Petersburg, Monterrey, and Long Beach. His other victories came at Toronto (his finest victory of the season and perhaps his career; he led all 112 laps and, at one point, had a lead so big that when the first full-course caution of the race came out, Tracy managed to complete a pit stop before anyone else even got close to the pit lane entrance), Vancouver, Mid-Ohio, and Mexico City. He led 658 laps, earned six poles, and ten podiums on the way to his first-ever championship.

Due to tobacco advertising laws, Player's could not return as a sponsor for the following season. At the same time, CART went bankrupt and its assets were auctioned off in an Indiana court. The series was purchased by Kevin Kalkhoven, Paul Gentilozzi, and Tracy's team owner Gerald Forsythe. The lack of sponsor money certainly did not help the team and Paul was unable to defend his championship in 2004. He finished fourth in the series, with wins at Long Beach and Vancouver.

The 2005 season started out strong for Tracy. He led the points standings after five races, winning at Milwaukee and Cleveland. Bad luck and mistakes characterized the rest of his season, however. He was leading at Toronto when he ran out of fuel and crashed on his own while leading at Denver. A hard crash with Sébastien Bourdais at Las Vegas ended his championship hopes. Tracy finished fourth in the standings for the second year in a row.

2006 looked to be a transitional year for Tracy, with a five-race deal run in the NASCAR Busch Series possibly becoming a full-season contract in 2007. However, for a number of reasons, including poor results in the first three Busch races, Tracy reconsidered and determined that staying in Champ Car might be his best option. In May 2006, it was announced that Tracy had re-signed with Forsythe Racing for an additional five seasons. He announced plans to compete in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2007 for Riley D'Hondt Motorsports with sponsorship from SportClips, but he has since stated that he has no plans to run in NASCAR in 2007.

Tracy at Toronto in 2007

In November 2006, Tracy was injured while riding an ATV, but a rumor started that he had jumped a sand trap in a golf cart. Tracy denied the rumor and stated that he does not even own a golf cart. In January 2007, Tracy vowed to win the 2007 Champ Car title. However, on April 14 during a practice session at Long Beach, he crashed into a concrete barrier and suffered a fractured vertebra which forced him to miss the race and the next one in Houston. In late-May, he was given the green light by doctors to return into action for the race in Portland on June 10.

IndyCar Series Career

Following the unification of open wheel racing in North America, Forsythe announced that he would not be moving on to race in the IRL-sanctioned IndyCar Series in 2008, leaving Tracy a free agent after the 2008 race at Long Beach. After being without a ride for most of the season, Tracy signed a deal to drive for a joint Vision Racing/Walker Racing effort in the Rexall Edmonton Indy with sponsorship from Subway. Despite starting 15th in the race (due to a last qualifying lap spin by Marty Roth during the second knockout session), Tracy finished 4th behind Justin Wilson, Hélio Castroneves, and winner Scott Dixon. He had a fastest personal lap time of 1:02.9258 at 112.876 mph (181.656 km/h) set on lap 77.

On April 17, 2009 between practice sessions of the Long Beach Grand Prix it was announced that Tracy will drive in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 for KV Racing Technology sponsored by Geico Insurance. Races at Edmonton, Toronto, and Watkins Glen were later added to the KV/Tracy program for 2009, with additional races possible. Following Tracy's 9th place finish in his return to the Indy 500, AJ Foyt Enterprises signed Tracy to replace the injured Vitor Meira in the #14 car, but only for the Milwaukee race. Paul will again drive for KV Racing at Mid-Ohio in place of Mario Moraes, who returned to Brazil after his father passed away.

French helmet controversy

During his racing career, Tracy has been involved in several controversies, notably involving CART bosses. Also, several rivals have alleged that he is aggressive and sometimes dangerous, habits which have caused several accidents and feuds in the past. However, the most recent and high-profile incident involving the Canadian driver was the French helmet controversy.

The French helmet controversy erupted during the 2006 season after Tracy was involved in two on-track incidents at San Jose and Denver. At San Jose, Tracy missed a right curve and went straight into an open space area. By trying to return to the track, he hit Alex Tagliani's car, damaging the whole front of it. After the crash, Tagliani, a French-Canadian, angrily confronted Tracy in the pits and demanded that he pay for the damage since Tagliani's race team had financial issues. Tracy then warned Tagliani not to touch him, but the latter persisted and the eventually the two men came to blows before being separated by Champ Car officials. Tracy noted that Tagliani was still wearing his helmet during the scuffle. Both men were fined an undisclosed amount of money, while Tracy was put on probation for three races and lost seven points.

Paul Tracy and Sébastien Bourdais in a confrontation at the 2006 Denver Grand Prix

During the next race in Denver, Tracy and French driver Sébastien Bourdais were fighting for the second position on the last lap. Tracy, while having fuel and brake issues, was well behind Bourdais coming into the final corner. Still, he did not slow down enough, losing control and hitting Bourdais' car in the process. The Newman-Haas driver then charged at Tracy and gave him a shove. Although Tracy invited Bourdais to confront him, the latter chose to walk away from the potential altercation. Tracy was docked an additional three points in the championship and was fined US$25,000. Champ Car mentioned that "Tracy's on-track actions in Denver were determined to be in violation of his probation" a probation stemming from the San Jose incident. Bourdais demanded that Tracy be suspended, since he felt that Tracy had cost him several points that he could have used to widen his now-slim lead in the points standings over A. J. Allmendinger, Tracy's teammate, who won the Denver race.

During a post-race interview, Tracy criticized Bourdais for not confronting him after the incident: "Too bad he wouldn't take his helmet off, then we really would have settled things. But French guys always keep their helmets on". Tracy downplayed the remarks, claiming they were a joke, but added one week later: "I said it was a joke, but it's a fact. If I said anything untrue, I'd apologize for it, but in both instances, they came to me to get in an altercation with their helmets on. I don't regret it, but I said it in joking". Bourdais, Tagliani, and Quebec driver Andrew Ranger asked for the crowd to boo him at the next race in Montreal, on the weekend of August 26.

This incident also renewed a heated rivalry between Tracy and Bourdais in which the Canadian driver criticized his rival for knocking him out of several past races and claiming that the Denver incident was payback according to him. In regards to the helmet remarks, Bourdais fired back at Tracy, saying: "I guess I'm not a hockey player and I didn't see him taking his helmet off either. I guess if he wants to fight someone, he is in the wrong sport." He continued: "It's just Paul Tracy making a fool out of himself race after race."

Tagliani added: "I said he (Tracy) should wear a straitjacket because that's the only thing that could keep him under control. And Sébastien (Bourdais) said he can't drive with that on, so maybe it's the only thing that could keep him out of trouble".

During the warm-ups and qualifying sessions in Montreal, the crowd at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve booed Tracy loudly. However, during the traditional drivers' presentation before the race, Tracy wore a blue mask and a Quebec flag as a cape while doing wrestling gestures, and the fans began to warm up to him. RDS, TSN's French language television network title an article as : Paul Tracy, "le Crazy Québécois" (the crazy Quebecer) and TSN captioned an image with "Captain Quebec". Tracy finished the rain-delayed race in second position behind Bourdais on the following Monday. Fans cheered for Tracy as he wore a Quebec flag on the podium.

Personal

Tracy resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has two children, Alysha and Conrad. He has a business interest in Spy Sunglasses.

Motorsports Results

Complete Can-Am results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	Rank	Points
1986	Horst Kroll Racing	MOS1 DNP	SUM DNP	STL DNP	MOS2 1	8th1	20

¹ Three-way tie.

American Open Wheel

Complete American Racing Series (Indy Lights) results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
1988	Hemelgarn Racing	PHX 1	MIL 15	POR 4	CLE 11	TOR 14	MWL 13	POC DNP	MDO 5	ROA 14	NAZ 6	LAG 8	MIA 14			9th	58
1989	Maple Leaf Racing	PHX 2	LBH 13	MIL 14	DET 11	POR 2	MWL 4	TOR 16	POC 12	MDO 3	ROA 10	NAZ 15	LAG DNP			8th	65
1990	Landford Racing	PHX 1	LBH 1	MIL 1	DET 8	POR 1	CLE 1	MWL 1	TOR 1	DEN 15	VAN 5	MDO 1	ROA 1	NAZ 10	LAG 12	1st	214

Series Summary

Years	Teams	Starts	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Championships
3	2	36	7	10	3	7	1

Complete CART / Champ Car results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
1991	Dale Coyne Racing	SUR DNP	LBH 22	PHX DNP	IND Wth	MIL DNP	DET DNP	POR DNP	CLE DNP	MDW DNP	TOR DNP												21st	6
	Penske Racing											MIC 21	DEN DNP	VAN DNP	MDO DNP	ROA DNP	NAZ 7	LAG 25
1992	Penske Racing	SUR DNP	PHX 4	LBH DNP	IND 20	DET 16	POR DNP	MIL DNP	NHA DNP	TOR 21	MIC 2	CLE 19	ROA 17	VAN 23	MDO 2	NAZ 3	LAG 16						12th	59
1993	Penske Racing	SUR 21	PHX 16	LBH 1	IND 30	MIL 20	DET 9	POR 3	CLE 1	TOR 1	MIC 19	NHA 2	ROA 1	VAN 13	MDO 25	NAZ 3	LAG 1						3rd	157
1994	Penske Racing	SUR 16	PHX 23	LBH 20	IND 23	MIL 3	DET 1	POR 3	CLE 3	TOR 5	MIC 16	MDO 2	NHA 2	VAN 20	ROA 18	NAZ 1	LAG 1						3rd	152
1995	Newman/Haas Racing	MIA 27	SUR 1	PHX 4	LBH 28	NAZ 26	IND 24	MIL 1	DET 8	POR 18	ROA 2	TOR 8	CLE 26	MIC 23	MDO 2	NHA 23	VAN 8	LAG 2					6th	115
1996	Penske Racing	MIA 23	RIO 19	SUR 22	LBH 4	NAZ 5	500 7	MIL 3	DET 17	POR 27	CLE 9	TOR 5	MIC Wth	MDO DNP	ROA 12	VAN 18	LAG 29						13th	60
1997	Penske Racing	MIA 2	SUR 19	LBH 7	NAZ 1	RIO 1	GAT 1	MIL 6	DET Wth	POR 7	CLE 7	TOR 10	MIC 4	MDO 27	ROA 28	VAN 28	LAG 26	FON 26					5th	121
1998	Team KOOL Green	MIA 27	MOT 5	LBH 25	NAZ 5	RIO 25	GAT 26	MIL 7	DET 7	POR 28	CLE 19	TOR 14	MIC 9	MDO 5	ROA 6	VAN 11	LAG 8	HOU 20	SUR 23	FON 14			13th	61
1999	Team KOOL Green	MIA DNP	MOT 11	LBH 21	NAZ 3	RIO 15	GAT 19	MIL 1	POR 5	CLE 4	ROA 11	TOR 2	MIC 3	DET 2	MDO 2	CHI 23	VAN 18	LAG 4	HOU 1	SUR 7	FON 18		3rd	161
Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2000	Team KOOL Green	MIA 3	LBH 1	RIO 3	MOT 6	NAZ 10	MIL 15	DET 20	POR 18	CLE 19	TOR 3	MIC 7	CHI 19	MDO 16	ROA 1	VAN 1	LAG 11	GAT 18	HOU 4	SUR 17	FON 24		5th	134
2001	Team KOOL Green	MTY 3	LBH 4	FTW NH	NAZ 3	MOT 18	MIL 24	DET 14	POR 21	CLE 24	TOR 6	MIC 7	CHI 12	MDO 4	ROA 26	VAN 26	LAU 10	ROC 6	HOU 24	LAG 18	SUR 14	FON 24	14th	73
2002	Team KOOL Green	MTY 8	LBH 7	MOT 19	MIL 1	LAG 17	POR 17	CHI 9	TOR 16	CLE 3	VAN 2	MDO 18	ROA 13	MTL 4	DEN 8	ROC 19	MIA 12	SUR 3	FON 17	MEX 16			11th	101
2003	Player's Forsythe Racing	STP 1	MTY 1	LBH 1	BRH 17	LAU 12	MIL 12	LAG 3	POR 2	CLE 2	TOR 1	VAN 1	ROA 15	MDO 1	MTL 6	DEN 4	MIA 16	MEX 1	SUR 13	FON NH			1st	226
2004	Forsythe Championship Racing	LBH 1	MTY 7	MIL 17	POR 3	CLE 17	TOR 5	VAN 1	ROA 12	DEN 2	MTL 4	LAG 10	LAS 18	SUR 4	MEX 10								4th	254
2005	Forsythe Championship Racing	LBH 2	MTY 15	MIL 1	POR 3	CLE 1	TOR 16	EDM 3	SAN 2	DEN 16	MTL 8	LAS 17	SUR 17	MEX 3									4th	246
2006	Forsythe Championship Racing	LBH 17	HOU 2	MTY 4	MIL 16	POR 7	CLE 16	TOR 2	EDM 5	SAN 15	DEN 6	MTL 2	ROA 10	SUR 4	MEX Inj								7th	209
2007	Forsythe Championship Racing	LAS 3	LBH Wth	HOU Inj	POR 10	CLE 1	MTT 15	TOR 14	EDM 5	SAN 11	ROA 12	ZOL 10	ASS 17	SUR 9	MEX 5								11th	171

Series Summary

Years	Teams	Starts	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Championships
17	5	261	25	31	43	66	1

IndyCar Series results

(key)

Year	Team	1	2	3		4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
2002	Team Green	HMS DNP	PHX DNP	FON DNP		NZR DNP	IND 2	TXS DNP	PPIR DNP	RIR DNP	KAN DNP	NSH DNP	MIS DNP	KTY DNP	STL DNP	CHI DNP	TX2 DNP				34th	40
2008	Forsythe/Pettit Racing	HMS DNP	STP DNP	MOT1 DNP	LBH1 11	KAN DNP	IND DNP	MIL DNP	TXS DNP	IOW DNP	RIR DNP	WGL DNP	NSH DNP	MDO DNP							33rd	51
	Vision Racing														EDM 4	KTY DNP	SNM DNP	DET DNP	CHI DNP	SRF2 DNP
20093	KV Racing Technology	STP DNP	LBH DNP	KAN DNP		IND 9					WGL 20	TOR 19	EDM 6	KTY DNP	MDO 7	SNM	CHI	MOT	HMS		22nd	113
	A. J. Foyt Enterprises						MIL 17	TXS DNP	IOW DNP	RIR DNP

¹ Run on same day. MOT as Round 3A, LBH as Round 3B.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

³ Season in progress

Series Summary

Years	Teams	Starts	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Championships
3	5	9	0	0	1	3	0

Complete Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Note	Team
1991	Lola T9000	Cosworth	--	--	Withdrew from rookie orientation	Dale Coyne Racing
1992	Penske PC-21	Chevrolet B	19th	20th	Engine Failure	Penske
1993	Penske PC-22	Chevrolet C	7th	30th	Crash	Penske
1994	Penske PC-23	Ilmor-Mercedes	25th	23rd	Turbo Failure	Penske
1995	Lola T9500	Ford-Cosworth XB	16th	24th	Broken Throttle	Newman/Haas
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	29th	2nd	1st Indy start in 7 years	Green
2009	Dallara	Honda	13th	9th	1st Indy start in 7 years	KV

See also

• List of Champ Car drivers
• List of Canadians in Champ Car

External links

• Official website
• Champcarstats.com