Jack Roush

Jack Roush (born April 19, 1942) is the founder, CEO, and co-owner along with John Henry of Roush Fenway Racing, a NASCAR team headquartered in Concord, North Carolina, and is Chairman of the Board of Roush Enterprises.

Roush Enterprises is the parent company for Roush Racing as well as Roush Industries, a freelance engineering firm, and Roush Performance, an automotive aftermarket development company, both headquartered in Livonia, Michigan.

His companies employ more than 2,000 people throughout North America and Europe.

Never seen without his trademark Panama hat, Roush is affectionately known on the NASCAR circuit as "The Cat in the Hat".

Biography

Roush was born in Covington, Kentucky and grew up in Manchester, Ohio. He earned a Mathematics degree with a bachelors in physics from Berea College, and a masters in Scientific Mathematics from Eastern Michigan University.

Roush worked at Ford after graduating in 1966, and left in 1970 to pursue his own company. He worked for a year at Chrysler before partnering with Wayne Gapp to race in NHRA, IHRA, and AHRA drag racing events.

Throughout much of his career Roush offered for sale the parts that he developed for his own team. In 1982, he partnered with a German firm to develop road racing vehicles for Ford. This led to a very successful run in the Trans-Am series and IMSA Camel GT in the 80s and early 90s. In 1988, Roush moved south and founded a NASCAR Sprint Cup team with driver Mark Martin which has since become one of NASCAR's premiere programs.

Roush Racing currently fields five cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (driven by Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards), six cars in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (driven by Todd Kluever, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle), and three trucks in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (driven by Travis Kvapil, Colin Braun, and Erik Darnell).

Roush Performance sells modified Ford F-150s and Mustangs, and Focuses. These cars feature signature decals and performance-oriented modifications.

On April 20, 2002, Roush almost lost his life when his private plane went down in a lake in Troy, Alabama. Roush was underwater and unconscious, suffering from a head concussion, when Larry Hicks, a retired Marine, rescued Roush, pulled him to safety, and administered CPR. Shortly afterwards, Roush was flown to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama where he was treated for a head injury, broken ribs, and a shattered left leg. Hicks, himself, was injured as a result of the rescue, suffering cramps in both his arms and first degree chemical burns on his body from the fuel.

Roush was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame on April 27, 2006.