Robby McGehee

Robby McGehee (born July 20, 1973) is a former Indy Racing League driver from St. Louis, Missouri. He won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award in 1999 after finishing 5th and raced for veteran owner Fred Treadway the next few seasons. By 2002 Treadway's team had closed and McGehee bounced around several teams and last raced in the '500 for PDM Racing in 2004.

In third grade, McGehee wrote a paper saying that when he grew up, he wanted to be a professional race car driver. McGehee got started in racing in 1994 when he went to Skip Barber Racing School with his mother. McGehee finished second in the Formula 2000 series Road to Indy Oval Crown series, including wins at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1998.

The 1999 Indianapolis 500 was his first start as an IndyCar driver. He finished fifth in that race, despite hitting and critically injuring his chief mechanic, Steve Fried, early in the race. Later that week, Robby presented his Rookie of the Year trophy to Fried while he was in the hospital. [ [http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=28275&FS=IRL Motorsport.com: News channel ] ] -- This information is not accurate. Steve Fried was injured in a pit lane accident between Jimmy Kite and Jarett Schroeder while servicing Robby's front right tire

In 2004, he was to have a fully sponsored effort, but the deal fell through weeks before the race. He was able to get backing from a St. Louis business (his hometown) and eventually Burger King. In order to qualify, he had to sweat out a possible qualification effort by Tony Stewart that never came to pass.

Robby currently lives in St. Louis, with his wife, Norma (married in 2004), and works for his father's company, Huntleigh-McGehee.

Indy 500 results

References

External links

* [http://www.bsudailynews.com/media/storage/paper849/news/2004/05/24/UndefinedSection/Last-Minute.Deal-1304454.shtml Ball State Daily News Profile of Robby McGehee]