Buddy Rice

Infobox racing driver
name = Buddy Rice


pixels =
caption = Buddy Rice recovers from a tough qualification attempt prior to the 2007 Indianapolis 500.
nationality = flagicon|USA American
date of birth = Birth date and age|1976|1|31
place of birth = Phoenix, Arizona
date of death =
retired =
current series = IndyCar Series
first year = 2002
current team = Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
car number = 15
former teams = Cheever Racing
Rahal Letterman Racing
starts = 97
wins = 3
poles = 5
fastest laps =
best finish = 3rd
year = 2004
prev series = Champ Car World Series
Toyota Atlantic
U.S. Formula Ford 2000
prev series years = 2006
1998-2000, 2002
1996-1997
titles = Toyota Atlantic Champion
title years = 2000
awards = Indianapolis 500 winner
award years = 2004

Buddy Rice (born January 31, 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an auto racing driver in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing.

Early career

Buddy's racing career started in 1996, when he dove in one U.S. F2000 event, finishing eighth after starting second in a 6-year-old car. He also drove in Dodge Shelby Pro Series, winning from the pole at Las Vegas.

In 1997, he drove in U.S. F2000 for Lynx Racing/DSTP Motorsports, finishing fourth in points and winning at Phoenix. He also won 1997 Valvoline Team USA Scholarship, where he represented the United States in Europe’s prestigious Nations Cup.

In 1998, he won from the pole at Nazareth, finished seventh in Toyota Atlantic points, and won the Gilles Villeneuve Memorial Award. He finished fifth in the Toyota Atlantic championship driving for Lynx Racing in 1999.

He won the 2000 Toyota Atlantic Series championship, which gained the attention of Red Bull Cheever Racing. In 2001, he tested with Red Bull Cheever Racing in November at California.

Indy Racing League

In August 2002, Rice had his first race in the IRL for Red Bull Cheever Racing at Michigan International Speedway. Hired initially to replace crash-prone Tomas Scheckter, Team owner Eddie Cheever discovered that Scheckter's contract was more iron-clad than first thought. Team Cheever then ran three entries (joined by their team owner), and the best crew and parts were given to Rice. Rice lost the race by inches to Scheckter, but made a mark in the series. He competed in the final 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 the more experienced Alex Barron.

In November 2003, he dabbled with a one-off at Homestead during a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race before being called by Bobby Rahal to drive the #15 Argent Mortgage Honda when Kenny Bräck was injured in a late-race crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003.

In 2004, Rice started on the pole and won the rain-shortened Indianapolis 500. He finished 3rd in the IRL championship that year, earning five poles, three wins and leading 342 laps. After his Indy 500 win, his sponsors told him that they would buy him any car he wanted, he chose a 1949 Mercury Eight.

For 2005 he and Vitor Meira were joined by Danica Patrick. However, Rice himself was injured in a crash at Indianapolis during practice, and was not cleared to race. In an ironic twist of events, Bräck then substituted for Rice.

The 2006 season started tragically for Rice and Danica Patrick, who both withdrew immediately from the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway following the death of new Rahal Letterman Racing teammate Paul Dana in final practice. Rice started his 2006 season at St. Petersburg, Florida, in the second race. His Indianapolis 500 ended early in a crash with Helio Castroneves. After the season ended he raced in the Champ Car World Series race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for Forsythe Racing and finished 10th.

For 2007, Rice joined Sarah Fisher at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. He captured 3 top-five finishes in the first half of the season and finished 9th in points, his best result since 2004. He was retained by the team for the 2008 IndyCar season, the high point of which came with a 4th place finish at Watkins Glen.

A1 Grand Prix

Starting the 2007-08 season, Rice is driving for A1 Team USA in the A1 Grand Prix international racing series. [http://www.a1teamusatv.com/news_detail.aspx?id=232]

Personal

Rice is an Arizona native and attended Shadow Mountain High School.

He was a pro baseball prospect while in high school, before giving up baseball to go racing.

He is married to Michelle Rice. Their first child, Mina, was born April 9, 2008. [ [http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=81656&newlang=&topic=16&catid=3 It's a Girl! Congrats to Buddy and Michelle Rice] , "Paddock Talk", last accessed May 6, 2008]

Motorsports Career Results

American Open-Wheel

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar

References

External links

* [http://www.indycar.com/drivers/driver.php?driver_id=71 Buddy Rice's Bibliography on IndyCar.com]