Jimmy Vasser

Jimmy Vasser
Jimmy Vasser
	Vasser at Long Beach, 2008
Nationality	American
Born	November 20, 1965 (age 55); Canoga Park, California, U.S.
Championship titles
	1996 PPG Indy Car World Series Champion
Years active
Champ Car career
	233 races run over 16 years
Years active	1992–2006, 2008
Team(s)	Hayhoe/Cole Racing (1992–1994); Target Chip Ganassi Racing (1995–2000); Patrick Racing (2001); Rahal Letterman Racing (2002); American Spirit Team Johansson (2003); PKV Racing (2004–2006); KV Racing (2008)
Best finish	1st (1996)
First race	1992 Dailkyo IndyCar Grand Prix (Surfers Paradise)
Last race	2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Long Beach)
First win	1996 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami (Homestead)
Last win	2002 The 500 Presented by Toyota (California)
Best finish
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
	2 races run over 1 year
Best finish	97th (2003)
First race	2003 Koolerz 300 (Daytona)
Last race	2003 GNC Live Well 250 (Milwaukee)

James Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver. Vasser won the 1996 CART IndyCar championship with Chip Ganassi Racing, and scored ten victories in the series.^[1] Vasser was the last American to win the CART championship.

Driving career[]

Vasser made his CART debut in 1992 and qualified for the Indianapolis 500, setting a record for the fastest qualifying run by a first-year driver.^[2] Although he did become a top driver, his rise to prominence coincided with the CART–IRL split, so Vasser's best years were spent away from the Indianapolis 500. He has raced in the event on a one-off basis a few times since, finishing as high as fourth (in the 2001 race.)

Vasser won four races in 1996 and did enough to maintain a lead in the standings for most of the season, clinching the championship at the season's final race.^[3] Teammate Alex Zanardi outperformed him over the next two years, winning the points championship both years.^[4] Vasser teamed with Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999. He was once again outperformed by his teammate and Montoya won the championship on his rookie season.^[5] In 2000, his last year with Chip Ganassi Racing, Vasser won the Houston Grand Prix for his first victory since 1998.^[6]

For 2001, Vasser moved to the Pat Patrick team to drive the #40 Reynard Toyota. Despite having limited sponsorship for the car at first, Vasser started the season strong with four straight finishes of 4th to 6th place. Continuing the strong start to 2001, Jimmy was reunited with Target Chip Ganassi Racing driving for them in the Indianapolis 500. Jimmy ran well and finish 4th place as ChampCar drivers swept the top five spots at the 500. However, once returning to the ChampCar circuit, back to back crashes in race #5 at Milwaukee and race #6 at Detroit seemed to derail the season as Jimmy finished the final sixteen races of the season with only four more finishes of 5th to 7th.

After a disappointing year without even a podium, Vasser was able to secure the seat of the #8 Shell Lola Ford with Rahal Letterman Racing for 2002 which had finished 2nd in ChampCar points the previous season. In the Shell car, Vasser showed some muscle at Long Beach scoring the pole, leading laps late, and finishing 2nd behind Michael Andretti. Vasser and Rahal Letterman also crossed over into the IRL where they ran the IRL race in Fontana to prepare for Indianapolis and then the Indianapolis 500. Success was limited as Vasser scored only a 9th at Fontana and a gearbox failure cut short his Indy 500 race. Vasser's 2002 season in the Shell car was much improved over the previous year with Patrick Racing. Vasser really finished the year strong with scoring points in each of the final nine races including a podium at Miami and a dominating win at Fontana after a late-race pass of Michael Andretti. Vasser's Fontana win was to be the final win of his ChampCar career.

Without sponsorship at Rahal for 2003, Vasser had to look for opportunities with other teams and without many seats available for the 38-year-old he ended up with Stefan Johansson's startup American Spirit team. The team was not fully funded and they ran the Reynard chassis which were not up to the pace of the current Lola chassis cars. Additionally, Reynard had gone bankrupt so further development of the chassis had to be taken on by the teams so the performance gap to the Lolas continue to widen during the season. Except for a couple of fourth-place finishes, leading 15 laps at Cleveland, and podium at Surfer's Paradise in a wet/dry race the season was not very successful as rookie teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay was outpacing Vasser. Vasser reunited with Rahal Letterman for his final run at an Indianapolis 500 win but was again sidelined with gearbox failure during the race.

In 2004 he became co-owner of PKV Racing (later renamed to KV Racing Technology) along with and Kevin Kalkhoven and was a driver for the team. In 2004, he broke the modern CART–Champ Car record for the most consecutive starts.^[7] Vasser retired from open wheel racing in 2006, but remains active in his ownership role. He temporarily came out of retirement to drive in the final Champ Car World Series event at the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.^[8]

In 2006, Vasser competed in three Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series races, including the 24 Hours of Daytona, driving for GAINSCO/Blackhawk Racing. In 2007, he again drove for the renamed GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and on Sept. 4, 2007, it was announced that he would return to the team for the season-ending Sunchaser 1000 km. Vasser drove again for Stallings' team beginning at Laguna Seca in May 2008, pairing with fellow Champ Car champion Cristiano da Matta.

In 2013, Vasser joined the Stadium Super Trucks and was scheduled to make his debut at Honda Indy Toronto.^[9] However, he was injured prior to the race and was replaced by Davey Hamilton.^[10]

Early career[]

Won the 1986 Formula Ford National Championship, SCCA.^[11]
Competed in the 1988 Corvette Challenge.
Competed in the 1989 and 1990 Pro F-2000 Canadian Championship. Vasser and his teammate Ken Murillo were sponsored by LucasFilm.
Competed in Atlantic Championship in 1990 and 1991 for .
Won the Formula Atlantic East/West Challenge in 1990.
Finished Runner-up (by 4 points Jovy Marcelo) in the 1991 season, six wins and seven pole positions.

Motorsports career results[]

SCCA National Championship Runoffs[]

Year	Track	Car	Engine	Class	Finish	Start	Status
1985	Road Atlanta	Swift DB1	Ford	Formula Ford	25	5	Running
1986	Road Atlanta	Swift DB1	Ford	Formula Ford	1	2	Running

American open-wheel racing results[]

(key)

Indy Lights[]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1988	R & K Racing	PHX	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	MEA 10	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG	MIA	26th	3
1989	Barclay Racing	PHX	LBH	MIL	DET	POR	MEA	TOR	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG 8	24th	5

CART/Champ Car[]

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
1992		Lola T92/00	Chevrolet 265A	SRF 15	PHX 15	LBH 7	INDY 21	DET	POR 23	MIL 12	NHA	TOR 12	MCH	CLE 14	ROA	VAN 18	MDO 25	NAZ DNQ	LAG 12						22nd	8
1993		Lola T92/00	Chevrolet 265A	SRF 24	PHX 3	LBH 22		MIL 8	DET 16	POR 11	CLE														16th	30
1993		Lola T92/00	Ford XB V8t				INDY 13					TOR 11	MCH	NHA 9	ROA	VAN 18	MDO 10	NAZ	LAG 21						16th	30
1994		Reynard 94i	Ford XB V8t	SRF 4	PHX 5	LBH 24	INDY 4	MIL 11	DET 20	POR 32	CLE 31	TOR 25	MCH 25	MDO 14	NHA 7	VAN 15	ROA 28	NAZ 13	LAG 26						15th	42
1995	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	MIA 8	SRF 24	PHX 23	LBH 23	NAZ 24	INDY 22	MIL 9	DET 2	POR 2	ROA 3	TOR 17	CLE 3	MCH 7	MDO 9	NHA 6	VAN 27	LAG 8					8th	92
1996	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 96i	Honda HRH V8t	MIA 1	RIO 8	SRF 1	LBH 1	NAZ 7	500 1	MIL 10	DET 12	POR 13	CLE 10	TOR 8	MCH 9	MDO 2	ROA 6	VAN 7	LAG 4						1st	154
1997	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 97i	Honda HRR V8t	MIA 3	SRF 12	LBH 9	NAZ 5	RIO 9	GAT 5	MIL 3	DET 4	POR 19	CLE 13	TOR 7	MCH 24	MDO 5	ROA 8	VAN 2	LAG 1	FON 2					3rd	144
1998	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda HRK V8t	MIA 16	MOT 7	LBH 8	NAZ 1	RIO 6	GAT 4	MIL 1	DET 6	POR 8	CLE 7	TOR 3	MCH 2	MDO 27	ROA 9	VAN 26	LAG 5	HOU 4	SRF 24	FON 1			2nd	169
1999	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS V8t	MIA 4	MOT 12	LBH 10	NAZ 11	RIO 27	GAT 10	MIL 4	POR 12	CLE 23	ROA 23	TOR 8	MCH 9	DET 5	MDO 4	CHI 3	VAN 3	LAG 18	HOU 20	SRF 18	FON 5		9th	104
2000	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B2K/00	Toyota RVA V8t	MIA 4	LBH 3	RIO 2	MOT 21	NAZ 7	MIL 13	DET 7	POR 24	CLE 8	TOR 9	MCH 21	CHI 8	MDO 21	ROA 5	VAN 6	LAG 8	GAT 7	HOU 1	SRF 3	FON 22		6th	131
2001	Patrick Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8F V8t	MTY 6	LBH 5	TXS C	NAZ 4	MOT 5	MIL 21	DET 18	POR 16	CLE 5	TOR 26	MCH 23	CHI 14	MDO 23	ROA 21	VAN 19	LAU 15	ROC 7	HOU 11	LAG 5	SRF 6	FON 12	12th	77
2002	Team Rahal	Lola B02/00	Ford XF V8t	MTY 20	LBH 2	MOT 20	MIL 9	LAG 8	POR 16	CHI 17	TOR 6	CLE 6	VAN 17	MDO 8	ROA 5	MTL 5	DEN 10	ROC 7	MIA 3	SRF 12	FON 1	MXC 11			7th	114
2003	American Spirit Team Johansson	Reynard 02i	Ford XFE V8t	STP 6	MTY 14	LBH 4	BRH 19	LAU 8	MIL 11	LAG 8	POR 7	CLE 13	TOR 13	VAN 11	ROA 9	MDO 15	MTL 16	DEN 11	MIA 4	MXC 17	SRF 3	FON NH			11th	72
2004	PKV Racing	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH 16	MTY 12	MIL 4	POR 8	CLE 5	TOR 2	VAN 10	ROA 8	DEN 17	MTL 8	LAG 17	LVG 5	SRF 12	MXC 5								8th	201^
2005	PKV Racing	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH 9	MTY 14	MIL 5	POR 6	CLE 6	TOR 4	EDM 11	SJO 11	DEN 15	MTL 7	LVG 3	SRF 3	MXC 6									6th	217
2006	PKV Racing	Lola B03/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH 14	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA	SRF	MXC								24th	7

^ New points system implemented in 2004

IndyCar[]

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2000	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	G-Force GF01C	10	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	WDW	PHX	LVS	INDY 7	TXS	PPIR	ATL	KTY	TX2											32nd	26
2001	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	G-Force GF05B	44	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	PHX	HMS	ATL	INDY 4	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	GAT	CHI	TX2							36th	32
2002	Team Rahal	Dallara IR-02	19	Chevrolet Indy V8	HMS	PHX	FON 9	NAZ	INDY 30	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MCH	KTY	GAT	CHI	TX2					40th	23
2003	Team Rahal	Dallara IR-03	19	Toyota V8	HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY 26	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MCH	GAT	KTY	NAZ	CHI	FON	TX2				36th	4
2008	KV Racing Technology	Panoz DP01	12	Ford XFE V8t	HMS	STP	MOT¹ DNP	LBH¹ 10	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF²	42nd	0

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Indianapolis 500 results[]

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Reason out	Team
1992	Lola	Chevrolet	28th	21st	Crash
1993	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	19th	13th	Running
1994	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	16th	4th	Running
1995	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	9th	22nd	Crash	Ganassi
2000	G-Force	Oldsmobile	7th	7th	Running	Ganassi
2001	G-Force	Oldsmobile	12th	4th	Running	Ganassi
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	19th	30th	Gearbox	Rahal
2003	Dallara	Honda	27th	26th	Gearbox	Rahal

Notes[]

Winner of fastest CART race: Fontana 2002, Average Speed: 197.995 mph (318.642 km/h)

NASCAR[]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series[]

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NBSC	Pts
2003	Braun Racing	30	Dodge	DAY 28	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH	CAL	RCH	GTY	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW 25	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM	97th	167

References[]

^ "Vasser might be taking his last laps". Las Vegas Sun. September 23, 2005. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
^ "Vasser headlines seven Indianapolis 500 rookies". Boca Raton News. Associated Press. May 20, 1992. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
^ Harris, Mike (September 9, 1996). "Zanardi wins race, but Vasser takes title". The Modesto Bee. Associated Press. Retrieved January 23, 2010.^{[dead link]}
^ "Ganassi changes drivers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
^ "Ganassi changes drivers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
^ "Vasser ends drought on streets of Houston". ESPN. Associated Press. October 2, 2000. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
^ Graves, Gary (August 26, 2004). "Champ Car's Vasser revved up to break record". USA Today. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
^ Lawley, Erin (April 17, 2008). "Vasser getting behind wheel at LBC". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
^ "Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser join Robby Gordon's Stadium SUPER Trucks series for Toronto". Racer. July 11, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
^ "Lofton wins Stadium Truck Race 1 in Toronto". Racer. July 13, 2013. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
^ Taylor, Michael (January 7, 2007). "A Fascination For Fine Machines". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

External links[]

Official bio at PKVRacing.com
Jimmy Vasser driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Jimmy Vasser now savors taste of Indy milk - The Indianapolis Star, 23 May 2014

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jacques Villeneuve	CART Series Champion 1996	Succeeded by Alex Zanardi

[1] "Vasser might be taking his last laps". Las Vegas Sun. September 23, 2005. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

[2] "Vasser headlines seven Indianapolis 500 rookies". Boca Raton News. Associated Press. May 20, 1992. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

[3] Harris, Mike (September 9, 1996). "Zanardi wins race, but Vasser takes title". The Modesto Bee. Associated Press. Retrieved January 23, 2010.^{[dead link]}

[4] "Ganassi changes drivers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

[5] "Ganassi changes drivers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

[6] "Vasser ends drought on streets of Houston". ESPN. Associated Press. October 2, 2000. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

[7] Graves, Gary (August 26, 2004). "Champ Car's Vasser revved up to break record". USA Today. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

[8] Lawley, Erin (April 17, 2008). "Vasser getting behind wheel at LBC". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

[9] "Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser join Robby Gordon's Stadium SUPER Trucks series for Toronto". Racer. July 11, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.

[10] "Lofton wins Stadium Truck Race 1 in Toronto". Racer. July 13, 2013. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2013.

[11] Taylor, Michael (January 7, 2007). "A Fascination For Fine Machines". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

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show v t American open-wheel car racing champions
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USAC (1956–1979)	1956: Jimmy Bryan (2) 1957: Jimmy Bryan (3) 1958: Tony Bettenhausen (2) 1959: Rodger Ward 1960: A. J. Foyt 1961: A. J. Foyt (2) 1962: Rodger Ward (2) 1963: A. J. Foyt (3) 1964: A. J. Foyt (4) 1965: Mario Andretti 1966: Mario Andretti (2) 1967: A. J. Foyt (5) 1968: Bobby Unser 1969: Mario Andretti (3) 1970: Al Unser 1971: Joe Leonard 1972: Joe Leonard (2) 1973: Roger McCluskey 1974: Bobby Unser (2) 1975: A. J. Foyt (6) 1976: Gordon Johncock 1977: Tom Sneva 1978: Tom Sneva (2) 1979: A. J. Foyt (7)
CART/CCWS (1979–2007)	1979: Rick Mears 1980: Johnny Rutherford 1981: Rick Mears (2) 1982: Rick Mears (3) 1983: Al Unser (2) 1984: Mario Andretti (4) 1985: Al Unser (3) 1986: Bobby Rahal 1987: Bobby Rahal (2) 1988: Danny Sullivan 1989: Emerson Fittipaldi 1990: Al Unser Jr. 1991: Michael Andretti 1992: Bobby Rahal (3) 1993: Nigel Mansell 1994: Al Unser Jr. (2) 1995: Jacques Villeneuve 1996: Jimmy Vasser 1997: Alex Zanardi 1998: Alex Zanardi (2) 1999: Juan Pablo Montoya 2000: Gil de Ferran 2001: Gil de Ferran (2) 2002: Cristiano da Matta 2003: Paul Tracy 2004: Sébastien Bourdais 2005: Sébastien Bourdais (2) 2006: Sébastien Bourdais (3) 2007: Sébastien Bourdais (4)
IRL / INDYCAR (1996–present)	1996: Buzz Calkins/Scott Sharp 1996–97: Tony Stewart 1998: Kenny Bräck 1999: Greg Ray 2000: Buddy Lazier 2001: Sam Hornish Jr. 2002: Sam Hornish Jr. (2) 2003: Scott Dixon 2004: Tony Kanaan 2005: Dan Wheldon 2006: Sam Hornish Jr. (3) 2007: Dario Franchitti 2008: Scott Dixon (2) 2009: Dario Franchitti (2) 2010: Dario Franchitti (3) 2011: Dario Franchitti (4) 2012: Ryan Hunter-Reay 2013: Scott Dixon (3) 2014: Will Power 2015: Scott Dixon (4) 2016: Simon Pagenaud 2017: Josef Newgarden 2018: Scott Dixon (5) 2019: Josef Newgarden (2) 2020: Scott Dixon (6)
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