Buddy Rice

Buddy Rice
Buddy Rice waits for a qualification attempt before the 2007 Indianapolis 500.
Nationality	American
Born	(1976-01-31) January 31, 1976 Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2002
Current team	Panther Racing
Car number	44
Former teams	Cheever Racing Rahal Letterman Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Rubicon Racing Team
Starts	97
Wins	3
Poles	5
Best finish	3rd in 2004
Previous series
2006 1998–2000, 2002 1996–1997	Champ Car World Series Toyota Atlantic U.S. Formula Ford 2000
Championship titles
2000 2004 2009	Toyota Atlantic Champion Indianapolis 500 winner 24 Hours of Daytona winner
Awards
1997	Team USA Scholarship

Albert Lee "Buddy" Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American former race car driver. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona for Brumos Racing.

Career

Early years

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Buddy Rice is the son of a former drag racer. Rice's grandfather was from Indianapolis and passed on his interest in racing to Rice's father. Rice saw his first race when he was six years old. He started racing in go-karts when he was 11. Rice played baseball in high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and attracted the attention of college and professional scouts. However, both Rice and his father decided he would pursue a career in racing instead.

Rice's professional career began in 1996, when he drove in one U.S. F2000 event; he finished eighth after starting second. He also drove in the Dodge Shelby Pro Series, winning from the pole at Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

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

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.

IRL IndyCar Series

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 drive in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the Homestead circuit before being called by Bobby Rahal to drive the No. 15 Argent Mortgage Honda when Kenny Bräck was injured in a late-race crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003.

Buddy Rice in 2004 @ Michigan International Speedway, winner of the Michigan Indy 400

In 2004, Rice started on pole and won a rain-shortened Indianapolis 500, his first Indycar race victory. 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.

Buddy Rice & Crew in 2004 @ Michigan International Speedway, in winner's circle of the Michigan Indy 400

Rice driving at the Milwaukee Mile in 2007

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

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

Buddy Rice recovers from a tough qualification attempt prior to the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

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. He ultimately finished 16th in points.

He did not participate in the 2009 IndyCar Series season after being released from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing at the end of the 2008 season. Further, his long-standing partnership with Red Bull also expired and was not renewed.

He raced for Panther Racing in the 2011 Indianapolis 500 as a teammate to J. R. Hildebrand driving the No. 44 Honda Dallara.

A1 Grand Prix

Starting the 2007-08 season, Rice signed to drive for A1 Team USA in the A1 Grand Prix international racing series. He drove in the first two rounds of the season with a best finish of 13th in the Zandvoort feature race before ceding the seat to Jonathan Summerton for the remainder of the season.

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series

Rice competed in a few Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in the early 2000s. In his debut in 2000, he finished second at Watkins Glen on a TRP Lola Nissan. In 2002 he resulted second at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and fourth in Homestead and Phoenix, driving a Miracle Riley & Scott Ford.

The driver competed at the 24 Hours of Daytona from 2005 to 2008, with a best result of 9th in 2006. He also raced at Utah from 2006 to 2008, collecting a 7th again in 2006.

In 2009, Rice won the 24 Hours of Daytona on a Brumos Racing Riley Porsche. He spent the second half of the season as teammate of Antonio García in a Spirit of Daytona Coyote Porsche, where he finished 4th at Barber in his only top 10.

Rice raced full-time for Spirit of Daytona in the 2010 Rolex Sports Car Series, joining again García. He helped Spirit of Daytona get the first podium finish for the team at the Six Hours of the Glen in 2010, collecting a third place. He also resulted 5th in three races and ended the season in 11th place.

His last Grand-Am race was the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona, where he finished 9th in an Action Express Racing Riley Porsche.

Personal

In his free time, Rice collects and restores classic cars. He has a child, Mina, who was born on April 9, 2006.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results

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

USF2000 National Championship

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
1996	???	WDW	STP	PIR 8	DSC1 7	MOS	IRP 18	RIR	WGI1	WGI2	MDO	NHS	LVS 27	???	???
1997	Lynx Racing	WDW 2	STP 3	PIR 1	DSC1 18	DSC2 26	SAV 3	PPI 2	CHA1 37	CHA2 33	MDO 13	WGI 11	WGI 37	4th	153

Atlantic Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
1998	Lynx Racing	LBH 14	NAZ 1	GAT 4	MIL 11	MTL 3	CLE 3	TOR 25	TRR 20	MDO 2	ROA 26	VAN 5	LS 5	HOU	7th	108
1999	Lynx Racing	LBH 4	NAZ 6	GAT 6	MIL 3	MTL 2	ROA 2	TRR 21	MDO 16	CHI 5	VAN 4	LS 2	HOU 16		5th	113
2000	DSTP Motorsports	HMS1 2	HMS2 1	LBH 1	MIL 17	MTL 28	CLE 1	TOR 2	TRR 1	ROA 1	LS 3	GAT 2	HOU 3		1st	185
2002	DSTP Motorsports	MTY	LBH	MIL	LS 8	POR 11	CHI 11	TOR 6	CLE 13	TRR	ROA	MTL	DEN		17th	31

IRL IndyCar Series

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	Ref
2002	Red Bull Cheever	Dallara	53	Infiniti	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS 2	KTY 12								22nd	140
			52														STL 4	CHI 9	TX2 6
2003	Cheever Racing			Chevrolet	HMS 16	PHX 9	MOT 13	INDY 11	TXS 14	PPIR 9	RIR 9	KAN 19	NSH 18	MIS 11	STL 14	KTY 11	NZR 10	CHI	FON	TX2				16th	229
2004	Rahal Letterman Racing	G-Force	15	Honda	HMS 7	PHX 9	MOT 6	INDY 1	TXS 15	RIR 6	KAN 1	NSH 6	MIL 2	MIS 1	KTY 2	PPIR 22	NZR 4	CHI 14	FON 5	TX2 20				3rd	485
2005		Panoz			HMS 19	PHX 22	STP 7	MOT 3	INDY Inj	TXS 21	RIR 11	KAN 10	NSH 18	MIL 17	MIS 22	KTY 14	PPIR 11	SNM 2	CHI 13	WGL 19	FON 12			15th	295
2006					HMS Wth1	STP 13	MOT 5	INDY 26	WGL 4								SNM 15							15th	234
		Dallara								TXS 18	RIR 13	KAN 17	NSH 16	MIL 11	MIS 13	KTY 15		CHI 13
2007	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing				HMS 10	STP 10	MOT 10	KAN 20	INDY 25	MIL 18	TXS 8	IOW 4	RIR 5	WGL 6	NSH 17	MDO 8	MIS 5	KTY 12	SNM 11	DET 7	CHI 9			9th	360
2008					HMS 11	STP 15	MOT2 12	LBH2 DNP	KAN 20	INDY 8	MIL 10	TXS 8	IOW 22	RIR 22	WGL 4	NSH 7	MDO 20	EDM 11	KTY 10	SNM 11	DET 19	CHI 25	SRF3 10	16th	306
2011	Panther Racing		44		STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 18	TXS1	TXS2	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHM	SNM	BAL	MOT	KTY 9	LVS C		34th	42

¹ Rahal-Letterman Racing withdrew both Rice and teammate Danica Patrick from competition when fellow teammate Paul Dana was killed in a race-morning practice session accident.

² Races run on same day.

³ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
8	4	99	5	3	5	35	1 (2004)	0

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2003	Dallara	Chevrolet	19	11	Cheever
2004	G-Force	Honda	1	1	Rahal Letterman
2005	Panoz	Honda	Practice crash		Rahal Letterman
2006	Panoz	Honda	14	26	Rahal Letterman
2007	Dallara	Honda	16	25	Dreyer & Reinbold
2008	Dallara	Honda	17	8	Dreyer & Reinbold
2011	Dallara	Honda	7	18	Panther

Champ Car World Series

Champ Car results
Year	Team	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points	Ref
2006	Forsythe Championship Racing	7	LBH	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA	SRF	MXC 10	23rd	11

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2007–08	USA	NED SPR 22	NED FEA 13	CZE SPR 16	CZE FEA 15	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	ZHU SPR	ZHU FEA	NZL SPR	NZL FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	SHA SPR	SHA FEA	GBR SPR	GBR SPR	12th	56

International Race of Champions

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

International Race of Champions results
Season	Make	1	2	3	4	Pos.	Points	Ref
2005	Pontiac	DAY 5	TEX 3	RCH 4	ATL 7	4th	46

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck 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	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
2003	SealMaster Racing	88	Chevy	DAY	DAR	MMR	MAR	CLT	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	GTW	MCH	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	CAL	LVS<	SBO	TEX	MAR	PHO	HOM 20	103rd	103

External links

• Official Site
• Buddy Rice driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• IndyCar Driver Page
• Buddy Rice on the Honda site