Scott Goodyear

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scott Goodyear (b. December 20, 1959 in Toronto, Ontario) was a race car driver from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Goodyear ran the IndyCar, IRL and Champ Car series during his career from 1987, winning the Michigan 500 in 1992 and 1994. He is also notable for almost winning the Indianapolis 500 on three different occasions.

Goodyear qualified for eleven straight Indianapolis 500 races from 1990 to 2000. After starting last (33rd) in the 1992 race he finished 2nd to Al Unser Jr. by 0.043 of a second. He should easily have won the 1995 race, but after leading forty-two laps, Goodyear mistakenly passed the pace car on a late restart and was penalised to fourteenth place after ignoring the black flags. Goodyear finished second again in 1997 after being passed by Arie Luyendyk on the backstraight at lap 194. He might have won if not for a controversial restart on the last lap, when the green and white flag waved despite the on-track lights still signaling yellow. Goodyear, who had expected the race to finish under caution, was weaving his car to keep his tires warm at the time of the restart. Meanwhile, eventual winner Luyendyk had already begun accelerating away from the field.

He drove in a couple Champ Car races for Walker Racing in 1996 before a practice accident at the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil sidelined him for most of the season. In 1997 he moved to the IRL with Treadway Racing and in 1998 moved to Panther Racing, where he stayed for three seasons, just losing out for the series title in 1999 to Greg Ray. He retired from racing following a crash with Sarah Fisher in the 2001 '500 and became a commentator for ABC and ESPN's coverage of the IRL with Paul Page, Todd Harris, of "World's Strongest Man" and extreme sports fame, and currently with Marty Reid and former NASCAR series champion Rusty Wallace.

Scott Goodyear was inducteed into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2002

[edit] IndyCar career results

Year	Team	Wins	Points	Championship Finish
1997	Treadway Racing	0	226	5th
1998	Panther Racing	0	244	7th
1999	Panther Racing	2	217	9th
2000	Panther Racing	1	272	2nd
2001	Cheever Racing	0	1	47th

3 wins, 0 championships

[edit] Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1990	Lola	Judd	21st	10th
1991	Lola	Judd	12th	27th
1992	Lola	Chevrolet	33rd	2nd
1993	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	4th	7th
1994	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	33rd	30th
1995	Reynard	Honda	3rd	14th
1997	G-Force	Oldsmobile	5th	2nd
1998	G-Force	Oldsmobile	10th	24th
1999	G-Force	Oldsmobile	9th	27th
2000	G-Force	Oldsmobile	13th	9th
2001	Dallara	Infiniti	16th	32nd