Scott Sharp

Scott Sharp
Sharp in May 2007 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Nationality	American
Born	(1968-02-14) February 14, 1968 Norwalk, Connecticut
United SportsCar Championship career
Debut season	2008
Current team	Extreme Speed Motorsports
Championship titles
2009 1996 1993 1991 1988 1987 1986	ALMS LMP1 Champion Indy Racing League Co-Champion SCCA Trans-Am SCCA Trans-Am SCCA GT-1 SCCA GT-1 SCCA GT-2
IndyCar Series career
147 races run over 13 years
Best finish	1st (1996)
First race	1996 Indy 200 (Orlando)
Last race	2009 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)
First win	1997 True Value 200 (Loudon)
Last win	2005 AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300 (Kentucky)
Wins Podiums Poles 9 18 6
Champ Car career
18 races run over 3 years
Best finish	21st (1994)
First race	1993 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey (Laguna Seca)
Last race	1995 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	69th (1992)
First race	1992 Budweiser at the Glen (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of June 4, 2012.

Scott Sharp (born February 14, 1968) is an American professional racing driver in the United SportsCar Championship. He is the son of six-time SCCA champion Bob Sharp (racing driver). Sharp is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing League.

Early career

Born in Norwalk, Sharp starting racing karts when he was only 8 years old, winning 50 out of 75 races. Sharp came from a road-racing background, earning several championships including: 1986 SCCA GT-2, 1987 and 1988 SCCA GT-1, and 1991 and 1993 SCCA Trans-Am. Sharp competed in one NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup) event, coming in 1992 at Watkins Glen. In 1993, Sharp made his CART debut with Bettenhausen Motorsports and became a full-time competitor in the series in 1994 with PacWest Racing. His first Indianapolis 500 start also came in 1994. In 1996, Sharp was part of Doyle Racing’s 24 Hours of Daytona winning team.

Indy Racing League career

Overview

Sharp is one of only two drivers (the other being Buddy Lazier) to have driven in at least one race in each of the first 12 seasons of IndyCar competition. His impressive IRL career has resulted in numerous records including: most career IndyCar Series starts (147); most consecutive IndyCar Series race starts (138); most races running at finish (110) and previously held the records for most top-ten finishes (82) and most consecutive seasons with at least one race win (7) (now both held by Hélio Castroneves).

History

He was one of the competitors in the first IRL race in 1996 with Foyt, the owner of his 1995 Indianapolis 500 car. He was the co-champion of the IRL's inaugural season in 1996 along with Buzz Calkins. In 1997 two crashes resulting in severe concussions sidelined Sharp until 1998 when he began working with the newly formed Kelley Racing team and sponsor Delphi. At Kelley, Sharp collected eight wins and four pole positions (one being at the 2001 Indianapolis 500). He was 3rd in the championship in 2001, but an influx of strong teams from CART meant that Kelley was not one of the strongest teams after that season. In 2004 he was down in 13th in the championship with a best finish of 8th — his first winless season since 1998, also ending a run of top 8 championship finishes dating back to 1998.

Kelley folded following the conclusion of the 2004 season. In 2005, Sharp, along with Delphi (who had become his personal sponsor), moved to Adrian Fernández's Fernández Racing. The switch brought about a small resurgence in Sharp's career and he was once again one of the top drivers in the IRL. 2005 saw him finish 5th in the championship, collecting a win at Kentucky Speedway along the way. However, Sharp struggled through the 2006 season as the team struggled to adapt to the Dallara chassis, and finished 11th in the points standings.

Sharp racing at Texas in 2007

For 2007, Sharp joined Rahal Letterman Racing, teaming with sophomore driver Jeff Simmons, though mid-season Simmons was replaced with Ryan Hunter-Reay. Sharp brought with him a new primary sponsor, the Patrón Spirits Company, who began as an associate sponsor in 2006. His new association with Patrón ended nine seasons of Delphi backing. His best finish of the season was 3rd, which he earned at the inaugural race at Iowa Speedway and also at Michigan International Speedway. A highlight of the season was his surprise pole position Texas Motor Speedway in June, his first since 2001. He was also able to capture his career-best finish in the Indianapolis 500, a 6th place. Sharp ended the season 8th in the championship standings.

Sharp returned to the series and compete in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 with Panther Racing. He qualified 20th and finished 14th on the lead lap.

American Le Mans Series career

Sharp on track at the Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio in July 2008

Sharp was under contract with Rahal Letterman Racing for 2008, but the two entities parted ways after each filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the other.^[1] Sharp and Patrón joined the American Le Mans Series with Highcroft Racing. He drives the #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b with David Brabham during the 2008 season in the LMP2 class.

Sharp started seventh in his debut race at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and finished fourth in class (fifth overall) with teammates Brabham and Stefan Johansson. The team finished second at the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg, which was Highcroft’s best finish to date. Sharp earned his first ALMS win in the P2 class at the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach. The win was also the first for Highcroft Racing. Sharp earned his first overall win in the American Le Mans Series at the 2008 Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park after starting from the pole position. A third class victory followed at the Generac 500 at Road America. When leader Gil de Ferran ran out of fuel on the last lap in Mosport awarded the team a fourth victory and second consecutive win.

Arguably, Sharp’s breakout ALMS performance came at the Detroit Sportscar Challenge presented by Bosch. He led for most of his stint, giving up the lead only when blocked in heavy traffic. His stellar driving won him SPEEDtv.com’s ‘Drive of the Race,’ though the team had to settle for second place in the event.^[2] Sharp and Brabham were joined by Dario Franchitti, one of Sharp’s former IndyCar competitors, for the 10-hour Petit Le Mans endurance race. Unfortunately, broken suspension took the car out of competition early on.

The combination of Sharp and Brabham proved a formidable and a combination of bad luck, and a triple-pronged effort from Penske Racing at the end of the season kept Sharp and Brabham from a championship. The duo finished second in the P2 point standings, forty one points behind the Penske Racing duo of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, after being as close as four points away with two rounds to go.

Extreme Speed Motorsports

It was announced on the American Le Mans Series website that Sharp would race in the 2010 series under his own team called Extreme Speed Motorsports. He ran with two Ferrari F430's in the GT class and was sponsored by the Patrón Spirits Company. Sharp raced in 2010 alongside the first announced driver, Patrón CEO Ed Brown.^[3]

In 2011, the team switched to newer Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 cars. The team made steady progress which culminated in a 3rd-place finish at the Laguna Seca race.

As of 2013 the team continues to run in the ALMS. The #02 car picked up another podium finish at the 2012 American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, and the #01 won the 2012 Grand Prix of Mosport—the first win for the team since its move to the GT class.

On January 1, 2016, Sharp won the Rolex 24 for the second time, with ESR.

Motorsports career results

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American open-wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

CART

IndyCar Series

Indy 500 results

Touring/sports car racing

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1996	Riley & Scott Cars Inc.	Wayne Taylor Jim Pace	Riley & Scott Mk III-Oldsmobile	WSC	157	DNF	DNF
2015	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Ryan Dalziel David Heinemeier Hansson	Ligier JS P2-Honda	LMP2	329	28th	10th
2016	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Ed Brown Johannes van Overbeek	Ligier JS P2-Nissan	LMP2	341	16th	10th

American Le Mans Series results

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Series	Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final Pos.	Points
ALMS P2	2008	Patrón Highcroft	SEB 4	STP 2	LGB 1	MMP 9	LRP 1*	MDO 2	ROA 1	MOS 1	DET 2	ATL Ret	LAG 9	3rd	162
ALMS P1	2009	Patrón Highcroft	SEB 5	STP 1*	LGB 2	MMP 2	LRP 2	MDO 2	ROA 1*	MOS 1*	ATL 6	LAG 2		1st	179
ALMS GT2	2010	Extreme Speed Motorsports	SEB Ret	LGB 7	LAG 5	MMP 7	LRP 6	MDO 5	ROA 8	MOS 6	ATL 2			10th	70
ALMS GT	2011	Extreme Speed Motorsports	SEB 16	LGB 11	LRP 4	MOS 9	MDO 5	ROA 8	BAL 9	LAG 3	ATL 6			7th	66
ALMS GT	2012	Extreme Speed Motorsports	SEB 9	LGB 3	LAG 5	LRP 4	MOS 1	MDO 6	ROA 3	BAL 3	VIR 3	ATL 1		2nd	123
ALMS P2	2013	Extreme Speed Motorsports	SEB 5	LGB 1	LAG 3	LRP 2	MOS 2	ROA 2	BAL 2	COTA 4	VIR 2	ATL 2		3rd	163

* Overall victory as well as class victory. Italics indicates season is currently running.

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

NASCAR

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

Winston Cup Series

Notes

References

External links

• Extreme Speed Motorsports Official Website
• Highcroft Racing Official Website
• Patrón Racing Official Website
• Scott Sharp driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Scott Sharp career summary at DriverDB.com