Chris Simmons (racing driver)
| Chris Simmons | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Northeast |
| Awards | |
| 1991 | SCCA Jim Fitzgerald National Rookie of the Year |
Chris Simmons (Hartford, Connecticut, 1 May 1973) is a Chip Ganassi Racing engineer for their IndyCar Series teams.
Racing career
Simmons started as a driver, initially racing
quarter midgets in the north eastern United States. He started his first quarter midget race at the age of seven.[1] After attending the Spenard-David racing school he started auto racing in 1990. The driver from Connecticut started out in the SCCA S2000 Northeast Division championship. Simmons won the 1991 championship after winning five out of seven races. Simmons also won the SCCA National Championship Runoffs in his class at Road Atlanta in 1991. The drove his Lola T598 from the pole position to the win. He won with advantage of more than eight seconds over Paul O'Kean.[2]
After his success in
Hoosier Dome his car crashed into the pit area. One person got killed, eight others were injured. Simmons was uninjured.[4]
For 1995 Simmons again ran a limited schedule due to college obligations. In 1995 he graduated in mechanical engineering and management & technology at the University of Pennsylvania. Simmons made his debut in
Team Green, Mark Hotchkis replaced Simmons at Nazareth and the following three rounds.[6] Simmons returned to the series at Portland International Raceway
where he finished fourteenth. At the end of the season Simmons scored 32 points and was placed nineteenth in the championship.
After not being able to secure a race seat for 1999, Simmons moved into the mechanical side of the sport. His brother
Andretti Autosport while his brother moved on to other teams. Simmons was an assistant engineer to Tony Kanaan and Paul Tracy. At Chip Ganassi Racing since 2003, he has been part of the team's rapid success, initially on the No. 10 team with three of Dario Franchitti's series titles and an Indianapolis 500 win in 2012, then staying with Tony Kanaan on the No. 10, but since 2015 has been with Scott Dixon for two more titles with the No. 9 team (2015 and 2018), which he is lead engineer.[8]
Racing record
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
| Year | Track | Car | Engine | Class | Finish | Start | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Road Atlanta | Lola T598 | Ford | S2000 | 1 | 1 | Running |
American open-wheel racing results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
American Continental Championship results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992
|
FIR
|
MOS
|
IOW | WGI 8 |
LRP | TRR | SON1
|
SON2
|
??? | ??? | |
| 1993 | ROA 11 |
MOS 1 |
SON
|
IOW | WGI 1 |
TRR 9 |
DAL
|
4th | ??? |
USAC FF2000 Eastern Division Championship
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | SOTARE Racing | ROA1 7 |
IRP 2 |
NAZ 1 |
SHA 2 |
WGI 1 |
TOP 9 |
ROA2 12 |
SEB 1 |
1st | ??? | |
| 1993 | SOTARE Racing | ATL 1 |
IRP 17 |
WGI 19 |
MDO 1 |
RAM 1 |
NHS 1 |
SHA1 1 |
SHA2 1 |
LRP 1 |
1st | ??? |
USAC FF2000 National Championship results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | IRP1
|
IRP2
|
IRP3
|
WGI | BFR | TOP
|
NHS 1 |
SHA1
|
SHA2
|
LRP | ??? | ??? |
Indy Lights
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Sotare Motorsports | MIA 14 |
PHX DNS |
LBH
|
NAZ | MIL
|
DET
|
POR | TOR
|
CLE | NHA | VAN | LS
|
N.C. | 0 | ||
| 1996 | Team Green
|
MIA 2 |
LBH Ret |
NAZ 4 |
MIS 12 |
MIL 5 |
DET 7 |
POR Ret |
CLE 11 |
TOR Ret |
TRO Ret |
VAN 7 |
LS 12 |
10th | 54 | ||
| 1997 | Team Green
|
MIA 3 |
LBH 4 |
NAZ 2 |
SAV 16 |
STL 5 |
MIL 17 |
DET 8 |
POR 13 |
TOR Ret |
TRO 15 |
VAN 4 |
LS Ret |
FON 2 |
5th | 88 | |
| 1998 | Mattco Raceworks | MIA 5 |
LBH Ret |
NAZ Inj |
STL
|
MIL
|
DET
|
POR 14 |
CLE 15 |
TOR 3 |
MIS 10 |
TRO 8 |
VAN Ret |
LS 13 |
FON 14 |
19th | 32 |
References
- ^ "Racer Was Driven By His Dream Chris Simmons' Years Of Tenacity Paid Off. Today, He Brings His Talents To The Nazareth Raceway". The Inquirer. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "SCCA RUNOFFS DRIVER HISTORIES S-Z" (PDF). SCCA. Retrieved 11 October 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Year-By-Year Champion Drivers". USFF2000. Archived from the original on August 13, 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "Fatal crash probed". The Times-News. 31 January 1994. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "Chris Simmons Update". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "Hotchkis Subs for Simmons". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "His brother's keeper". The Argus-Press. 30 July 2000. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "Christopher Simmons". LinkedIn. Retrieved 11 October 2014.