Paul Tracy

Early years

Fascinated by cars since boyhood, Tracy raced go-karts at Goodwood Kartways near his hometown until he was 16. At age 16, in 1985, he became the youngest ever Canadian Formula Ford Champion. He was also the winner of the final Can-Am race in series history at the age of 17; in that same race he achieved the record of the youngest winner in Can-Am history.

Tracy worked his way up through the North American open-wheel feeder series' culminating with winning the 1990 American Racing Series Championship, and in the process set a record for single season wins with nine.

Penske and Newman/Haas years

The following year, he competed in his first IndyCar event at Long Beach and at mid-season became a test driver for Penske Racing, in his first race for the team at Michigan he crashed and broke his left leg. He recovered and raced twice more for the team at the end of the season. He was scheduled to start a selected number of races for Penske in 1992 and ended up starting 11 races, many of his starts as a substitute driver for the injured Rick Mears. Mears announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 1992 season and Tracy replaced Mears in the #3 car.

His first full year of IndyCar competition came in 1993 and he won five times with his first win coming at Long Beach and the others at Cleveland, Toronto, Road America and Laguna Seca. Tracy led the series in laps led and was voted most improved driver by his peers. The 1994 season started out slowly for Tracy as he scored just two points in the first four races. He rebounded from his poor start and finished on the podium in eight of the final twelve races with victories at Detroit, Nazareth, and Laguna Seca. His third-place showing in the points gave Penske a sweep of the top-three slots with Al Unser, Jr. winning the title and Emerson Fittipaldi second. That year, Tracy also tested with the Benetton Formula One team at Estoril.

Despite three successful seasons at Penske racing, Tracy switched to Newman/Haas Racing for the 1995 season. Although he won two races (Australia and Milwaukee) and finished 6th in the championship, Tracy returned to Penske racing for 1996. His return to Penske was a disappointment as he finished the season with no wins and 13th in the championship. A back injury also forced him to miss two races. 1997 was a roller coaster season for Tracy. He won consecutive events at Nazareth, Rio de Janeiro and Gateway, to take the points lead. The season went downhill soon after as he finished 26th or worse in each of the final five events to slip to fifth place in the championship. His wins were the 97th, 98th and 99th for Penske Racing in CART; they had to wait 3 more years for their 100th.

During this period (1994–1995) Tracy also dabbled as a professional downhill mountain bike racer. He raced for Yeti Bicycles and made appearances in the pro class at famous bike races such as the legendary Kamikaze at Mammouth mountain. During this time Penske developed a special upside down suspension fork for Yeti Cycles and Tracy. Kaiser Aerospace in partnership with Yeti Cycles built one of the first thermoplastic carbon fiber bicycles for Tracy at a cost of $US 500,000 to produce.

Team Green years

Tracy left Penske Racing again to race for Team Green for the 1998 season. The year was a struggle as he finished no better than fifth in any race and ended up a disappointing 13th in the championship. The low point of the year came in Houston when he crashed out of second place after colliding with his teammate Dario Franchitti, leading to an altercation with team owner Barry Green when Tracy returned to the pits.

Several on and off track incidents during the year earned him the wrath of CART officials and he was excluded from the 1999 season opener. Although he missed the first race, Paul still had a very successful season as he recorded seven podium finishes and had victories at Milwaukee and Houston. He finished third in the championship.

The 2000 season was also a success for Tracy as he won at Long Beach, Road America and Vancouver and finished fifth in the championship. Tracy sat on the pole for the Michigan 500 with a new track record speed of 234.949 mph (378.114 km/h).

Tracy's fourth year with Team Green in 2001 was one of the worst of his career as he went winless and finished 14th in the championship. 2002 was another year of struggle for Tracy. He did win a race at Milwaukee but failed to finish 10 of 19 races and was 11th in the championship.

With Team Green, Tracy returned to the Indianapolis 500 in 2002 for the first time since 1995. A late-race caution flag for a crash appeared at nearly the same time he passed Hélio Castroneves for what would have been the race lead. Team Green protested the result but the official investigation proved that Castroneves was still ahead at the time the caution came out. Tracy and Barry Green contended that the caution flag was timed to stop a CART driver beating the regulars of the rival Indy Racing League, which is run by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George. In the previous year's race, CART drivers had claimed the first five finishing positions, leading Tracy's supporters to believe that IRL brass was looking to avoid another defeat in the biggest race of the year. Perhaps as a result of this, Tracy was received CART's Most Popular Driver Award later that same year.

Forsythe years

Tracy made his off-season move to the Player's Forsythe team for the 2003 season and had one of the best ever seasons in Champ Car history. He became the first driver in 32 years to win the first three races of a season, scoring victories in St. Petersburg, Monterrey, and Long Beach. His other victories came at Toronto (his finest victory of the season and perhaps his career; he led all 112 laps and, at one point, had a lead so big that when the first full-course caution of the race came out, Tracy managed to complete a pit stop before anyone else even got close to the pit lane entrance), Vancouver, Mid-Ohio, and Mexico City. He led 658 laps, earned six poles, and ten podiums on the way to his first-ever championship.

Due to tobacco advertising laws, Player's could not return as a sponsor for the following season. At the same time, CART went bankrupt and its assets were auctioned off in an Indiana court. The series was purchased by Kevin Kalkhoven, Paul Gentilozzi, and Tracy's team owner Gerald Forsythe. The lack of sponsor money certainly did not help the team and Tracy was unable to defend his championship in 2004. He finished fourth in the series, with wins at Long Beach and Vancouver.

The 2005 season started out strong for Tracy. He led the points standings after five races, winning at Milwaukee and Cleveland. Bad luck and mistakes characterized the rest of his season, however. He was leading at Toronto when he ran out of fuel and crashed on his own while leading at Denver. A hard crash with Sébastien Bourdais at Las Vegas ended his championship hopes. Tracy finished fourth in the standings for the second year in a row.

2006 looked to be a transitional year for Tracy, with a five-race deal run in the NASCAR Busch Series possibly becoming a full-season contract in 2007. However, for a number of reasons, including poor results in the first three Busch races, Tracy reconsidered and determined that staying in Champ Car might be his best option. In May 2006, it was announced that Tracy had re-signed with Forsythe Racing for an additional five seasons. He announced plans to compete in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2007 for Riley D'Hondt Motorsports with sponsorship from SportClips. Tracy also competed in one Camping World Truck Series race in 2008 at Texas Motor Speedway, where he finished 20th for Germain Racing. He has since stated that he has no plans to run in NASCAR in 2009.

In November 2006, Tracy was injured while riding an ATV, but a rumor started that he had jumped a sand trap in a golf cart. Tracy denied the rumor and stated that he does not even own a golf cart. In January 2007, Tracy vowed to win the 2007 Champ Car title. However, on April 14 during a practice session at Long Beach, he crashed into a concrete barrier and suffered a fractured vertebra which forced him to miss the race and the next one in Houston. In late-May, he was given the green light by doctors to return into action for the race in Portland on June 10.

IndyCar Series career

Following the unification of open wheel racing in North America, Forsythe announced that he would not be moving on to race in the IRL-sanctioned IndyCar Series in 2008, leaving Tracy a free agent after the 2008 race at Long Beach. After being without a ride for most of the season, Tracy signed a deal to drive for a joint Vision Racing/Walker Racing effort in the Rexall Edmonton Indy with sponsorship from Subway. Despite starting 15th in the race (due to a last qualifying lap spin by Marty Roth during the second knockout session), Tracy finished 4th behind Justin Wilson, Hélio Castroneves, and winner Scott Dixon. He had a fastest personal lap time of 1:02.9258 at 112.876 mph (181.656 km/h) set on lap 77.

On April 17, 2009 between practice sessions of the Long Beach Grand Prix it was announced that Tracy will drive in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 for KV Racing Technology sponsored by Geico Insurance. Races at Edmonton, Toronto, and Watkins Glen were later added to the KV/Tracy program for 2009, with additional races possible. Following Tracy's 9th-place finish in his return to the Indy 500, AJ Foyt Enterprises signed Tracy to replace the injured Vitor Meira in the #14 car, but only for the Milwaukee race. Tracy drove again in 2009 for KV Racing at Mid-Ohio in place of Mario Moraes, who returned to Brazil after his father died.

Other racing

In July 2013, Tracy ran in the Stadium Super Trucks, making his debut at Toronto.

French helmet

During his racing career, Tracy has been involved in several controversies, notably involving CART bosses. Also, several rivals have alleged that he is aggressive and sometimes dangerous, habits which have caused several accidents and feuds in the past. However, the most recent and high-profile incident involving the Canadian driver was the French helmet controversy.

The French helmet controversy erupted during the 2006 season after Tracy was involved in two on-track incidents at San Jose and Denver. At San Jose, Tracy missed a right curve and went straight into an open space area. By trying to return to the track, he hit Alex Tagliani's car, damaging the whole front of it. After the crash, Tagliani, a French-Canadian, angrily confronted Tracy in the pits and demanded that he pay for the damage since Tagliani's race team had financial issues. Tracy then warned Tagliani not to touch him, but the latter persisted and eventually the two men came to blows before being separated by Champ Car officials. Tracy noted that Tagliani was still wearing his helmet during the scuffle. Both men were fined an undisclosed amount of money, while Tracy was put on probation for three races and lost seven points.

During the next race in Denver, Tracy and French driver Sébastien Bourdais were fighting for the second position on the last lap. Tracy, while having fuel and brake issues, was well behind Bourdais coming into the final corner. Still, he did not slow down enough, losing control and hitting Bourdais' car in the process. The Newman-Haas driver then charged at Tracy and gave him a shove. Although Tracy invited Bourdais to confront him, the latter chose to walk away from the potential altercation. Tracy was docked an additional three points in the championship and was fined US$25,000. Champ Car mentioned that "Tracy's on-track actions in Denver were determined to be in violation of his probation" a probation stemming from the San Jose incident. Bourdais demanded that Tracy be suspended, since he felt that Tracy had cost him several points that he could have used to widen his now-slim lead in the points standings over A. J. Allmendinger, Tracy's teammate, who won the Denver race.

During a post-race interview, Tracy criticized Bourdais for not confronting him after the incident: "Too bad he wouldn't take his helmet off, then we really would have settled things. But French guys always keep their helmets on". Tracy downplayed the remarks, claiming they were a joke, but added one week later: "I said it was a joke, but it's a fact. If I said anything untrue, I'd apologize for it, but in both instances, they came to me to get in an altercation with their helmets on. I don't regret it, but I said it in joking". Bourdais, Tagliani, and Quebec driver Andrew Ranger asked for the crowd to boo him at the next race in Montreal, on the weekend of August 26.

This incident also renewed a heated rivalry between Tracy and Bourdais in which the Canadian driver criticized his rival for knocking him out of several past races and claiming that the Denver incident was payback according to him. In regards to the helmet remarks, Bourdais fired back at Tracy, saying: "I guess I'm not a hockey player and I didn't see him taking his helmet off either. I guess if he wants to fight someone, he is in the wrong sport." He continued: "It's just Paul Tracy making a fool out of himself race after race."

Tagliani added: "I said he (Tracy) should wear a straitjacket because that's the only thing that could keep him under control. And Sébastien (Bourdais) said he can't drive with that on, so maybe it's the only thing that could keep him out of trouble".

During the warm-ups and qualifying sessions in Montreal, the crowd at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve booed Tracy loudly. However, during the traditional drivers' presentation before the race, Tracy wore a blue mask and a Quebec flag as a cape while doing wrestling gestures, and the fans began to warm up to him. RDS, TSN's French language television network, titled an article as: Paul Tracy, "le Crazy Québécois" (the crazy Quebecer) and TSN captioned an image with "Captain Quebec". Tracy finished the rain-delayed race in second position behind Bourdais on the following Monday. Fans cheered for Tracy as he wore a Quebec flag on the podium.

Personal

Tracy is married and has two children. He resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has a business interest in Arma Energy SNX. Tracy also owns Black Label Baggers, a custom motorcycle parts company. On July 16, 2015 Tracy announced via his instagram that he had become a citizen of the United States while maintaining his citizenship with Canada. He is nicknamed "The Thrill from West Hill" for his connection to West Hill, Toronto and his wins at the Toronto IndyCar race.

Trivia

Tracy appeared as an on-screen extra in an episode of The Littlest Hobo titled "Torque" (1985, Season 6).

In July 2013, Autosport magazine named Tracy one of the 50 greatest drivers to have never raced in Formula One. Tracy impressed when testing for Benetton at Estoril in 1994, as he set a faster time than both Benetton drivers JJ Lehto and Jos Verstappen had managed for that year's Portuguese Grand Prix, and was only 0.7 sec off of Gerhard Berger's pole time for the same race. Afterwards, Tracy was offered a restrictive contract with few guarantees, ultimately deciding to stay in North America.

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

IndyCar Series

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series

(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.)