More about JR...

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

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2021

Signed to drive the No. 1 ABC Supply Chevrolet which features a retro livery to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of A.J. Foyt's first of four Indianapolis 500 triumphs.

2020

Competed in Indianapolis 500 for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, starting 32nd and finishing 16th.

2019

Competed in the Indianapolis 500 for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, starting 21st and finishing 20th.

2018

Competed in the Indianapolis 500 for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, starting 27th and finishing 11th.

2017

Finished 15th for Ed Carpenter Racing with best finish of second at Iowa.

Finished third at Phoenix, his first podium finish since finishing second at Indianapolis in 2011. Qualified a career-best second at Iowa.

2016

Competed in both Indianapolis events for Ed Carpenter Racing, finishing sixth in the Indianapolis 500, his third straight top-10 finish in the event.

2015

Competed in both Indianapolis events for CFH Racing, finishing eighth in the Indianapolis 500.

2014

Competed in an impressive Indianapolis 500 for Ed Carpenter Racing, qualifying ninth and finishing 10th in only race of NTT IndyCar Series season.

2013

Competed in seven events for Panther Racing and Barracuda Racing with best finish of fifth at Long Beach. Led six laps at Sao Paulo.

2012

Finished 11th in NTT IndyCar Series point standings for Panther Racing with best finish of fifth at Long Beach and Texas. Recorded six top-10 finishes. Led three races, including a career-best 56 laps at Auto Club Speedway.

2011

Finished 14th in standings for Panther Racing. Finished Runner-up in Rookie of the Year standings. Finished second in 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500, crashing while leading coming out of Turn 4 on final lap. Voted Chase Rookie of the Year for 2011 Indianapolis 500.

2010

Made NTT IndyCar Series debut at Mid-Ohio for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, finishing 16th.

Competed in race at Sonoma, finishing 24th. Participated driver evaluation test in December with Panther Racing at Phoenix and was announced as full-time driver the following week.

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UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

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Favorite hobbies: Generally getting outside - mountain biking especially - and messing with old cars

Favorite music: Probably 2000's hard rock/alt rock and hip hop from the same era

Favorite book: The Right Stuff

Heroes: “I've always looked up to my dad; Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. was my racing hero growing up.”

Favorite color: “Orange.”

Favorite vacation spot: “The Tyrolean region of Europe.”

Favorite food: “Pizza Napoletana.”

Favorite drink: “Ha water? A good West Coast IPA on occasion... Milk!”

Favorite dessert: “Home-cooked fruit pies or a scoop of ice cream with an espresso poured on it.”

Favorite movies: “Contact, Pulp Fiction, The Matrix, Interstellar.”

Favorite actor/actress: “Robin Williams, Emily Blunt.”

Favorite sport (other than racing) to watch on TV: “If MotoGP doesn't count, the Warriors NBA.”

Favorite race tracks (& Why): “Indy for obvious reasons, Pikes Peak because of the unadulterated challenge, Sonoma's fast layout because it's my home track and super flowy, Road Atlanta because it's got great flow as well.”

Favorite restaurant: “There's a little place in Boulder called Basta that's amazing.”

Favorite holiday: “Probably Christmas because it's truly a day off!”

Favorite present received (ever): “Hard not to think of presents from when I was a kid, my parents got me an awesome Schwinn mountain bike that was really pivotal in my becoming enamored with that sport so that one sticks with me.”

Favorite season (besides ‘racing season’): “I love the Fall.”

Your answering machine message: “Super simple, but I do at least have one!”

Oldest thing in your refrigerator: “Probably the baking soda in there to deodorize it! Prob needs to be swapped out!”

Pets: “We have a new cattledog rescue pup named Zora!”

Something you do before every race: “I try to take a bit of time to just settle into the moment.”

Most interesting fact about your career: “That I earned a three-day F1 test by being one of the two fastest guys in a simulator test after I won the Indy Lights Championship in 2009.”

Something most people don't know about you: “I'm not sure whether this is something most people know or not, but I'm super passionate about the future of motorsport and think there are incredible things ahead for the sport if we really embrace what we know about both the past and the trends of the future.”

Who would you like to have dinner with (a person dead or alive) and why: “I'd like to have dinner with my dad's dad (my paternal grandfather). He passed away when I was still kind of young, but I think now being an adult we'd have been great friends and he was the kind of person that would have been full of common sense wisdom about life.”

Quality you value most in others: “Trustworthiness.”

What you'd be if you weren't a race driver: “Maybe in the space program. Either that or an automotive/motorsport engineer. I think.”

How you got started in racing: “My dad had a '68 Camaro road racing car that he vintage-raced when I was a kid, and I played a lot of early racing simulation games on PC. He and I drove go karts together a couple times when I was 10 then 12, then I started racing karts at 14.”

How you relax at the race track: “Honestly, I'm pretty relaxed at the track generally these days, but if I need to chill, I just try to find some quite space to myself.”

How you spend your spare time: “I enjoy exercising outside especially if I can do it with some buddies, playing with the dog, and scheming up the next project.”

Greatest fear: “I'll put it this way - I want to be able to look back and have taken advantage of the clear opportunities I'm afforded.”

Secret wish: “Wouldn't be much of a secret!”

Awards: “I won the Marin County Science Fair in High School.”

Most proud accomplishment: “Marrying a great woman.”

Best advice your mother ever gave you: “Not a specific piece of advice, but my mom tends to have good intuition on helping me make the right choices, for me.”

Greatest influence on/in your life: “Probably my parents just generally, but I've been fortunate to have a lot of great influences. My wife, too, as I've gotten older.”

What you like most about yourself: “I like to think that I'm pretty authentic to myself. I strive to be.”

Most thrilling experience in a race car: “Thrilling can be a lot of things... I did a bunch of testing in a 1975 Penske PC3 F1 car and I can still feel the adrenaline surge a little through my body just thinking about that thing. Something about it.”

Most thrilling experience outside of a race car: “Kind of random but I still have the muscle memory of making solid contact playing baseball in high school when the game was on the line.”

Toughest part of your job: “For me I think it's knowing how much it can affect the people around you. It's such an unconventional job and really does require that you're immersed in it and totally committed, which even aside from the potential risk does not always make for the easiest life.”

Your highest goal in racing: “Win Indy. Simple as that.”

What would a successful life look like to you? “I guess I'll probably measure my own success in life by whether I've had a positive impact on the people and things I care about. I think that's a pretty worthy goal.”

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