Paul Tracy, the fiery Canadian from Mississauga, Ontario has been entertaining fans in all forms of motorsports for well over 2 decades. "The Thrill From West Hill" as he is so affectionately known as by his army of fans, has built a phenomenal career that puts him on par with the greats of his generation, and with the greats of all time. And just the same as many other racing greats, Tracy spent his youth racing Go-Karts, in Tracy's case, his Karting home was Goodwood Kartways, a 3 quarter mile karting facility in Stouffville, Ontario. A facility that also helped hone the skills of road racing legend, and fellow Canadian, Ron Fellows.
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| Paul Tracy's Can-Am Race Car that he took to victory at Mosport in 1986 |
In 1988, Tracy made his biggest jump so far, finding a seat in the HFC American Racing Series, a series that is known today as the Firestone Indy Lights, a prominent feeder series for IndyCar. Tracy proceeded to show his immense talent, leading the most laps and romping to victory in his very first race at Phoenix against much more established and experienced race car drivers, such as Britain's Calvin Fish, and Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio II. Unfortunately for Tracy, that win would be the highlight of his rookie, and sophomore year in the ARS, as Tracy went winless and posted rather average points finishes of 8th, and 9th. But in 1990, Tracy's 3rd year, he lit the world on fire and obliterated the field, winning the first 3 races, and 7 of the first 8, finishing off a dominant season with 9 victories, coming at Phoenix, Long Beach, Milwaukee, Portland, Cleveland, Meadowlands, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, and Road America, along with those 9 wins, Tracy captured 7 Pole positions, and finished the season with 214 points, a full 79 ahead of the rest of the field, with such a dominant season in a prominent IndyCar feeder series, it was only a matter of time before IndyCar began calling.
Surely enough, in 1991 Tracy was given a one race deal with the lowly Dale Coyne Racing Organization, a team that was far from the race winning contender it is today. And so on April 14th 1991, Paul Tracy made his IndyCar series debut in the seasons 2nd race in Long Beach, California. Tracy ran a relatively strong race in the underfunded Dale Coyne outfit, but come lap 30 Tracy was forced out of the race with engine trouble. But as luck would have it, a very important man was impressed by Tracy's short debut. After having his Inaugural Indy 500 Appearance put in hold after Dale Coyne withdrew him in favor of a more experienced driver in Randy Lewis, Tracy was given his big break, as an auto racing icon by the name of Roger Penske signed him to a Testing role that included select starts in the IndyCar series. Paul Tracy was finally given a shot at the big times in highly funded, highly competitive equipment.
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| Paul Tracy struck gold when he signed with Penske. This is him at the season finale in Laguna Seca in 1991. |
Unfortunately the union got off to a horrific start. As on lap 3 of the Marlboro 500, at Michigan International Speedway Tracy suffered a horrific crash that broke his left leg, and knocked him out of the car for several races. Fortunately an incredible recovery allowed Tracy to come back and compete twice more before seasons end, including a phenomenal 7th place run at Nazareth in which Tracy outran both of his highly experienced teammates, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Rick Mears.
Tracy's 1992 season was once again relegated to a part-time testing role as the experienced duo of Mears, and Fittipaldi continued their rule of the 2 drivers seats. In Tracy's first start of the season he improved upon his career best finish, taking a 4th place finish at Phoenix, finishing directly behind his teammate Fittipaldi. Although Tracy was only expected to run a select amount of races, his performance pushed the number of races higher, and higher, and then Tracy's moment came, as Rick Mears broke his wrist in a crash whilst practicing for the Indy 500, and so Tracy was elevated from the 3rd part time research and development car in the Penske stable, to a race winning and title contending car, the pressure on Tracy was higher than ever, and he dealt with it like a champion. With many people still doubting Tracy as being a suitable replacement for the Hall of Famer Rick Mears, Tracy went out to Michigan, the site of his violent crash the year before, and capped of a Canadian 1-2 finish, with his first career podium, finishing 2nd behind Scott Goodyear. The rest of the 92 season was full of highs and lows, as the young Tracy was still accident prone, and reckless, failing to finish 3 of the last 6 races, but also in this stretch he showed the pure speed and talent he possesses, adding 2 podium finishes with a 2nd place at Mid-Ohio, and a 3rd at Nazareth to end the season.
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| Tracy's first Indy 500 start wasnt the greatest. But the 92 season showed that Penske and Tracy was a winning combination. |
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| Tracy on his way to his first career win in the streets of Long Beach. |
The same consistency problems plagued Tracy throughout 1994, as in the races he finished, he never finished worse than 5th, but was dragged down yet again by 7 DNFs. With an equally inconsistant season as he had in 93, Tracy equalled his final season standing, finishing 3rd behind his 2 teammates, Emerson Fittipaldi, and new team member, and series champion Al Unser, Jr. Despite what may be percieved as a dissapointing stagnation in performance, Tracy was able to take home wins in Detroit, Nazareth, and Laguna Seca
Also in 1994, Tracy tested for the Benetton Formula One team at Estoril in Portugal , and in typical Tracy fashion, the Canadian flashed some unbelievable speed for someone who had never piloted an F1 car. Tracy set laps that were quicker than Benetton drivers JJ Lehto, and Jos Verstappen. In fact had Tracy's lap been in qualifying, it would have placed him in the 5th position. After the test the rumors swirled that Tracy had signed a deal to race with the Benetton team for 1995, but later the rumors were squashed as it was learned that Tracy rejected the contract as it was seen as being too restrictive with little guarantee.
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| Tracy impressed many in his test with Benetton, but it wasnt enough to land a contract to his liking. |
The 1995 season started with the news Tracy was leaving the powerhouse Team Penske, to go race for Newman/Haas. And it was in 1995 that his all or nothing approach finally started to catch up with him. Despite taking victories at Surfers Paradise in Australia, and in Milwaukee, and capturing podiums in 3 other races, Tracy's 8 DNFs knocked Tracy down to 6th place in the final standings, ending his Newman/Haas experiment after only one season.
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| A change of scenery to Newman/Haas failed to improve Tracy's performances. |
With the movement of Emerson Fittipaldi to Hogan Racing, a spot back at Penske opened up for 1996. Tracy moved back to his old team in the hopes of improving on his past successes. Unfortunately, the entire Penske team went winless, with Unser, Jr. nursing his car to a 4th place finish in the final standings, but Tracy, still unable to find any form of consistency, recorded only 1 podium all year, a 3rd place at Milwaukee, before a back injury forced him out of two races and knocked him even further down the final standings, ending his disappointing year in 13th place.
In 1997 Tracy seemed to finally fix his consistency, and was a contender for the championship all year, including a dominant 3 race win streak, with wins at Nazareth, Rio De Janeiro, and Gateway. These wins gave Tracy the points lead, a lead he held until his inconsistent past came back and bit him, failing to finish the final 5 races of the year, and relegating himself to 5th in the final point standings. The inconsistency was finally too much for Roger Penske to handle, as Tracy was released from Penske, and he joined Team KOOL Green for 1998.
Tracy spent 5 seasons with Team KOOL Green, and for the most part the relationship was seen as a bitter disappointment, with Tracy only winning 6 races over the 5 years, at Milwaukee Twice, Houston, Long Beach, Road America, and Vancouver. And furthermore only being a title threat in 2 of those years, Finishing 3rd in 1999, and 5th in 2000, those seasons were surrounded by disappointing finishes of 13th, 14th, and 11th, in 1998, 2001, and 2002 respectively. Unfortunately for Tracy, and his fans, all of the disappointment over these 5 years was summed up and expanded upon in one race.
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| Tracy Behind the wheel of the Team KOOL Green Lola at Motegi |
The 1996 Open-Wheel split left the CART Series that Tracy now participated in unable to compete in the Indianapolis 500, which is seen as the largest and most prestigious race in American Open-Wheel racing. Tracy's record at Indy before the split showed very terrible luck, never finishing a race, with the best final placement of 20th. But in 2002 Team Green "invaded" Indianapolis with numerous other CART Teams with Tracy, and his teammate Dario Franchitti in an attempt to win the Indy 500. Much like the rest of Tracy's tenure with Team Green, his Indy 500 experience in 2002 involved him struggling to bring his 7-11 sponsored car up to speed, eventually putting the car on the 2nd to last row of the starting grid, in 29th place. But on race day, Tracy's luck had started to change, as the caution came out twice right before the leader was about to put him a lap down. As the laps wound down the Team Green crew put Tracy on a different fuel strategy, which allowed him to go full pace all the way to the end of the race, while the other main contenders would have to slow down and conserve fuel in order to make it. As the laps ticked off Tracy was holding station in 3rd place behind the race leader, and defending winner Helio Castroneves, and Felipe Giaffone. as Castroneves caught Tracy's teammate Franchitti, Giaffone went to pass Castroneves but was blocked by Franchitti's lapped car, as Giaffone lost momentum Tracy made a daring move on outside and took 2nd place, setting his sights on Castroneves, and the Indy 500 victory. It didn't take long for Tracy to catch Castroneves' fuel stripped Penske entry and he made a move on the high side with 2 laps to go, meanwhile on the other side of the track a huge pileup ensued and the yellow waved, when the camera switched back to the battle for the leader Tracy had completed the pass and was screaming on his radio "YEAH BABY!". Amidst a litany of controversy, IndyCar officials ruled that at the time of the yellow flag Tracy had not yet completed the pass on Castroneves, relegating Tracy to 2nd place. Despite a lengthy appeal and controversy rarely seen before or after the race, the result was upheld, and Tracy was forced to watch Castroneves drink the milk, and get his face put on the Borg-Warner Trophy a second time. With all the controversy around the finish, including a growing number of people who believed Tracy won the race, and was penalized for being a CART racer instead of an IRL racer like Castroneves was, Tracy refused to return to Indianapolis for nearly a decade.
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| The Car that almost won it all for Paul Tracy and Team Green. |
Already over a decade into his American Open-Wheel career, Tracy was beginning to look like the eternal bridesmaid, always one of the fastest drivers, who was constantly plagued by the lack of consistency needed to bring home a championship. Tracy left Team Green at the end of the 2002 season to team up with the fast rising Forsythe Championship Racing team, where he was paired up with fellow Canadian Patrick Carpentier. The union proved its effectiveness quickly, as Tracy flew out of the gates, winning in St. Petersburg, Monterrey, and Long Beach, becoming the first Open Wheel driver to open the season with 3 consecutive victories since Al Unser, Sr. in 1971. Although Tracy experienced a cold streak right after his fiery start, he was able to outrun most of his problems, taking back to back popular victories in Vancouver, and Toronto, and added even more victories in Mid-Ohio, and Mexico City. Tracy led the championship battle all year by such a large margin that his long awaited championship was barely ever in question, as he ended the season well over a full races worth of points ahead of Bruno Junqeira, Michel Jourdain, Jr. and Sebastien Bourdais. After 11 seasons, and 26 race victories, Paul Tracy was finally a champion.
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| in 2003 Tracy finally climbed the mountain and became a Champion. |
in 2004, the CART series was bought by a coalition of owners, including Tracy's team owner Gerry Forsythe, and renamed the Champ Car World Series, and Tracy entered the season as the odds on favorite to defend the title he had finally won. Due to the restriction on tobacco sponsorships, Forsythe was forced to remove them as the teams title sponsor. Whether or not the lack of sponsorship dollars played a role in the performance of the team during the season, Tracy and teammate Patrick Carpentier finished a distant 3rd and 4th in the season standings, well back of the title fight between Bruno Junqueira, and new series kingpin, France's Sebastien Bourdais. The up and down season endured by the whole Tracy was evened out by wins in Long Beach, and Vancouver, with the win at Vancouver being the final American Open Wheel race held in the province of British Columbia to date.
Tracy began 2005 on a hot streak 2nd only to his 2003 championship winning season. Racking up a podium finish in 4 of the first 5 races, including wins in Milwaukee, and Cleveland. But after the fiery start, Tracy again fell off the radar. He ran the rest of the year with only 3 more podium finishes, and they were negated by 3 DNFs. Sebastien Bourdais and his Newman/Haas team dominated the season yet again, and Tracy was forced to watch him carry the championship trophy again from his 4th place finish in the season standings.
In 2006 Tracy endured his first winless season since 2001. As he was greatly outperformed by his new teammate, the USA's AJ Allmendinger. Tracy managed just 3 runner up finishes on his way to 7th in the final standings, but not before an off track incident rendered him unable to compete in the season finale in Mexico. This season was marked by Tracy's infamous "French Helmet Incident" where Tracy got into confrontations with French-Canadian Alex Tagliani, and France's Sebastien Bourdais in consecutive race weekends in San Jose, and Denver. The resulting backlash lead Tracy to be booed in his home country, the predominantly French speaking Montreal. Come race day Tracy was able to win over the crowd due to his pro wrestling style antics of wearing the lucha libre mask of the Blue Demon, as well as a cape during driver intros. After a strong 2nd place finish, the newspapers in Montreal ran the headline Paul Tracy, "le Crazy Québécois" translated to the crazy
Quebecer.
2006 also marked Tracy's foyer outside of Open wheel, which included a regretful NASCAR Busch series run that never rendered a result better than 24th in the 43 car field. Daytona Prototypes were also calling Tracy's name, as he made 3 starts in the Michael Shank Racing Lexus Riley, failing to finish in the 24 hours of Daytona, ending the 24 hour affair 54th overall. Tracy's other two attempts in endurance racing garnered better results, taking a 3rd place finish in the Mexico City 400k, and a 4th place finish on the series return to Daytona in the Brumos Porsche 250.
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| NASCAR definetely was not a change that suited Tracy. |
Tracy started 2007 off by taking another crack at the 24 hours of Daytona, and although he improved upon his horrid result from the season before, he and his team still managed only a 26th place finish overall. Back over on the Champ Car side Tracy had vowed to take the title back to Canada, but after a strong 3rd place run in Las Vegas to open the year, Tracy was injured in a practice crash in Long Beach, leaving him with a fractured vertebra, forcing him to miss the next 2 races, and ultimately killing his title hopes. Despite the setback Tracy was able to break his winless drought, taking a popular victory in Cleveland. With the injury, and general lack of consistency plaguing him yet again, Tracy finished the season in 11th place, his worst final finish since 2002.
With the 2008 season on the horizon, the stunning news that Champ Car had been bought out by its primary rival, the Indy Racing League, led to an uncertainty about Tracy's future, as the now 39 year old was unlikely to be a primary target for any front running teams in the IRL. Despite the buyout, Champ Car ran its final race at Long Beach, which would be seen as a double header to go along with the IRLs pre planned race at Twin Ring Motegi, a race best known for being the first and only win by Danica Patrick. But on the other side of the Pacific, Champ Car had its last hurrah. Although Tracy began the race 5th, he was only able to muster up an 11th place finish, a disappointing effort at the track he had won on 4 times previous.
Despite being more than race ready for the season, Tracy was left as a free agent with the news that Forsythe Racing would not choose to field a team in the newly unified IndyCar Series, the reasons for this were never fully proven although lack of funding, or outright refusal from owner Gerry Forsythe to field a team in a series associated with Tony George, the man widely blamed for the Open Wheel Split to begin with, are seen as the likely reasons as to why Forsythe Racing ceased to exist. Without a full-time ride for the 2008 season, Tracy spent most of it as a free agent, that was until the IndyCar series one and only stop in Canada. Tracy signed a deal to drive for a joint Vision Racing/Walker Racing effort in the Rexall Edmonton Indy with sponsorship from Subway. During the race, with an immense fanbase cheering him on, the part timer Tracy drove his way through the field in order to claim a well deserved 4th place finish, in what would be his only other Open Wheel race in the IndyCar season.
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| Tracy made his first career start in the newly unified IndyCar series at Edmonton. he finished 4th. |
2009 would be yet another part-time year for the now 40 year old Tracy, and with the new season came an opportunity for Tracy to right what he believed to be one of racing's greatest wrongs, as for the first time since his controversial outing in 2002, Tracy was scheduled to return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the hopes of finally putting his face on the Borg-Warner Trophy. Teaming up with KV Racing, a team co-owned by former Champ Car rival Jimmy Vasser, Tracy started on the inside of row 5, and along with fellow part-time teammate Townsend Bell, Tracy worked his way up into the top 10, and looked like an outside threat to steal the Indy 500. As the laps wound down, Tracy stagnated near the bottom half of the top 10 as he watched Helio Castroneves, the man who dashed his Indy 500 dreams 7 years previous take victory again, leaving Tracy in an impressive, yet disappointing 9th place.
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| Tracy does his first laps around Indy since his heartbreaking effort in 2002. |
The rest of the season resulted in Tracy being an injury replacement for Vitor Meira at A. J. Foyt Enterprises, which culminated in a solid yet unspectacular 17th place run. Tracy's return to KV Racing brought out the old Tracy inconsistency, with damaged cars taking him out of the running at Watkins Glen, and Toronto, but turning back the clock, and running in vintage Tracy fashion, collecting a 6th, and a 7th place finish at Edmonton, and Mid-Ohio, both of which were very impressive results considering the amount of time Tracy had spent in the car in comparison to those he competed with.
2010 was a year to forget for Tracy, he split the season with part time rides for both KV Racing, and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. But the season for Tracy, which was to begin with the Indy 500, hit a roadblock. Originally in the race, with a qualifying time that would have put Tracy in the 33rd and final starting position, Tracy and his team decided with 10 minutes left to withdraw his speed in hopes of putting up a safer speed to guarantee his entry, but midway through his 2nd lap Tracy got loose and his attempt was waved off. Unfortunately for Tracy, bump day ended before he could make another attempt at bumping his way back into the field, and Tracy was left with knowing that if he did not withdraw his time, he would have qualified for Indy, as no one was able to beat the original speed Tracy had put up, and with that, Tracy's bad luck at Indy reared its ugly head yet again.
The rest of the season showed Tracy to have incredible pace for a part time driver, highlighted by yet another 6th place finish at the series stop in Edmonton, to go along with 3 other finishes barely outside the top 10.
Tracy once again returned to the part time duties in 2011, splitting the season with Dreyer & Reinbold, and Dragon Racing. During the season Tracy righted his wrong from 2010 and qualified safely into the Indy 500, finishing many laps down in 25th. Tracy was charged with the task of carrying 2 underfunded teams, and it was evident in his results, as he failed to finish better than 12th throughout the season. The season was capped off in the now Infamous race that took place in Las Vegas. 11 laps into the event a massive, and violent 15 car crash occurred, numerous drivers including Tracy were involved. Although Tracy escaped serious injury, the race will forever be remembered as the one that claimed the life of 2005 IRL Champion, and the 2005, and 2011 Indy 500 Winner Dan Wheldon.
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| Tracy making his final Indy 500 Start to date |
Since that tragic final race in 2011 Tracy has stayed relatively quiet in terms of getting behind the wheel, making a start, and having am unbelievable wreck in Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Truck's series, a wreck where he was uninjured. As well as making several sports car starts,which included a 7th place finish in the 24 hours of Daytona for Doran Racing, and a 3rd place finish inthe Montreal 200 for Action Express Racing. Since them rumors of his return to IndyCar's come and go, and despite rumors that he would partake in the 2014 Indy 500, the race went off without him for the 3rd year in a row.
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| Paul Tracy may have escaped unharmed. but his truck sure didnt that day. |
If Tracy indeed has written his final open-wheel chapter, he will be looked back on as one of the most decorated racers in the history of American Open-Wheel. His 31 wins are tied for 8th all time in Open-wheel History with fellow champions Sebastien Bourdais, and Dario Franchitti. Although he only captured 1 championship during his 20 plus year career, Tracy will forever be looked at as one of the great Open wheel masters of the 90s and 2000s. His impact on Canadian Auto Racing as a Champion in the most Prolific era of Canadian Motorsports will forever keep his name held in high regard. Tracy's aggressive on track style, and charismatic off track exploits both endeared him, and vilified him amongst fans in Canada and throughout the world. Tracy's never say die attitude, and his mindset of running every lap like it was his last hearkened back to the golden age of motorsports. Tracy may be the last of his breed, as a dynamic, outspoken, hard hitting, tough driver who never gave in to anyone, and for that all of his fans look back on the memories he left with them, while hoping there is still 1 more chapter to be written in the book of Paul Tracy.
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| Auto Racing Will miss characters like the thrill from west hill. |
