A. J. Allmendinger
Vorlage:Infobox NASCAR driver Anthony James Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981, in Los Gatos, California) is an American racecar driver. He currently drives the #84 for Team Red Bull in NASCAR.
Racing career
Early career
He started his career in karts. He won two International Karting Federation Grand National championships. [1]
Allmendinger won the Barber Dodge Pro Series championship in 2002, and the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in 2003 with Carl Russo's RuSport team.
Champ Car
Vorlage:Champ Car driver In 2004 they entered the Champ Car World Series, with Michel Jourdain Jr. joining Allmendinger. He generally outperformed the experienced Mexican, scoring a run of 6 top-6 finishes towards the end of the season, winning the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year award ahead of Justin Wilson. Wilson joined the team for 2005, and both drivers have been in regular contention for podium finishes.
On June 9, 2006, RuSport announced that Allmendinger would be replaced by 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta. However, he did not remain unemployed long, as Forsythe Championship Racing hired him on June 14, 2006. In the interim, he became engaged to Lynne Kushnirenko, a model and chiropractor.
On June 18, 2006, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Portland in his first race with Forsythe Championship Racing. Allmendinger became the first American to win a Champ Car World Series event since Ryan Hunter-Reay won at The Milwaukee Mile in 2004.
On June 25, 2006, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Cleveland from the pole in a hectic race that saw two-time CART champ and points leader Sébastien Bourdais, teammate Paul Tracy, former teammate Justin Wilson, Dan Clarke and former seatholder Mario Dominguez eliminated during the race.
He continued his winning streak by winning his third consecutive race at the Grand Prix of Toronto on July 9, 2006. He started second after Wilson bested Allmendinger's time in the last lap of the event's final qualifying session. The victory moved Allmendinger into second place in the CCWS championship standings, behind leader Bourdais.
He chalked up his fourth and fifth wins of the season at Denver and Road America.
NASCAR
Allmendinger made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series driving for Bill Davis Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 16 2006[2] [3]. He crashed his primary truck in qualifying but started the race 32nd and finished on the lead lap in 13th. He also competed at Talladega Superspeedway in October with a finish of 5th. In his 3rd career truck series start, he qualified in 2nd place at Atlanta.
Allmendinger attempted his first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event at Atlanta in October 2006 driving the Team Red Bull entry, however, a rainout in qualifying prevented him from making the race, due to lack of owners points for the team. He also attempted to make the race at Texas however he failed to qualify.
It was announced on October 24, 2006 that Allmendinger will drive the NEXTEL Cup #84 Team Red Bull Toyota Camry in 2007.
Allmendinger failed to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 after a crash in the first Gatorade Duel race. He has also failed to qualify for the California, Las Vegas, and Atlanta races. As of May 25, 2007, he has qualified for one "current car" event, and has made four races, all featuring the Car of Tomorrow. To assist him in the transition, he is also driving selected Craftsman Truck Series races for Toyota under the Darrell Waltrip Motorsports banner.
A.J. finished 40th his first Nextel Cup start at the Food City 500 at Bristol, which was the debut of the COT. The next race, he finished 38th at Martinsville and posted a 32nd place finish at Richmond on May 6, 2007. A.J. ran his first current car race at LMS But was involved in a wreck when Jeff Gordon was spun by Tony Raines into the infield grass, then came across the track right in front of Allmendinger and Allmendinger ran right into Gordon and destroyed the car.
As of June 18, 2007, A.J. has qualified for each of the past 6 races, after missing 7 of the first 9 races.
Personal
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References
- ↑ Allmendinger's Champ car profile
- ↑ http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/32253/
- ↑ NASCAR results at Racing-reference.info
External links
- A.J. Allmendinger Career Statistics
- AJ Allmendinger Champ Car career
- Allmendinger statistics pre NASCAR career
- Official website
- A.J. Allmendinger Wedding Video - Love Story Interview
Complete Champ Car results
(key)
| Yr | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Team | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | RuSPORT | LBH 12 |
MOT Ret |
MIL 5 |
POR 6 |
CLE 6 |
TOR 11 |
VAN 3 |
ROA 13 |
DEN 5 |
MON 5 |
LAG Ret |
LAS 6 |
SUR 6 |
MEX 3 |
RuSPORT | 6th | 229 |
| 2005 | RuSPORT | LBH 8 |
MOT 10 |
MIL 2 |
POR 5 |
CLE 2 |
TOR Ret |
EDM Ret |
SAN Ret |
DEN 3 |
MON 9 |
LAS 13 |
SUR 2 |
MEX 2 |
RuSPORT | 5th | 227 | |
| 2006 | RuSPORT | LBH Ret |
HST 8 |
MOT 3 |
MIL 4 |
POR 1 |
CLE 1 |
TOR 1 |
EDM 3 |
SAN 7 |
DEN 1 |
MON Ret |
ROA 1 |
SUR Ret |
MEX DNS |
Forsythe | 2nd | 280 |
* Pole positions indicated in bold.
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