Paul Tracy
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| Paul Tracy (born December 17, 1968 in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) is a professional automobile racer. He also goes by the nickname "The Thrill from West Hill". Contents
Early yearsFascinated by cars since boyhood, Paul raced go-karts until at age 16 in 1985 he became the youngest ever Canadian Formula Ford Champion. He also holds the record as the youngest winner of the single seater Can-Am series in 1986.Tracy worked his way up through the racing ranks and in the United States he won the 1990 Indy Lights Championship, setting a record with nine wins. Penske years
 His first full year of Champ Car 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. Paul 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, Paul 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 98th and 99th for Penske Racing in CART; they had to wait 3 more years for their 100th. Team Green years
 Tracy left Penske racing again to race for Team KOOL 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. 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. Paul's fourth year with 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 Paul. 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 for the first time since 1995 and crossed the finish line first but race officials penalized him, dropping him back to second place after a late-race caution flag that appeared at nearly the same time he passed Helio Castroneves for the race lead. This incident proved controversial, with much debate as to whether the flag was timed to stop a ChampCar driver beating the regulars of the rival Indy Racing League, which is ran by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George. Perhaps as a result of this, he was voted CART's Most Popular Driver Award. Forsythe years
 Paul 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 (perhaps his finest victory of the season and of his career, as 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, Players 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 Paul was unable to defend his championship in 2004. He finished fourth in the series and had wins at Long Beach and Vancouver. The 2005 season started out strong for Paul. He led the points standings after 5 races, winning at Milwaukee and Cleveland. Bad luck and mistakes characterized the rest of his season. He was leading at Toronto when he ran out of fuel and crashed on his own while leading the race at Denver. A hard crash with Sébastien Bourdais at Las Vegas ended his championship hopes. Tracy finished the year 4th in the standings. Beginning in 2006, Tracy will race in the NASCAR Busch Series. He has a five-race deal that will let the 2003 Champ Car champion test his skills on varying tracks. Tracy has one year left on his contract with Champ Car owner Gerry Forsythe, who gave the 37-year-old permission to put the NASCAR deal together. In 2006, Tracy will race to what may be his final season in Champ Car. Tracy was expected to race in either Nascar Busch Series or Nascar Nextel Cup Series, full time in 2007. However, as of March 2006, Tracy has not faired well in 3 of 5 starts in the Nascar Busch Series. Rumors followed that Tracy may not leave Champ Car. Tracy was quoted as saying he will most likely stay in Champ Car unless a top Nextel Cup deal came along.[link] In May 2006, it was announced that Tracy had resigned with Forsythe Racing for an additional five seasons. Tracy's successful career has him number one in victories amongst all active drivers in Champ Car. PersonalAs of 2005, Tracy currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has two children, Alysha and Conrad. He has a business interest in Spy Sunglasses.Champ Car career results
Indianapolis 500 results
See alsoList of Champ Car driversExternal links|- style="text-align: center;"
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