Red Bull Home

In a career that’s taken him from Malaysia to Monaco and Martinsville to Michigan, Scott Speed, 27, can look back at a northern California road course, not far from his hometown of Manteca, as possibly the starting point of it all. After dominating the karting ranks for eight years, Speed stepped up to open-wheel racing in 2001 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and won the Formula Russell title on his first try. In 2002, he continued the climb, competing in the Skip Barber National Championship and Star Mazda series.

That same year, Red Bull launched the Red Bull Driver Search, aimed at putting a U.S.-born driver in Formula One. Speed, at a still-green 19, won the competition and crossed the pond for British Formula 3, but he fell ill with ulcerative colitis and was forced to return to the U.S. for treatment. Returning in 2004, he won the German Formula Renault and Eurocup championships. GP2 came calling a year later. Podium finishes were the norm, and Speed ended up third in the GP2 championship. He got a taste of Formula One, too, running a third car for Red Bull Racing in the North American swing through Montreal and Indianapolis.

Red Bull gave Speed one of two full-time seats on its sister team — Scuderia Toro Rosso — for the 2006 season, and Speed became the first American in Formula One since Michael Andretti in 1993. He flirted with points finishes a few times but never scored. After a disappointing 2007 season, Speed shifted gears into stock car racing, finishing seventh in his first ARCA race at Talledega.

With the Red Bull Racing Team guiding Speed through his first season in stock cars (2008), he took ARCA by storm and was a fixture at the front in the Camping World Truck Series. He drove to four ARCA victories and a series-leading 17 top-10s.

It was enough to secure Speed a seat for the 2009 Sprint Cup season, driving the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota. Thirteen starts into his Cup career, Speed scored his first top-five finish in the April race at Talladega. He also ran a partial Nationwide Series schedule in the No. 99 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, which he drove to six consecutive top-10 finishes and eight overall.

Speed is eccentric, speaks his mind, and prides himself on being an individual. Out of the car, he climbs rocks, rides bicycles and plays a mean game of golf, and even owns an RC car team.