Chris Simmons (racing driver)

Chris Simmons
Nationality	American
Born	May 1, 1973 Hartford, Connecticut
Retired	1998
Related to	Jeff Simmons (brother)
Indy Lights
Years active	1995–1998
Teams	Sotare Motorsports (1995) Team Green (1996–1997) Mattco Raceworks (1998)
Starts	37
Wins	0
Poles	2
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	5th in 1997
Previous series
1992–1994 1990–1991 1990 1980–1990	USAC Formula Ford 2000 East SCCA S2000 Skip Barber Formula Ford Quarter midgets
Championship titles
1992, 1993 1991	USAC Formula Ford 2000 East SCCA S2000 Northeast
Awards
1991	SCCA Jim Fitzgerald National Rookie of the Year

Chris Simmons (Hartford, Connecticut, 1 May 1973) is a former racing driver who competed in USF2000 and Indy Lights among other racing series.

Racing career

Simmons started out racing quarter midgets in the north eastern United States. He started his first quarter midget race at the age of seven.^[1] After attending the Spenard-David racing school he started auto racing in 1990. The driver from Connecticut started out in the SCCA S2000 Northeast Division championship. Simmons won the 1991 championship after winning five out of seven races. Simmons also won the SCCA National Championship Runoffs in his class at Road Atlanta in 1991. The drove his Lola T598 from the pole position to the win. He won with advantage of more than eight seconds over Paul O'Kean.^[2]

After his success in S2000 Simmons graduated into the USAC Formula Ford 2000 East championship for 1992. In 1992 Simmons won three out of seven races in his Van Diemen RF92. After winning the championship Chris Simmons returned in the series for the 1993 season.^[3] He again won the championship after winning nine races. He ran a limited race schedule in 1994 as he started his mechanical engineering study at the University of Pennsylvania. Simmons won one race in the Formula Ford 2000, at New Hampshire International Speedway. Simmons was also involved in a deadly midget crash. During the USAC Hoosier Invitational X at the Hoosier Dome his car crashed into the pit area. One person got killed, eight others were injured. Simmons was uninjured.^[4]

For 1995 Simmons again ran a limited schedule due to college obligations. In 1995 he graduated in mechanical engineering and management & technology at the University of Pennsylvania. Simmons made his debut in 1995 in the Indy Lights. At Bicentennial Park in Miami the young driver started 22nd and finished fourteenth. Simmons returned to the series full-time for 1996 to race for Team Green. He scored his best result at the start of the championship. At Homestead-Miami Speedway Simmons finished second, behind David Empringham. Simmons eventually ended up tenth in the championship standings. The 1997 was more successful for the driver from Connecticut. Simmons scored two pole positions, at Nazareth Speedway, Gateway Motorsports Park. He scored another three podium finishes. At the end of the season Simmons was classified fifth in the championship standings. A violent crash at Nazareth disrupted his 1998 season. In a crash at turn four Simmons was injured and transported to Easton Hospital. At the hospital it was determined that Simmons suffered a severe neck strain and a bruised shoulder.^[5] Former teammate at Team Green, Mark Hotchkis replaced Simmons at Nazareth and the following three rounds.^[6] Simmons returned to the series at Portland International Raceway where he finished fourteenth. At the end of the season Simmons scored 32 points and was placed nineteenth in the championship.

After not being able to secure a race seat for 1999 Simmons turned to his engineering passion. His brother Jeff Simmons had been racing through the ranks in previous years. After winning Chris joined his brother in the Barber Dodge Pro Series for 1999 as his engineer. Jeff Simmons won the championship and graduated into Indy Lights in 2000. Chris was again his engineer at Team Green.^[7] Simmons would remain at Andretti Autosport while his brother moved on to other teams. Simmons was an assistant engineer to Tony Kanaan and Paul Tracy. As of November 2003 Simmons is a race engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing.^[8]

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Year	Track	Car	Engine	Class	Finish	Start	Status
1991	Road Atlanta	Lola T598	Ford	S2000	1	1	Running

American open-wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

American Continental Championship results

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pos	Points
1992		FIR	MOS	IOW	WGI 8	LRP	TRR	SON1	SON2	???	???
1993		ROA 11	MOS 1	SON	IOW	WGI 1	TRR 9	DAL		4th	???

USAC FF2000 Eastern Division Championship

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pos	Points
1992	SOTARE Racing	ROA1 7	IRP 2	NAZ 1	SHA 2	WGI 1	TOP 9	ROA2 12	SEB 1		1st	???
1993	SOTARE Racing	ATL 1	IRP 17	WGI 19	MDO 1	RAM 1	NHS 1	SHA1 1	SHA2 1	LRP 1	1st	???

USAC FF2000 National Championship results

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos	Points
1994		IRP1	IRP2	IRP3	WGI	BFR	TOP	NHS 1	SHA1	SHA2	LRP	???	???

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
1995	Sotare Motorsports	MIA 14	PHX DNS	LBH	NAZ	MIL	DET	POR	TOR	CLE	NHA	VAN	LS			N.C.	0
1996	Team Green	MIA 2	LBH Ret	NAZ 4	MIS 12	MIL 5	DET 7	POR Ret	CLE 11	TOR Ret	TRO Ret	VAN 7	LS 12			10th	54
1997	Team Green	MIA 3	LBH 4	NAZ 2	SAV 16	STL 5	MIL 17	DET 8	POR 13	TOR Ret	TRO 15	VAN 4	LS Ret	FON 2		5th	88
1998	Mattco Raceworks	MIA 5	LBH Ret	NAZ Inj	STL	MIL	DET	POR 14	CLE 15	TOR 3	MIS 10	TRO 8	VAN Ret	LS 13	FON 14	19th	32

References

1. "Racer Was Driven By His Dream Chris Simmons' Years Of Tenacity Paid Off. Today, He Brings His Talents To The Nazareth Raceway.". The Inquirer. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
2. "SCCA RUNOFFS DRIVER HISTORIES S-Z" (PDF). SCCA. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
3. "Year-By-Year Champion Drivers". USFF2000. Archived from the original on August 13, 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
4. "Fatal crash probed". The Times-News. 31 January 1994. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
5. "Chris Simmons Update". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
6. "Hotchkis Subs for Simmons". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
7. "His brother's keeper". The Argus-Press. 30 July 2000. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
8. "Christopher Simmons". LinkedIn. Retrieved 11 October 2014.