Townsend Bell

Townsend Bell
Townsend Bell at the 2015 Indianapolis 500
Nationality	American
Born	April 19, 1975 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Verizon IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2004
Current team	Andretti Autosport
Car no.	29
Former teams	Sam Schmidt Motorsports Panther Racing Vision Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing KV Racing Technology
Starts	22
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	21st in 2004
Previous series
2003 2001–2002 2000–2001 1999	Formula 3000 CART World Series Indy Lights Barber Dodge Pro Series
Championship titles
2001	Indy Lights

Townsend Bell (born April 19, 1975 in San Francisco) is a motor racing driver competing in the Verizon IndyCar Series and TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, and also a motorsports commentator for NBC Sports’ IndyCar coverage.

Early career

He spent time in karting, Skip Barber, Formula Dodge and the Barber Dodge Pro Series before graduating into Indy Lights in 2000. He won the last Indy Lights championship in 2001 and earned two starts in a Champ Car in a joint effort between Patrick Racing and Dale Coyne Racing as a test for a full-time seat in 2002. He earned Roberto Moreno's seat at Patrick that year. He raced a partial season and scored a best finish of fourth.

International Formula 3000 career

His efforts shifted to Europe and in 2003 he was team mate to series champion Björn Wirdheim in International F3000 competition. Bell's moment of glory came with a podium at the Hungaroring and he finished 9th overall in a field covered with future Formula One talent - Giorgio Pantano, Patrick Friesacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nicolas Kiesa among them.

Return to IndyCar

Bell (foreground) participating in the Pit Stop Challenge on Carb Day at the 2015 Indianapolis 500

Despite earning a test with British American Racing at year's end, Bell returned to America where he replaced Mark Taylor for Panther Racing in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series midway through 2004, and posted a best finish of fifth. He started one race as an injury replacement for Tomáš Enge in the same car in 2005. He made his first Indianapolis 500 appearance for Vision Racing in 2006, qualifying 15th and finishing 22nd. He returned to the IndyCar Series in 2008 driving the No. 23 car in events where Milka Duno was not scheduled to race. His best result in 2008 was an eighth-place finish at Richmond International Raceway in June. He also was entered in a third team car in the Indy 500, where he qualified twelfth and finished tenth.

In 2009, KV Racing Technology entered Bell in the Indy 500. Bell was on a limited-month schedule but had an impressive race day, advancing from 24th on the grid up to the top five. Passing Team Penske's Will Power on the last restart, Bell impressed with a fourth-place finish.

He has also substituted for David Hobbs on Speed TV's Formula One broadcast team on several occasions.

Bell posted his best Indianapolis 500 qualifying effort to date in 2011, racing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. By qualifying fourth fastest, he started the 95th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing on the inside of the second row.

Bell finished 9th in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. His 2014 Indianapolis 500, back with KV Racing Technology in the No. 6 Robert Graham Dallara-Chevrolet,^[1] marked his eighth start in the event and seventh consecutive. He will return to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the 2015 Indianapolis 500.^[2]

Bell is a color commentator for NBC Sports^[3] with lead anchor Leigh Diffey and fellow analyst Paul Tracy. Hobbs and Steve Matchett, analysts for NBC Sports’ Formula 1 coverage, occasionally rotate in if Bell is on assignment.

Sports car career

Bell made his sports car debut in 2012 and won the 12 Hours of Sebring on debut with Alex Job Racing. That season, he drove a Lotus Evora GTE for Alex Job Racing in the American Le Mans Series with Bill Sweedler, before he and Sweedler drove a Ferrari F458 Italia the following year with West/AJR.^[4]

He matched his Sebring feat in his first Rolex 24 at Daytona start in 2014, winning that driving with Level 5 Motorsports. Bell and Sweedler won the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup with AIM Autosport, after finishing first or second in three of the four races in the endurance series within the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.^[5] The pairing finished fourth overall in the full season GT Daytona class points.

In 2015, Bell and co-driver Bill Sweedler took home the IMSA GT Daytona Championship. In addition, they had a dominant win at VIR and podium finishes in the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of LeMans.^[6]

He is currently competing full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona class with O'Gara Motorsport in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

Other racing

Bell is also a color commentator for NBC Sports's IndyCar, Global RallyCross Championship and a reserve pit report for NBC's Formula One coverage. as well as the host of What'Cha Got on Fox Sports 1.

Bell has also both competed and commented in the Stadium Super Trucks.^[7]

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

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

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1998	SEB 28	LRP 13	DET 28	WGI 22	CLE 16	GRA	MDO	ROA	LS1 5	ATL 3	HMS 23	LS2 8	16th	36
1999	SEB 30	NAZ 3	LRP 1	POR 4	CLE 8	ROA 5	DET 16	MDO 21	GRA 8	LS 3	HMS 19	WGI 2	3rd	104

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2000	Dorricott Racing	LBH 17	MIL 6	DET 7	POR 2	MIS 4	CHI 2	MDO 1	VAN 4	LS 18	STL 1	HOU 2	FON 2	2nd	146
2001	Dorricott Racing	MTY 2	LBH 1	TXS 8	MIL 1	POR 6	KAN 5	TOR 1	MDO 1	STL 9	ATL 2	LS 1	FON 1	1st	192

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2001	Patrick Racing	MTY	LBH	TXS	NZR	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU 13	ROC 12	HOU	LS	SRF	FON	30th	1
2002	Patrick Racing	MTY 19	LBH 15	MOT 14	MIL 13	LS 7	POR 4	CHI 12	TOR DSQ	CLE 18	VAN	MDO	ROA	MTL	DEN	ROC	MIA	SRF	FON	MXC			20th	19

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2004	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN 17	NSH 5	MIL 6	MIS 8	KTY 21	PPIR 12	NZR 18	CHI 22	FON 9	TX2 9				21st	193
2005				HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS 15	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON			30th	15
2006	Vision Racing		Honda	HMS	STP	MOT	INDY 22	WGL	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	SNM	CHI						34th	12
2008	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing			HMS	STP 21	MOT^1 10	LBH^1 DNP	KAN	INDY 10	MIL 11	TXS	IOW	RIR 8	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM 25	KTY	SNM 19	DET	CHI	SRF^2 23	26th	117
2009	KV Racing Technology	Dallara IR5		STP	LBH	KAN	INDY 4	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	TOR	EDM	KTY	MDO	SNM	CHI	MOT	HMS			32nd	32
2010	Sam Schmidt Motorsports			SAO	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY 16	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	CHI	KTY	MOT	HMS			38th	18
2011				STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 26	TXS2	TXS2	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHM	SNM	BAL	MOT				35th	40
	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing																			KTY 11	LVS C
2012	Schmidt–Hamilton Motorsports	Dallara DW12		STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 9	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	BAL	FON					30th	26
2013	Panther Racing		Chevrolet	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 27	DET1	DET2	TXS	MIL	IOW	POC	TOR1	TOR2	MDO	SNM	BAL	HOU1	HOU2	FON	35th	10
2014	KV Racing Technology			STP	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 25	DET	DET	TXS	HOU	HOU	POC	IOW	TOR	TOR	MDO	MIL	SNM	FON		32nd	22
2015	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing			STP	NLA	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 14	DET	DET	TXS	TOR	FON	MIL	IOW	MDO	POC	SNM				35th	32
2016	Andretti Autosport		Honda	STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 21	DET	DET	RDA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	TXS	WGL	SNM				27th	55

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points race.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
8	6	25	0	0	0	9	0	0

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2006	Dallara	Honda	15	22	Vision Racing
2008	Dallara	Honda	12	10	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2009	Dallara	Honda	24	4	KV Racing Technology
2010	Dallara	Honda	10	16	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2011	Dallara	Honda	4	26	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2012	Dallara	Honda	20	9	Schmidt–Hamilton Motorsports
2013	Dallara	Chevrolet	22	27	Panther Racing
2014	Dallara	Chevrolet	25	25	KV Racing Technology
2015	Dallara	Chevrolet	24	14	Dreyer & Reinbold Kingdom Racing
2016	Dallara	Honda	4	21	Andretti Autosport

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
2003	Arden International	IMO 9	CAT 12	A1R 7	MON 6	NUR Ret	MAG 12	SIL 7	HOC 5	HUN 3	MNZ Ret	9th	17

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2015	Scuderia Corsa	Jeff Segal Bill Sweedler	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Am	330	24th	3rd
2016	Scuderia Corsa	Jeff Segal Bill Sweedler	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Am	331	26th	1st

References

1. Cavin, Curt (April 12, 2014). "Townsend Bell back in Indy 500; Reinbold and Hamilton working together". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
2. DiZinno, Tony. Townsend Bell confirmed in DRR/Kingdom Racing entry for Indy 500, NBC Sports, April 18, 2015, Retrieved 2015-04-19
3. DiZinno, Tony (May 6, 2013). "Townsend Bell confirms he's running the Indy 500 again this year". NBC Sports. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
4. "Townsend Bell Bio". Official Website. December 23, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
5. "TUDOR Night Of Champions In NYC Celebrates Inaugural Award Winners". IMSA. October 16, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
6. "Scuderia Corsa Reveals Rolex 24 at Daytona Lineup". IMSA. December 23, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
7. "Justin Lofton Wins Round No. 7 of SST Competition on the Streets of Toronto". Stadium Super Trucks. July 14, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.

External links

• Townsend Bell Interview
• IndyCar Driver Page

• http://townsendbell.com/