Buddy Rice

Buddy Rice was the Lynx driver that proved the old saying about "The best-laid plans..." He was such an obvious star that the team signed him in 1997 while he was still in the U.F. F2000 series. DSTP Motorsports - the Lynx 'junior team' that helped train Memo Gidley and Alex Barron - fielded a car for him during a problem-plagued 1997 season during which he still managed to score two poles and one win. He moved up to the Lynx Atlantic team in 1998, teamed with Memo Gidley, and immediately proved his talent by winning the pole in his first-ever Atlantic race, at Long Beach, and then winning from the pole in his second race, at Nazareth. While Gidley scored three wins, Nazareth was Rice's only victory, though he did finish on the podium several times. In 1998, Rice got a new teammate in the form of Mike Conte, but again had a difficult season and finished without a victory.

Buddy and the team mutually decided that a change would be the best for all involved, and he moved over to the new DSTP Atlantic team, along with long-time Lynx engineer Jim Griffith, who engineered cars for Carpentier, Barron and Gidley. Having already worked together for three years in the Lynx program, Rice and Griffith started the 2000 season strong with a win at Homestead. Rice won four more times and captured the Atlantic championship. After the end of the season, he tested with the Target Chip Ganassi CART team, but Ganassi chose to fill both seats with graduates from the F3000 series. Ganassi also arranged for Buddy to test with one of the top F3000 teams, but he got only one test day, in the rain, and nothing came of it. In 2002, he tested with the Cheever team in IRL, and was ultimately called on to join the team when Cheever fired Tomas Scheckter.  Buddy is now the lead driver for Red Bull Team Cheever in the Indy Racing League.  For more information about Buddy and his team, visit www.cheeverindyracing.com.