Scott Sharp

Scott Sharp
Sharp in May 2007 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Nationality	American
Born	(1968-02-14) February 14, 1968 (age 49) Norwalk, Connecticut
United SportsCar Championship career
Debut season	2008
Current team	Extreme Speed Motorsports
Championship titles
2009 1996 1993 1991 1988 1987 1986	ALMS LMP1 Champion Indy Racing League Co-Champion SCCA Trans-Am SCCA Trans-Am SCCA GT-1 SCCA GT-1 SCCA GT-2
IndyCar Series career
147 races run over 13 years
Best finish	1st (1996)
First race	1996 Indy 200 (Orlando)
Last race	2009 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)
First win	1997 True Value 200 (Loudon)
Last win	2005 AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300 (Kentucky)
Wins Podiums Poles 9 18 6
Champ Car career
18 races run over 3 years
Best finish	21st (1994)
First race	1993 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey (Laguna Seca)
Last race	1995 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	69th (1992)
First race	1992 Budweiser at the Glen (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of June 4, 2012.

Scott Sharp (born February 14, 1968) is an American professional racing driver in the United SportsCar Championship. He is the son of six-time SCCA champion Bob Sharp (racing driver). Sharp is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing League.

Born in Norwalk, Sharp starting racing karts when he was only 8 years old, winning 50 out of 75 races. Sharp came from a road-racing background, earning several championships including: 1986 SCCA GT-2, 1987 and 1988 SCCA GT-1, and 1991 and 1993 SCCA Trans-Am. Sharp competed in one NASCAR Winston Cup Series event, coming in 1992 at Watkins Glen. In 1993, Sharp made his CART debut with Bettenhausen Motorsports and became a full-time competitor in the series in 1994 with PacWest Racing. His first Indianapolis 500 start also came in 1994. In 1996, Sharp was part of Doyle Racing’s 24 Hours of Daytona winning team.

Sharp is one of only two drivers (the other being Buddy Lazier) to have driven in at least one race in each of the first 12 seasons of IndyCar competition. His impressive IRL career has resulted in numerous records including: most career IndyCar Series starts (147); most consecutive IndyCar Series race starts (138); most races running at finish (110) and previously held the records for most top-ten finishes (82) and most consecutive seasons with at least one race win (7) (now both held by Hélio Castroneves).

He was one of the competitors in the first IRL race in 1996 with Foyt, the owner of his 1995 Indianapolis 500 car. He was the co-champion of the IRL's inaugural season in 1996 along with Buzz Calkins. In 1997 two crashes resulting in severe concussions sidelined Sharp until 1998 when he began working with the newly formed Kelley Racing team and sponsor Delphi. At Kelley, Sharp collected eight wins and four pole positions (one being at the 2001 Indianapolis 500). He was 3rd in the championship in 2001, but an influx of strong teams from CART meant that Kelley was not one of the strongest teams after that season. In 2004 he was down in 13th in the championship with a best finish of 8th — his first winless season since 1998, also ending a run of top 8 championship finishes dating back to 1998.