Jeff Simmons (racing driver)

Jeff Simmons
Nationality	American
Born	(1976-08-05) August 5, 1976 Hartford, Connecticut
Related to	Chris Simmons (brother)
IRL IndyCar Series
Years active	2004, 2006–2008
Teams	Mo Nunn Racing Patrick Racing Rahal Letterman Racing A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Starts	26
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	16th in 2006
Previous series
2000, 2003–2006, 2008	Indy Lights

Jeff Simmons (born August 5, 1976, in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American race car driver,^[1] most recently driving open wheel cars in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series.^[2]

Early career

Simmons began his professional career in the Barber Dodge Pro Series in 1998. In his first season he won the rookie of the year and the series championship, becoming only the second rookie ever to win the title. The "Career Enhancement Award" of $250,000 that went with the title was not enough to secure him a ride at the next level, Indy Lights, so he returned to Barber Dodge in 1999. He successfully defended his championship and in so doing became the only person ever to win the championship twice. With two "Career Enhancement Awards" ($500,000) behind him he moved up to the Indy Lights with Team Green in 2000, finishing 7th overall. When Michael Andretti joined Team Green to form Andretti Green Racing, the Indy Lights effort was disbanded. Simmons tested at the end of that year with the 2000 Indy Lights champs, PacWest Racing. However, Simmons’ lack of funding left him without a team for both 2001 and 2002. He made his return to racing in 2003 in the Infiniti Pro Series, leading his first race back and ultimately finishing 2nd in the championship with 2 wins. In 2004, Simmons once again lacked the sponsorship needed for a full-time ride, However, AJ Foyt put him in his Infiniti Pro Series car at Indianapolis where the finished 2nd. That led to Mo Nunn giving him a chance to qualify his second car for the Indianapolis 500, which he did, with just 37 laps ever in an IndyCar, and finished 16th in the race. He made one additional start that year for Patrick Racing after the retirement of Al Unser, Jr. at Kansas Speedway. He put the Patrick car in the highest position it had seen all year and was set to record a top-10 when he was taken out by two of his competitors. Unable to find a ride in IndyCar for 2005, he returned to the Pro Series, finishing second in the series championship with 4 victories for Team ISI/Kenn Hardley Racing.

IndyCar Series

Expecting another season in the Pro Series in 2006, those plans were turned upside down when Paul Dana was killed in a practice crash before the first IndyCar series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on a weekend where Simmons won the IPS race.

Simmons was rewarded for his resilience when Rahal Letterman Racing announced April 4, 2006, he would drive the No. 17 Ethanol-sponsored Panoz–Honda effective April 22 in Motegi and was eligible to compete for the Rookie of the Year award, although he was no longer an Indy 500 rookie due to his start in 2004. He contested the remainder of the 2006 IRL IndyCar Series season and finished 16th in series points despite missing the first two races. His best finish in 2006 was 7th place at Nashville Superspeedway and Infineon Raceway.

Simmons practicing his Foyt Enterprises #41 car for the 2008 Indianapolis 500

For the 2007 season, Simmons was joined at Rahal Letterman by IRL veteran Scott Sharp. The season saw the team hampered by engineering and mechanical issues ultimately resulting in a lawsuit by Sharp against the team and its owners. Simmons led the Indianapolis 500 that year and ran in the top-5 most of the race until rain forced an early end to the event and Simmons to finish in 11th. On July 19, after 11 races, Simmons was let go from the team, who replaced him with fellow American Ryan Hunter-Reay.

In February 2007, Jeff became engaged to WTHR Sunrise reporter, Stephanie Soviar. They were married in September of that year, but ended up getting divorced in April 2010.

Simmons returned to the Indy Lights Series (formerly the Indy Pro Series) at the beginning of the 2008 season, driving for Team Moore Racing. He was given a chance to return to the IndyCar Series, albeit temporarily, to drive a second entry for A. J. Foyt Enterprises in the 2008 Indianapolis 500 and qualified 24th. He quickly moved up the field in the race until a pit lane incident damaged the car. A mechanical failure finally sent him into the wall during a caution period, resulting in a 28th-place finish.

Motorsports Career Results

American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete USF2000 National Championship results

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
1997	Falcon Racing Services	WDW	STP	PIR	DSC1	DSC2	SAV	PPI	CHA1	CHA2	MID 45	WGI 5	WGI 6	N.C.	N.C.

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1997	STP	SEB	SAV 27	LRP	MDO	WGI 10	MIN	MDO	ROA	LS 7	REN	LS	???	???
1998	SEB	LRP 10	DET 1	WGI 1	CLE 3	GRA 2	MDO 26	ROA 5	LS1 2	ATL 1	HMS 2	LS2 2	1st	158
1999	SEB 5	NAZ 2	LRP 20	POR 1	CLE 3	ROA 1	DET 24	MDO 2	GRA 7	LS 1	HMS 4	WGI 5	1st	152

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2000	Team KOOL Green	LBH 4	MIL 7	DET 9	POR 3	MIS 15	CHI 7	MDO 6	VAN 3	LS 3	STL 14	HOU 11	FON 6	7th	88

Indy Pro Series

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2003	Keith Duesenberg Racing	HMS 14	PHX 5	INDY 4	PPIR 2	KAN 14	NSH 4	MIS 2	STL 1	KTY 1	CHI 3	FON 8	TXS 2					2nd	407
2004	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	HMS	PHX	INDY 2	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY									12th	150
	Kenn Hardley Racing									PPIR 9	CHI 2	FON 10	TXS 6
2005	Kenn Hardley Racing	HMS 9	PHX 12	STP 12	INDY 7	TXS 8	IMS 13	NSH 2	MIL 1	KTY 5	PPIR 1	SNM 3	CHI 1	WGL 1	FON 2			2nd	474
2006	Kenn Hardley Racing	HMS 1	STP1 2	STP2 4	INDY	WGL	IMS	NSH	MIL	KTY	SNM1	SNM2	CHI					12th	122
2008	Team Moore Racing	HMS	STP1 4	STP2 19	KAN 7	INDY 8	MIL 2	IOW 6	WGL1 3	WGL2 6	NSH 15	MDO1 6	MDO2 21	KTY 23	SNM1	SNM2	CHI	13th	285
2010	Team E	STP	ALA	LBH	INDY 15	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	CHI	KTY	HMS				34th	15

IndyCar Series

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points race.

Indianapolis 500

References