Red Bull.com

With Red Bull Racing Team guiding Scott Speed through his first season in stock cars, the former Formula driver took ARCA by storm and was also fixture at the front in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He earned his first victory at Dover in only his sixth start and ended the season with eight top-15 finishes in his final 10 races. This was enough to secure Speed a seat for the 2009 Sprint Cup season, where he’ll battle for Rookie of the Year honors in the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota. Speed, who was the first American in Formula One since Michael Andretti in 1993, got his start kart racing for eight years before stepping up to open-wheel racing in 2001. He won the Formula Russell title in his first try. In 2002, he continued the climb, competing in the Skip Barber National Championship and Star Mazda series. That same year, Red Bull launched the Red Bull Driver Search — aimed at putting a United States-born driver in Formula One. Speed, at a still-green 19, won the competition and crossed the pond for British Formula 3. However, he fell ill with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and was forced to return to the U.S. for treatment. This didn’t stop him from racing and within a year he was driving the No. 2 Toyota for the accomplished Eddie Sharp Racing of ARCA — one of the premier developmental stock-car circuits in the United States. Speed’s ultimate goal was the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and on October 19 at Martinsville, he made his inaugural start in the No. 84 Red Bull Racing Toyota. Known as an eccentric racer who speaks his mind, Speed has overcome all kinds of obstacles to continue racing hard. Out of the car, Speed rock climbs, rides bikes, shops, spins on his DJ equipment and plays a mean game of golf.