James Edward Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver who competed primarily in the CART series and Champ Car. Vasser won ten CART series races and won the 1996 CART championship with Chip Ganassi Racing. Vasser was the last American to win the CART title. Vasser won the 1996 U.S. 500, and had a best finish of fourth at the Indianapolis 500 twice (1994 and 2001).

Vasser was co-owner of KV Racing Technology, winning the 2013 Indianapolis 500 with driver Tony Kanaan. He currently co-owns Vasser Sullivan Racing, claiming the GTD Pro teams title at the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Driving career Vasser made his CART debut in 1992 and qualified for the Indianapolis 500, as the fastest rookie qualifier. While he become a top driver on the open-wheel circuit, his rise to prominence overlapped with the IRL-CART "Split". Vasser's best years were mostly spent away from the Indy 500, although he did race at Indy on a one-off basis a few times after the Split.

In 1995, Vasser joined Chip Ganassi Racing. At the Indianapolis 500 he was battling for the lead when he crashed with just thirty laps to go. Later in the season, Vasser finished second at both Detroit and Portland. But at Portland, race winner Al Unser Jr.'s car failed post-race inspection due to insufficient ground clearance. Unser was stripped of the victory, and Vasser was elevated to the winner, tentatively his first-career Indy car triumph. A protest and appeals process dragged out through the summer, and in September Unser was reinstated the win. Vasser would finish the 1995 season eighth in points.

In 1996, Vasser won the CART season opener at Homestead, officially his first win in Indy/Champ Car competition. He won four races, including the U.S. 500 at Michigan. He built a large points lead during the first half of the season, with seven top-tens in the first seven races. He clinched the championship at the season's final race, scoring points in every race except one.

Vasser finished third in points in 1997 with one race win. He finished second in points with three wins in 1998, including the Marlboro 500 at Fontana. But teammate Alex Zanardi would outshine him over those two seasons, winning the points championship both years. Vasser teamed with Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999. He was once again outperformed by his teammate and Montoya won the championship in his rookie season. In 2000, his last year with Chip Ganassi Racing, Vasser won the Houston Grand Prix for his first victory since 1998. In that year, Ganassi also became the first major CART major team to crossover to the IRL and compete at the Indianapolis 500. It was Vasser's first appearance at Indy since 1995. Vasser and Montoya were well-received by fans, and were quickly up to speed with the IRL regulars. Vasser led 5 laps, but slipped to 7th at the finish. Montoya dominated the race en route to victory.

For 2001, Vasser moved to the Patrick Racing team to drive the No. 40 Reynard Toyota. Despite having limited sponsorship for the car at first, Vasser started the season strong with four straight finishes of fourth to sixth place. Continuing the strong start to 2001, Vasser was reunited with Target Chip Ganassi Racing driving for them in the Indianapolis 500. Vasser ran well and finished in fourth place as CART drivers swept the top-five spots at the 500. However, once returning to the CART circuit, back to back crashes in race No. 5 at Milwaukee and race No. 6 at Detroit seemed to derail the season as Vasser finished the final sixteen races of the season with only four more finishes of fifth to seventh.

After a disappointing year without even a podium, Vasser was able to secure the seat of the No. 8 Shell Lola Ford with Rahal Letterman Racing for 2002 which had finished second in CART points the previous season. In the Shell car, Vasser showed some muscle at Long Beach scoring the pole, leading laps late, and finishing 2nd behind Michael Andretti. Vasser and Rahal Letterman also crossed over into the IRL where they ran the IRL race in Fontana to prepare for Indianapolis and then the Indianapolis 500. Success was limited as Vasser scored only a ninth at Fontana and a gearbox failure cut short his Indy 500 race. Vasser's 2002 season in the Shell car was much improved over the previous year with Patrick Racing. Vasser really finished the year strong with scoring points in each of the final nine races including a podium at Miami and a dominating win at Fontana after a late-race pass of Andretti. Vasser's Fontana win was to be the final win of his CART career.

Without sponsorship at Rahal for 2003, Vasser had to look for opportunities with other teams and without many seats available for the 38-year-old he ended up with Stefan Johansson's startup American Spirit team. The team was not fully funded and they ran the Reynard chassis which were not up to the pace of the current Lola chassis cars. Additionally, Reynard had gone bankrupt so further development of the chassis had to be taken on by the teams so the performance gap to the Lolas continue to widen during the season. Except for a couple of fourth-place finishes, leading fifteen laps at Cleveland, and podium at Surfer's Paradise in a wet/dry race the season was not very successful as rookie teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay was outpacing Vasser. Vasser reunited with Rahal Letterman for his final run at an Indianapolis 500 win but was again sidelined with gearbox failure during the race.

In 2004, Vasser became co-owner of PKV Racing (later renamed to KV Racing Technology) along with Dan Pettit and Kevin Kalkhoven and was a driver for the team. In 2004, he broke the modern CART–Champ Car record for the most consecutive starts. Vasser retired from open wheel racing in 2006, but remains active in his ownership role. He temporarily came out of retirement to drive in the final Champ Car World Series event at the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

In 2006, Vasser competed in three Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series races, including the 24 Hours of Daytona, driving for GAINSCO/Blackhawk Racing. In 2007, he again drove for the renamed GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and on Sept. 4, 2007, it was announced that he would return to the team for the season-ending Sunchaser 1000 km. Vasser drove again for Stallings' team beginning at Laguna Seca in May 2008, pairing with fellow Champ Car champion Cristiano da Matta.

In 2013, Vasser joined the Stadium Super Trucks and was scheduled to make his debut at Honda Indy Toronto. However, he was injured prior to the race and was replaced by Davey Hamilton.

Early career Won the 1986 Formula Ford National Championship, SCCA. Competed in the 1988 Corvette Challenge. Competed in the 1989 and 1990 Pro F-2000 Canadian Championship. Vasser and his teammate Ken Murillo were sponsored by Lucasfilm. Competed in Atlantic Championship in 1990 and 1991 for Genoa Racing / Della Penna Motorsports. Won the Formula Atlantic East/West Challenge in 1990. Finished Runner-up (by four points Jovy Marcelo) in the 1991 season, six wins and seven pole positions.

Motorsports career results

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Year Track Car Engine Class Finish Start Status 1985 Road Atlanta Swift DB1 Ford Formula Ford 25 5 Running 1986 Road Atlanta Swift DB1 Ford Formula Ford 1 2 Running

American open-wheel racing results (key)

Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points 1988 R & K RacingPHXMILPORCLETORMEAPOCMDOROANAZLAGMIA26th3 1989 Barclay RacingPHXLBHMILDETPORMEATORPOCMDOROANAZLAG24th5

CART/Champ Car Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points Ref 1992 Hayhoe-Cole Racing 47 Lola T91/00 Chevrolet 265A SRFPHXLBHINDYDETPORMILNHATORMCHCLEROAVANMDONAZLAG 22nd 8 1993 Hayhoe-Cole Racing 18 Lola T92/00 Chevrolet 265A SRFPHXLBHMILDETPORCLE 16th 30 Ford XB V8tINDYTORMCHNHAROAVANMDONAZLAG 1994 Hayhoe-Cole Racing Reynard 94i Ford XB V8tSRFPHXLBHINDYMILDETPORCLETORMCHMDONHAVANROANAZLAG 15th 42 1995 Chip Ganassi Racing 12 Reynard 95i Ford XB V8tMIASRFPHXLBHNAZINDYMILDETPORROATORCLEMCHMDONHAVANLAG 8th 92 1996 Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96i Honda HRH V8tMIARIOSRFLBHNAZ500MILDETPORCLETORMCHMDOROAVANLAG1st154 1997 Chip Ganassi Racing 1 Reynard 97i Honda HRR V8tMIASRFLBHNAZRIOGATMILDETPORCLETORMCHMDOROAVANLAGFON3rd144 1998 Chip Ganassi Racing 12 Reynard 98i Honda HRK V8tMIAMOTLBHNAZRIOGATMILDETPORCLETORMCHMDOROAVANLAGHOUSRFFON2nd169 1999 Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 99i Honda HRS V8tMIAMOTLBHNAZRIOGATMILPORCLEROATORMCHDETMDOCHIVANLAGHOUSRFFON 9th 104 2000 Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RVA V8tMIALBHRIOMOTNAZMILDETPORCLETORMCHCHIMDOROAVANLAGGATHOUSRFFON 6th 131 2001 Patrick Racing 40 Reynard 01i Toyota RV8F V8tMTYLBHTXSNAZMOTMILDETPORCLETORMCHCHIMDOROAVANLAUROCHOULAGSRFFON 12th 77 2002 Team Rahal 8 Lola B02/00 Ford XF V8tMTYLBHMOTMILLAGPORCHITORCLEVANMDOROAMTLDENROCMIASRFFONMXC 7th 114 2003 American Spirit Team Johansson 12 Reynard 02i Ford XFE V8tSTPMTYLBHBRHLAUMILLAGPORCLETORVANROAMDOMTLDENMIAMXCSRFFON 11th 72 2004 PKV Racing 12 Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8tLBHMTYMILPORCLETORVANROADENMTLLAGLVGSRFMXC 8th 201^ 2005 PKV Racing Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8tLBHMTYMILPORCLETOREDMSJODENMTLLVGSRFMXC 6th 217 2006 PKV Racing Lola B03/00 Ford XFE V8tLBHHOUMTYMILPORCLETOREDMSJODENMTLROASRFMXC 24th 7 ^ New points system implemented in 2004

IndyCar Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points Ref 2000 Target Chip Ganassi Racing 10 G-Force GF01C Oldsmobile Aurora V8WDWPHXLVSINDYTXSPPIRATLKTYTX2 32nd 26 2001 44 G-Force GF05BPHXHMSATLINDYTXSPPIRRIRKANNSHKTYGATCHITX2 36th 32 2002 Team Rahal 19 Dallara IR-02 Chevrolet Indy V8HMSPHXFONNAZINDYTXSPPIRRIRKANNSHMCHKTYGATCHITX2 40th 23 2003 Dallara IR-03 Toyota V8HMSPHXMOTINDYTXSPPIRRIRKANNSHMCHGATKTYNAZCHIFONTX2 36th 4 2008 KV Racing Technology 12 Panoz DP01 Ford XFE V8tHMSSTPMOT1LBH1KANINDYMILTXSIOWRIRWGLNSHMDOEDMKTYSNMDETCHISRF2 42nd 0

1 Run on same day. 2 Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Indianapolis 500 results Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Reason out Team 1992 Lola Chevrolet 28th 21st Crash Hayhoe 1993 Lola Ford-Cosworth 19th 13th Running Hayhoe 1994 Reynard Ford-Cosworth 16th 4th Running Hayhoe 1995 Reynard Ford-Cosworth 9th 22nd Crash Ganassi 2000 G-Force Oldsmobile 7th 7th Running Ganassi 2001 G-Force Oldsmobile 12th 4th Running Ganassi 2002 Dallara Chevrolet 19th 30th Gearbox Rahal 2003 Dallara Honda 27th 26th Gearbox Rahal

Notes Winner of fastest CART race: Fontana 2002, Average Speed:

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pts Ref 2003 Braun Racing 30 Dodge DAY28 CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX TAL NSH CAL RCH GTY NZH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW25 DAY CHI NHA PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL PHO CAR HOM 97th 167

References

External links

Official bio at PKVRacing.com

Jimmy Vasser now savors taste of Indy milk - The Indianapolis Star, 23 May 2014