A. J. Allmendinger

AJ Allmendinger Born (1981-12-16) December 16, 1981 (age 31) Los Gatos, California, United States Achievements 2-time IKF Champion 2002 Barber Dodge Pro Series Champion 2003 Champ Car Atlantic Champion 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Awards 2004 Champ Car World Series Rookie of the Year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career 173 race(s) run over 6 year(s) Car no., team No. 51 (Phoenix Racing) 2012 position 32nd Best finish 15th (2011) First race 2007 Food City 500 (Bristol) Last race 2012 AAA Texas 500 (Texas) Wins Top tens Poles 0 29 2 NASCAR Nationwide Series career 8 race(s) run over 2 year(s) Best finish 59th (2007) First race 2007 Camping World 300 (California) Last race 2008 Hefty Odor Block 200 (Phoenix) Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career 13 race(s) run over 3 year(s) Best finish 34th (2007) First race 2006 New Hampshire 200 (New Hampshire) Last race 2008 San Bernardino County 200 (California) Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0 Statistics current as of November 18, 2012. Champ Car career 40 race(s) run over 3 year(s) Years active 2004-2006 Team(s) RuSport (2004-2006) Forsythe (2006) Best finish 3rd - 2006 First race 2004 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Long Beach) Last race 2006 Lexmark Indy 300 (Surfers Paradise) First win 2006 Grand Prix of Portland (Portland Raceway) Last win 2006 Grand Prix of Road America (Road America) Wins Podiums Poles 5 14 2 Statistics current as of October 28, 2012.

Anthony James "AJ" Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981), nicknamed The Dinger, is an American racecar driver. He is best known for his accomplishments in the Champ Car World Series. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Phoenix Racing.

[edit] Personal life

Allmendinger is married to Canadian model Lynne Kushnirenko.

[edit] Racing career

Allmendinger (seated-left) when he raced in the Skip Barber National Championship

[edit] Beginnings

He started his career in karts. He won two International Kart Federation Grand National championships.^[1]

He also raced in New Zealand in 2002 in the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship^[2]

Allmendinger won the Barber Dodge Pro Series championship in 2002, and the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in 2003 with Carl Russo's RuSport team.

[edit] Champ Car

In 2004, Allmendinger and RuSport entered the Champ Car World Series, with Michel Jourdain Jr. joining Allmendinger. He scored a run of 6 top-6 finishes towards the end of the season and won the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year award ahead of Justin Wilson. Wilson joined the team for 2005, and both drivers have been in regular contention for podium finishes.

On June 9, 2006, RuSport announced that Allmendinger would be replaced by 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta. 5 days later, Forsythe Championship Racing announced Allmendinger as their new driver, replacing Mario Dominguez. In the interim, he became engaged to Lynne Kushnirenko, a Canadian model and chiropractor. In his first race with Forsythe, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Portland. Allmendinger became the first American to win a Champ Car World Series event since Ryan Hunter-Reay won at The Milwaukee Mile in 2004. This began a three-race winning streak that included wins at the Grand Prix of Cleveland and the Grand Prix of Toronto. This victory moved Allmendinger into second place in the CCWS championship standings, behind leader Sebastian Bourdais.

He chalked up his fourth and fifth wins of the season at Denver and Road America. He left Champ Car to accept a lucrative offer from the NASCAR operation Team Red Bull.^[3]

[edit] NASCAR

Allmendinger (left) and Tony Raines

Allmendinger made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series driving for Bill Davis Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 16, 2006 in the No. 24 Toyota Tundra.^[4][5] He crashed his primary truck in qualifying but started the race 32nd in a backup truck from teammate Bill Lester and finished on the lead lap in 13th. He also competed at Talladega Superspeedway in October with a finish of 5th. In his 3rd career truck series start, he qualified in 2nd place at Atlanta and led five laps before he wrecked and finished 34th.

Allmendinger attempted his first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event at Atlanta in October 2006 driving the No. 84 Red Bull Dodge Charger; however, due to qualifying being rained out, a lack of owner's points prevented Allmendinger from making the race. He also attempted to make the race at Texas Motor Speedway, failing to qualify again, however. Allmendinger and Brian Vickers were named Red Bull's drivers for 2007, with Allmendinger piloting the team's #84 Toyota Camry with Vickers in the team's #83.

Allmendinger failed to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 after a crash in the first Gatorade Duel race. He also failed to qualify for the next four races before finishing 40th his first Nextel Cup start at the Food City 500 at Bristol. As the season progressed, Allmendinger made a handful of races, predominantly in the "Car of Tomorrow". To assist him in the transition to stock cars, he participated in selected Craftsman Truck Series races for Toyota for the Darrell Waltrip Motorsports organization and the No. 42 Memorex/Chip Ganassi Dodge in the Busch Series.

Allmendinger again failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500. After three failures to qualify in 2 attempts (qualifying for the second race of the season, Fontana, was rained out and set by 2007 owner's points), he was replaced by veteran driver Mike Skinner on a temporary basis. Allmendinger returned to the Cup series at Talladega. On May 17, he won the Sprint Showdown at Lowe's Motor Speedway during NASCAR's annual All-Star weekend. The win qualified Allmendinger for the Sprint All-Star Race later that evening, where he finished 17th. Due to Allmendinger's 11th place finish at Watkins Glen, for the first time in his career, he had a guaranteed starting spot for the next race. He had his best career finish at the time at Kansas Speedway coming in 9th, but was released from the team two days later. He was replaced for the rest of the season by Scott Speed and Skinner.

After signing a one-race contract with Michael Waltrip Racing, Allmendinger replaced fellow former open-wheel star Patrick Carpentier at Gillett Evernham Motorsports, scoring an average finish of 15.4 in the team's #10 Valvoline Dodge. During the offseason, as part of the merger between GEM and Petty Enterprises, Allmendinger was to move to the #19 Best Buy Dodge replacing Elliott Sadler. However, Sadler was still under contract for the 2010 season and announced he would file suit against Allmendinger and the organization. In early January 2009, Richard Petty Motorsports announced a settlement where Sadler would remain in the #19 and Allmendinger would return to his 2008 team, which was renumbered 44. However, Valvoline did not commit to sponsoring the team full-time and they were forced to race without full-time sponsorship.^[6]

2008 Sprint Cup Series car

Allmendinger's team ended the 2008 season 36th in owner's points, meaning it did not have exemptions for the first five races of 2009. The retro-styled Valvoline 44 raced its way in to the Daytona 500, and third in his Daytona 500 debut, also his personal best, and is the best Daytona 500 debut except for Lee Petty in the 1959 Daytona 500, Scott Wimmer in the 2004 Daytona 500 and Trevor Bayne in the 2011 Daytona 500. Allmendinger was one of two go-or-go-home drivers (the other being Tony Stewart, but Stewart had the past champion's provisional available) to successfully attempt the first five races of the 2009 season.

At 1:27 am on October 29, 2009, Allmendinger was arrested for drunk driving by Mooresville, North Carolina police. He registered a .08 blood alcohol level according to a police report. NASCAR placed him on probation for the rest of the 2009 season.^[7] Allmendinger drove a Ford Fusion in the final three races of the season as part of RPM's transition from Dodge to Ford. During the offseason, Allmendinger replaced Reed Sorenson in the team's famous #43 car. After finishing 11th in the 2011 Daytona 500, A.J. started the season 10th in points driving the No. 43 Ford sponsored by Best Buy. Allmendinger continued to have a career best year in 2011 with 10 top 10 finishes and an average finish of 16th. He finished the 2011 regular season contending for a wild card spot in the Chase for the Sprint cup but came up just short. Three races prior to setting the field for the Chase, RPM put former Roush Fenway Racing crew chief Greg Erwin on the pit box starting at the 2011 Brickyard 400. A.J. and Greg recorded 6 top 10 finishes after their pairing. Allmendinger finished the 2011 season a career best 15th in the points. Allmendinger also announced that he would have a partnership stake in Mike Shank's IndyCar team MSR Indy.

[edit] 2012

At the end of the 2011 season, Allmendinger left Richard Petty Motorsports when the driving spot for Penske Racing's #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge became open after the parting ways of Kurt Busch and Penske. Prior to his suspension, his best finish was a 2nd at Martinsville Speedway.

[edit] Suspension

On July 7, 2012, Allmendinger was suspended from the Coke Zero 400 after failing a random drug test. Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's senior vice president for racing operations, said that Allmendinger had up to 72 hours to request a 'B' test sample.^[8][9] The next day, Roger Penske said before the Honda Indy Toronto race that Allmendinger's 'B' sample would tested on Monday or Tuesday.^[10] Allmendinger requested a B' sample test.^[11] On July 11, 2012, Allmendinger's camp said a stimulant caused the positive drug test. The B sample test had not yet been scheduled at that time.^[12]

On July 24, it was announced by NASCAR that Allmendinger was suspended indefinitely after the "B" sample tested positive for a banned stimulant,^[13] which was revealed to be amphetamines. He will participate in the Road to Recovery program. On August 1, he was released from his contract by Penske Racing.^[14] Allmendinger was replaced in the No. 22 by Sam Hornish, Jr.; he later stated that the cause of the positive test was Adderall that he had unknowingly taken, being told it was an "energy pill".^[15] Allmendinger was reinstated by NASCAR on September 18 after completing the Road to Recovery program.^[16][17]

In October 2012, Allmendinger returned to NASCAR at Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving for Phoenix Racing,^[18] substituting for Phoenix's intended driver Regan Smith, who had been hired by Hendrick Motorsports to drive the #88 for Charlotte and Kansas while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was sidelined with a concussion.

It was reported that Allmendinger could move to the IndyCar Series with Michael Shank Racing, which he co-owned, for the 2013 season.^[19]

[edit] Rolex 24

On January 28 and 29, 2012, Allmendinger entered the Rolex 24 and drove for Michael Shank Racing and drove the final segment of the 24 hour race to the victory for the team in the Daytona Prototype division. His teammates were Justin Wilson, John Pew, and Oswaldo Negri. To do so, he had to fend off sports car racing veteran Allan McNish among others.

[edit] Motorsports career results

[edit] American open–wheel racing results

(key)

[edit] Atlantic championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2003	RuSPORT	MTY 8	LBH 1	MIL 3	LS 1	POR 4	CLE 1	TOR 1	TRR 1	MDO Ret	MTL 1	DEN 1	MIA 11	1st	201

[edit] Champ Car World Series

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2004	RuSPORT	LBH 12	MTY 17	MIL 5	POR 6	CLE 6	TOR 11	VAN 3	ROA 13	DEN 5	MTL 5	LS 15	LVG 6	SRF 6	MXC 3	6th	229
2005	RuSPORT	LBH 8	MTY 10	MIL 2	POR 5	CLE 2	TOR 12	EDM 14	SJO 17	DEN 3	MTL 9	LVG 13	SRF 2	MXC 2		5th	227
2006	RuSPORT	LBH 16	HOU 8	MTY 3	MIL 4											3rd	285
	Forsythe Championship Racing					POR 1	CLE 1	TOR 1	EDM 3	SJO 7	DEN 1	MTL 17	ROA 1	SRF 16	MXC

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• A. J. Allmendinger driver statistics at Racing Reference
• A.J. Allmendinger at Driver Database
• Champ Car results