Biography
American Josef Newgarden returns to racing in his home country in 2011 by joining Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM) to compete as a rookie in the Firestone Indy Lights Series. The 20-year-old Nashville, Tenn., native made a huge splash racing formula cars in Europe the past two seasons, featuring a victory in the Kent class of the 2008 Formula Ford Festival in Great Britain, which made him the first American to score a win in the 36-year history of the prestigious event.
Prior to his departure to Europe, Newgarden was runner-up in the Skip Barber National Championship with five wins, nine podiums and six pole positions in 2008. After scoring his milestone victory in the Formula Ford Festival, Newgarden relocated to the UK to race British Formula Ford full-time in 2009. He scored nine wins, 16 podium finishes, four poles and eight fastest race laps in 25 races, finishing second in the championship. He also won a pair of races in three outings in the Formula Palmer Audi series that year. In 2010, Newgarden moved up to the GP3 Championship, where he scored five top 10 finishes, a pole position at Hockenheim, Germany and three front row starts in 16 GP3 rookie season starts.
Newgarden’s competitive career began as a 13-year-old racing karts at New Castle (Ind.) Motorsports Park located east of Indianapolis. He proved to be a quick study as he captured back-to-back Junior TAG World Championships in 2005 and 2006. He backed that up with a championship in the Kart Racers of America TAG class in 2007 to go with his runner-up finish and rookie of the year honors in the Skip Barber Southern Regional Championship that year.
When Josef is not behind the wheel of a race car, he enjoys listening to music, playing Ping-Pong, cycling, fitness training, and rock climbing. He also has a strong passion for cooking and eating healthy food! The original Racer of Tomorrow’s favorite street car is the BMW M3 E92.
(Photo: GP3 Series Media Services)
