- published: 06 Jun 2015
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Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American race car driver. Formerly a driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team, he made his Formula One race debut at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix; becoming the first American to race in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993. Speed has currently turned his career towards stock car racing; specifically NASCAR, where he has driven for Red Bull Racing Team and Whitney Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series. In 2012 he will be driving a limited schedule for Leavine Family Racing.
Speed currently resides in Mt. Holly, NC, where he lives with his wife Amanda. On October 4, 2011, Scott and Amanda welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Juliet.
His brother Alex currently races karts in America and is a 3 time Stars of Karting champion and a 3 time SKUSA Supernationals winner.
Speed's career started at the age of 10 in karting, his stint there lasting from 1993 until 2001, winning the SKUSA Super Pro Title for JM Racing driving a Tony Kart Swedetech Honda in 2000 2 IKF Grand Nationals driving a 6 year old kart, and 3 IKF regional titles. He also won the 2002 Rock Island GP in 125cc Shifter Karts. He moved up to Formula series in 2001, competing in US Formula Russell and becoming champion. He drove in both the US Barber Formula Dodge and US Star Mazda Series followed in 2002, although he failed to win either title, and in 2003 the American drove for the ADR team in British Formula Three after winning the Red Bull Driver Search programme. During that year he fell ill with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and was forced to return to the United States for treatment.