Scott Tucker Takes on the World of Racing
The plot of Scott Tucker’s career is precisely what some might call a Cinderella story, an American classic: A thriving private equity investor coming from a Kansas city makes its way into his first professional motorsports race when he was Forty-four, and a few years later, he’s continually on the podium just after races in several series-Grand-Am, Ferrari, American Le Mans Series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Earlier this year, Tucker made podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his debut season in the LMP2 class.
As expected, not just any one could do the level of late-bloomer success Tucker has achieved. His skill level, strength, approach and depth of real information would not exist if not for an enormous desire for the adventure. Scott Tucker loves cars-before he had the opportunity to race, he built a sort-of car museum in the Leawood, Kansas residential home. So it’s appropriate that Tucker, the unlikely American Le Mans leading man, would be the first American to go in his team in the Le Mans Prototype class in nearly 25 years.
“Breaking into the Le Mans series has always been on my mind,” Scott Tucker pointed out. “I could wait another Ten years for the time to be right, but we got an opportunity and decided to go for it.”
The Le Mans Prototype, or LMP, are the quickest closed-wheel racing cars on contemporary circuit racing tracks. Their expense and technology are the same as that of Formula 1 vehicles, but LMP vehicles top out at even higher speeds than Formula 1 vehicles. Not strange Tucker couldn’t wait to get in one. After he barreled through the LMP series, Tucker moved into the LMP2 class. Mid-season, a Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research partnership was finishing work on a cost-capped prototype that would allow for improved speeds compared to other LMP2 engines. It wasn’t any wonder when Tucker reserved the initial 2 out of development.
The Le Mans Prototype was used the very first time in the ’92 24 Hours of Le Mans, whenever a small field of competition caused the race to be open to small, open-cockpit race cars using production road car engines in an attempt to expand the field. At the conclusion of that 12 months, the World Sportscar Championship and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship organizations dissolved, which left higher priced Group C prototypes without much competition beyond Le Mans races, which were quite few. As Group C became outmoded, the Le Mans Prototype class was made. In 1999, the American Le Mans Series was made, permitting a lot broader competitor base because more Le Mans races would be held each season.
At the moment, a motorist can race in an LMP, LMP2 or LMP1 class, in two of which Tucker has made his mark. Last year, throughout his debut season in the Le Mans series, Tucker took the LMP championship and won rookie of the year. Moving forward in to LMP2 for the 2011 season, Tucker begun accumulating podium finishes at breakneck speed, with stunning finishes at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Infineon and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Tucker with the exceptional Level 5 Motorsports team might be just what the America needs to bring larger awareness of racing. With NASCAR largely dominating motorsports interest and not even a single Le Mans Prototype entry coming from the nation in a quarter century, there’s been an absence of depth in auto racing coverage. Tucker’s soul searching story, his own obvious passion for the activity and his undeniable success are a verifiable formula for a figure whom the public could get behind.
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