Townsend Bell

Townsend Bell

Born: April 19, 1975
Age: 49
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Biography

Townsend Bell (born April 19, 1975 in San Francisco) is a motor racing driver competing in the Verizon IndyCar Series and TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, and also a motorsports commentator for NBC Sports’ IndyCar coverage.

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Early career

He spent time in karting, Skip Barber, Formula Dodge and the Barber Dodge Pro Series before graduating into Indy Lights in 2000. He won the last Indy Lights championship in 2001 and earned two starts in a Champ Car in a joint effort between Patrick Racing and Dale Coyne Racing as a test for a full-time seat in 2002. He earned Roberto Moreno's seat at Patrick that year. He raced a partial season and scored a best finish of fourth.

International Formula 3000 career

His efforts shifted to Europe and in 2003 he was team mate to series champion Björn Wirdheim in International F3000 competition. Bell's moment of glory came with a podium at the Hungaroring and he finished 9th overall in a field covered with future Formula One talent, Wirdheim, Giorgio Pantano, Patrick Friesacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nicolas Kiesa among them.

Return to IndyCar

Despite earning a test with British American Racing at year's end, Bell returned to America where he replaced Mark Taylor for Panther Racing in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series midway through 2004, and posted a best finish of fifth. He started one race as an injury replacement for Tomáš Enge in the same car in 2005. He made his first Indianapolis 500 appearance for Vision Racing in 2006, qualifying 15th and finishing 22nd. He returned to the IndyCar Series in 2008 driving the No. 23 car in events where Milka Duno was not scheduled to race. His best result in 2008 was an eighth-place finish at Richmond International Raceway in June. He also was entered in a third team car in the Indy 500, where he qualified twelfth and finished tenth.

In 2009, KV Racing Technology entered Bell in the Indy 500. Bell was on a limited-month schedule but had an impressive race day, advancing from 24th on the grid up to the top five. Passing Team Penske's Will Power on the last restart, Bell impressed with a fourth-place finish.

He has also substituted for David Hobbs on Speed TV's Formula One broadcast team on several occasions.

Bell posted his best Indianapolis 500 qualifying effort to date in 2011, racing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. By qualifying fourth fastest, he started the 95th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing on the inside of the second row.

Bell finished 9th in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. His 2014 Indianapolis 500, back with KV Racing Technology in the No. 6 Robert Graham Dallara-Chevrolet, marked his eighth start in the event and seventh consecutive. He will return to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the 2015 Indianapolis 500.

Bell is a color commentator for NBC Sports with lead anchor Leigh Diffey and fellow analyst Paul Tracy. Hobbs and Steve Matchett, analysts for NBC Sports’ Formula 1 coverage, occasionally rotate in if Bell is on assignment.

Sports car career

Bell made his sports car debut in 2012 and won the 12 Hours of Sebring on debut with Alex Job Racing. That season, he drove a Lotus Evora GTE for Alex Job Racing in the American Le Mans Series with Bill Sweedler, before he and Sweedler drove a Ferrari F458 Italia the following year with West/AJR.

He matched his Sebring feat in his first Rolex 24 at Daytona start in 2014, winning that driving with Level 5 Motorsports. Bell and Sweedler won the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup with AIM Autosport, after finishing first or second in three of the four races in the endurance series within the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The pairing finished fourth overall in the full season GT Daytona class points.

In 2015, Bell and co-driver Bill Sweedler took home the IMSA GT Daytona Championship. In addition, they had a dominant win at VIR and podium finishes in the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of LeMans.

He is currently competing full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona class with O'Gara Motorsport in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

Other racing

Bell is also a color commentator for NBC Sports's IndyCar and Global RallyCross Championship broadcasts as well as the host of What'Cha Got on Fox Sports 1.

Bell has also both competed and commented in the Stadium Super Trucks.

Racing record

American open-wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points
1998
SEB

LRP

DET

WGI

CLE

GRA

MDO

ROA

LS1

ATL

HMS

LS2
16th 36
1999
SEB

NAZ

LRP

POR

CLE

ROA

DET

MDO

GRA

LS

HMS

WGI
3rd 104

Indy Lights

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points
2000 Dorricott Racing
LBH

MIL

DET

POR

MIS

CHI

MDO

VAN

LS

STL

HOU

FON
2nd 146
2001 Dorricott Racing
MTY

LBH

TXS

MIL

POR

KAN

TOR

MDO

STL

ATL

LS

FON
1st 192

CART

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points
2001 Patrick Racing
MTY

LBH

TXS

NZR

MOT

MIL

DET

POR

CLE

TOR

MIS

CHI

MDO

ROA

VAN

LAU

ROC

HOU

LS

SRF

FON
30th 1
2002 Patrick Racing
MTY

LBH

MOT

MIL

LS

POR

CHI

TOR

CLE

VAN

MDO

ROA

MTL

DEN

ROC

MIA

SRF

FON

MXC
20th 19

IndyCar Series

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points
2004 Panther Racing Dallara Chevrolet HMS PHX MOT INDY TXS RIR KAN
NSH
MIL
MIS
KTY
PPIR
NZR
CHI
FON
TX2
21st 193
2005 HMS PHX STP MOT INDY TXS RIR KAN NSH MIL MIS
KTY PPIR SNM CHI WGL FON 30th 15
2006 Vision Racing Honda HMS STP MOT INDY
WGL TXS RIR KAN NSH MIL MIS KTY SNM CHI 34th 12
2008 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing HMS STP
MOT1
LBH1
KAN INDY
MIL
TXS IOW RIR
WGL NSH MDO EDM
KTY SNM
DET CHI SRF2
26th 117
2009 KV Racing Technology Dallara IR5 STP LBH KAN INDY
MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL TOR EDM KTY MDO SNM CHI MOT HMS 32nd 32
2010 Sam Schmidt Motorsports SAO STP ALA LBH KAN INDY
TXS IOW WGL TOR EDM MDO SNM CHI KTY MOT HMS 38th 18
2011 STP ALA LBH SAO INDY
TXS2 TXS2 MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO NHM SNM BAL MOT 35th 40
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing KTY
LVS
2012 Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports Dallara DW12 STP ALA LBH SAO INDY
DET TXS MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO SNM BAL FON 30th 26
2013 Panther Racing Chevrolet STP ALA LBH SAO INDY
DET1 DET2 TXS MIL IOW POC TOR1 TOR2 MDO SNM BAL HOU1 HOU2 FON 35th 10
2014 KV Racing Technology STP LBH ALA IMS INDY
DET DET TXS HOU HOU POC IOW TOR TOR MDO MIL SNM FON 32nd 22
2015 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing STP NLA LBH ALA IMS INDY
DET DET TXS TOR FON MIL IOW MDO POC SNM 35th 32
2016 Andretti Autosport Honda STP
PHX
LBH
ALA
IMS
INDY
DET
DET
TXS
RDA
IOW
TOR
MDO
POC
WGL
SNM
* *


1 Run on same day.
2 Non-points race.
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums
(Non-win)
Top 10s
(Non-podium)
Indianapolis 500
Wins
Championships
8 6 25 0 0 0 9 0 0

Indianapolis 500

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team
2006 Dallara Honda 15 22 Vision Racing
2008 Dallara Honda 12 10 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2009 Dallara Honda 24 4 KV Racing Technology
2010 Dallara Honda 10 16 Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2011 Dallara Honda 4 26 Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2012 Dallara Honda 20 9 Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports
2013 Dallara Chevrolet 22 27 Panther Racing
2014 Dallara Chevrolet 25 25 KV Racing Technology
2015 Dallara Chevrolet 24 14 Dreyer & Reinbold Kingdom Racing
2016 Dallara Honda 4 Andretti Autosport

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points
2003 Arden International IMO
CAT
A1R
MON
NUR
MAG
SIL
HOC
HUN
MNZ
9th 17

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2015 Scuderia Corsa Bill Sweedler
Jeff Segal
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTE
Am
330 24th 3rd

[ Source: Wikipedia ]


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