American racing driver
Emerson Newton-John (born September 26, 1974) is an American professional racing driver. The nephew of Olivia Newton-John, he has competed in numerous forms of motorsports, most notably in NASCAR, the ARCA Racing Series, and the Indy Lights Series.
Racing career
Newton-John competed in the Formula Holden Tasman Cup in 2000–2001, nearly winning his inaugural event in the series, and the Formula Holden Australian Drivers' Championship in 2001, finishing fifth, with a best result of 2nd; he also competed in the French Renault Megane Cup, and tested a Formula Three car.[1] His final Formula Holden race was on September 10, 2001; the September 11 attacks resulted in financial backing for his open-wheel career drying up, and Newton-John switched to stock cars.[1]
Newton-John made his debut in stock car racing in November 2001, competing in the ARCA Re/MAX Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway where he ran as high as 12th after starting from the back of the field. he ended up 15th.[1] In 2002, he competed in his first NASCAR event, a Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; he finished 31st in the event,[2] following a weekend that Newton-John described as "disastrous".[citation needed]
In 2012, Newton-John returned to professional racing, driving an open-wheel formula car for the first time in almost eleven years in a test at Iowa Speedway. Passing a refresher test, he went on to compete in the Freedom 100 Firestone Indy Lights race, driving for Tyce Carlson's Fan Force United team.[1] He was 6th fastest in practice and qualified in 8th position. He was involved in a multi-car incident on the fifth lap of the event,[3] and was credited with a 17th-place finish.[4] He ran again in Indy Lights later in the year at the Grand Prix of Baltimore; he crashed twice due to faulty rear suspension, first in qualifying for the event,[5] and then in the race, finishing 12th of 13 cars.[6]
In 2014, Newton-John returned to the ARCA Racing Series, driving for Carter 2 Motorsports at Madison International Speedway;[7] running as a start-and-park, he finished 23rd.[8]
Personal life
A native of Los Angeles, California, Newton-John is the son of Graham Hall and Rona Newton-John (1941–2013), stepson of Jeff Conaway, half-brother of Fiona Goldsmith, Brett Goldsmith and Tottie Goldsmith, and the nephew of Olivia Newton-John.[9] He is named after two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi.[1] He is married, and has two children.[citation needed]
Newton-John is the founder of the charitable organization Pink and Blue for Two, focused on breast and prostate cancer awareness.[10]
Motorsports career results
American open–wheel racing results
(key)
Indy Lights
NASCAR
(key) (Bold − Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics − Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Craftsman Truck Series
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
ARCA Racing Series
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
American