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Jon Herb
Herb's booking photo following his arrest on child sexual abuse charges by the Collier County Sheriff's Department
NationalityAmerican
Born (1970-06-01) June 1, 1970 (age 53)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
IRL IndyCar Series
Years active2000–2002, 2007
TeamsByrd-McCormack Racing
Tri-Star Racing
Racing Professionals
Starts16
Wins0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finish23rd in 2001 & 2007
Previous series
2004–2006
1998–2001		Indy Pro Series
ARCA Racing Series

Jon Allen Herb (born June 1, 1970) is an American former racecar owner, driver in the Indy Racing League[1] and ARCA, and convicted child sex offender.

Racing career

IRL debut

Herb made his IRL debut in the opening round of the 2000 season. Herb raced in the Delphi Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway. He qualified 26th, and finished 22nd, dropping out with handling problems. Herb spent most of the rest of the year driving in the ARCA series (best finished was 11th, three times).

Herb made his Indianapolis 500 debut in 2001, finishing 27th. He competed in five other races, with a best finish of 9th at Texas. He made six more starts in 2002, but did not attempt to qualify at Indy.

Indy Pro Series

In 2004 Herb moved to the Infiniti Pro Series, where he co-owned his team with Matt Young. His first IPS start was the Freedom 100, where dropped out with a broken suspension and finished 17th. He finished in the top 10 at the next two events he entered, netting a 6th-place finish at Fontana and a 7th in the season finale in Fort Worth.

He ran a full schedule in 2005, won the race at Phoenix, and finished 7th in the season points standings.

In 23 Indy Pro Series starts from 2004 to 2006, he had one win, and a total of 15 top ten finishes.

IRL return

Herb prepares for a qualification attempt prior to the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

Herb intended to return to the IndyCar series for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 in a Playa Del Racing Panoz, of which he was a co-owner. However, he yielded the car to Roger Yasukawa, who qualified it for the race.

Herb qualified in the 27th starting position for the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and finished 32nd after crashing on lap 53.[2]

He made two other starts in 2007. In June 2007 he raced at Texas, finishing 20th after spinning entering the pits. At Michigan, he struggled with suspension problems, and finished 20th after spinning. It was his final start.

He sold his team's cars to the league's pool of chassis for former Champ Car teams following open wheel unification prior to the 2008 IndyCar season.

Child sexual abuse conviction

Herb was arrested by authorities in Collier County, Florida on October 4, 2013. He was charged with numerous counts of possession of child pornography. Herb's wife reportedly went to a police station after finding pictures of nude girls on Herb's laptop. Photos on the laptop also allegedly depicted Herb engaged in sexual acts with a girl who appeared to be four years old.[3][4]

On January 4, 2016, Herb pleaded no contest to lewd and lascivious molestation and 13 counts of child pornography possession and was sentenced to 25 years in prison and lifetime probation. Under current Florida law he is required to serve at least 85% of his prison sentence.[5]

Career results

Complete American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IRL IndyCar Series

Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref
2000 Byrd-McCormack Racing G-Force GF05 30 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 WDW
22 		PHX LVS INDY TXS PPIR ATL KTY TX2 41st 8 [6]
2001 Tri-Star Motorsports Dallara IR-01 6 PHX HMS
25 		ATL
16 		INDY
27 		TXS
Rpl 		PPIR RIR KAN
19 		NSH KTY STL 23rd 70 [7]
PDM Racing G-Force GF05B 18 CHI
15 		TX2
9
2002 Racing Professionals G-Force GF05C 16 Chevrolet Indy V8 HMS
DNS 		PHX
11 		FON
19 		NZR
22 		INDY
DNQ 		31st 70 [8]
Dallara IR-02 TXS
22 		PPIR
21 		RIR
19 		KAN NSH MIS KTY STL CHI TX2
2006 Playa Del Racing Panoz GF09C 12 Honda HI6R V8 HMS STP MOT INDY
DNQ 		WGL TXS RIR KAN NSH MIL MIS KTY SNM CHI NC - [9]
2007 Racing Professionals Dallara IR-05 19 Honda HI7R V8 HMS STP MOT KAN INDY
32 		MIL TXS
20 		IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO MIS
20 		KTY SNM DET CHI 23rd 34 [10]
Sources:[11][12]
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums
(non-win) 		Top 10s
(non-podium) 		Indianapolis 500
wins 		Championships
5 4 16 0 0 0 1 0 0
Sources:[11][12]

Indianapolis 500

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team
2001 Dallara Oldsmobile 18th[13] 27th[14] Tri-Star
2002 G-Force Chevrolet Failed to Qualify Racing Professionals
2006 Panoz Honda driven by R. Yasukawa Playa Del
2007 Dallara Honda 27th 32nd[15] Racing Professionals
Sources:[11][12]

Indy Lights

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points
2004 Racing Professionals/Matt Young Motorsports HMS PHX INDY
17 		KAN NSH MIL MIS KTY PPIR CHI FON
6 		TXS
7 		18th 67
2005 Racing Professionals/Matt Young Motorsports HMS
3 		PHX
1 		STP
11 		INDY
13 		TXS
7 		IMS
9 		NSH
6 		MIL
4 		KTY
11 		PPIR
11 		SNM
9 		CHI
4 		WGL
11 		FON
9 		7th 364
2006 Racing Professionals/Matt Young Motorsports HMS
6 		STP1
13 		STP2
9 		INDY
19 		WGL
8 		IMS
8 		NSH MIL KTY SNM1 SNM2 CHI 11th 126
Sources:[11][12]
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums
(non-win) 		Top 10s
(non-podium) 		Championships
3 1 23 0 1 1 15 0
Sources:[11][12]

References

  1. ^ http://raceday.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=280&seriesID=3&subID=11[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Indy Racing League - IRL - Racing - SI.com". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  3. ^ "Former Indy race car driver arrested on child porn charges". Naples Daily News. October 6, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  4. ^ "North Naples race car driver facing 246 child porn charges also has case in Lee". Naples Daily News. October 7, 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  5. ^ Carpenter, Jacob (January 5, 2015). "Former Indy car driver gets 25 years in prison for Collier child sex abuse". Naples Daily News. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  6. ^ "Jon Herb – 2000 Indy Racing Northern Lights Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  7. ^ "Jon Herb – 2001 Indy Racing Northern Lights Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  8. ^ "Jon Herb – 2002 Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  9. ^ "Jon Herb – 2006 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  10. ^ "Jon Herb – 2007 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Jon Herb". Motor Sport. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  12. ^ a b c d e "Jon Herb Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  13. ^ "85th Indianapolis 500".
  14. ^ "CNNSI.com - 2001 Indy 500 - 2001 Indianapolis 500 Results - Sunday May 27, 2001 09:31 PM". Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  15. ^ "SI.com - Racing - Indy 500 Official Results - Sunday May 27, 2007 9:32PM". Archived from the original on 2011-06-22. Retrieved 2008-12-17.

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