American racing driver
Richie Hearn (born January 4, 1971) is an American former racing driver.
Hearn was born in Glendale, California. He ran in the Toyota Atlantic championship for two seasons, winning the title in 1995. In 1996, he began driving for John Della Penna in both the IRL and Champ Car ranks. He won an IRL race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to cap off the year and was the highest finishing rookie at the Indianapolis 500, finishing 3rd.
Hearn moved full-time into Champ Car in 1997 for Della Penna with high-profile sponsor Budweiser but failed to post significant results and by 2000 was surplus for sponsored driver Norberto Fontana. He contested a few more Indy 500s, with a best result of 6th in 2002. In 2005 following the Indy 500 he retired as a driver and started Hearn Motorsports LLC that ran in the Star Mazda series. He planned to move the team into Toyota Atlantic competition in 2006. Hearn returned from retirement to qualify on Bump Day of the 2007 Indianapolis 500 in a car jointly entered by Racing Professionals and Hemelgarn Racing.
Hearn is currently a driving instructor at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch's Ron Fellows driving school.
Early life
Hearn's parents were also racecar drivers, racing in amateur Sports Car Club of America events on the West Coast. They belonged to the Corvette club, and owned two Corvettes.[1] His father owned a go-kart shop.[2] When he was nine years old, he began racing go-karts. By the time he was 20, he owned seven International Karting Federation titles.[3]
Hearn then attended the Winfield Racing School at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, whose alumni included Alain Prost. His go-kart competitors helped pay for his tuition. He became the only American to qualify for Winfield's school competition.[3] He managed to win, and was able to earn a year of sponsored racing on the Formula Renault circuit, which is several tiers below the Formula One class.[4]
Professional career
Toyota Atlantic
In 1995, Hearn won the Toyota Atlantic championship.[1]
Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
In 1996, Hearn won a pole at New Hampshire, won a race at Las Vegas, finished third in his Indianapolis 500 debut (the best rookie finish for that race) and was fourth in series points.[1][5]
CART Championship Car
In 1997, Hearn and team owner John Della Penna moved full-time to the CART FedEx Championship Series. That season, he had 17 starts, but his best finish was ninth.[1]
The following season, his team made upgrades and he was able to improve in his finishes. In a race in Rio de Janeiro, he finished in a career-best seventh place.[1]
In 1999, Hearn crashed coming off turn two on lap four of the Marlboro 500, bringing out the first caution flag of the race. He was not injured, but several laps later, Greg Moore crashed in the exact same spot and was killed.[6]
Hearn did not return for the 2000 season, as he didn't have a sponsor, and Norberto Fontana replaced him.[7]
Return to Indy Racing
In 2002, he finished sixth in the Indianapolis 500, his best finish since his rookie season.[5] In 2003, he was hired by Menard Racing, winning the pole for that year's Indy 200.[8]
In 2007, Hearn got a last-minute ride with Jon Herb's backup car with Hemelgarn/Racing Professionals, even though he hadn't raced since the 2005 Indy 500. With it, he qualified 32nd for the Indianapolis 500.[9] That would be the final Indianapolis 500 he competed in.[5] In seven seasons, he drove in 84 races.[10]
Later life
After retiring from racing, he started a racing team. One of its drivers was Alexander Rossi, who would go on to win the 2016 Indy 500. However, the team became unsustainable during the Great Recession. Due to this, he became bankrupt and did odd jobs such as driving a forklift, and coached a successful flag football team. He then got a job at Bobby Flay’s restaurant at Caesars Palace. However, this wasn't satisfying for him, so he became a part-time instructor at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch's Ron Fellows driving school, and eventually lead instructor once he quit his job at the restaurant.[10]
Hearn still races. In 2014, he competed in the 18th SKUSA SuperNationals.[11] From 2016-17, he competed in the “Indy Legends” Charity Pro-Am.[12][13] In his free time, he does iRacing, a virtual reality racing video game[10]
Personal life
Hearn was married, but they divorced when he got bankrupt. He has a daughter.[10]
Hearn attended college classes at Citrus College.[4] Years later, after seeing a commercial for the Cordon Blue Culinary School, he enrolled and earned an associate’s degree in the culinary arts in two years.[10]
