Former F1 star Scott Speed talks about the sport’s popularity in America, switching to Rallycross
LAS VEGAS – Scott Speed has almost done it all when it comes to motor racing.
The Red Bull driver was one of the few American drivers to compete in Formula 1. He raced on NASCAR ovals and won several championships in Rallycross.
Speed competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso 28 times between the 2006 and 2007 seasons. He was one of the last Americans to compete in F1 races before Alexander Rossi and Logan Sargeant.
At that time, the United States Grand Prix was a fixture on the Formula 1 schedule, and it wasn’t until 2022 that the Miami Grand Prix began and, last year, the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
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Scott Speed (USA) during practice for the 2007 Great British Grand Prix at Silverstone July 6, 2007. (GEPA Photos/Franz Pammer via USA Today Sports)
Starting in 2023, the US will host three Formula 1 races as the sport’s popularity soars.
“It’s out of control. It’s really, really different,” Speed told Fox News Digital Friday. “Actually, it was very good because I am a free person. So, after returning to America after the end of my Formula 1 career, it was really good that no one knew me or did not know me. I would just like to start from the beginning and I really enjoyed the anonymity.
“Now, obviously, it’s great because a lot of my fellow Americans and a lot of my friends and family here now know what Formula 1 is, and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, you did that?’ And that’s very special to be able to share with them. As a fan of motor racing in general, I’m very happy that, whether it was a Netflix show or a lot of things, it grew here and it’s really good.
Speed hasn’t been Mario Andretti’s success, but driving at the pinnacle of open-wheel racing is a big win.
Competing with the likes of Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa is no easy task.
“Formula 1 is the best in motor racing, isn’t it? But there was really no way in America. So, it was like an aspirational goal, and I was very lucky to have the opportunity and search for a Red Bull America driver. to get that opportunity to move to Europe and have a way from in the Red Bull Junior Development program to get there.
Formula One driver Scott Speed (USA) during practice for the 2007 French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours Motorway on June 29, 2007. (GEPA photos/ Mathias Kniepeiss via USA Today Sports)
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“My biggest memories are how special it was to be able to maximize those opportunities and get there.”
Speed a one of the most difficult parts of Formula 1 was to go from winning a lot or competing at the top of the feeder series to racing hard against the best. And not always finding victory lane or the podium was “hard to get used to.”
“Formula 1 is very special, and the cars are unbelievably fast. I think it’s very special, I mean, everyone will remember the first time they left the garage with a Formula 1 car. And, for me, it was Barcelona a V-10 So, I was lucky to have a memory of the engines and they sound amazing many memories.
Speed raced in NASCAR for several years before getting another chance to compete in a different type of racing – Rallycross, which takes place on a closed circuit with mixed terrain.
Scott Speed drives the No. 41 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle in the Red Bull Global Rallycross race at Daytona International Speedway June 21, 2015, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (Brian Cleary/Getty Images)
The Red Bull athlete won three consecutive Global Rallycross championships from 2015 to 2017 and the Americas Rallycross championship in 2018. He told Fox News Digital that he wanted to challenge himself and run in a series outside of his comfort zone.
“There are a lot of options that would be much easier and probably more environmentally friendly,” he said. “I wanted to challenge myself and do something different.
“It’s probably the decision I’m most happy with because it put me on a path of testing and learning different ways to drive a car. And I loved this part of car racing – far from being good at driving one type of car. I loved one way of driving a car, ‘Oh, this car, I need, as a driver, to do a lot of things. different things to improve the car.’ And I loved that.
“With Rallycross after stock car racing, it was another evolution of that like, ‘OK, this needs something else,’ and I’ve always been in love and intrigued with what it takes to try to improve the physics of the cars. I’ve been fortunate to have those opportunities to be able to go from all these different aspects.”
Speed also gave advice to young drivers looking to break into the sport.
“Don’t stop,” she said. “I believe you can have everything you want in life if you want it bad enough. It always comes down to being willing to pay the price and willing to put in the energy and time required to do whatever it takes.
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Scott Speed during the Championship race at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., Nov. 5, 2023. (Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports)
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“I think the most important thing is that you love what you do. I was lucky enough to discover at a young age that I loved racing, and I was able to pursue that and turn that into a career. But I think that the love of racing is the basis of that because the effort and energy needed to succeed in something as difficult as motor racing requires a lot of energy. And if If you don’t love what you do, you won’t be willing to pay the price that it takes.”
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