Andy Santerre
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| Born: | September 7, 1968 (age 38) | |
| Birthplace: |  Cherryfield, Maine |
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| Awards: | 2005 Busch North Series Champion
2004 Busch North Series Champion 2003 Busch North Series Champion 2002 Busch North Series Champion |
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| NASCAR Busch Series Statistics | ||
| 68 races run over 9 years. | ||
| Best NBS Position: | 20th - 1998 (Busch Series) | |
| First Race: | 1993 NE Chevy 250 (New Hampshire) | |
| Last Race: | 2002 Stacker 2 200 (Nazareth) | |
| First Win: | 1999 NAPA Autocare 250 (Pikes Peak) | |
| Last Win: | 1999 NAPA Autocare 250 (Pikes Peak) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 1 | 7 | 1 |
Andy Santerre (born September 7, 1968, in Cherryfield, Maine) is a former NASCAR driver. He is retired from racing and now owns his own NASCAR Busch East Series team - Andy Santerre Motorsports. Also, he has one career Busch win to his credit. At the age of 19, he was diagnosed with Guillan-Barre syndrome, which had him hospitalized for several months
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[edit] Busch Series Career
Andy Santerre made his Busch debut in 1993, driving for his own #15 O'Connor Buick team. He ran his first and only race of the year at NHIS, starting the race in 11th position and finished the race in 14th.
Santerre made two starts in 1994. He ran the #51 Chevy at Nazareth and finisihed 18th. The next time out, running the #1 Primetime Van Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, Santerre set his best qualifying effort to that point of 8th in the field at Watkins Glen International. However, he only ran four laps and finished 39th with transmission problems.
Santerre next returned in 1996, when he drove the #35 Ford for Mike Laughlin Jr. at Daytona. He started deep in the pack in 40th, but had a 22nd place finish.
Santerre made another one-off appearance in 1997. Once again driving for Laughlin, Santerre started the #45 Hunters Specialties Chevy at New Hampshire. He started 16th and upped his position by one to 15th. Also, Santerre led his first lap of Busch Series competition during a green flag pit cycle.
Santerre's occasional Busch runs and Busch North stats earned him a ride in 1998, where he would win Rookie of the Year with Innovative Motorsports. However, despite the award, it was still a tough season. Santerre's best finishes were a 4th at Gateway and a 10th at Richmond. He had a pole at Richmond finished 20th in overall points, despite missing two races.
Santerre began 1999 with a broken leg at Daytona, and was not able to return to the #47 Chevy for 16 races, returning with a 30th at the Glen. Yet, just three races later, Santerre took control late in the race at Pikes Peak. Leading seventeen laps, earned to his first career victory. Despite this, Santerre was released four races later.
Santerre ran seventeen races in 2000, sharing a ride Kenny Wallace in the #25 Lance Snacks Chevy for Team Rensi Motorsports. His best finish was at Pikes Peak, where he had a third-place finish. He also tallied on three other top-10s.
In 2001, Santerre ran 13 races for three teams. Running for the #01 EJP team, #11 Channellock team and the #31 Whelen team. For the third straight year, the #11 Chevy at Pikes Peak recorded Santerre's best finish of the year of 13th place. Overall, Santerre had four top-20 finishes.
Santerre made his last two starts in 2002. He earned a 38th at New Hampshire and 36th at Nazareth. At that point, Santerre dropped all Busch Racing and went back to the North Series.
[edit] Busch North Series / East Series Career
Santerre is a four-time champion of the Busch North Series, holding the record for most series championships, and winning them consecutively from 2002-2005. Santerre recently announced he will discontinue racing to concentrate on managing Grizco Racing, a Busch East Series team owned by Steve and Peg Griswold.
Under Santerre's management, the team moved to Charlotte, and following acquisitions, became Andy Santerre Motorsports. With driver Sean Caisse, the team finished second to Mike Olsen, the grandson of popular Northeastern driver Stub Fadden, in the 2006 Busch East Championship. Caisse also drew the attention of Kevin Harvick, who signed him to a driver development contract.
Santerre is reportedly looking at an alliance with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. which would allow Jeffrey Earnhardt to race in a second Santerre Busch East car in 2007 under NASCAR's new rule reducing the minimum age in the Grand National and Whelen Modified divisions to 16.
[edit] Craftsman Truck Series
Santerre has made one career Truck Series start. Driving the #57 Whelen Ford, Santerre made the 2000 Watkins Glen race. Once again, Santerre made a good debut. He started 21st, ran on the lead lap and finished 16th.
