Arie Luyendyk, Jr.
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Arie Luyendyk, Jr. (born September 18, 1981 in Den Bosch, Netherlands) is an auto racing driver and son of Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk. Despite his European birth, all of his adult racing has taken place in North America where his father lives and made his career. He placed second in points in the 2002 inaugural season of the Infiniti Pro Series but has never won an IPS race despite racing in every race in the first four years since the series' inception as well as several races in 2006. He currently drives for AFS Racing and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
[edit] Career
Arie began racing karts in 1992, and moved to Sports Car Club of America club Formula Ford competition six years later. He raced in a number of American junior formulae, notching wins in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge series and top five finishes the U.S. Formula Ford 2000 Championship. In 2001, Luyendyk finished third in the Formula Continental class at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs as well as winning the SCCA Southern Pacific divisional title on the strength of 4 wins in that same class. He competed full-time in the first four seasons of the Indy Racing Leauge's Indy Pro Series, beginning in 2002. In his IPS career, Luyendyk, Jr. has three poles and 18 top-5 finishes. He has been voted IPS "Most Popular Driver" three years in a row, 2003-05. Luyendyk finished second in the Indy Pro Series Championship in 2002 and third in 2004.
In 2005, Arie attempted to make his Indy Car Series debut by qualifying for the 2005 Indianapolis 500 in a car owned by Curb-Agajanian/Beck Motorsports. However, with limited track time and a car that never handled properly, Luyendyk's qualifying speed of 215.039 mph was close to 2 mph slower than the next slowest qualifier at the time. A.J. Foyt hired driver Felipe Giaffone to qualify a third car for him, and Giaffone's 217.645 mph four-lap average bumped Luyendyk from the field. Luyendyk, Jr. was the only driver to be bumped that year.
Arie, Jr. did qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 in a car owned by his father and backed by cheapcaribbean.com and Blue Star Jets. The team had limited practice time due to a second week engine program. However, his first race in the more powerful cars ended early due to handling issues, with Arie scoring a 28th place finish.
