Emerson Newton-John
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Emerson Newton-John (born September 26, 1974 in Los Angeles, California) is an American racing driver. The nephew of Olivia Newton-John, he competes on a limited basis in the Firestone Indy Lights series.
Personal life
Newton-John is the stepson of Jeff Conaway and Rona Newton-John, half-brother of Brett and Tottie Goldsmith, and the nephew of Olivia Newton-John.[1][2] He is named after two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi.[3] He is married, and has two children.[4]
Racing career
Newton-John competed the Formula Holden Tasman Cup in 2000–2001, nearly winning his inaugural event in the series, and the Formula Holden Australian Drivers' Championship in 2001, finishing fifth, with a best result of 2nd; he also competed in the French Renault Megane Cup, and tested a Formula Three car.[3] His final Formula Holden race was on September 10, 2001; the September 11 attacks resulted in financial backing for his open-wheel career drying up,[4] and Newton-John switched to stock cars.[3]
Newton-John made his debut in stock car racing in November 2001, competing in the ARCA Re/MAX Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway where he ran as high as 12th after starting from the back of the field. he ended up 15th.[3] In 2002, he competed in his first NASCAR event, a Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; he finished 31st in the event,[5] following a weekend that Newton-John described as "disastrous".[4]
In 2012, Newton-John returned to professional racing, driving an open-wheel formula car for the first time in almost eleven years in a test at Iowa Speedway.[4] Passing a refresher test, he went on to compete in the Freedom 100 Firestone Indy Lights race, driving for Tyce Carlson's Fan Force United team.[3] He was 6th fastest in practice and qualified an impressive 8th. He was involved in a multi-car incident on the fifth lap of the event,[6] and was credited with a 17th place finish.[7] He ran again in Indy Lights later in the year at the Grand Prix of Baltimore; he crashed twice due to faulty rear suspension, first in qualifying for the event,[8] and then in the race, finishing 12th of 13 cars.[9]
Charitable work
Newton-John is the founder of the Pink and Blue for Two campaign, a breast and prostate cancer awareness campaign.[2]
References
- ↑ "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew: Jeff Conaway". VH1. 2008. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Belcher, Walt (October 25, 2010). "Newton-John to host local cancer awareness event". The Tampa Tribune. Tampa, FL. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 DiZinno, Tony (May 14, 2012). "Emerson Newton-John's surreal road back to racing". Racer. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Hamilton, Andy (May 5, 2012). "Driver with famous name tries to make his own, starting in Iowa". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, IA. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ↑ "Truck Series Notes". The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Daytona Beach, FL. July 25, 2002, page 6B.
- ↑ Brudenell, Mike (May 25, 2012). "Olivia Newton-John follows racing nephew at Indy". Detroit Free Press. Detroit, MI. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ↑ Stearns, Amber (May 26, 2012). "Olivia Newton-John Ready for 500 Festival Parade". WIBC 93.1FM. Indianapolis, IN. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ↑ McKee, Sandra (September 1, 2012). "Crashes highlight the early action Saturday at Grand Prix of Baltimore". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, MD. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
- ↑ "2012 Grand Prix of Baltimore". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
External links
- Emerson Newton-John driver statistics at Racing Reference