Chris Bingham

Chris Bingham (born December 15, 1971) is an American racing driver from Kirkland, Washington. He is a noted sports car driver but also competed in eleven Busch Series events in his career.

Early career

Bingham began his professional racing career when he made four Indy Lights starts in 1997 with a best finish of 11th at Nazareth Speedway. He also participated in the 24 Hours of Daytona in a GT3-class Porsche. He returned to Daytona and made his 12 Hours of Sebring debut in 1998. In 1999 and 2000 Bingham was the #2 driver for the Hybrid R&D Riley & Scott-Ford Le Mans Prototype team in the American Le Mans Series. He also passed his Indy Racing League rookie test with Mid-America Motorsports but decided not to pursue an entry into the IRL. In 2001 and 2002 Bingham drove the works Saleen S7R in the Grand-Am Series' GTS class to back to back championships, including 11 class victories.

NASCAR Busch Series

Bingham decided to foray into NASCAR in 2003, when Bingham inked a deal to drive for Jay Robinson Racing in the Busch Series. He made his debut at North Carolina, starting 38th and finishing 34th after transmission issues. DNFs would plague his season, as Bingham fell out of seven of his eleven starts. Even when he did not fall out, Bingham struggled, earning just a career-best finish of 26th at Darlington and Texas. After his inconsistency, Bingham was released following a 33rd at Charlotte.

Return to sports cars

Bingham returned to the Grand Am Series' Daytona Prototype class in 2004 and began fielding his own entry in 2005. In 2006 he drove Derhaag Motorsports' Daytona Prototype but resigned from the team in August after poor finishes.[1] Earlier that season he was involved in a fistfight with competitor J. C. France after the two collided at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City and was suspended for one race and placed on probation.[2] He did not make any appearances in the series in 2007.

References

  1. ↑ Press Release from Chris Bingham - Grand Am Rolex Series Competitor, TheAutoChannel.com, August 6, 2006
  2. ↑ Grand-Am drivers Bingham, France issue apologies after Mexico City altercation Archived November 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., FeedMeSportsCars.com, March 9, 2006
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