Driving career
Vasser made his CART debut in 1992 and qualified for the Indianapolis 500, as the fastest rookie qualifier. [2] While he become a top driver on the open-wheel circuit, his rise to prominence overlapped with the IRL-CART "Split". Vasser's best years were mostly spent away from the Indy 500, although he did race at Indy on a one-off basis a few times after the Split.
In 1995, Vasser joined Chip Ganassi Racing. At the Indianapolis 500 he was battling for the lead when he crashed with just 30 laps to go. Later in the season, Vasser finished second at both Detroit and Portland. But at Portland, race winner Al Unser Jr.'s car failed post-race inspection due to insufficient ground clearance. Unser was stripped of the victory, and Vasser was elevated to the winner, tentatively his first-career Indy car triumph. [3] [4] [5] A protest and appeals process dragged out through the summer, [6] and in September Unser was reinstated the win. [7] [8] Vasser would finish the 1995 season 8th in points.
In 1996 Vasser won the CART season opener at Homestead, officially his first win in Indy/Champ Car competition. He won four races, including the U.S. 500 at Michigan. He built a large points lead during the first half of the season, with seven top-tens in the first seven races. He clinched the championship at the season's final race, scoring points in every race except one. [9]
Vasser finished third in points in 1997 with one race win. He finished second in points with three wins in 1998, including the Marlboro 500 at Fontana. But teammate Alex Zanardi would outshine him over those two seasons, winning the points championship both years. [10] Vasser teamed with Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999. He was once again outperformed by his teammate and Montoya won the championship in his rookie season. [11] In 2000, his last year with Chip Ganassi Racing, Vasser won the Houston Grand Prix for his first victory since 1998. [12] In that year, Ganassi also became the first major CART major team to crossover to the IRL and compete at the Indianapolis 500. It was Vasser's first appearance at Indy since 1995. Vasser and Montoya were well-received by fans, and were quickly up to speed with the IRL regulars. Vasser led 5 laps, but slipped to 7th at the finish. Montoya dominated the race en route to victory.
For 2001, Vasser moved to the Patrick Racing team to drive the No. 40 Reynard Toyota. Despite having limited sponsorship for the car at first, Vasser started the season strong with four straight finishes of 4th to 6th place. Continuing the strong start to 2001, Vasser was reunited with Target Chip Ganassi Racing driving for them in the Indianapolis 500. Vasser ran well and finished in 4th place as CART drivers swept the top five spots at the 500. However, once returning to the CART circuit, back to back crashes in race No. 5 at Milwaukee and race No. 6 at Detroit seemed to derail the season as Vasser finished the final sixteen races of the season with only four more finishes of 5th to 7th.
After a disappointing year without even a podium, Vasser was able to secure the seat of the No. 8 Shell Lola Ford with Rahal Letterman Racing for 2002 which had finished 2nd in CART points the previous season. In the Shell car, Vasser showed some muscle at Long Beach scoring the pole, leading laps late, and finishing 2nd behind Michael Andretti. Vasser and Rahal Letterman also crossed over into the IRL where they ran the IRL race in Fontana to prepare for Indianapolis and then the Indianapolis 500. Success was limited as Vasser scored only a 9th at Fontana and a gearbox failure cut short his Indy 500 race. Vasser's 2002 season in the Shell car was much improved over the previous year with Patrick Racing. Vasser really finished the year strong with scoring points in each of the final nine races including a podium at Miami and a dominating win at Fontana after a late-race pass of Andretti. Vasser's Fontana win was to be the final win of his CART career.
Without sponsorship at Rahal for 2003, Vasser had to look for opportunities with other teams and without many seats available for the 38-year-old he ended up with Stefan Johansson's startup American Spirit team. The team was not fully funded and they ran the Reynard chassis which were not up to the pace of the current Lola chassis cars. Additionally, Reynard had gone bankrupt so further development of the chassis had to be taken on by the teams so the performance gap to the Lolas continue to widen during the season. Except for a couple of fourth-place finishes, leading 15 laps at Cleveland, and podium at Surfer's Paradise in a wet/dry race the season was not very successful as rookie teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay was outpacing Vasser. Vasser reunited with Rahal Letterman for his final run at an Indianapolis 500 win but was again sidelined with gearbox failure during the race.
In 2004 he became co-owner of PKV Racing (later renamed to KV Racing Technology) along with Dan Pettit and Kevin Kalkhoven and was a driver for the team. In 2004, he broke the modern CART–Champ Car record for the most consecutive starts. [13] Vasser retired from open wheel racing in 2006, but remains active in his ownership role. He temporarily came out of retirement to drive in the final Champ Car World Series event at the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. [14]
In 2006, Vasser competed in three Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series races, including the 24 Hours of Daytona, driving for GAINSCO/Blackhawk Racing. In 2007, he again drove for the renamed GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and on Sept. 4, 2007, it was announced that he would return to the team for the season-ending Sunchaser 1000 km. Vasser drove again for Stallings' team beginning at Laguna Seca in May 2008, pairing with fellow Champ Car champion Cristiano da Matta.
In 2013, Vasser joined the Stadium Super Trucks and was scheduled to make his debut at Honda Indy Toronto. [15] However, he was injured prior to the race and was replaced by Davey Hamilton. [16]
