Chris Simmons (

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, 1 May 1973) is a

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech ...

engineer for their IndyCar Series teams.

Racing career

Simmons started as a driver, initially racing

quarter midgets Quarter midget racing is a form of automobile racing. The cars are approximately one-quarter (1/4) the size of a full-size midget car. The adult-size midget being raced during the start of quarter midget racing used an oval track of one-fifth of a ...

in the north eastern United States. He started his first quarter midget race at the age of seven. After attending the Spenard-David racing school he started auto racing in 1990. The driver from

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

started out in the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

S2000 Northeast Division championship. Simmons won the 1991 championship after winning five out of seven races. Simmons also won the SCCA National Championship Runoffs in his class at Road Atlanta in 1991. The drove his Lola T598 from the pole position to the win. He won with advantage of more than eight seconds over

Paul O'Kean Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

. After his success in S2000 Simmons graduated into the USAC Formula Ford 2000 East championship for 1992. In 1992 Simmons won three out of seven races in his Van Diemen RF92. After winning the championship Chris Simmons returned in the series for the 1993 season. He again won the championship after winning nine races. He ran a limited race schedule in 1994 as he started his mechanical engineering study at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Simmons won one race in the Formula Ford 2000, at

New Hampshire International Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mil ...

. Simmons was also involved in a deadly midget crash. During the USAC Hoosier Invitational X at the

Hoosier Dome The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984–2007). It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention Cen ...

his car crashed into the pit area. One person got killed, eight others were injured. Simmons was uninjured. For 1995 Simmons again ran a limited schedule due to college obligations. In 1995 he graduated in mechanical engineering and management & technology at the University of Pennsylvania. Simmons made his debut in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

in the Indy Lights. At Bicentennial Park in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

the young driver started 22nd and finished fourteenth. Simmons returned to the series full-time for

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

to race for Team Green. He scored his best result at the start of the championship. At Homestead-Miami Speedway Simmons finished second, behind David Empringham. Simmons eventually ended up tenth in the championship standings. The

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

was more successful for the driver from Connecticut. Simmons scored two pole positions, at Nazareth Speedway,

Gateway Motorsports Park World Wide Technology Raceway (formerly Gateway International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park) is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a ...

. He scored another three podium finishes. At the end of the season Simmons was classified fifth in the championship standings. A violent crash at Nazareth disrupted his

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

season. In a crash at turn four Simmons was injured and transported to Easton Hospital. At the hospital it was determined that Simmons suffered a severe neck strain and a bruised shoulder. Former teammate at Team Green, Mark Hotchkis replaced Simmons at Nazareth and the following three rounds. Simmons returned to the series at Portland International Raceway where he finished fourteenth. At the end of the season Simmons scored 32 points and was placed nineteenth in the championship. After not being able to secure a race seat for 1999, Simmons moved into the mechanical side of the sport. His brother Jeff Simmons had been racing through the ranks in previous years. After winning Chris joined his brother in the

Barber Dodge Pro Series The Barber Dodge Pro Series was a professional open-wheel auto racing series from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were primarily on road and street courses in Nor ...

for

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

as his engineer. Jeff Simmons won the championship and graduated into Indy Lights in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Chris was again his engineer at Team Green. Simmons would remain at

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...

while his brother moved on to other teams. Simmons was an assistant engineer to

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed TK, is a Brazilian racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 6 Toyota Corolla E210 for Full Time Bassani a ...

and Paul Tracy. At

since 2003, he has been part of the team's rapid success, initially on the No. 10 team with three of

Dario Franchitti George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion ( 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indiana ...

's series titles and an

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

win in 2012, then staying with

on the No. 10, but since 2015 has been with

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...

for two more titles with the No. 9 team (2015 and 2018), which he is lead engineer.

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American open-wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

American Continental Championship results

USAC FF2000 Eastern Division Championship

USAC FF2000 National Championship results

Indy Lights

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Chris Indy Lights drivers Racing drivers from Connecticut Sportspeople from Hartford, Connecticut 1973 births University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Living people SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Auto racing crew chiefs Andretti Autosport drivers