Jon Allen Herb (born June 1, 1970) is an American former racecar owner, driver in the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

http://raceday.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=280&seriesID=3&subID=11 and ARCA, and convicted

sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crim ...

Racing career

IRL debut

Herb made his IRL debut in the opening round of the 2000 season. Herb raced in the Delphi Indy 200 at

Walt Disney World Speedway Walt Disney World Speedway was a racing facility located on the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It was built in 1995 by IMS Events, Inc., a subsidiary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, an ...

. He qualified 26th, and finished 22nd, dropping out with handling problems. Herb spent most of the rest of the year driving in the ARCA series (best finished was 11th, three times). Herb made his

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 ...

debut in 2001, finishing 27th. He competed in five other races, with a best finish of 9th at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. He made six more starts in 2002, but did not attempt to qualify at

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Indy Pro Series

In 2004 Herb moved to the

Infiniti Pro Series Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

, where he co-owned his team with Matt Young. His first IPS start was the

Freedom 100 The Freedom 100 was an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, as part of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. The event was a support race for the IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500, and since 2 ...

, where dropped out with a broken suspension and finished 17th. He finished in the top 10 at the next two events he entered, netting a 6th-place finish at Fontana and a 7th in the season finale in Fort Worth. He ran a full schedule in 2005, won the race at Phoenix, and finished 7th in the season points standings. In 23 Indy Pro Series starts from 2004 to 2006, he had one win, and a total of 15 top ten finishes.

IRL return

Herb intended to return to the IndyCar series for the

2006 Indianapolis 500 The 90th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 28, 2006. Sam Hornish Jr. won from the pole position. It was Hornish's first and only win at Indianapolis, and the record fourteenth Indy vict ...

in a

Playa Del Racing American Dream Motorsports was a racing team that competed in the Indy Racing League's Indy Lights series and the IndyCar Series' Indianapolis 500 owned by Eric Zimmerman and William T. Kelsey. Until May 2008 it was known as Playa Del Racing and was ...

Panoz Panoz is an American manufacturer of sports automobiles founded in 1989 as Panoz Auto Development by Dan Panoz, son of Don Panoz. Panoz products have included the Panoz Roadster and AIV Roadster, the Panoz Esperante, and the Panoz Avezzano. Pa ...

, of which he was a co-owner. However, he yielded the car to

Roger Yasukawa Roger Yasukawa (born October 10, 1977) is an American-born Japanese former auto racing driver. He was born in Los Angeles, California, but holds Japanese citizenship. Yasukawa started karting in Southern California, winning the California State ...

, who qualified it for the race. Herb qualified in the 27th starting position for the

2007 Indianapolis 500 The 91st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 27, 2007. It was the twelfth Indy 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and marked the fifth race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season. H� ...

and finished 32nd after crashing on lap 53. He made two other starts in 2007. In June 2007 he raced at

, finishing 20th after spinning entering the pits. At

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, he struggled with suspension problems, and finished 20th after spinning. It was his final start. He sold his team's cars to the league's pool of chassis for former

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

teams following open wheel unification prior to the 2008 IndyCar season.

Personal life

Herb was arrested by authorities in

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on October 4, 2013. He was charged with numerous counts of possession of

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

. Herb's wife reportedly went to a police station after finding pictures of nude girls on Herb's laptop. Photos on the laptop also allegedly depicted Herb engaged in sexual acts with a girl who appeared to be four years old. On January 4, 2016, Herb pleaded

no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...

to lewd and lascivious molestation and 13 counts of child pornography possession and was sentenced to 25 years in prison and lifetime probation. Under current Florida law he is required to serve at least 85% of his prison sentence.

Career results

Complete American open–wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IRL IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500

Indy Lights

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herb, Jon 1970 births Living people IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers IndyCar Series team owners Indy Lights drivers Racing drivers from Milwaukee Racing drivers from Wisconsin Sportspeople from Milwaukee American people convicted of child pornography offenses American people convicted of child sexual abuse American sportspeople convicted of crimes U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers