John Peter Halsmer (born March 3, 1944, in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...

), is a former driver in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive events ...

series. He raced in 5 seasons (1980, 1982–1985), with 33 career starts, and started in the

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 ...

in 1981–1982. He finished in the top five three times in the CART series, with his best finish in 2nd position in 1983 at Cleveland. In 1992, Halsmer raced in the

IROC International Race of Champions (IROC) was a North American auto racing competition, created by Les Richter, Roger Penske and Mike Phelps, promoted as an equivalent of an American motorsports All-Star Game. Despite its name, the IROC was primar ...

series, representing

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

. Pete drove for Ford/Roush (

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

owner

Jack Roush Jack Roush (born Jackson Earnest Roush on April 19, 1942) is the founder, CEO, and co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, a NASCAR team headquartered in Concord, North Carolina, and is chairman of Roush Enterprises. Roush Enterprises is the ...

) from 1986 through 1989 and won six Trans Am races and four GTO races winning the 1989 GTO championship. From 1990 through 1992 he drove for Mazda and won another GTO championship in 1991. From 1994 through 1997 he drove BMWs, winning four GT2 races and winning the Manufacturer's Title in 1996. From 1999 to 2004 he drove for and provided technical consulting for Honda America Race Team winning several championships in Motorola Cup and Grand Am Cup series. Halsmer is also a 3 time class winner at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

and was trained as a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

pilot and served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

Early life and education

Halsmer graduated from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

with degrees in industrial supervision and aviation electronics. He was drafted into the army and became a helicopter pilot. He served in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

during the

in 1970.'' Flying''
"Pete Halsmer, Race Car Driver, Flying Reader"
volume 117, number 12, December 1990, p. 127.

Racing record

CART PPG IndyCar World Series

(

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)

Indianapolis 500

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

(

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

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halsmer, Pete 1944 births Living people United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War American Le Mans Series drivers Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers International Race of Champions drivers Sportspeople from Lafayette, Indiana Racing drivers from Indiana Trans-Am Series drivers SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Purdue University alumni SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants 24 Hours of Daytona drivers United States Army soldiers