Robby McGehee (born July 20, 1973) is an American former race car driver. He competed 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 of ...
and won 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 ...
Rookie of the Year award in 1999 after finishing fifth. He then raced for veteran owner Fred Treadway the next few seasons. By 2002 Treadway's team had closed and McGehee bounced around several teams and last raced in the Indianapolis 500 for
PDM Racing PDM may stand for:
Computing
* .pdm (disambiguation), several file formats
* Personal data manager - portable hardware tool enabling secure storage and easy access to user data
* Phase dispersion minimization, a data analysis technique for fin ...
in 2004.
McGehee got started in racing in 1994 when he went to
Skip Barber Racing School
The Skip Barber Racing School is an American racing and driving school. Skip Barber founded the school in 1975.
History
In 1975, Skip Barber started the Skip Barber School of High Performance Driving at Riverside International Raceway. In 1976, ...
with his mother. McGehee finished second in the Formula 2000 series Road to Indy Oval Crown series, including wins at
Homestead-Miami Speedway and
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series ...
in 1998.
The 1999
VisionAire 500K
The VisionAire 500K was an Indy Racing League race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1997 to 1999. During the 1999 event, three spectators were killed when debris from a crash on the track went into the grandstands. The race was stopped and c ...
at
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
was the first
IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...
race he qualified for, starting 13th. The race however, was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities and struck from the record. McGehee was running 9th when the race was stopped. Later that month, the
1999 Indianapolis 500 would be his first official start in the IRL. He finished fifth in that race. Later that week, Robby presented his Rookie of the Year trophy to team mechanic Steve Fried, who was severely injured in a pit lane accident during the race, while he was in the hospital.
Steve Fried Medical Update
, Motorsport.com, June 4, 1999
In 2004, McGehee was to have a fully sponsored effort, but the deal fell through weeks before the race. He was able to get backing from a St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
business (his hometown) and eventually Burger King
Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
. In order to qualify, he had to sweat out a possible qualification effort by Tony Stewart
Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...
that never came to pass.
Racing record
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 ...
)
IndyCar Series
Indianapolis 500
References
External links
* http://rmracing.homestead.com/
Ball State Daily News Profile of Robby McGehee
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGehee, Robby
1973 births
Living people
Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year
IndyCar Series drivers
Indianapolis 500 drivers
Racing drivers from Missouri
Racing drivers from St. Louis
Sportspeople from St. Louis
U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers
PDM Racing drivers
Panther Racing drivers
Cheever Racing drivers