Tony Buffomante (born September 26, 1972) is an American racing driver. Buffomante won the

Star Mazda The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the Road to Indy l ...

championship in 1997. Currently Buffomante has been competing in the

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includ ...

' TA2 class since 2013, and won the championship in 2016.

Racing career

Buffomante started karting with the

World Karting Association The World Karting Association, or WKA, is the largest sanctioning body for kart racing in North America. The WKA was founded in 1971 and is located directly behind Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The WKA is believed to curre ...

in 1985. He continued to do so until 1990. For 1991 the New Yorker stepped up to 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 ...

Spec Racer Renault class. In 1992 Buffomante switched to single-seaters in the

Formula Continental Formula Continental is a single seater, open wheel racing class in motorsport. It replaced Formula C as an SCCA racing class. Most Formula Continental's are Formula Ford 2000 (FF2000) models, which is a flat bottomed, steel tube frame open ...

class. At the

SCCA National Championship Runoffs The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for Sports Car Club of America Club Racing competitors. Divisional champions and other top drivers from the SCCA's 116 regions are invited to participate at the ...

Buffomante finished third running the fastest lap of the race. He also made his first appearance in the pro F2000 series the, USAC FF2000 Eastern Division Championship. At

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

Buffomante finished in eleventh place. He returned the following season for two races with a best finish of seventh. In 1995 Buffomante achieved success in the SCCA Central Division

Spec Racer Ford Spec Racer Ford is a class of racing car used in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and other series road racing events. The Spec Racer Ford, manufactured and marketed by SCCA Enterprises (a subsidiary of SCCA, Inc.), is a high performance, close ...

class. The young driver won races at Blackhawk Farms Raceway and Road America. He finished third in the season standings. The following year Buffomante started in

and the SCCA Spec Racer Ford Pro Series. Buffomante ran his Star Mazda in the SCCA Central Division

Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club o ...

class achieving a sixth place in the championship, behind

Tony Ave Tony Ave (born November 10, 1968) is a race car driver born in Hurley, Wisconsin. He competed in the Grand-Am Series from 2000 until 2002, in Formula Atlantic from 1996 until 2001, and in the Trans-Am Series since 2009. He also made three Indy Li ...

. The New York driver ran four races in the Spec Racer Ford Pro Series. His best result was a third place at

Heartland Park Topeka Heartland Motorsports Park, formerly known as Heartland Park Topeka, is a multi-purpose motorsports facility south of downtown Topeka, Kansas near the Topeka Regional Airport. When it opened in 1989, Heartland Motorsports Park was the first new ...

. In 1997 Buffomante ran the pro Star Mazda series full time. The driver dominated the season winning eight races. But without a major sponsor Buffomante was not able to go up the racing ladder. For 1998 Buffomante competed in the

Night before the 500 The Dave Steele Carb Night Classic is a United States Auto Club dirt track car race held near Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, which takes place in late May before the Indianapolis 500 at the nearby Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Over its his ...

Star Mazda race. The young driver dominated the race winning it from pole position. He also ran in the SCCA Star Mazda division winning the National Championship Runoffs. Buffomante took sabbatical in 1999 due to budget problems. He returned for 2000 in the

USF2000 The USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is an American racing series using the American variation of the Formula Ford formula, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States Auto ...

with Archangel Motorsports. The season started excellent at Phoenix International Raceway. Buffomante finished the first race of the season in second place, behind series champion Aaron Justus. He missed a number of rounds due to technical difficulties. He eventually finished fifteenth in the series championship, in front of

Harold Primat Harold Primat (born 12 June 1975) is a French-born Swiss racing driver who previously competed in the Blancpain Endurance Series and other long-distance events such as the Bathurst 12 Hour and Nurburgring 24 Hours. Early career The nephew of ...

. For 2001 Buffomante started in the

American Power Boat Association The American Power Boat Association (APBA) is an American membership-owned corporation. In 1903, New York's Columbia Yacht Club had formulated a constitution for what ultimately became the APBA. It is the United States sanctioning authority for the ...

. In his rookie season Buffomante finished fourth in the APBA Pro Series. In 2002 he won the Great Lakes Silver Cup Series in the Factory I class in a Mercruiser HP 500 powered Warlock. Buffomante won the title again in 2003 and 2004. Buffomante returned to auto racing in 2005 in the amateur based Factory Five Challenge sanctioned by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

. He won three NASA National Championship in a row, two in the Factory Five Challenge, one in the Touring 2 class. The years after he ran in the

Grand-Am Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...

sanctioned Ford Mustang Challenge. He finished fourth in the inaugural season standings. Buffomante won races in the series in 2009 and 2010 before continuing in the

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cu ...

in 2011 and 2012. In his Ford Mustang his best result was a seventh place at

Lime Rock Park Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously op ...

. In 2013 Buffomante joined the revived

in the TA2 class. In 2013 he only competed at

Mosport Park Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi- track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a ad ...

scoring a triple crown, winning the race from pole position and scoring the fastest lap. After another partial Trans-Am, and partial

Pirelli World Challenge The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club si ...

season in 2014, Buffomante joined Trans-Am full time for 2015. He scored two podium finished in the last three races of the season finished eighth in the season standings. He won the 2016 TA2 championship.

Personal

Buffomante is an alumnus of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

where he studied Management and Computer Science. After graduating in 1994 the New Yorker joined

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...

for two years. In 1996 Buffomante joined

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

in the IT Audit and IT Security divisions. In 2020, after several years at

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

, Buffomante joined global IT services company

Wipro Wipro Limited (formerly, Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited) is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. Thierry Delaporte is serving as CEO and managing directo ...

as a Senior Vice President and Global Head of Cybersecurity & Risk Services. In May 1998 Buffomante was engaged to Nita Malkani, getting married in February 1999.

Complete motorsports results

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American Open-Wheel racing results

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

USAC FF2000 Eastern Division Championship

USAC FF2000 National Championship results

USF2000 National Championship results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffomante, Tony 1972 births Racing drivers from New York (state) Sportspeople from Buffalo, New York U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers World Karting Association drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Trans-Am Series drivers American motorboat racers University of Notre Dame alumni KPMG people Living people