Joseph F. Hand (born February 10, 1979) is an American professional racing driver who competes in

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

as a Ford factory driver. A former champion of the

Star Mazda Series 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 ...

, Hand is the co-winner of the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona driving for

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 NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Champions ...

, the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring GT class for BMW

Team Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 win ...

, and the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Pro class for Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA driving the

Ford GT The Ford GT is a mid-engine two-seater sports car manufactured and marketed by American automobile manufacturer Ford for the 2005 model year in conjunction with the company's 2003 centenary. The second generation Ford GT became available for ...

Racing career

Early career

Hand began his career in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

, starting at the age of 12. Moving up to the

in 1998, Hand won nine races in the series, winning the rookie of the year award in 1998 and the series championship in 1999. Following an injury that sidelined him for most of the 2000 season, Hand moved up to the Toyota Atlantic series in 2001, scoring two wins in three years spent in the series, with a best championship finish of third in 2001.

Grand-Am, ALMS and IMSA

Beginning with the 2004 season, Hand has raced in the

Grand American Road Racing Association 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. ...

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

, racing in both the Grand Touring and

Daytona Prototype A Daytona Prototype is a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype racing class, specificall ...

classes, winning five times in the GT category while driving BMWs. Hand has also raced sporadically in the American LeMans Series; in 2006, Hand was involved in a spectacular end-over-end crash at the

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central region ...

, while in 2009, he won the first

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

for a BMW in eight years in the ALMS at

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Ch ...

GT94 Bill Auberlen Paul Dalla Lana Joey Hand 2011 Road America

Driving for

, Hand, along with co-drivers

Scott Pruett Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is a former American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children and are children's book authors. Pruett started racing go ...

, Memo Rojas and

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winn ...

, won the 2011 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race at Daytona International Speedway, driving the #01 Riley- BMW

. The team was set back by a pit road penalty while Hand was driving, however, he was able to recover from the penalty for co-driver Pruett to take the car to victory. The following month the

BMW Motorsport BMW M Motorsport (formerly BMW Motorsport) is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sports car racing, motorcycle racing and Formula E. The current o ...

team he drove for won the GT class of the

2011 12 Hours of Sebring The 59th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida was held at Sebring International Raceway on March 19, 2011. It was the opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series season and the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Qu ...

. Later he joined the BMW Motorsport factory team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he finished third in the GTE-Pro class driving again a BMW M3. Also in 2011, Hand competed full-time at the Grand-Am Sports Car Challenge for Turner, resulting in runner-up with Michael Marsal as a teammate. Hand returned to BMW Rahal for the 2012 American Le mans Series season. He again won the GT class at the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second rou ...

and took three podiums out of seven appearances. Meanwhile, he resulted sixth overall at the 24 Hours of Daytona driving a Ganassi BMW. In the 2013 ALMS season, the driver got a second-place class finish and two-fourths out of six appearances for BMW Rahal with a BMW Z4 de Rahal. Again he raced for Ganassi at the 24 Hours of Daytona and later the

Brickyard Grand Prix A brickyard or brickfield is a place or yard where bricks are made, fired, and stored, or sometimes sold or otherwise distributed from. Brick makers work in a brick yard. A brick yard may be constructed near natural sources of clay or on or ...

at Indianapolis. As the new United SportsCar Championship launched in 2014, Hand resulted second in the GTLM class at the 24 Hours of Daytona and third at the 12 Hours of Sebring for BMW Rahal. In 2016, Hand joined the Ford factory program for the IMSA 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as well as the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

. He was reunited with teammate Dirk Müller, while

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships u ...

joined the team for the endurance races including Le Mans. Hand, Müller, and Bourdais went on to win the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGTE Pro category while driving the 2017 Ford GT LME GTE-Pro.

Other racing

Andy Prialux Dirk Muller Joey Hand BMW Motorsport LMGTE Pro BMW M3 Le Mans 2011

On October 22, 2011, Hand made his debut in the

International V8 Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

, driving for

Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske), is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team currently fields the #11 and #17 Ford Mustang GTs for Anton de Pasquale and Will Davison respectivel ...

in the Gold Coast 600. finishing 4th with co-driver James Moffat In November, he drove a DTM car for the first time, testing for BMW at

Circuito Monteblanco Circuito Monteblanco, built in 2005/06 is located in the municipality of La Palma del Condado, a town in the province of Huelva, South of Spain, at the foot of the Autopista del Quinto Centenario ( A-49, E-1 ). It is easily accessed via the ...

in Spain.

On October 5, 2021,

Rick Ware Racing Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the NTT IndyCar Series. History The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing wit ...

announced that Hand would make his

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 ...

debut in the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

race at the

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including ...

Roval.

DTM

On December 15, 2011, Hand was announced as one of BMW's factory drivers for the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB- FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The s ...

, which saw him compete in the entire 2012 championship, alongside a limited-season

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' h ...

campaign with BMW Team RLL. He was the first American to have a full-season factory contract in the series since its inception in 1984. In three seasons he had a best race result of 5th at Brand Hatch and a best season result of 12th, both in 2013.

Personal life

Born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, Hand and his wife, Natalie, have two children.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results

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

Atlantic Championship

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete DTM results

( key)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

References

External links

* *
Joey Hand
at Driver Database
Video of the 2006 crash
at "And they walked away..." {{DEFAULTSORT:Hand, Joey Living people 1979 births Racing drivers from Sacramento, California 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Supercars Championship drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Formula BMW USA drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Barber Pro Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers International Kart Federation drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers BMW M drivers Racing Bart Mampaey drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Multimatic Motorsports drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers NASCAR drivers Meyer Shank Racing drivers Schnitzer Motorsport drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers