Jim Guthrie (racing Driver)

Jim Guthrie (racing Driver)

Jim Guthrie (born September 13, 1961 in Gadsden, Alabama) is a former driver in the Indy Racing League. He debuted in the Indy Racing League in 1996 with moderately successful results. When the IRL moved to purpose-built chassis in 1997, Guthrie was forced to take out a second mortgage to purchase a new chassis. With no sponsorship and the prospects of losing his house if his venture was unsuccessful, he won the second race in the new chassis at Phoenix International Raceway. He got sponsorship from Jacuzzi for the Indianapolis 500 and was able to finish the season (placing 12th in season points) winning Rookie of the Year honors and kept his house. Jim contested four races in 1998, but then during the Indianapolis 500, he was seriously injured in a multi-car crash and has not contested an IRL race since.

Jim was later an owner of Guthrie Meyer Racing in the Firestone Indy Lights Series that fielded a car for his son Sean, who raced in the Star Mazda Series in 2005. The team began with 2005 IPS driver Travis Gregg at Homestead, and 2005 Star Mazda champion Raphael Matos scoring the team's first two wins at St. Petersburg (there were two races on that weekend). For the 2008 season, the team had 3 cars with Logan Gomez filling the second seat and the third car has been run by Tom Wieringa and Robbie Pecorari. Franck Perera joined the team for the second half of the season and captured a win at Infineon Raceway. The 2009 season began with 3 cars but after the Kansas Speedway race, Jim and Sean were suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the sport and the team shut down after the following race. They were later re-instated and Sean competed in the season finale for a different team.

Most recently Jim has been competing in Formula Drift with a Chevrolet powered Mazda RX7 sponsored by Car Crafters of Albuquerque. Jim is currently building a 2011 Ford Mustang specifically built for Formula Drift Competition.

Jim's Chevrolet Powered Mazda RX7 was crashed 2 times in 2011. First time at Wall Speedway in NJ on a solo run; with the second time at Irwindale Speedway which totaled his Rx7

On Sept 25th 2012, Jim under-steered, crashed and flipped his 2011 Ford Mustang into a tire wall at Formula Drift/Pro Am Round 4 (After Dark); the result of a driver error. The video of this event has been viewed over 80000 times in under 72 hours.