Career
Arie began racing karts in 1992, and moved to Sports Car Club of America club Formula Ford competition six years later at the age of 16. He raced in a number of American junior formulae, notching wins in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge series and top five finishes the U.S. Formula Ford 2000 Championship. In 2001, Luyendyk finished third in the Formula Continental class at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs as well as winning the SCCA Southern Pacific divisional title on the strength of 4 wins in that same class. He competed full-time in the first three seasons of the Indy Racing League's Indy Pro Series (now known as Firestone Indy Lights), beginning in 2002. In his Firestone Indy Lights career, Luyendyk, Jr. has 1 victory, four pole positions and 24 top-5 finishes. He was voted IPS "Most Popular Driver" four years in a row from 2003-06. Luyendyk finished second in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship in 2002, third in 2004, and fourth in 2008.
In 2005, Arie attempted to make his Indy Car Series debut by qualifying for the 2005 Indianapolis 500 in a car owned by Curb-Agajanian/Beck Motorsports. However, with limited track time and a car that never handled properly, Luyendyk's qualifying speed of 215.039 mph (346.072 km/h) was close to 2 mph (3.2 km/h) slower than the next slowest qualifier at the time. A.J. Foyt hired driver Felipe Giaffone to qualify a third car for him, and Giaffone's 217.645 mph (350.266 km/h) four-lap average bumped Luyendyk from the field.
Arie, Jr. did qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 in a car owned by his father and backed by cheapcaribbean.com and Blue Star Jets. The team had limited practice time due to a second week engine program. However, his first race in the more powerful cars ended early due to handling issues, with Arie scoring a 28th place finish.
In the 2007-08 A1 Grand Prix season, Luyendyk Jr. drove for A1 Team Netherlands in the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport as the team's "rookie driver". His best result was a fifth place training time at Round 5 held in Taupo, New Zealand. He has returned to the Firestone Indy Lights Series to race for AGR-AFS Racing as the teammate to Raphael Matos. He captured his first series win in the final race of the 2008 season at Chicagoland Speedway by passing Matos on a late race restart. Luyendyk would finish the 2008 season fourth in the Championship recording 5 podium finishes.
In 2010 he returned part-time to Indy Lights and drove in the Freedom 100 for Andersen Racing and three other oval races for Alliance Motorsports. His best finish was seventh at Chicagoland.
Read more about this topic: Arie Luyendyk, Jr.
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