Early Years
Speed's career started at the age of 10 in karting, his stint there lasting from 1993 until 2001, winning the SKUSA Super Pro Title for JM Racing driving a Tony Kart Swedetech Honda in 2000 2 IKF Grand Nationals driving a 6 year old kart, and 3 IKF regional titles. He also won the 2002 Rock Island GP in 125cc Shifter Karts. He moved up to Formula series in 2001, competing in US Formula Russell and becoming champion. He drove in both the US Barber Formula Dodge and US Star Mazda Series followed in 2002, although he failed to win either title, and in 2003 the American drove for the ADR team in British Formula Three after winning the Red Bull Driver Search programme. During that year he fell ill with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and was forced to return to the United States for treatment.
2004 saw two championship titles for Speed, though, with him first winning in Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and later German Formula Renault. This was despite his worsening colitis,. His performances resulted in a drive in the inaugural season of GP2 Series for 2005, as number two for the iSport team to Can Artam. Speed was later promoted to first driver for the team, and ended the season third place in the driver championship standings behind Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen.
At the end of 2005, Speed drove the first three races of the new A1 Grand Prix series for A1 Team USA, achieving a best result of fourth in the Feature Race of the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Portugal, held at the Autódromo do Estoril.
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Famous quotes related to early years:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)