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A. J. Allmendinger
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Anthony James Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981, in Los Gatos, California) is an American racecar driver. He is best known for his accomplishments in the Champ Car World Series, Allmendinger currently drives the #44 Valvoline Dodge Charger for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series.
tarted his career in karts. He won two International Karting Federation Grand National championships.
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Encyclopedia
Anthony James Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981, in Los Gatos, California) is an American racecar driver. He is best known for his accomplishments in the Champ Car World Series, Allmendinger currently drives the #44 Valvoline Dodge Charger for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series.
Racing career
Early career
He started his career in karts. He won two International Karting Federation Grand National championships.
Allmendinger won the Barber Dodge Pro Series championship in 2002, and the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in 2003 with Carl Russo's RuSport team.
Champ Car
In 2004 they entered the Champ Car World Series, with Michel Jourdain Jr. joining Allmendinger. He generally outperformed the experienced Mexican, scoring a run of 6 top-6 finishes towards the end of the season, winning the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year award ahead of Justin Wilson. Wilson joined the team for 2005, and both drivers have been in regular contention for podium finishes.
On June 9, 2006, RuSport announced that Allmendinger would be replaced by 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta. However, he did not remain unemployed long, as Forsythe Championship Racing hired him on June 14, 2006. In the interim, he became engaged to Lynne Kushnirenko, a Canadian model and chiropractor.
On June 18, 2006, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Portland in his first race with Forsythe Championship Racing. Allmendinger became the first American to win a Champ Car World Series event since Ryan Hunter-Reay won at The Milwaukee Mile in 2004.
On June 25, 2006, Allmendinger won the Grand Prix of Cleveland from the pole in a hectic race that saw two-time CART champ and points leader Sébastien Bourdais, teammate Paul Tracy, former teammate Justin Wilson, Dan Clarke and former seatholder Mario Dominguez eliminated during the race.
He continued his winning streak by winning his third consecutive race at the Grand Prix of Toronto on July 9, 2006. He started second after Wilson bested Allmendinger's time in the last lap of the event's final qualifying session. The victory moved Allmendinger into second place in the CCWS championship standings, behind leader Bourdais.
He chalked up his fourth and fifth wins of the season at Denver and Road America. He left Champ Car to accept a lucrative offer from NASCAR Team Red Bull.
NASCAR
Allmendinger made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series driving for Bill Davis Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 16 2006 . He crashed his primary truck in qualifying but started the race 32nd and finished on the lead lap in 13th. He also competed at Talladega Superspeedway in October with a finish of 5th. In his 3rd career truck series start, he qualified in 2nd place at Atlanta.
It was announced on October 24, 2006 that Allmendinger would drive the NEXTEL Cup #84 Team Red Bull Toyota Camry in 2007.
Allmendinger attempted his first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event at Atlanta in October 2006 driving the Team Red Bull entry, however, due to qualifying being rained out, a lack of owner's points prevented Allmendinger from making the race. He also attempted to make the race at Texas Motor Speedway, failing to qualify again, however.
Allmendinger failed to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 after a crash in the first Gatorade Duel race. He also failed to qualify for the California, Las Vegas, and Atlanta races. Allmendinger finished 40th his first Nextel Cup start at the Food City 500 at Bristol, and as the season progressed, Allmendinger made a handful of races, predominantly in the "Car of Tomorrow". To assist him in the transition to stock cars, he participated in selected Craftsman Truck Series races for Toyota for the Darrell Waltrip Motorsports organization and the #42 Chip Ganassi Dodge in the Busch Series.
Allmendinger failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500. After three failures to qualify in 2 attempts (qualifying for the second race of the season, Fontana, was rained out and set by 2007 owner's points), he was replaced by veteran driver Mike Skinner on a temporary basis. Allmendinger returned to the Cup series at Talladega. On May 17, 2008, he won the Sprint Showdown at Lowe's Motor Speedway during NASCAR's annual All-Star weekend. The win qualified Allmendinger for the Sprint All-Star Race later that evening, where he finished 17th.
In 2009, after qualifying 18th in the Budweiser Shootout, he managed to finish 4th, making this his best career finish ever.
During the Sprint Showdown he was referred to by Elliott Sadler as "Whatever his name is."
Due to Allmendinger's 11th place finish at Watkins Glen, for the first time in his career, he had a guaranteed starting spot for the next race, but he fell out of the top 35 in owner's points again after the race at Michigan International Speedway. He later left California 31st in owner's points, giving him a guaranteed start at Richmond. After New Hampshire, a crash left him 36th in points. He left Dover 34th in owner's points. A.J. had his best career finish at Kansas Speedway coming in 9th. He was released from team two days later. He was replaced for the rest of the season by Scott Speed and Mike Skinner, with Speed taking over the ride full time in 2009. Allmendinger has however, still consistently made races in a one race deal with Michael Waltrip Racing and a deal to finish the 2008 season with Gillett Evernham Motorsports. Allmendinger impressed many during his time at GEM, scoring and average finish of 15.4 in the #10 car. During the offseason it was rumored that due to the merger of Petty Enterprises, GEM had released Elliott Sadler and placed Allmendinger in the #19 for 2009. However, Sadler was prepared to file suit against both the team and Allmendinger for a breach of contract (Sadler was signed on until 2010). In early January, it was announced that Gillett Evernham Motorsports had merged with Petty, that Sadler would return to the #19, and Allmendinger was to drive the #44 (formerly the #10) part time pending sponsorship.
Allmendinger's team ended the 2008 season 36th in owner's points, meaning it not have exemptions for the first five races of 2009. The retro-styled Valvoline 44 raced its way in to the Daytona 500. There he finished third in his Daytona 500 debut, the best Daytona 500 debut except for the 1959 Daytona 500 and Scott Wimmer in the 2004 Daytona 500.
NASCAR Sprint Cup results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
ass="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:80%"
! Year
! Team
! Make
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
! 8
! 9
! 10
! 11
! 12
! 13
! 14
! 15
! 16
! 17
! 18
! 19
! 20
! 21
! 22
! 23
! 24
! 25
! 26
! 27
! 28
! 29
! 30
! 31
! 32
! 33
! 34
! 35
! 36
! NSC
! Points
|-
|-
! 2008
! Red Bull Racing Team
Michael Waltrip Racing
Gillett Evernham Motorsports
! Toyota/Dodge
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| DAY
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| CAL
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| LSV
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| ATL
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| BRI
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| MAR
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| TEX
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"|PHO
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| TAL
30
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| RIC
39
|bgcolor="#FFFF66"| DAR
27
|bgcolor="#FFFF66"| LOW
20
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| DOV
37
|bgcolor="#339900"| POC
12
|bgcolor="#339900"| MIC
19
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| INF
37
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| NHA
43
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| DY2
42
|bgcolor="#339900"| CHI
13
|bgcolor="#339900"| IND
10
|bgcolor="#339900"| PC2
19
|bgcolor="#339900"| GLN
11
|bgcolor="#FFFF66"| MI2
28
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| BR2
34
|bgcolor="#339900"| CA2
14
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| RI2
43
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| NH2
38
|bgcolor="#339900"| DV2
16
|bgcolor="#339900"| KAN
9
| TL2
|bgcolor="#FCD765"| LW2
43
|bgcolor="#339900"| MR2
15
|bgcolor="#339900"| AT2
14
|bgcolor="#FFFF66"| TX2
26
|bgcolor="#339900"| PH2
16
|bgcolor="#339900"| HOM
11
! 36th
! 2436
|-
|-
! 2009
! Richard Petty Motorsports
! Dodge
|bgcolor="#DFDFDF"| DAY
3
|bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| CAL
29
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| LSV
33
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| ATL
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| BRI
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| MAR
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| TEX
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| PHO
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| TAL
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| RIC
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| DAR
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| LOW
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| DOV
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| POC
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| MIC
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| INF
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| NHA
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| DY2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| CHI
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| IND
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| PC2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| GLN
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| MI2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| BR2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| CA2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| RI2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| NH2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| DV2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| KAN
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| TL2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| LW2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| MR2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| AT2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| TX2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| PH2
|bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| HOM
! 3rd
! 165
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** 2008 Allmendinger missed 5 races due to Mike Skinner Racing in his car.
| Year | Starts** | Wins | Top Fives | Top Tens | Poles | DNF | Finish | Start | Winnings | Rank | Team(s) |
|---|
| 2007 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 31.6 | 28.7 | $1,316,982 | 43 | Team Red Bull | | 2008 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 24.6 | 25.2 | $2,408,800 | 36 | Red Bull Racing Team(21 races)/Michael Waltrip Racing(1)/Gillett Evernham Motorsports(5) | | 2009 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 20.0 | $857,701 | 3 | Richard Petty Motorsports | | | | Totals | 44 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 19.8 | 24.7 | $4,583,480 | |
(Data as of February 15, 2009)
Personal
On Friday, January 19, 2007, Allmendinger married Canadian model Lynne Kushnirenko in Palm Beach, Florida.
External links
Motorsports career results
American Open-Wheel
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)
Champ Car
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