Townsend Bell
American racing driver (born 1975)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Townsend Lorenz Bell[1] (born April 19, 1975) is an American professional motor racing driver competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and also as a motorsports commentator for FOX Sports’ IndyCar Series coverage.
| Townsend Bell | |
|---|---|
Bell at the 2015 Indianapolis 500 | |
| Nationality |  American |
| Born | April 19, 1975 |
| Verizon IndyCar Series career | |
| Debut season | 2004 |
| Racing licence |  FIA Gold |
| Starts | 28 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Best finish | 21st in 2004 |
| Previous series | |
| 2003 2001–2002 2000–2001 1999 | Formula 3000 CART World Series Indy Lights Barber Dodge Pro Series |
| Championship titles | |
| 2001 2015 | Indy Lights United SportsCar Championship GTD |
Early career
Bell spent time in karting, Skip Barber, Formula Dodge and the Barber Dodge Pro Series before graduating to Indy Lights in 2000. He won the Indy Lights championship in 2001. This earned him two late-season starts in a Champ Car in a joint effort between Patrick Racing and Dale Coyne Racing. He earned Roberto Moreno's seat at Patrick for 2002. He scored a best finish of fourth at Portland, however a run of disappointing performances and a two probation sanctions from CART Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach Sr. led to his firing from the team after the nine races.[2]
International Formula 3000 career
Bell's efforts shifted to Europe and in 2003 he was teammate to series champion Björn Wirdheim in International F3000 competition. He was the first American to score a F3000 podium with a third place at the Hungaroring and he finished ninth overall in a field covered with future Formula One talent – Giorgio Pantano, Patrick Friesacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nicolas Kiesa among them.
Bell's performance in F3000 led to Formula One tests with the Jaguar and BAR Honda F1 teams.
Return to IndyCar
Despite earning a test with British American Racing at year's end, Bell returned to America where he replaced Mark Taylor for Panther Racing in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series midway through 2004, and posted a best finish of fifth. He started one race as an injury replacement for Tomáš Enge in the same car in 2005. He made his first Indianapolis 500 appearance for Vision Racing in 2006, qualifying fifteenth and finishing 22nd. He returned to the IndyCar Series in 2008 driving the No. 23 car in events where Milka Duno was not scheduled to race. His best result in 2008 was an eighth place finish at Richmond International Raceway in June. He also was entered in a third team car in the Indy 500, where he qualified twelfth and finished tenth.
In 2009, KV Racing Technology entered Bell in the Indy 500, engineered by Gerald Tyler. Bell was on a limited-month schedule but had an impressive race day, advancing from 24th on the grid up to the top-five. Passing Team Penske's Will Power on the last restart, Bell impressed with a fourth-place finish.[citation needed]
Bell posted his best Indianapolis 500 qualifying effort to date in 2011, racing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, once again engineered by Tyler. By qualifying fourth fastest, he started the 95th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing on the inside of the second row.[citation needed]
Bell finished ninth in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, engineered by Tyler. His 2014 Indianapolis 500, back with KV Racing Technology in the No. 6 Robert Graham Dallara-Chevrolet,[3] marked his eighth start in the event and seventh consecutive.
Bell qualified fourth and led twelve laps in the 2016 Indy 500, racing for Andretti Autosport, before an incident on pit road during caution. He finished 21st. It was also during this week that he clocked a top speed of 241.637 mph.[4]
Sports car career
Bell made his sports car debut in 2012 and won the 12 Hours of Sebring on debut with Alex Job Racing. That season, he drove a Lotus Evora GTE for Alex Job Racing in the American Le Mans Series with Bill Sweedler, before he and Sweedler drove a Ferrari F458 Italia the following year with West/AJR.[5]
Bell matched his Sebring feat in his first Rolex 24 at Daytona start in 2014, winning that driving with Level 5 Motorsports. Bell and Sweedler won the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup with AIM Autosport, after finishing first or second in three of the four races in the endurance series within the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.[6] The pairing finished fourth overall in the full season GT Daytona class points.[citation needed]
In 2015, Bell and co-driver Bill Sweedler took home the IMSA GT Daytona Championship. In addition, they had a dominant win at VIR and podium finishes in the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans.[7]
In 2016, Bell along with teammates Jeff Segal and Bill Sweedler won the 24 Hours of LeMans in only their second try.[citation needed]
Bell is competed full-time in the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona class with Alex Job Racing in an Audi R8 GT3 and returned to Le Mans with Ferrari in 2017.[citation needed]
Most recently, Bell has competed in the AIM Vasser-Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 for the 2019 & 2020 GTD class seasons.[8]
Television
Since 2025, Bell is a color commentator for FOX Sports with lead anchor Will Buxton and fellow analyst James Hinchcliffe.[citation needed]
Bell has filled in for Formula One coverage on NBC, most notably in 2016 when he replaced Will Buxton, who was on bereavement leave for the races at Sepang and Mexico City.[citation needed]
Bell is also a color commentator for NBC Sports's Global RallyCross Championship. He has also both competed and commented in the Stadium Super Trucks.[9]
At the 2013 X-Games in Munich, Bell competed in Global Rallycross and finished sixth in the final.[citation needed]
Racing record
American open–wheel racing results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
Barber Dodge Pro Series
Indy Lights
CART
| Year | Team | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Patrick Racing | 20 | MTY | LBH | TXS | NZR | MOT | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIS | CHI | MOH | ROA | VAN | LAU 13 |
ROC 12 |
HOU | LS | SRF | FON | 30th | 1 | [12] |
| 2002 | Patrick Racing | MTY 19 |
LBH 15 |
MOT 14 |
MIL 13 |
LS 7 |
POR 4 |
CHI 12 |
TOR 15 |
CLE 18 |
VAN | MOH | ROA | MTL | DEN | ROC | MIA | SRF | FON | MXC | 20th | 19 | [13] | |||
IndyCar Series
- 1 Run on same day.
- 2 Non-points race.
- 3 The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.
| Years | Teams | Races | Poles | Wins | Podiums (non-win) |
Top 10s (non-podium) |
Indianapolis 500 wins |
Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 6 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
Indianapolis 500
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Dallara | Honda | 15 | 22 | Vision Racing |
| 2008 | Dallara | Honda | 12 | 10 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
| 2009 | Dallara | Honda | 24 | 4 | KV Racing Technology |
| 2010 | Dallara | Honda | 10 | 16 | Sam Schmidt Motorsports |
| 2011 | Dallara | Honda | 4 | 26 | Sam Schmidt Motorsports |
| 2012 | Dallara | Honda | 20 | 9 | Schmidt–Hamilton Motorsports |
| 2013 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 22 | 27 | Panther Racing |
| 2014 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 25 | 25 | KV Racing Technology |
| 2015 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 24 | 14 | Dreyer & Reinbold Kingdom Racing |
| 2016 | Dallara | Honda | 4 | 21 | Andretti Autosport |
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key)
24 Hours of Le Mans results
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Scuderia Corsa |
Jeff Segal Bill Sweedler |
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 | GTE Am |
330 | 24th | 3rd |
| 2016 | Scuderia Corsa |
Jeff Segal Bill Sweedler |
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 | GTE Am |
331 | 26th | 1st |
| 2017 | Scuderia Corsa |
Bill Sweedler Cooper MacNeil |
Ferrari 488 GTE | GTE Am |
331 | 29th | 3rd |
Source:[28] | |||||||
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
