Christopher Bingham (born December 15, 1971) is an American professional racing driver from Kirkland, Washington. He is a noted sports car driver but also competed in stock cars, with eleven Busch Series starts and one ARCA start in his career.
| Chris Bingham | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Christopher Bingham December 15, 1971 Kirkland, Washington | ||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 11 races run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 55th (2003) | ||||||
| First race | 2003 Rockingham 200 (Rockingham) | ||||||
| Last race | 2003 Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics current as of May 13, 2020. | |||||||
Racing career
editEarly career
editBingham started in motocross at the age of 10, and ventured into car racing after completing an advance driving course at the Jim Russell Racing School in 1991.[1][2] He began his professional racing career in 1994 at the last round of the IMSA championship, finishing 15th at the 2 hours of Phoenix driving a Tiga DBIV for Bobby Brown Racing.[3] In 1997, Bingham participated in the 24 Hours of Daytona in a GT3-class Porsche and made four Indy Lights starts, with a best finish of 11th at Nazareth Speedway. He returned to Daytona and made his 12 Hours of Sebring debut in 1998. In 1999 and 2000 Bingham was the #2 driver for the Hybrid R&D Riley & Scott-Ford Le Mans Prototype team in the American Le Mans Series. He also passed his Indy Racing League rookie test with Mid-America Motorsports but decided not to pursue an entry into the IRL. In 2001 and 2002 Bingham drove the works Saleen S7R in the Grand-Am Series' GTS class to back to back championships, including 11 class victories.
NASCAR Busch Series
editBingham decided to foray into NASCAR in 2003, when Bingham signed a deal to drive for Jay Robinson Racing in the Busch Series. He made his debut at North Carolina, starting 38th and finishing 34th after transmission issues. DNFs would plague his season, as Bingham fell out of seven of his eleven starts. Even when he did not fall out, Bingham struggled, earning just a career-best finish of 26th at Darlington and Texas. After his inconsistency, Bingham was released following a 33rd at Charlotte.
Return to sports cars
editBingham returned to the Grand Am Series' Daytona Prototype class in 2004 and began fielding his own entry in 2005. In 2006 he drove Derhaag Motorsports' Daytona Prototype but resigned from the team in August after poor finishes.[4] Earlier that season he was involved in a fistfight with competitor J. C. France after the two collided at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City and was suspended for one race and placed on probation.[5] He did not make any appearances in the series in 2007.
Motorsports career results
editComplete American Open Wheel racing results
edit(key)
Indy Lights
edit| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Leading Edge Motorsports | MIA 15 |
LBH 13 |
NAZ 11 |
SAV | STL | MIL | DET | POR 21 |
TOR | TRO | VAN | LAG | FON | 29th | 2 |
NASCAR
edit(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Busch Series
edit| NASCAR Busch Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | 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 | NBSC | Pts | Ref |
| 2003 | Jay Robinson Racing | 49 | Ford | DAY | CAR 34 |
LVS 37 |
DAR 26 |
BRI 37 |
TEX 26 |
TAL | NSH 42 |
RCH 34 |
CLT 33 |
DOV | NSH | KEN | MLW | DAY | CHI | NHA | PPR | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | KAN | CLT | MEM | ATL | PHO | CAR | HOM | 55th | 680 | [6] | |||
| 39 | CAL 38 |
GTY 34 |
NZH 30 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ARCA Re/Max Series
edit(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| ARCA Re/Max Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | ARMC | Pts | Ref |
| 2003 | Capital City Motorsports | 83 | Pontiac | DAY 27 |
ATL | NSH | SLM | TOL | KEN | CLT | BLN | KAN | MCH | LER | POC | POC | NSH | ISF | WIN | DSF | CHI | SLM | TAL | CLT | SBO | 163rd | 95 | [7] |
References
edit- ^ "IRL: Erwin, Bingham pass rookie test at Texas". us.motorsport.com. 2000-10-22. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
- ^ "Driver Spotlight on Chris Bingham". au.motorsport.com. 2001-10-18. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
- ^ "Chris Bingham (USA) - All Results - Racing Sports Cars". www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
- ^ Press Release from Chris Bingham - Grand Am Rolex Series Competitor, TheAutoChannel.com, August 6, 2006
- ^ Grand-Am drivers Bingham, France issue apologies after Mexico City altercation Archived November 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, FeedMeSportsCars.com, March 9, 2006
- ^ "Chris Bingham – 2003 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
- ^ "Chris Bingham – 2003 ARCA Re/Max Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
External links
edit- Official website Archived 2013-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Chris Bingham driver statistics at Racing-Reference