Scott Harrington

Scott Harrington (born December 24, 1963) is a second generation American former auto racing driver, formerly active in the Indy Racing League and sportscar racing. He is now a private racing driver coach. His father, Gene Harrington, was a veteran of both SCCA and IMSA competition.

Biography Harrington was born in Louisville, Kentucky and attended the University of Louisville. Starting out on two wheels, Harrington won a number of championships and achieved much success in the world of AMA Motocross and Supercross. In 1986, Sports Car Magazine picked Harrington as one of the three most promising drivers in the U.S. He was a multiple race winner in Toyota Formula Atlantic, finishing third in the 1988 championship despite running the uncompetitive Ralt chassis. He was the only person ever to win a race in the 1988 Ralt. From 1992 through 1994, Harrington had much success in the SCCA Shelby Can-Am series. During his tenure in the series, he won more races than any other driver. He won the 1992 championship and scored race wins in every season.

An accomplished open wheel racer who made a single CART start in 1989, Harrington made a last second Bump Day run to qualify for the first IRL-sanctioned Indianapolis 500 in 1996. In 1999, he ran a full IRL season with his own team and had numerous top ten finishes, including a top five finish at Phoenix International Raceway, at the time the highest finishing position for the Infiniti engine. Despite failing to qualify for the Indy 500 and suffering serious injuries at Texas 1 (broken left tibia, right fibula, right foot and three ribs) he won the Rookie of the Year honors by a slim margin over Robby McGehee. Harrington attempted to qualify for seven different Indy 500 races but only succeeded once, in his second attempt in 1996. In 1998, he was well on his way to a top qualifying position when he suffered a blown engine that ended his month as the team had no backup. He had a best IRL finish of fourth at Phoenix in 1999 and had a total of fourteen series starts, which is the fewest total starts by any IRL Rookie of the Year. Never being one to be short on speed, his bad luck at the Speedway was well known as he won the Jigger Award for his bad luck. Harrington is also the only person to ever compete in Formula Atlantic, the original Indy Lights Series, the Infiniti Pro Series, the CART Indy Car Series and the IRL Indy Car Series.

Harrington's career was affected by arrests and convictions for driving while intoxicated. Harrington is also one of the few American drivers to compete in the "Big Three" of American motorsports - the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Harrington also competed in the SVRA celebrity Pro-Am in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. He finished ninth of the 33 starters in 2015 and in 2018 was on the podium with a second-place finish in AP. Harrington is one of the original instructors at the Mid-Ohio school, a position he still holds today (August 2022).

After retiring from active driving, Harrington has achieved success in his driver coaching business, including coaching Highcroft Racing factory Acura team Championship winning owner-driver Duncan Dayton and Mike Miserandino, who has won four national championships in a row. In 2017, two of his customers won again at the SCCA Runoffs, Mike Miserandino won his fifth National title with Scott's coaching and Max Gee won his first with Scott on board, coaching him to his first national championship. His latest driver, Jacob Abel, won two of the three F3 Americas races at the Road Atlanta round. He also competes in a number of vintage endurance races every year. In 2014 his vintage coaching customer Bill Abel won a national championship at the SVRA National Championship at the Circuit of the Americas. In addition to his testing and training work, Harrington does promotional and testing work for various manufacturers.

Harrington currently lives in Indianapolis with his wife Marsie and his young son.

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Year Track Car Engine Class Finish Start Status 1985 Road Atlanta Spec Racer Renault Sports Renault 3 2 Running1986 Road Atlanta Spec Racer Renault Sports Renault DNS Swift DB2 Ford Sports 2000 2 2 Running

American open-wheel racing results CART Series (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rank Points Ref 1989 U.S. Engineering Lola T8700 Chevrolet 265A V8 t PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG 45th 0

IndyCar Series Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rank Points Ref 1996 Della Penna Motorsports Reynard 95i 44 Ford XB V8 t WDW PHX INDY 31st 20 1996–97 Johansson Motorsports G-Force GF01 36 Infiniti V8 NHM LVS WDW PHX INDY TXS PPIR CLT NH2 LV2 NC 0 1998 LP Racing Dallara IR8 66 Oldsmobile WDW PHX INDY TXS NHS 39th 8 Riley & Scott Cars Riley & Scott Mk V 15 DOV CLT PPIR ATL TXS LSV 1999 Harrington Motorsports Dallara 66 Nissan WDW PHX CLT INDY TXS PPIR ATL DOV PPIR LSV TXS 14th 165 2000 Nienhouse Racing G-Force 17 Oldsmobile WDW PHX LSV INDY TXS PPIR 35th 17 Mid America Motorsports Dallara 43 ATL DOV PPIR 2002 Brayton Racing 37 Chevrolet MIA PHX FON NAZ INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MIS KTY GAT CHI TXS 47th 9

Indianapolis 500 Year Chassis Engine Start Finish 1989 Lola Cosworth DNQ 1996 Lola Ford-Cosworth 32 15 1997 G-Force Oldsmobile DNQ 1998 Dallara Oldsmobile DNQ 1999 Dallara Infiniti DNQ 2000 Dallara Oldsmobile DNQ 2002 Dallara Chevrolet DNQ