Scott Russell

Raymond Scott Russell (born October 28, 1964), Mr. Daytona, is an American former professional motorcycle and sports car racer. He is a former World Superbike and AMA Superbike Champion, has won the Daytona 200 a record five times, and won the Suzuka 8 Hours in 1993. Russell is the all-time leader in 750 cc AMA Supersport wins. In 2005, he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Motorcycle racing career

Russell was born in East Point, Georgia. After racing motocross as a child, Russell raced in WERA events before reaching AMA in 1987. In 1988 he was runner-up in the 750 cc Supersport class and also had some successes in Superbike and 600 cc Supersport. He was Superbike runner-up in 1989, before winning the 750 cc Supersport title three years in a row from 1990 to 1992 and winning every race in 1991. In 1992, Russell claimed the AMA Superbike championship. In the 1995 Daytona 200, he crashed on the second lap, but got back on the bike and won, finishing ahead of Carl Fogarty.

Having previously scored a handful of World Superbike podiums, Russell became the Superbike world champion riding for Muzzy Kawasaki in 1993, and was runner-up in 1994. He left the series after a poor start to 1995, replacing the retired Kevin Schwantz at Suzuki in the 500 cc Grand Prix world championship. Staying with Suzuki in 1996 he finished sixth overall.

Russell returned to World Superbikes with Yamaha in 1997, coming sixth overall with a pole and two podiums. In 1998, he came tenth overall but rarely ran near the front. His season is most remembered for the Laguna Seca round, in which he made a blatant jump start and ignored the instruction to come in for a stop-go penalty, eventually falling off, almost causing teammate Noriyuki Haga to crash. Russell had an unsuccessful spell racing Harley-Davidson bikes in the AMA Superbike championship during the following two years. His final year in AMA Superbike ended at the first race of 2001 at Daytona after a move to the HMC Ducati team. Ducati had high hopes that "Mr. Daytona" would help them achieve their first ever 200 win. However, during the start, Russell's bike stalled and was hit from behind after trying to move out of the way to the side of the track. Russell suffered severe injuries which ultimately ended his two-wheeled career.

In 2005, Russell was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

In 2008, Russell made the switch professionally to four wheels, racing in the Grand American Road Racing Association in both the Rolex Sports Car Series and Koni Challenge (now Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge) series. In the 2010 season, he won Round 11 at Montreal along with co-driver Paul Edwards.

In 2014, Russell spoke at Yale University alongside Ken Hill, Nick Ienatsch, and Jamie Bestwick about motorcycle racing and success. , Russell is an instructor at Yamaha Champions Riding School and Rickdiculous Racing.

Career statistics

Superbike World Championship

Races by year Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1989 Suzuki GBR GBR HUN HUN CAN CAN USA15 USA17 AUT AUT FRA FRA JPN JPN GER GER ITA ITA AUS AUS NZL NZL 80th 1 1990 Kawasaki SPA SPA GBR GBR HUN HUN GER GER CAN CAN USA10 USA7 AUT AUT JPN JPN FRA FRA ITA ITA MAL MAL AUS AUS NZL NZL 35th 15 1991 Kawasaki GBR GBR SPA SPA CAN CAN USA2 USA2 AUT AUT SMR SMR SWE SWE JPN8 JPN5 MAL MAL GER GER FRA FRA ITA ITA AUS AUS 17th 53 1992 Kawasaki SPARet SPA7 GBR3 GBR3 GER4 GER7 BEL3 BEL9 SPA SPA AUT AUT ITA ITA MAL MAL JPN JPN NED NED ITA ITA AUS AUS NZL NZL 11th 83 1993 Kawasaki IRL2 IRL2 GER6 GER1 SPA27 SPA2 SMR4 SMR2 AUT3 AUT7 CZE2 CZE1 SWE4 SWE2 MAL2 MAL2 JPN8 JPN1 NED2 NED2 ITA2 ITA5 GBR1 GBR1 PORRet POR2 1st 378,5 1994 Kawasaki GBR4 GBR1 GER1 GER1 ITA1 ITA2 SPARet SPARet AUT14 AUT12 INA3 INA3 JPN1 JPN1 NED6 NED9 SMR1 SMRRet EUR1 EUR1 AUS2 AUS17 2nd 280 1995 Kawasaki GER8 GER10 SMR14 SMR8 GBR6 GBRRet ITA ITA SPA SPA AUT AUT USA USA EUR EUR JPN JPN NED NED INA INA AUS AUS 18th 34 1997 Yamaha AUS7 AUS6 SMRRet SMR6 GBR6 GBR7 GER3 GER4 ITA5 ITA8 USA6 USA4 EUR2 EUR5 AUT7 AUT4 NED6 NED8 SPARet SPA5 JPN12 JPNRet INA6 INA5 6th 226 1998 Yamaha AUS10 AUS8 GBR13 GBR11 ITARet ITARet SPA6 SPA9 GER11 GERRet SMR8 SMR6 RSA10 RSA9 USA15 USARet EUR3 EUR8 AUT12 AUT11 NED9 NEDRet JPN5 JPN12 10th 130,5

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season SeasonClassMotorcycleRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcd 1995 500cc Suzuki 6 0 0 0 0 43 13th 1996 500cc Suzuki 13 0 2 0 1 133 6th Total 19 0 2 0 1 176

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1995 500cc Suzuki AUS MAL JPN SPA GER ITA11 NED12 FRA6 GBRDNS CZE11 BRA5 ARGRet EUR8 13th 43 1996 500cc Suzuki MAL4 INA7 JPN3 SPADNS ITA FRA5 NED4 GER4 GBR5 AUT6 CZE3 IMO7 CAT11 BRA9 AUSRet 6th 133

Suzuka 8 Hours results Year Team Co-Rider Bike Pos 1993 Itoham Racing Kawasaki Aaron Slight Scott Russell Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R 1st

AMA Superbike Championship