Scott Tucker (racing driver)
Scott Tucker (born May 5, 1962 in Kansas City ) is an American entrepreneur, racing car driver , racing team owner and criminal convicted of fraud.
Entrepreneur
Scott Tucker grew up in Kansas City, where he graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in business administration . While his hometown is the largest city in the US state Missouri , the university he attended is in Manhattan and thus in the state of Kansas .
After studying founded Tucker several companies that primarily with Online - personal loans and short-term financing for companies with low credit ratings employed. These companies earned the father of two daughters rapidly growing financial fortunes, but also massive problems with the US judiciary. As early as 1991, he was sentenced to a year in prison for fraud and forgery of documents against a bank, which he served in Leavenworth Federal Prison .
In April 2012 he got into trouble with the Federal Trade Commission , which accused him of illegal business practices by his company AMG Services Incorporation , but had too little evidence for a lawsuit. In May 2014, charges were brought. Prosecutor Preet Bharara accused him of fraud, money laundering and extortion. In addition, there was the charge of usury in his loans. With the profits from his business, he had financed the racing operations of his Level 5 Motorsports team , a Learjet , an $ 8 million vacation home in Colorado , five Ferraris and a Porsche.
In January 2015, Tucker reached an agreement with the Commission on an initial fine of $ 21 million. However, this did not remove all allegations. Due to the payments and numerous confiscations, both the racing operations of the racing team and the racing career came to a complete standstill.
In January 2018, Scott Tucker was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison by a judge in a New York City district court after a five-week jury trial for his illegal credit practices .
Racing career
Scott Tucker started motorsport late. When he joined the US offshoot of the Ferrari Challenge in 2006 , he was already 44 years old. He contested his first race ever on the Homestead-Miami Speedway ; the best final result in his first racing season was the fifth final result in the championship run at Portland International Raceway . In the following years he developed into one of the most successful US drivers of this brand formula . In 2007 he won his first race at Sonoma Raceway and a year later he won six of 13 championship races. He finished this year's championship as runner-up. In 2009 he secured the championship with nine race wins.
In 2007 and 2008 he was also registered in some races of the Grand-Am Sports Car Series . He made his first appearance at the 400 km race in Homestead , the third round of the 2007 season. With partner Ed Zabinski , he finished 25th overall in the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup . In 2009 he and his French team-mate Christophe Bouchut achieved their first podium of the top three in sports car racing with third place overall at the 250-mile race in Watkins Glen .
In 2010 , races in the Grand-Am Sports Car Series were followed by a full season in the American Le Mans Series , where he competed in the newly created LMPC class with an Oreca FLM09 . In 2010 he also made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . With a lot of sponsor money he bought into the team of Colin Kolles one. In Romania -born German put in 2009 and 2010, two Audi R10 TDI into Le Mans. Tucker drove a T201 chassis and was thus given the privilege of piloting a top -of-the-range LMP1 vehicle on his first appearance in this 24-hour race . This car was driven by Joest Racing in the American and European Le Mans Series before it was taken over by Kolles . Tom Kristensen , Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish reached by car in 2008 to third place in the 12-hour race at Sebring . In Le Mans 2009, Charles Zwolsman junior and André Lotterer drove the vehicle to seventh place overall. In 2010 Bouchut and his compatriot Manuel Rodriguez Tucker's teammates. The Dutchman Christijan Albers was originally registered on the T201 chassis, but he drove the team's second car in the race. In the race, Tucker dropped out prematurely after an accident. At the end of the year in 2010, he secured overall victory in the LMPC class of the American Le Mans Series.
In 2011, Tucker was able to fall back on several racing vehicles that he had purchased for his racing team. This enabled him to choose between the models in the Le Mans Series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup . In Le Mans 2011 he reached his first finish. With regular copilot Bouchut and the Portuguese João Barbosa , he finished tenth overall in the Lola B08 / 60 . Behind Karim Ojjeh , Olivier Lombard and Tom Kimber-Smith in the Zytek Z11SN , as well as Soheil Ayari , Franck Mailleux and Lucas Ordoñez in the Oreca 03 , this was third place in the LMP2 class. At the end of the year, the American Le Mans Series secured the overall ranking of the LMP2 class. He shared the title with team-mate Bouchut.
The following two years were marked by a comprehensive racing program. From spring until well into autumn he was involved in a sports car race almost every weekend. In 2012 he won the overall ranking of the SCCA National Championship and again the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series . He was able to repeat this success in 2013 .
In addition to Le Mans, he was also involved in the two well-known US endurance races, the Sebring 12-hour race and the Daytona 24-hour race . At Sebring, his best place in the final classification was fourth in 2012 ; in Daytona in 2010 he was third on the podium.
Level 5 motorsports
In 2006, Tucker formed a racing team. Level 5 Motorsports would become one of the most successful US sports car teams of this era by the end of 2013 and served as a platform for Tucker's driver activities. The stakes were financed from the profits that the American made with his company. Due to the owner's problems with the judiciary, racing came to a standstill.
statistics
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 |
 Kolles
|
Audi R10 TDI |
 Manuel Rodrigues
|
Christophe Bouchut
|
failure | accident |
| 2011 |
 Level 5 motorsports
|
Lola B08 / 60 |
 João Barbosa
|
Christophe Bouchut
|
Rank 10 | |
| 2012 |
Level 5 motorsports
|
HPD ARX-03b |
 Luis Díaz
|
Christophe Bouchut
|
failure | no petrol |
| 2013 |
Level 5 motorsports
|
HPD ARX-03b |
 Ryan Briscoe
|
 Marino Franchitti
|
not classified |
Sebring results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 |
Level 5 motorsports
|
Oreca FLM09 |
 Mark Wilkins
|
Christophe Bouchut
|
Rank 10 and class win | |
| 2011 |
Level 5 motorsports
|
Lola B11 / 80 |
João Barbosa
|
Christophe Bouchut
|
Rank 33 | |
| 2012 |
Level 5 motorsports
|
HPD ARX-03b |
João Barbosa
|
Christophe Bouchut
|
Rank 4 | |
| 2013 |
Level 5 motorsports
|
HPD ARX-03b |
Ryan Briscoe
|
Marino Franchitti
|
Rank 6 and class win |
Individual results in the FIA World Endurance Championship
| season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Level 5 motorsports | HPD ARX-03b |
SEB
|
 SPA
|
LEM
|
SIL
|
 SAO
|
 BAH
|
 FUJ
|
 SHA
|
| 4th | DNF | |||||||||
| 2013 | Level 5 motorsports | HPD ARX-03b |
SIL
|
SPA
|
LEM
|
SAO
|
OUT
|
FUJ
|
SHA
|
BAH
|
| DNF |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information about Tucker's conviction in 1991 (English)
- ↑ The Federal Tratte Commission against AMG Services Incorporation (English)
- ^ Pro race driver Scott Tucker arrested over $ 2bn payday loan scam. In: Mail Online. Retrieved June 7, 2016 .
- ↑ Further information on indictments and litigation
- ↑ Scott Tucker sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison
- ↑ 400km Homestead Race 2007
- ↑ 250 Mile Race at Watkins Glen 2009
- ↑ American Le Mans Series LMPC class 2010
- ↑ SCCA National Championship 2012
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tucker, Scott |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American entrepreneur, racing car driver, racing team owner and convicted of fraud |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 5th 1962 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kansas City |