Richard Edward Hearn (born January 4, 1971) is an American former racing driver.

Hearn was born in Glendale, California. He ran in the Toyota Atlantic championship for two seasons, winning the title in 1995. In 1996, he began driving for John Della Penna in both the IRL and Champ Car ranks. He won an IRL race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to cap off the year and was the highest finishing rookie at the Indianapolis 500, finishing 3rd.

Hearn moved full-time into Champ Car in 1997 for Della Penna with high-profile sponsor Budweiser but failed to post significant results and by 2000 was surplus for sponsored driver Norberto Fontana. He contested a few more Indy 500s, with a best result of sixth in 2002. In 2005 following the Indy 500 he retired as a driver and started Hearn Motorsports LLC that ran in the Star Mazda series. He planned to move the team into Toyota Atlantic competition in 2006. Hearn returned from retirement to qualify on Bump Day of the 2007 Indianapolis 500 in a car jointly entered by Racing Professionals and Hemelgarn Racing.

Hearn is currently a driving instructor at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch's Ron Fellows driving school.

Early life Hearn's parents were also racecar drivers, racing in amateur Sports Car Club of America events on the West Coast. They belonged to the Corvette club, and owned two Corvettes. His father owned a go-kart shop. When he was nine years old, he began racing go-karts. By the time he was twenty, he owned seven International Karting Federation titles.

Hearn then attended the Winfield Racing School at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, whose alumni included Alain Prost. His go-kart competitors helped pay for his tuition. He became the only American to qualify for Winfield's school competition. He managed to win, and was able to earn a year of sponsored racing on the Formula Renault circuit, which is several tiers below the Formula One class.

Professional career

Toyota Atlantic In 1995, Hearn won the Toyota Atlantic championship.

Indy Racing League IndyCar Series In 1996, Hearn won a pole at New Hampshire, won a race at Las Vegas, finished third in his Indianapolis 500 debut (the best rookie finish for that race) and was fourth in series points.

CART Championship Car In 1997, Hearn and team owner John Della Penna moved full-time to the CART FedEx Championship Series. That season, he had seventeen starts, but his best finish was ninth.

The following season, Hearn's team made upgrades and he was able to improve in his finishes. In a race in Rio de Janeiro, he finished in a career-best seventh place.

In 1999, Hearn crashed coming off turn two on lap four of the Marlboro 500, bringing out the first caution flag of the race. He was not injured, but several laps later, Greg Moore crashed in the exact same spot and was killed.

Hearn did not return for the 2000 season, as he didn't have a sponsor, and Norberto Fontana replaced him.

Return to Indy Racing In 2002, Hearn finished sixth in the Indianapolis 500, his best finish since his rookie season. In 2003, he was hired by Menard Racing, winning the pole for that year's Indy 200.

In 2007, Hearn got a last-minute ride with Jon Herb's backup car with Hemelgarn/Racing Professionals, even though he hadn't raced since the 2005 Indy 500. With it, he qualified 32nd for the Indianapolis 500. That would be the final Indianapolis 500 he competed in. In seven seasons, he drove in 84 races.

Later life After retiring from racing, Hearn started a racing team. One of its drivers was Alexander Rossi, who would go on to win the 2016 Indy 500. However, the team became unsustainable during the Great Recession. Due to this, he became bankrupt and did odd jobs such as driving a forklift, and coached a successful flag football team. He then got a job at Bobby Flay's restaurant at Caesars Palace. However, this wasn't satisfying for him, so he became a part-time instructor at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch's Ron Fellows driving school, and eventually lead instructor once he quit his job at the restaurant.

Hearn still races. In 2014, he competed in the 18th SKUSA SuperNationals. From 2016 to 2017, he competed in the “Indy Legends” Charity Pro-Am. In his free time, he does iRacing, a virtual reality racing video game

Personal life Hearn was married, but they divorced when he became bankrupt. He has a daughter.

Hearn attended college classes at Citrus College. Years later, after seeing a commercial for the Cordon Blue Culinary School, he enrolled and earned an associate degree in the culinary arts in two years.

Motorsports Career Results

American Open-Wheel racing results (key)

CART Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rank Points Ref 1996 Della Penna Motorsports Reynard 95i Ford XB V8tMIARIOSRFLBH10NZR500MILDETPORCLETOR25MISMDOROAVANLS1729th3 1997 Della Penna Motorsports Lola T97/00 Ford XD V8tMIA11SRF13LBH27NZR18RIO14STL9MIL23DET23POR14CLE28TOR27MIS22MDO13ROA9VAN22LS25FON1521st10 1998 Della Penna Motorsports Swift 009.c Ford XD V8tMIA13MOT27LBH23NZR10RIO7STL28MIL6DET23POR10CLE18TOR7MIS5MDO24ROA13VAN16LS11HOU9SRF18FON816th47 1999 Della Penna Motorsports Swift 010.c Toyota RV8D V8tMIA23MOT10LBH11NZR20RIO1922nd26 Reynard 99iSTL13MIL21POR22CLE10ROA10TOR16MIS12DET13MDO12CHI16VAN6LS16HOU8SRF23FON27

IndyCar Series Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref 1996 Della Penna Motorsports Reynard 95i 4 Ford XB V8tWDW19PHX4INDY3 4th 237 1996–1997NHM14LVS1WDWPHXINDYTXSPPIRCLTNH2LV2 33rd 59 2000 Pagan Racing Dallara IR-00 75 Oldsmobile Aurora V8WDWPHXLVSINDY27TXSPPIRATLKTYTX2 47th 3 2001 Tri-Star Motorsports Dallara IR-01 60PHXHMSATLINDYDNQTXS 27th 50 Sam Schmidt Motorsports 99PPIR9RIRKANNSHKTYSTLCHI6TX2 2002 Dallara IR-02 Chevrolet Indy V8HMSPHXFON14TXS9 15th 204 20INDY6PPIR12RIR7KAN10NSH4MIS10KTY24STLCHITX2 A. J. Foyt Enterprises 11NZR14 2003 Sam Schmidt Motorsports G-Force GF09 99 Toyota Indy V8HMSPHXMOTINDY28TXSPPIRRIRKANNSHMISSTLKTYNZR 28th 39 Team Menard Dallara IR-03 2 Chevrolet Indy V8CHI14 Hemelgarn Racing 91FON21TX218 2004 Sam Schmidt Motorsports G-Force GF09B 33 Toyota Indy V8HMSPHXMOTINDY20TXSRIRKANNSHMILMISKTYPPIRNZRCHIFONTX2 30th 12 2005 Panoz GF09C 70 Chevrolet Indy V8HMSPHXSTPMOTINDY25TXSRIRKANNSHMILMISKTYPPIRSNMCHIWGLFON 33rd 10 2007 Racing ProfessionalsHemelgarn Racing Dallara IR-05 91 Honda HI7R V8HMSSTPMOTKANINDY23MILTXSIOWRIRWGLNSHMDOMISKTYSNMDETCHI31st12

Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums(Non-win) Top 10s(Non-podium) Indianapolis 500Wins Championships9625211900

Indianapolis 500 Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 1996 Reynard Ford-Cosworth 15th 3rd Della Penna 2000 Dallara Oldsmobile 23rd 27th Pagan 2001DallaraOldsmobile Failed to Qualify Tri-Star Stood by as relief driver for Tony Stewart 2002 Dallara Chevrolet 22nd 6th Schmidt 2003 G-Force Toyota 28th 28th Schmidt 2004 G-Force Toyota 30th 20th Schmidt 2005 Panoz Chevrolet 20th 25th Schmidt 2007 Dallara Honda 32nd 23rd Hemelgarn/Racing Professionals

References

External links