| Tomy Drissi | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Born | (1958-12-09)December 9, 1958 (age 66) Los Angeles,California, U.S. | ||||||
| Trans-Am Series career | |||||||
| Debut season | 1999 | ||||||
| Current team | 3GT | ||||||
| Car number | 8 | ||||||
| Former teams | Burtin Racing | ||||||
| Previous series | |||||||
| 1999–2021 2005–2006 2006–2010 | Trans-Am Series Rolex Sports Car Series Speed World Challenge | ||||||
| Championship titles | |||||||
| 2009 | Trans-Am Series | ||||||
| Awards | |||||||
| 1999 | Trans-Am Series Rookie of the Year | ||||||
NASCAR driver | |||||||
| NASCARCup Series career | |||||||
| 5 races run over 4 years | |||||||
| 2018 position | 46th | ||||||
| Best finish | 46th (2018) | ||||||
| First race | 2012Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma) | ||||||
| Last race | 2018Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career | |||||||
| 11 races run over 6 years | |||||||
| 2016 position | 64th | ||||||
| Best finish | 57th (2015) | ||||||
| First race | 2010NAPA Auto Parts 200 (Montreal) | ||||||
| Last race | 2016Road America 180 (Road America) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics up to date as of November 18, 2018. | |||||||
Tomy Drissi (/ˈdriːziː/DREE-see; born December 9, 1958) is an American professionalstock andsports car racing driver, and an advertising executive in the movie industry. A long-time competitor in theSports Car Club of America'sTrans-Am Series, he was the series' 2009 Champion.
Drissi first became involved in motorsports through his participation in illegalstreet racing, primarily onMulholland Drive in Hollywood'sHollywood Hills, starting at the age of 16.[1][2] He began legitimate competition in 1993, when he became involved invintage racing, primarily atWillow Springs Raceway.[2] Drissi's driving style proved "too aggressive" for the fragile vintage cars,[2] and he moved to standard, modern race cars, making his debut in professional racing in 1999. Competing in theSCCATrans-Am Series, Drissi won Rookie of the Year in his initial season.[1][2] He would score his first win in the series the following year at theLong Beach Grand Prix.[2] Competing in the series both before and after its mid-2000s hiatus, he won the first championship of the revitalized series in 2009.[1]
Drissi also competed in theSCCA World Challenge series between 2006 and 2010; in 2003, he had begun competing in the sports cars of theAmerican Le Mans Series,[2] where he would make his primary effort in racing outside of Trans-Am; he currently drives in the series forRSR Racing, competing in the Prototype Challenge class, co-driving anOreca FLM09 withBruno Junqueira andRoberto González.[3] As of 2012[update], he has scored two class wins during his career in the series,[3] both coming during the 2011 season at theMid-Ohio Sports Car Course and at theBaltimore Grand Prix.[4][5]
Drissi also competed in nineRolex Sports Car Series events in 2005 and 2006, posting a best finish of ninth on the road course atPhoenix International Raceway in September 2005.[6]
In 2010, Drissi took a test drive withRick Ware Racing atCarolina Motorsports Park, hoping to kickstart some NASCAR activism. Drissi later made his debut in stock car competition, driving the No. 82Dodge Charger forMacDonald Motorsports in theNASCARNationwide Series, competing in theNAPA Auto Parts 200 atCircuit Gilles Villeneuve inMontreal.[7] He finished 18th in the event; the following year he would drive in two races in the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 75 Ford forRick Ware Racing atWatkins Glen International, where he finished 27th, and at Montreal, finishing 34th.[8] Drissi also competed in a single NASCARK&N Pro Series West race in 2011 on theroad course atPortland International Raceway, driving the No. 12 Toyota forBill McAnally Racing;[9] he would finish 22nd in the event.[10]
Drissi drove the No. 26 car forRick Ware Racing in the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series road course races atRoad America,Watkins Glen, andMid Ohio Sports Car Course with a best finish of 25th place. In 2016, Drissi joinedTriStar Motorsports' #14 Arthritis Foundation Toyota, for the road races. On lap seventeen of the Zippo 200 at the Glen, Drissi was injured during a five-car pileup in the esses. It forced him to withdraw from the rest of the race as well as the following week's race at Mid-Ohio. Drissi recovered from the injury and returned to the #14 team weeks later atRoad America where he finished 26th.
In 2011, established as a "road course ringer",[11] Drissi was hired byMax Q Motorsports, which had entered into a partnership withRick Ware Racing,[12] to drive the team's No. 37 Ford, sponsored by the movieRise of the Planet of the Apes, in theNASCARSprint Cup Series at theToyota/Save Mart 350 atInfineon Raceway.[13] Drissi was not approved by NASCAR to compete in the event due to not having sufficient experience in the heavy Sprint Cup cars;Chris Cook substituted for Drissi, qualifying and driving the car in the event.[14][15]
Drissi returned to Infineon (now known as Sonoma) for the2012 Toyota/Save Mart 350, being hired to drive the No. 10 Chevrolet, sponsored byIce Age: Continental Drift, forTommy Baldwin Racing.[8][16] Drissi returned to Sonoma in the2013 Toyota/Save Mart 350 forNEMCO-Jay Robinson Racing, driving the No. 87 Toyota sponsored byThe Wolverine,[17] and drove again for the team atWatkins Glen International with sponsorship promotingThe Counselor.[18] A year later, he joinedIdentity Ventures Racing in the No. 66 Toyota with sponsorship fromHercules atSonoma.[19] He started last and finished 38th.[20]
After four years away from Cup racing, he returned to the series for the2018 Toyota/Save Mart 350, driving the No. 00 forStarCom Racing.[21]
During the race atMid-Ohio on August 15, 2015, he started from pole position in aTony Ave Racing machine, but lost a couple of places after battling with championship contenderAmy Ruman coming out of "The Keyhole". Drissi drove aggressively towards the front, spinning out his teammatePaul Fix and was given an in-race warning by stewards.
When the caution came out he passed some cars – which he got penalized for later on in the race – and drove next to Ruman and showed his unhappiness with her by touching her car a few times lightly. After serving his drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, Drissi waited for Ruman, who was leading the race at the moment, to drive just behind him and then he tried to block her from putting him a lap down. Coming out of "The Keyhole" Ruman made the pass and Drissi purposely crashed into her and both cars went back across the track taking out himself, Ruman and Doug Peterson, one of Drissi's teammates, who was running second at the time. Drissi was assessed amatch penalty, while Ruman would recover to finish in the top-20. After the race concluded, Drissi's #71 was stricken from the race results, along with his points and prize money, pending a final ruling from Trans-Am chief steward, James Foyle. The following month, Drissi was assessed the maximum suspension allowed bySCCA, which is one full calendar year. Drissi motioned to appeal, but it was upheld.
Ruman said during a post-race interview, which aired onCBS Sports Network: "Tomy Drissi is the most unprofessional, unsportsmanlike, unimaginable, worst driver in what he calls a professional sport. What he did was unacceptable today, he trashed my car, he blocked us, we were winning the championship, this is the third year in a row he's hit me, he has a vendetta against me. He's unprofessional and it's unacceptable what happened here today."[22]
Drissi returned to Trans Am for the 2017 season, but was subsequently suspended after being involved in a physical altercation at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on June 17, 2017.[23] On August 7, 2017, Drissi was reinstated and placed on probation after agreeing to fulfill undisclosed terms and conditions by Trans Am.[24]
Drissi is the owner of a Hollywood advertising agency that produces film displays for promoting upcoming films in cinemas.[2] He is married to Lacy Livingston Drissi and they have two children.[1]
(key)(Races inbold indicate pole position. Races initalics indicate fastest race lap in class. Results are overall/class)
| Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Performance Tech Motorsports | PC | Oreca FLM09 | ChevroletLS3 6.2 LV8 | DAY 3† | LGA | KAN | IMS | ELK | VIR | AUS | 19th | 77 | [25] | |||||
| BAR1 Motorsports | SIR 6 | ATL 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| JDC-Miller MotorSports | WGI 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mühlner Motorsports America | GTD | Porsche 911 GT America | Porsche 4.0LFlat-6 | DET 7 | 83rd | 20 | |||||||||||||
| 2015 | BAR1 Motorsports | PC | Oreca FLM09 | ChevroletLS3 6.2 LV8 | DAY 8 | SEB 7† | LGA | DET | WGI | MOS | LRP | ELK | AUS | ATL 3 | 26th | 33 | [26] | ||
| 2016 | BAR1 Motorsports | PC | Oreca FLM09 | ChevroletLS3 6.2 LV8 | DAY 3 | SIR | LBC 4 | LGA | DET 5 | WGI | MOS | LRP | ELK | AUS | ATL 5 | 14th | 114 | [27] | |
| 2017 | BAR1 Motorsports | PC | Oreca FLM09 | ChevroletLS3 6.2 LV8 | DAY | SEB | AUS | DET 2 | WAT | MOS | ELK | PET 1 | 10th | 67 | [28] | ||||
| Source:[29] | |||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | SCCATrans-Am Series Champion 2009 | Succeeded by |