Richie Hearn

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. == Professional career ==

Toyota Atlantic In 1995, Hearn won the Toyota Atlantic championship. 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. 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 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. 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 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 IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500 ==References==