Scott Speed began his racing journey at the age of 10 racing karts in the United States. Success would come shortly thereafter, as Speed claimed his first national championship trophy in 1995. The winning trend in karts would continue until 2001, when the Manteca, Calif. native switched to open wheel machines.
Speed's knack for success would continue in open wheelers, claiming the title in the Jim Russell Racing Championship in his rookie year. From there, he went on to the Skip Barber National Championship and the Formula Mazda Championship before joining the 2003 Red Bull American Formula One Driver Search program.
Great performances in the program opened doors for him to compete in the Formula Renault Championships for both Germany and Europe, winning both titles, and also the GP2 Series, where he finished third in 2005.
During 2005, Speed also earned the right to be Red Bull Racing's tester at the Canadian and United States Grand Prix.
All of this led to Speed earning one of the two seats at the newly formed Scuderia Toro Rosso (formerly Minardi). In his first season with the outfit, he competed in all 18 Grands Prix with a best start of 11th and a best finish of 9th (Australia).
Despite rumors to the contrary, Speed remained at Toro Rosso for the 2007 campaign. His year only lasted seven races with the team and Speed was released from his contract after the U.S. Grand Prix.
Speed then worked to land a ride in American Stock Car Racing. He landed a ride with Eddie Sharp Racing in the ARCA RE/MAX Series for 2008 and after only five starts in the series, Speed captured his first victory at Kansas. Speed managed to win three more races in the ARCA Series and even challenged for the championship. But an incident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. during the season finale at Toledo Speedway relegated him to a fourth-place finish in the final standings.
That same year, three races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule, Speed began racing in the series. He captured his first win in his sixth career start at Dover Int'l Speedway and went on to score eight more top-10 finishes in 16 starts.
Towards the end of the Cup season, Speed was brought into the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota to replace Allmendinger. He made five starts with a best finish of 16th in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Speed will pilot the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota full time in 2009.
