Top 10 Paul Tracy Angry Moments

There were few in IndyCar as wild or as authentic as Paul Tracy. The Canadian began his career with Dale Coyne Racing on a one-off entry for Long Beach, where his family mortgaged their future to get him in the race. Despite a poor result, his talent caught the eye of Roger Penske, who signed him into a testing role

Eventually, Tracy would get some part-time race starts with Penske before eventually taking over for the retiring Rick Mears. By 1993, he was full-time

It was clear from the onset that, despite racing for the calm and corporate-like Roger Penske, that Tracy had a personality that was aggressive on the track, and not up for any BS off the track

By time he left Team Penske for good in 1998, his tolerance for nonsense dropped significantly

Here are his 10 most savage moments during his racing career

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Timestamps (spoilers) below with additional context

0:00 #10 Vancouver 2003
0:51 #9 Milwaukee 2004
2:15 #8 Vancouver 1994
3:34 #7 Portland 2003
5:32 #6 New Hampshire 1995
8:11 #5 Montreal 2003
9:04 #4 Laguna Seca 2001
10:09 #3 Denver 2006
12:10 #2 Houston 1998
15:29 #1 San Jose 2006

Context

10) PT was no fan of Alex Tagliani, and went as far to wear a protective mask in the paddock to not catch the whiny disease that Tags carried

9) After a second reckless move on PT resultred in PT hitting the wall, PT hit out at his teammate for his careless driving

8) PT and Andretti clashed several times over their careers. Both drivers were very headstrong and stubborn on the track (and very fast), so this was not shocking. The contact in 1994 was ironic, as both would be teammates at Newman-Haas in 1995

7) After multiple incidents during the weekend, Paul Tracy unloaded all of his thoughts, in a more humorous nature, during the practice broadcast. I always thought his "glass jaw" quote was a funny one, and the shade thrown at the Rahal team for their recent DQ due to being underweight was hilarious

6) This is the only time that I can recall where a race official got in the face of a driver in a scolding manner. That was Billy Kamphausen giving PT a verbal dressing down in the pits after PT did not want to retire from the race. The officials parked him due to an oil leak

5) PT unloads on his team after he runs out of fuel a couple hundred yards from the finish line

4) Contact with Helio Castroneves in the pits earlier in the race bent PT's suspension, and Helio did not get any penalty from the stewards. After retiring from a spin, PT took the chance to vent his frustration at Chris Kneifel and his decision making. CART took the extraordinary step to not only fine PT $50,000 for these comments, but also docked him 3 championship points

3) For the second straight race, things got physical for PT. Trying a lunge in the final corner of the race, PT and Sebastien Bourdais collided, ending both of their days. Bourdais came to confront Tracy and gave him a two-hand shove. PT wanted to take the helmets off and throw down, but Bourdais walked away

2) Barry Green was one of PT's biggest supporters, so the events that happened in 1998 Houston were shocking. After contact with teammate Dario Franchitti, while they were running 1-2, forced PT to retire, Green grabbed Tracy in the pits to try and shake some sense into him. Tracy grabbed back, and both had to be physically separated. The reverse angle was not shown in the race broadcast, but it was revealed at the next race in Surfers Paradise

1) Derek Daly describes it as the dumbest thing he ever saw Paul Tracy do. PT went into a runoff and rejoined the track straight into the path of Alex Tagliani. Tags was out of the race and went to confront PT, and it resulted in PT punching Tags in the helmet and throwing him to the ground. Both drivers were fined undisclosed amounts for their role in the altercation


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