Charles Newton Kimball (born February 20, 1985) is an American former race car driver who most recently competed in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

with A. J. Foyt Enterprises. He has scored a win, six podiums, and 13 top 5s during his IndyCar career. His best season results were ninth in 2013 and 2016. In addition, he won the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona.

Career

2002–2005

Born in

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

, England, Kimball's single-seater career started in 2002 when he took part in the American Formula Dodge national championship, finishing the season in 10th place overall. He also won three races in the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

series. For 2003 he moved up to

US, finishing third overall with two race wins and seven podium finishes. He also contested the UK Formula Ford winter series, taking one race win to finish third overall. In 2004, he competed in the full UK Formula Ford championship for ''Team JLR'', taking two race wins and eleven podiums on his way to fourth in the championship. In the end-of-season Formula Ford Festival at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

he finished in eighth place. His performances earned him a drive with front runners Carlin Motorsport in the 2005 British Formula 3 Championship, where he took five race wins to finish an impressive second behind teammate Álvaro Parente. He also finished 12th in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort, but failed to finish the season-ending

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix (; ) is an annual motorsport road racing event for automobiles and motorcycles held on the Guia Circuit in Macau. The event includes the Formula Regional and Motorcycle Grand Prix title races, with other races for Touri ...

2006–2008

For 2006 Kimball stayed in

Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

, but moved up to the Formula 3 Euro Series with the French ''Signature-Plus'' team. He took one race win and three podiums to finish the season in eleventh place. Once again, he took part in the Masters Formula 3 race at Zandvoort and the Macau Grand Prix, finishing in 9th and 21st places respectively. In 2007, he competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Victory Engineering team, alongside Dutchman Giedo van der Garde. He competed in 12 races (leaving the series with 2 race weekends remaining) and finished 24th in points with a best finish of 8th in the Monza and Nurburgring sprint races. His departed the team due to the onset of Type 1 diabetes which required hospitalization. As part of his ongoing treatment he wears a wireless blood sugar monitor and carries sugar water on board the car while racing. In 2008, he returned to F3 EuroSeries for 6 races with

Prema Powerteam Prema Racing, previously known as Prema Powerteam, is an Italian motorsport team, owned and operated through the ''DC Racing Solutions'' parent company. Founded in 1983, the team is based in Grisignano di Zocco and currently operates out of Ita ...

. Late in 2008 he competed in the first round of the A1 Grand Prix series for A1 Team USA.

Firestone Indy Lights (2009–2010)

For 2009 Kimball signed to drive in

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

for the new Team PBIR outfit. He stated that an influencing factor in his return to the U.S. is to increase Diabetes awareness in his home country. Kimball finished 10th in points with a best finish of 4th at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track in the Northeastern United States, northeastern United States, located in Dix, New York, just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, Watkins Glen, at the ...

. He returned to Indy Lights in 2010 and signed with AFS Racing/ Andretti Autosport. Despite not winning a race or pole, Kimball had four second-place finishes on the season and captured 4th in points, one spot behind his teammate Martin Plowman.

IndyCar Series (2011–2021)

It was announced on December 16, 2010, that Kimball would move up to the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, in which he would drive the No. 83 entry for Chip Ganassi Racing. Kimball finished 19th in points with a best finish of ninth at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kimball returned to the team in 2012 and again finished 19th in points despite missing a race due to injury. He finished second at the Honda Indy Toronto, his first career podium finish. Kimball won his first IndyCar race on August 4, 2013, at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. He also finished second at Pocono and fourth at Barber and ranked 9th in points. In

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, he competed in his first

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

race with Ganassi and was on the race-winning team with co-drivers

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grand ...

, Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas. In the 2014 IndyCar season, Kimball scored four top 5 finishes and placed 9th in points. In 2015 he finished third at the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

and the Grand Prix of Sonoma, and finished 5th at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The driver finished fifth at both Indianapolis races and got 11 top 5s in 16 races, which earned him a 9th overall position in 2016. He scored no top 5s in 2017, and he parted with Ganassi afterward. Carlin signed Kimball for the 2018 season. He got a fifth-place finish at Toronto and collected six top 10s. Kimball ran part-time in 2019, scoring two tenth-place finishes. He joined A. J. Foyt Enterprises in 2020, where he scored two top 10s. In 2021, Kimball failed to qualify for the Indy 500 for the first time in his career.

Personal life

Kimball was born in England but grew up in Camarillo, California. His father Gordon was a designer of

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

and Indy cars. At 22, Kimball was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and was forced to abandon his racing program midseason. Undeterred, he climbed back into the cockpit the following year and claimed a podium finish in his first race after returning. He is also the first licensed driver with diabetes in the history of IndyCar racing (

Howdy Wilcox Howard Samuel "Howdy" Wilcox (June 24, 1889 – September 4, 1923) was an American racing driver active in the formative years of auto racing. He won the 1919 Indianapolis 500. Formative years and family Wilcox was born in Crawfordsville, In ...

hid the fact he was driving with diabetes in the 1932 Indy 500 but was barred from competing when officials found out before the 1933 race).

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S ...

, the manufacturer of the insulin Kimball uses, became a full-time sponsor of his racing program in 2011. Kimball married Kathleen, whom he first met in high school, in 2014, the wedding officiated by fellow driver James Hinchcliffe. The couple relocated to Indianapolis, where they live with two dogs. Kathleen earned her MBA from Indiana University Kelley School of Business, and works at Kimball Marketing Group. Kimball is a long-time fan of the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

baseball team.

Racing record

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

( key)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

( key)

American open–wheel results

( key)

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

( key) * Season still in progress. * ¹ ''The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.''

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

* *
IndyCar Driver PageIndyCar 11 in '11 videoIndyCar 36: Charlie Kimball
- IndyCar documentary {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimball, Charlie 1985 births A1 Team USA drivers Racing drivers from California British Formula Three Championship drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers Living people Sportspeople from Chertsey Racing drivers with diabetes 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers International Kart Federation drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Sportspeople from Ventura County, California Carlin racing drivers Signature Team drivers Victory Engineering drivers Prema Powerteam drivers AFS Racing drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers Andretti Autosport drivers People with type 1 diabetes