James D. Davison (born 28 August 1986) is an Australian professional racing driver who drives an

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

Vantage GT3 in the

Blancpain GT World Challenge America The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 20 ...

. He has also competed in the

NTT 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 ...

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

, and

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level NASCAR Cup Series, Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a Undercard, support ...

. He is sometimes also called JD (or J. D.) Davison. His father Jon Davison was a

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an Open-wheel car, open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel ...

competitor and was the long-running promoter of racing events at

Sandown Raceway Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its " drag strip" front and back straights b ...

. Davison's grandfather,

Lex Davison Alexander Nicholas Davison (12 February 1923 – 20 February 1965) was a racing driver who won the Australian Grand Prix four times between 1954 Australian Grand Prix, 1954 and 1961 Australian Grand Prix, 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' ...

, was a four-time winner of the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

. He is a cousin of

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

drivers

Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...

and

Will Davison William Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championshi ...

. He also competed as a

coxswain The coxswain ( or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the wiktionary:cockboat, cockboat, a ...

as part of Scotch College's championship-winning rowing crew in 2003.

Racing career

Open-wheel

Junior formula

In 2004 he joined the ranks of

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 ...

in his native Australia, running in both the Victorian and

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Championships. At the end of 2004 he won a scholarship at the BMW Junior Scholarship Finals in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. For 2005 Davison competed in the Formula BMW USA Junior Series, qualifying on the front row at the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Montreal, won at the US Grand Prix held at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was second at the Denver street circuit and Mid-Ohio and third at Barber Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta. Based on these performances, Davison became part of the Confederation of Australian Motorsport Elite Driver program which included attendance at the Australian Institute of Sport and financial support from the Foundation. At the end of the season, he qualified and finished tenth at the Formula BMW Final at Bahrain. 2006 saw him again compete in the United States in the

Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club ...

series for

Team Australia Team Australia was an auto racing team competing in the V8 Supercars and Champ Car World Series. It was created in early 2005 when two Australian businessmen Craig Gore and John Fish bought into Derrick Walker's Walker Racing operation. Aft ...

. After the Denver round, he was dropped by the team for fellow Aussie

Michael Patrizi Michael Tony Patrizi (born 4 May 1984) is an Australian racing driver. Biography Starting off in karts in his native Western Australia, he moved to Formula Ford in 2004, then to Formula BMW in Asia 2005, then UK in 2006. In 2007 he joined the c ...

. 2007 saw Davison progress into the Star Mazda Championship where current IndyCar Series drivers Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal previously competed. Driving for Velocity Motorsports, Davison proved to be an outstanding competitor finishing second in the Championship; earning three pole positions and one win. JamesDavison

Indy Lights

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

found him in the

Firestone 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 Road ...

series, racing for

Sam Schmidt Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren, competing as Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team due to sponsorship, is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM). The team operates the N ...

. He struggled throughout the first half of the season, but captured his first series pole at

Nashville Superspeedway Nashville Superspeedway is a tri-oval intermediate speedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. The track has held a variety of racing events since its opening in 2001, including NASCAR and the IndyCar Series. It is currently owned by Speedway Motorsport ...

, a concrete oval, in July. His first win came in bizarre circumstances in a wet race at

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington, Ohio, Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar Series, Indy ...

. While running second on the last lap, race leader

Jonny Reid Jonathan Ross Reid, more commonly known as Jonny Reid, (born 18 October 1983 in Auckland) is a New Zealand racing driver. Career Early career Reid started his career in karting at the age of 8. In 1996, Reid won his first title, the New Ze ...

went into pit lane instead of the finish line, handing Davison the victory. Davison also received the Sunoco Most Improved Driver Award at the IRL Championship Celebration held in Las Vegas. Davison finished second in the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights Championship with a new team

Vision Racing Vision Racing was a racing team in the Indy Racing League founded in 2005 when Tony George purchased the assets of the defunct Kelley Racing and hired his stepson Ed Carpenter to be the driver. The team has previously raced in the Izod IndyCar ...

, again winning at Mid-Ohio. Davison was running at the finish of all fifteen races and finished in the top ten in all but one.

IndyCar

In November 2011 he tested for

Andretti Autosport Andretti Global is an American motorsports organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, Indy NXT, Formula E, and joint entries in IMSA and the Australian Supercars Championship. Starting in 2026, Andretti will also operate the Cad ...

Palm Beach International Raceway Palm Beach International Raceway (stylized as PBIR and formerly Moroso Motorsports Park) was a motorsports facility located west of Jupiter, Florida. The facility had a quarter-mile drag strip, a road course, 7/10-mile kart track as well as mud ...

, Florida. He shared the car with Indy Lights driver Gustavo Yacaman. In 2013 Davison tested a car for

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series and Indy NXT. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known ...

at the

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar, IMSA WeatherTech Sportsc ...

. A few weeks later it was announced that he would drive the team's No. 18 car at the race there. It would be his first

open wheel An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

race appearance since 2009. Following the horrific accident by

Sebastian Bourdais Sebastian may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Saint Sebastian, a Christian saint martyred in the 3rd century * Sebastian of Portugal (1554–1578 ...

during qualifying for the

2017 Indianapolis 500 The 2017 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil for sponsorship reasons) was a Verizon IndyCar Series race held on Sunday May 28, 2017, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speed ...

, it was announced that James would be stepping into the number 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda for the remainder of the season. In the later stages of the race, Davison matched a record set by

Tom Sneva Thomas Edsol Sneva (born June 1, 1948) is an American former race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1983. He primarily raced in Indy cars, and was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005. A former math teacher and juni ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and became the third driver in Indy history to start 33rd and lead laps in the race, having led two laps. He then got caught up in a late wreck with 17 laps to go. A year later, Davison barely qualified for the

2018 Indianapolis 500 The 2018 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil for sponsorship reasons) was a Verizon IndyCar Series held on Sunday, May 27, 2018, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway ...

, bumping out longtime IndyCar rival

James Hinchcliffe James Douglas Meredith Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship driving the No. 9 Lamborghini for Pfaff Motorsports. He is also a commentator for Fox Sports, FOX Sp ...

. He would finish in last place, after a crash on lap 47 caused by contact with

Takuma Sato is a Japanese racing driver, who competes part-time in the IndyCar Series for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Sato competed in Formula One from to . In American open-wheel racing, Sato is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 a ...

's car. Davison finished in last place again at the

2020 Indianapolis 500 The 2020 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for sponsorship reasons) was a 500-mile (800 km, 200-lap) automobile race held on Sunday, August 23, 2020, at the Indianapolis Motor ...

due to a mechanical failure only six laps into the race.

Historic racing

In 2011 he drove his Uncle Richard Davison's

Lola T332 The Lola T332 was a race car designed and built by Lola Cars for use in Formula 5000 racing and made its racing debut in 1973. The T332 was successful around the globe with race victories in places such as Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zeal ...

car at

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The island is named after Arthur Phillip, Governor Arthur P ...

and Albert Park. In 2012, he returned to drive it again at Phillip Island. In 2019 he drove a Lotus 18 at Goodwood and Lotus 81 at Silverstone. In 2022, he drove a Hill GH1 at the 13th Historic Monaco. Then drove again at Spa in September.

Sports car racing

2010 saw him make his sportscar debut in the Grand-Am Series for Starworks Motorsports Corsa Car Care Dinan-BMW Riley partnering Ryan Dalziel and Mike Forest in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen finishing seventh. He was then drafted in to run at the

6 Hours of Watkins Glen The Six Hours of Watkins Glen (currently sponsored as the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen) is a sports car endurance race held annually at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. The race dates from 1948, and has been a part of the ...

the Crown Royal 200 also at Watkins Glen. In 2011 he drove for Michael Shank Racing at Laguna Seca. Driving with

The Racer's Group The Racer's Group, or TRG, is a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racing team located in Petaluma, California, owned by Kevin Buckler and his wife Debra. TRG has competed professionally in road racing since 1995. The team formerly competed in NA ...

in an Aston Martin in 2014, he scored four consecutive GTD class poles across the final races of the 2014 and first race of the 2015 season. In 2015 he joined

Nismo , abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departmen ...

factory team to drive a

Nissan GT-R The Nissan GT-R (''Gran Turismo–Racing''; model code: R35; Japanese: 日産・GT-R; ''Nissan GT-R'') is a series of cars built by Japanese marque Nissan from 2007 to 2025. It has a 2+2 (car body style), 2+2 seating layout and is considered b ...

in the

Pirelli World Challenge The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2 ...

. He continued with Always Evolving Racing in the GT-R in 2016 before moving to

for the 2017 season.

NASCAR

Davison made his first

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

start in 2016, driving the No. 90 King Autosport car in the

Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

for the

Road America 180 The Road America 180 was a NASCAR Xfinity Series race that has taken place at Road America since 2010. The race has been a standalone race for the series except for in 2021 and 2022 when the NASCAR Cup Series had Kwik Trip 250, a race at the track ...

. He started 18th and went down one position after making contact with

Scott Heckert Scott Rodgers Heckert (born November 21, 1993) is an American professional racing driver. He previously drove full-time in NASCAR for three years in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East; in the last of those years, 2015, he finished second in the point ...

on the last lap. In 2020, Davison raced in the

Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

for the first time in the Pocono Organics 325 at

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly known as the Pocono International Raceway in early years) is a tri-oval track in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1969, including NASCAR, IndyCar Series, and IMSA GT ...

with

Spire Motorsports Spire Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team competing in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series, and the ARCA Menards Series West. The teams ownership group consists of co-founder ...

. His Cup debut had been delayed on two occasions earlier in the season, with a

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

start for

Jonathan Byrd's Racing Byrd Racing is an American racing team in the IndyCar Series. The team is owned by Virginia (Ginny) Byrd and her sons David and Jonathan Byrd II. They also run select races in partnership with Rick Ware Racing starting in select races in 2020 in t ...

ultimately failing to materalise, while his

GEICO 500 The Jack Link's 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race is usually held in April or May. The 1997 event stands as the fastest NASCAR race to date ever run with an average spe ...

entry at

Talladega Superspeedway Talladega Superspeedway (Alabama International Motor Speedway from 1969 to 1989) is a tri-oval superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. Built in 1969, the track has hosted a variety of racing events, primarily races sanctioned by NASCAR. The track is ...

with Spire was disallowed due to his lack of experience on such tracks. He returned to the series at Loudon with

Rick Ware Racing Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, American Flat Track, and National Hot Rod Association, NHRA. History The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing with R ...

. Davison committed to an approximately 26-race schedule with RWR for the 2021 Cup season. In May, he dominated the

eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series eNASCAR was launched in 2018, by the parent company, NASCAR, to act as the Esports arm of the auto-racing body. The organization primarily uses the '' iRacing'' game via a PC platform for organizing its competitions, but has previously used othe ...

race at

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Pr ...

, leading 32 of 33 laps and finished 12 seconds ahead of

Anthony Alfredo Anthony Francis Alfredo (born March 31, 1999), nicknamed "Fast Pasta", is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS fo ...

. He continued his dominance in the series at the virtually-designed Chicago Street Course, capturing the pole, leading every lap, and winning by 56 seconds over his Rick Ware Racing teammate

Josh Bilicki Joshua Michael Bilicki (born June 3, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuj ...

. He also raced at the 2021 YellaWood 500 for the No. 66

MBM Motorsports Motorsports Business Management LLC, operating as MBM Motorsports, Garage 66, Power Source, and sometimes known as Carl Long Motorsports, is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and NAS ...

Ford with sponsorship from Rich Mar Florist.

Motorsports career results

American open-wheel racing results

( key)

Champ Car Atlantic results

Star Mazda Championship

Indy Lights results

IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500

Sports car racing results

( key)

Rolex Sports Car Series

IMSA SportsCar Championship

Pirelli World Challenge

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

Xfinity Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

Complete S5000 results

References

External links

* * *
Profile on Speedsport

Indy Lights Profile

2006 Atlantic standings

2007 Star Mazda review

Grand-Am Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davison, James 1986 births Living people Racing drivers from Melbourne Formula Ford drivers Formula BMW USA drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Indy Lights drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Australian IndyCar Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers NASCAR drivers Joe Gibbs Racing drivers USAC Silver Crown Series drivers Team Meritus drivers Walker Racing drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers Vision Racing drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers Meyer Shank Racing drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers KV Racing Technology drivers Belardi Auto Racing drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers Porsche Carrera Cup Australia drivers Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers Racing drivers from Victoria (state)