Joseph Alan Hand (born February 10, 1979) is an American professional racing driver who competes in

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

as a Ford factory driver. A former champion of the

Star Mazda Series The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the Road to Indy l ...

, Hand is the co-winner of the

2011 24 Hours of Daytona The 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona ran on Saturday and Sunday January 29–30, 2011 at the Daytona International Speedway was the 49th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race. The first race of the 2011 Rol ...

driving for

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization competing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rally ...

, the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring GT class for

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Team Rahal, and the

2016 24 Hours of Le Mans The 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans () was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event held for teams of three drivers each fielding Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars from 15 to 19 June 2016 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, ...

LMGTE Pro class for Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA driving the

Ford GT The Ford GT is a Mid-engine design, mid-engine two-seater sports car manufactured and marketed by American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company, Ford for the 2005 model year in conjunction with the company's 2003 centenary. The second gene ...

Racing career

Early career

Hand began his career in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

, starting at the age of 12. Moving up to the

in 1998, Hand won nine races in the series, winning the rookie of the year award in 1998 and the series championship in 1999. Following an injury that sidelined him for most of the 2000 season, Hand moved up to the

Toyota Atlantic The Atlantic Championship Series is an American open-wheel racing series with races throughout North America. It has previously been called Champ Car Atlantics, Toyota Atlantics (after its then engine supplier for sponsorship reasons), or just ...

series in 2001, scoring two wins in three years spent in the series, with a best championship finish of third in 2001.

Grand-Am, ALMS and IMSA

Beginning with the 2004 season, Hand has raced in the

Grand American Road Racing Association Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance ...

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

, racing in both the

Grand Touring A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving with performance and luxury. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement ...

and

Daytona Prototype A Daytona Prototype was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand-Am Road Racing, Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype rac ...

classes, winning five times in the GT category while driving

s. Hand has also raced sporadically in the

American LeMans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

; in 2006, Hand was involved in a spectacular end-over-end crash 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 ...

, while in 2009, he won the first

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

for a BMW in eight years in the ALMS at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

GT94 Bill Auberlen Paul Dalla Lana Joey Hand 2011 Road America

Driving for

, Hand, along with co-drivers

Scott Pruett Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is an American former racing driver who has competed in numerous disciplines of the sport. In the 1980s, Pruett established himself as a top sports car racer, winning two IMSA GTO, and three Trans-Am ...

, Memo Rojas and

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal ( ; born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently races in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner of ...

, won the 2011 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race at Daytona International Speedway, driving the #01

Riley Riley may refer to: Businesses * Riley (brand), British sporting goods brand founded in 1878 * Riley Motor, British motorcar and bicycle manufacturera 1890–1969 * Riley Technologies, American auto racing constructor and team, founded by Bob ...

. The team was set back by a pit road penalty while Hand was driving, however, he was able to recover from the penalty for co-driver Pruett to take the car to victory. The following month the

BMW Motorsport BMW M Motorsport (formerly BMW Motorsport) is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sports car racing, motorcycle racing. The current organisation is a ...

team he drove for won the GT class of the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring. Later he joined the BMW Motorsport factory team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he finished third in the GTE-Pro class driving again a BMW M3. Also in 2011, Hand competed full-time at the Grand-Am Sports Car Challenge for Turner, resulting in runner-up with Michael Marsal as a teammate. Hand returned to BMW Rahal for the 2012 American Le mans Series season. He again won the GT class at the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

and took three podiums out of seven appearances. Meanwhile, he resulted sixth overall at the 24 Hours of Daytona driving a Ganassi BMW. In the 2013 ALMS season, the driver got a second-place class finish and two-fourths out of six appearances for BMW Rahal with a

BMW Z4 The BMW Z models are a line of roadsters manufactured by German automaker BMW. The Z stands for ''Zukunft'' (German for ''future''), and has been produced in four different series with six generations consisting of roadster, coupé, sports car, a ...

de Rahal. Again he raced for Ganassi at the 24 Hours of Daytona and later the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis. As the new United SportsCar Championship launched in 2014, Hand resulted second in the GTLM class at the 24 Hours of Daytona and third at the 12 Hours of Sebring for BMW Rahal. In 2016, Hand joined the Ford factory program for the IMSA

2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the third season of the United SportsCar Championship and first to be under the name as the IMSA SportsCar Championship ...

as well as the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

. He was reunited with teammate Dirk Müller, while

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (; born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in the Hypercar category. He is one of the most successful dr ...

joined the team for the endurance races including Le Mans. Hand, Müller, and Bourdais went on to win the

in the LMGTE Pro category while driving the 2017 Ford GT LME GTE-Pro.

Other racing

Andy Prialux Dirk Muller Joey Hand BMW Motorsport LMGTE Pro BMW M3 Le Mans 2011

On October 22, 2011, Hand made his debut in the International V8 Supercars Championship, driving for

Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske) is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. Founded by Dick Johnson, the team's drivers have won ten Australian Touring Car Championship titles (five of the ...

in the

Gold Coast 600 The Gold Coast 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Boost Mobile (Australia), Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars Championship, Supercars, held at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Parad ...

. finishing 4th with co-driver James Moffat In November, he drove a

DTM DTM may refer to: Sport * Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000 * Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995 Computing * Data Transfer ...

car for the first time, testing for BMW at Circuito Monteblanco in Spain. Joey Hand 15 Sonoma 2022

On October 5, 2021,

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 ...

announced that Hand would make his

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 ...

debut in the

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, ...

race at the

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

Roval driving the No. 52. Hand started 36th and finished in 27th. In 2022, Hand drove in all six of the Cup Series road course races driving for Rick Ware in the No. 15. His best finish was 20th at Sonoma and his best starting spot was 9th in Road America. On June 12, 2024, it was announced that Hand would be driving the No. 60 car for

RFK Racing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, Trade name, doing business as RFK Racing, is an American professional stock car racing, stock car organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. One of NASCAR's largest racing teams in the 2000s an ...

in the Chicago Street race. Hand won the second stage in that race for his first career stage win in the NASCAR Cup Series. Hand led 7 laps and almost won the race entirely before being passed by eventual race winner

Alex Bowman Alexander Michael Warren Bowman (born April 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 f ...

, after which Hand fell back to fourth.

DTM

On December 15, 2011, Hand was announced as one of BMW's factory drivers for the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, commonly abbreviated as the DTM, is a sports car racing series sanctioned by ADAC. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The series currently races a modified version of Group GT3 gra ...

, which saw him compete in the entire 2012 championship, alongside a limited-season

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

campaign with BMW Team RLL. He was the first American to have a full-season factory contract in the series since its inception in 1984. In three seasons he had a best race result of 5th at Brand Hatch and a best season result of 12th, both in 2013.

Personal life

Born in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, Hand and his wife, Natalie, have two children.

Motorsports career results

Career summary

American open–wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship

American Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Rolex Sports Car Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete DTM results

( key)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class) ^* Season still in progress. ^† Hand did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.

NASCAR

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

Cup Series

References

External links

* * *
Video of the 2006 crash
at "And they walked away..." {{DEFAULTSORT:Hand, Joey Living people 1979 births Racing drivers from Sacramento, California 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Supercars Championship drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Formula BMW USA drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Barber Pro Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers International Kart Federation drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers BMW M drivers Racing Bart Mampaey drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Multimatic Motorsports drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers NASCAR drivers Meyer Shank Racing drivers Schnitzer Motorsport drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers Trans-Am Series drivers