Peter Lawrence Chesson Jr. (born December 9, 1978, in

Far Hills, New Jersey Far Hills is a borough in the Somerset Hills of northern Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 924, an increase of 5 (+0.5%) from the 2010 census count of 919, whic ...

) is an American race car driver who most recently competed in the

Indy Racing League IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...

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 ...

. Chesson drove go-karts and motorbikes while growing up on a horse farm in

Bedminster, New Jersey Bedminster is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 8,272, an increase of 107 (+1.3%) from the 201 ...

."Bedminster native Chesson to race in Indy 500 this Sunday"
''New Jersey Hills'', May 24, 2006. Accessed March 28, 2022. "Bedminster Twp. – Growing up on a horse farm off Larger Cross Road, P.J. Chesson always had plenty of room to tear around on go-karts and motorbikes with his two younger brothers."

Career

Chesson made his professional debut in

sprint cars Sprint cars are open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval, circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primari ...

in 1998 and from 2000 to 2003 was a regular in the

World of Outlaws World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, originally known as the World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American national touring dirt track racing series. It is owned and operated by World Racing Group, and was rebranded when the World of O ...

winged sprint car series. In 2004 he suddenly decided to change his career path and drove in the IRL's

Infiniti Pro Series 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 t ...

winning three races and finishing fourth in series points despite missing three races. He was announced as the driver for

Hemelgarn Racing Hemelgarn Racing was an American auto racing team owned by Ron Hemelgarn. The team debuted in 1985, and competed in the CART and Indy Racing League ranks until the team originally shut down in 2010. The team returned to competition in 2015, and cu ...

's car in the IndyCar Series in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

with new backing from NBA star

Carmelo Anthony Carmelo Kyam Anthony ( ; born May 29, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. Anthony played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is a ten-time NBA All-Star Game, NBA All-Star and six-time All-NBA T ...

. The partnership was dubbed "Carmelo Hemelgarn Racing". The deal was brokered through the IRL's new marketing partner, Simmons-Abramson Marketing, made up of rock legend

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...

and entertainment industry vet Richard Abramson. Chesson started the first 4 races of the season, the last being 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 ...

, where he and teammate

Jeff Bucknum Jeff Bucknum (born July 12, 1966, in Glendale, California) is an American race car driver. Jeff is the son of Formula One and Championship Car racer Ronnie Bucknum. He competed in four Indy Racing League IndyCar Series races in 2005, including th ...

tangled on the second lap and finished in the last two positions. Chesson has numerous

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

s, including one of the

2006 Indianapolis 500 The 90th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 28, 2006. Sam Hornish Jr. won from the pole position. It was Hornish's first and only win at Indianapolis, and the record fourteenth Indy v ...

logo that he had applied in public at the Speedway during the final day of qualifying. Since the demise of his deal with Hemelgarn, Chesson did not return to the Indycar Series until the end of the 2007 season when, in another Simmons/Abramson brokered deal, Chesson was announced as the second driver for

Roth Racing Roth Racing was a race team owned by Canadian real estate magnate and racecar driver Marty Roth. It competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. 2004-2005 The team was founded in 2004 when Marty Roth purchased the Indy Pro Series equip ...

alongside team owner

Marty Roth Marty Roth (born December 15, 1958) is a Canadian former race car driver who last competed in 2008 in the IndyCar Series where he owned his own team, Roth Racing. Born in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Roth was a successful land developer in ...

with both cars sponsored by fashion label

Dussault Apparel ''Dussault Inc.'' is a docu-sitcom television show about struggling fashion business. The series is conceived and produced by Paperny Entertainment and directed by Ziad Touma. Season 1 was broadcast on Saturdays at 8:30pm on Citytv. Season 2 was br ...

. He made his 2007 debut at the final race of the season at

Chicagoland Speedway Chicagoland Speedway is an inactive tri-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Joliet, Illinois. It has hosted various major races throughout its existence, including NASCAR and IndyCar races. The track is currently own ...

and finished 19th after mechanical gremlins sidelined him for over 100 laps.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Indy Pro Series

IndyCar

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

P. J. Chesson's MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chesson, PJ 1978 births Indianapolis 500 drivers Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers Living people People from Bedminster, New Jersey People from Far Hills, New Jersey Racing drivers from New Jersey Sportspeople from Somerset County, New Jersey World of Outlaws drivers