Richard Edward Hearn (born January 4, 1971) is an American former racing driver. Hearn was born in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

. He ran in 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 ...

championship for two seasons, winning the title in 1995. In 1996, he began driving for John Della Penna in both the

IRL IRL may refer to: Arts and media * ''IRL'' (2013 film), a Swedish drama film about a high school student tormented by peers * IRL (2019 film), an American drama film about "the ups and downs of online dating and modern dating" * ''IRL'' (album), ...

and

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing T ...

ranks. He won an IRL race at the

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

to cap off the year and was the highest finishing rookie 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 ...

, finishing 3rd. Hearn moved full-time into Champ Car in 1997 for Della Penna with high-profile sponsor

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...

but failed to post significant results and by 2000 was surplus for sponsored driver

Norberto Fontana Norberto Edgardo Fontana (born 20 January 1975) is an Argentine racing driver. He participated in four Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 29 June 1997 but scoring no championship points. His opportunity to race came as a result of two separate ...

. He contested a few more Indy 500s, with a best result of 6th in 2002. In 2005 following the Indy 500 he retired as a driver and started Hearn Motorsports LLC that ran in the

Star Mazda 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 la ...

series. He planned to move the team into

competition in 2006. Hearn returned from retirement to qualify on Bump Day of the

2007 Indianapolis 500 The 91st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 27, 2007. It was the twelfth Indianapolis 500 sanctioned by the IndyCar, Indy Racing League and the fifth race of the 2007 IndyCar Series se ...

in a car jointly entered by Racing Professionals and

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 ...

. Hearn is currently a driving instructor at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch's

Ron Fellows Ronald Charles Fellows Order of Canada, CM (born September 28, 1959) is a Canadian retired auto racing driver. Personal life Fellows was born in Windsor, Ontario, on September 28, 1959. At age four, he became interested in auto racing with his ...

driving school.

Early life

Hearn's parents were also racecar drivers, racing in amateur

Sports Car Club of America The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, HPDE, Time Trial, Road Racing, RoadRally, and Hill Climbs in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs ...

events on the West Coast. They belonged to the Corvette club, and owned two Corvettes. His father owned a go-kart shop. When he was nine years old, he began racing go-karts. By the time he was 20, he owned seven International Karting Federation titles. Hearn then attended the

Winfield Racing School The Winfield Racing School (formal name: ''École de Pilotage Winfield'') is a French school for racing drivers at Paul Ricard in France. History Winfield Racing School was established as École de Pilotage Jim Russell by Bill Knight, Arthur Ow ...

at the

Paul Ricard circuit The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, Le Castellet, Var (department), Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of buil ...

in southern France, whose alumni included

Alain Prost Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Professor", Prost won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and� ...

. His go-kart competitors helped pay for his tuition. He became the only American to qualify for Winfield's school competition. He managed to win, and was able to earn a year of sponsored racing on the

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to auto racing, motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before mov ...

circuit, which is several tiers below the

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 ...

class.

Professional career

Toyota Atlantic

In 1995, Hearn won the Toyota Atlantic championship.

Indy Racing League IndyCar Series

In 1996, Hearn won a pole at New Hampshire, won a race at Las Vegas, finished third in his

debut (the best rookie finish for that race) and was fourth in series points.

CART Championship Car

In 1997, Hearn and team owner John Della Penna moved full-time to the

CART FedEx Championship Series Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) was a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 1979 until dissolving after the 2003 season. CART was founded in 1979 by team owners formerly from the United States Auto Clu ...

. That season, he had 17 starts, but his best finish was ninth. The following season, his team made upgrades and he was able to improve in his finishes. In a race in Rio de Janeiro, he finished in a career-best seventh place. In 1999, Hearn crashed coming off turn two on lap four of the Marlboro 500, bringing out the first caution flag of the race. He was not injured, but several laps later, Greg Moore crashed in the exact same spot and was killed. Hearn did not return for the 2000 season, as he didn't have a sponsor, and

replaced him.

Return to Indy Racing

In 2002, he finished sixth in the

, his best finish since his rookie season. In 2003, he was hired by Menard Racing, winning the pole for that year's Indy 200. In 2007, Hearn got a last-minute ride with Jon Herb's backup car with Hemelgarn/Racing Professionals, even though he hadn't raced since the 2005 Indy 500. With it, he qualified 32nd for the

. That would be the final Indianapolis 500 he competed in. In seven seasons, he drove in 84 races.

Later life

After retiring from racing, he started a racing team. One of its drivers was

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American racing driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series for Ed Carpenter Racing, Ed Carpenter. Rossi competed in Formula One at five Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix in . In America ...

, who would go on to win the 2016 Indy 500. However, the team became unsustainable during the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. Due to this, he became bankrupt and did odd jobs such as driving a forklift, and coached a successful flag football team. He then got a job at Bobby Flay’s restaurant at Caesars Palace. However, this wasn't satisfying for him, so he became a part-time instructor at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch's

driving school, and eventually lead instructor once he quit his job at the restaurant. Hearn still races. In 2014, he competed in the 18th SKUSA SuperNationals. From 2016-17, he competed in the “Indy Legends” Charity Pro-Am. In his free time, he does

iRacing ''iRacing'' is a subscription-based online sim racing video game developed and published by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations in 2008. All in-game sessions are hosted on the publisher's servers. The game simulates real world cars, tracks, and ...

, a virtual reality racing video game

Personal life

Hearn was married, but they divorced when he got bankrupt. He has a daughter. Hearn attended college classes at

Citrus College Citrus College is a public community college in Glendora, California. The Citrus Community College District, which supports the institution, includes the communities of Azusa, Claremont, Duarte, Glendora, and Monrovia. Citrus Union High Scho ...

. Years later, after seeing a commercial for the Cordon Blue Culinary School, he enrolled and earned an associate’s degree in the culinary arts in two years.

Motorsports Career Results

American Open-Wheel racing results

( key)

CART

IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hearn, Richie 1971 births Atlantic Championship drivers Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers IndyCar Series drivers Living people Sportspeople from Glendale, California Racing drivers from California International Kart Federation drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers