Roger Yasukawa (born October 10, 1977) is an American-born Japanese former

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

driver. He was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, but holds Japanese citizenship. Yasukawa started

karting 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 scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

in Southern California, winning the California State Championship in 1991 in Junior Sportsman. He then moved to Italy to compete in JICA. He moved to car racing in 1997 in the Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship in England, before winning the West Coast Skip Barber Formula Dodge 2-Liter Championship in 1998. He moved back to the UK to compete in the inaugural

Formula Palmer Audi Formula Palmer Audi, officially abbreviated to FPA, and sometimes informally abbreviated to Palmer Audi, was a one-make class of open wheel Formula racing founded in 1998 by former Formula One driver, Jonathan Palmer. It was based in the Unite ...

Championship, before driving several years in the

Barber Dodge Pro Series The Barber Dodge Pro Series was an American open-wheel auto racing series promoted by the Skip Barber Racing School from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were prima ...

before moving 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 ...

championship in 2002 as a teammate to

Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is an American professional racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. He currently competes part-time in the IndyC ...

. He finished 10th in points. Yasukawa signed to drive for former

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 ...

driver

Aguri Suzuki is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Suzuki entered 88 Formula One Grands Prix, achieving a best result of third at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the first Asian driver t ...

's new

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 ...

team in 2003. He was second to future series champion

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 Indianapol ...

in the rookie-of-the-year standings and 12th overall, with 8 top-10 finishes. He ran only two races for

Rahal Letterman Racing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Zionsville, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 5 ...

in 2004 but finished 10th both times. He struggled on a return to a full-time seat in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

for the underfunded

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is an American automotive racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and Nitrocross. The team is owned by Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis BMW, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Mini (marque), MINI, and Subaru dealer D ...

. Yasukawa has only made occasional IRL appearances since 2006. He drove in 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 ...

for Playa Del Racing and finished 16th. He was a late entry for the 2007 event, running in Dreyer and Reinbold's third car, alongside 2004 Indianapolis 500 champion

Buddy Rice Albert Lee "Buddy" Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American former race car driver. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona for Brumos Racing. Career E ...

and

Sarah Fisher Sarah Marie Fisher (born October 4, 1980) is an American retired professional race car driver who competed in the Indy Racing League (IRL, now IndyCar Series) and the Indianapolis 500 intermittently from 1999 to 2010. She also raced in the ...

. In 2008 he contested the Motegi round as well as the

2008 Indianapolis 500 The 92nd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 25, 2008. It was the fifth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season, 2008 IndyCar Series in DIRECTV HD season. Scott Dixon of New Zealand won ...

, for

Beck Motorsports Beck Motorsports was a team in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series owned by Greg Beck. At times in its history the team was partnered with Curb Agajanian Performance Group and 3G Racing owners Stanton Barrett and Steve Sudler. IndyCar 1995� ...

, however he failed to qualify for Indy. In 2007, Yasukawa drove the #11 SAMAX Motorsport

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 ...

Infineon Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway, Golden State International Raceway and Infineon Technologies, Infineon Raceway) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains of Sonoma County, Cal ...

, finishing 17th. Yasukawa currently works in driver management, representing drivers both in the United States and Japan. He was instrumental in bringing Spaniard Alex Palou to IndyCar from Japan and secured a deal between

Team Goh TGM Grand Prix or TGMGP, formerly Team Goh Motorsports, is a Japanese auto racing team founded by Kazumichi Goh in 1996. Now the team compete in Super Formula Championship since 2023. History Initially competing in the All-Japan Grand Touring ...

and

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 ...

for Palou to debut in the IndyCar series. Yasukawa was then able to secure Palou a drive with

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 following year, which helped Palou become a title contender and eventual champion of the

2021 IndyCar Series The 2021 NTT IndyCar Series was the 26th season of the IndyCar Series and the 110th official championship season of American open wheel racing. The premier event was the 2021 Indianapolis 500, won by Hélio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing). It ...

Motorsports Career Results

American open–wheel racing results

( key)

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Atlantic Championship

IndyCar Series

: ''¹ Run on same day.''

Indianapolis 500 results

References

External links

Roger Yasukawa official website
- in Japanese {{DEFAULTSORT:Yasukawa, Roger 1977 births Living people Racing drivers from Los Angeles IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Formula Palmer Audi drivers American sportspeople of Japanese descent Barber Pro Series drivers Team Aguri drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Dreyer & Reinbold Racing drivers Conquest Racing drivers