Paul Tracy

Childhood and Family

Paul Tracy was born to Vivienne and Tony Tracy. He was the third of four children of his father Tony. He also has two older stepsisters, Debbie and Leigh Ann, and a younger sister, Anne. Tony was from Northern Ireland and Vivienne was English. Tony was an industrial painter and president of Trabur Painting. He painted hydro towers in England, a high-rise in New York City, and, most notably, the CN Tower.

Tony had a passion for vintage vehicles. He raced a Velocette in Ireland and England and owned two Rolls Royces. Tony was deeply invested in Paul’s auto racing. After Tony’s death in 2022, Paul stated, “he was 100 percent committed to making sure that I had the best opportunity to succeed in my career.”

Early Racing Career

Paul Tracy first started go-karting at the age of five. He began to participate in organized racing at age six. In addition to racing, Paul played hockey growing up. However, at the age of 13, he had a choice to make. He could either continue playing for his hockey team or compete in the Champions Go-Kart Series in New Zealand. Tracy chose auto racing and never played hockey again.

As a teenager, Tracy was an exceptional Go-Kart racer. He won 74 of 82 races at the junior level and 91 of 94 races at the senior level. At age 16, he began racing professionally and had instant success. He became the youngest Canadian Formula Ford Champion in the 1600 Challenge Series in 1985 and won a race in the Formula Ford 2000 series. At age 17, he became the youngest driver to win a Can-Am race.

In 1987, at age 19, Tracy graduated from Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute in Scarborough.

Road to IndyCar

From 1988 to 1990, Paul Tracy competed in the American Racing Series (later known as the Indy Lights Series). In 1990, he won nine of 14 races and took the American Racing Series title. The nine victories set an American Racing Series single season record at the time.

It was expected by many that Tracy would not have any problems signing a contract in IndyCar based on his Indy Lights success. However, the contract never came. In fact, Paul’s father Tony initially paid Dale Coyne $100,500 for an opportunity. Paul competed at Long Beach in 1991, but he did not finish the race because of an overheated engine.

After the Long Beach race, Tracy met with famous auto racing team owner Roger Penske. In his initial tests, Tracy’s speed was comparable to Penske drivers Emerson Fittipaldi and Rick Mears. Tracy also passed the endurance test at the Michigan International Speedway. He proved to Team Penske he could last 500 miles.

Breakout Season

In 1993, Paul Tracy got off to a disappointing start to the season in Phoenix. He hit the wall and finished 16th despite having had a two-lap lead over the field at lap 100. It was his trademark aggressive style of racing, but it cost Tracy his first IndyCar win. Victories came later in 1993. He won in Long Beach, Cleveland, Toronto, Wisconsin and Mexico. Tracy became the first Canadian to win the IndyCar race in Toronto.

Tracy finished in third place in the IndyCar standings with 157 points, behind Brit Nigel Mansel and Emerson Fittipaldi. He also tied Mansel for the most wins that year with five.

Career Highlights

Paul Tracy continued driving for Team Penske in 1994. He won three races and again finished third in the standings. In 1995, Tracy switched to Newman Haas and won in Australia and Milwaukee.

The 1996 auto racing season saw a division among those who were in charge of the sport. The Indy Racing League (IRL) was created and broke away from the CART series. Most of the drivers who remained in CART, including Tracy, did not compete in the famous Indianapolis 500. Tracy, meanwhile, received high praise from Canadian auto racing fans, who continued to see him compete in the CART stops in Toronto and Vancouver.

Tracy returned to Penske in 1996. He won three straight races with Penske in 1997 at Nazareth, Rio de Janeiro, and Madison, Illinois.

Tracy switched teams again in 1998, this time to KOOL Green and owner Barry Green. In 1999, Tracy returned to third in the standings after wins in Milwaukee and Houston. Then in 2000, he won four races, including in Vancouver. He was the first Canadian to win the Vancouver race. Tracy continued to race for Team Green until 2002, when he won in Milwaukee. Also in 2002, Tracy raced in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 1995. He finished second after a highly controversial call penalized him for an “illegal” pass of race winner Helio Castroneves.

During his career, Tracy was one of the most colourful, charismatic and controversial figures on the circuit. As Bill McGuire wrote in Autoweek in 2003, “if the series kept statistics for fines, probation and all-around troublemaking, he would easily lead those categories as well. With his mile-long rap sheet, Tracy developed a well-earned reputation as CART’s perennial bad boy.” Although he once described CART as being run by “circus clowns,” Tracy won over fans by refusing to leave the series for the IRL, famously saying, “I’m not driving one of those crap-wagons.” At the end of 2002, CART fans voted him the Most Popular Driver.

However, at the end of the 2002 season, Tracy was fined US$50,000 for criticizing the Honda engine used by the KOOL Green team. He then defected to Player’s/Forsythe Racing and was fined US$300,000 for breach of contract. In November 2002, Toronto Life magazine called Tracy “the [John] McEnroe of racing, perpetually battling the powers that be over some alleged infraction or other.”

In 2003, Tracy had his best season — and one of the greatest in CART/IndyCar history. Racing with the benefit of wisdom and experience in addition to his signature aggression, Tracy became the first driver in 32 years to win the first three races of the season. By the end of the year, he had achieved six pole positions, 10 podiums, 658 laps led, and seven wins, including in Toronto. Tracy’s victory in Toronto was arguably his most impressive. Not only did he win the pole position and the race, but he also led the field in all 112 laps. Representing the Player’s/Forsythe team, he won his only CART championship in 2003 with 226 points.

Tracy won five more CHAMP Car races. He won in Long Beach and Vancouver in 2004, Milwaukee and Cleveland in 2005, and Cleveland in 2007.

Other Racing Series

Paul Tracy competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013. In 2006, he competed in five races in NASCAR’s Busch Series, finishing as high as 24th.

Tracy competed in one race in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2008, as well as five races in the Stadium Super Trucks short course off-road racing series in Toronto between 2013 and 2016.

In 2012, Tracy competed in six races in the 2012 Rolex Sports Car Series. His best finish was third place in the Montreal 200. Tracy competed in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association’s Indy Legends Charity Pro–Am race in Indianapolis in 2016 and the Trans-Am Series in Atlanta and Indianapolis in 2018. He also took part in the TA2 category of the Trans-Am Series in 2020, though he was disqualified for two illegal maneuvers.

Tracy competed in the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) short track racing series in 2021. He finished in the top 10 in four of his six races. However, he was also involved in numerous accidents and altercations. He returned to SRX in 2022, finishing as high as third place and taking sixth place in the final standings. He was suspended from SRX in July 2023 after he started a five-car accident.

Tracy recorded his first auto racing victory since 2007 when he won the Autódromo Velo Città round of the 2023 NASCAR Brasil Sprint Race. He also competed in the first two rounds of the 2025 Trans-Am Series, winning in his class at Sebring International Raceway.

Tracy’s racing career was not limited to automobiles. He also dabbled in professional downhill mountain bike racing as part of the Yeti Cycles team.

Other Activities

Paul Tracy has worked with his various sponsors, which included Goodyear, General Motors Canada, Molson and Snap-On Tools. He also has a business interest in Spy Sunglasses and owns Black Label Baggers, a company that makes parts and apparel for Harley Davidson motorcycles. He has been involved with various community outreach programs, such as mentoring young Black men and advocating against street racing. He has also worked with woundedwarriors.ca, a charity that raises funds for Canadian soldiers who have been injured.

Tracy worked as an auto racing analyst for Sportsnet in 2013 and for NBC from 2014 to 2021.

Personal Life

In 1993, Paul Tracy married his high school sweetheart, Tara Cormier. They had two children together before divorcing. Tracy then married Liisa Hunter in 1998 and Patty Faraci in 2005. A biography of Tracy — Never Too Fast: The Paul Tracy Story, by Paul Ferriss — was published in 2001.

Honours and Awards

• All-American, American Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (1990)
• Bruce McLaren Trophy, British Racing Drivers’ Club (1990)
• Driver of the Year, Canadian Racing Drivers’ Association (1991)
• Most Improved Driver, CART (1993)
• All-Star Team, CART (1999)
• Most Popular Driver Award, CART (2002, 2003)
• Inductee, Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame (2013)
• Inductee, Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame (2013)
• Inductee, Mazda Road to Indy Hall of Fame (2015)
• Honorary Diploma, Fanshawe College (2016)
• Inductee, Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (2025)