Buzz Calkins won his first-ever Indy-car start in the
inaugural Indy Racing League race at DisneyWorld in
'96 after leading 130 laps. Was co-champion with Scott
Sharp the same season. Qualified for last three Indy
500s. Colorado go-kart champion in 1986 and 1989
Rocky Mountain Formula Ford champion.
Calkins returned to the IRL in '98 with his father at
Bradley Motorsports and a new sponsor, the International Star Registry. Calkins
could be named a star himself if he could have found some of the speed he
seemed to have been missing since the latter half of the '97 season.
Calkins started his defense of the 1996 IRL co-championship strong, finishing
2nd at New Hampshire and 6th at Las Vegas. His engine blew just as he took the
lead at Orlando and the rain started to fall; he finished 11th. From there the
season went downhill, with DNFs or finishes well off the pace at every race
except Pikes Peak. He even missed one race (Charlotte) after a serious testing
injury. Still, he finished 10th in the season championship.
Calkins began racing motorcycles and go-karts in Colorado as a teen-ager.
He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1993 with a 3.1 grade point
average, majoring in both economics and history.
He was the Sports Car Club of America Formula Ford Rocky Mountain Division
runner-up in 1989 and champion in 1990. He moved to the Indy Lights series
from 1993-1995. He won the Formula Atlantic class in Tasman Series in New
Zealand in 1994.
He led 130 laps and won the inaugural IRL race, the Indy 200 at Orlando, and
was sixth at Phoenix in 1996. Calkins qualified at 229.013 mph for the 1996 Indy
500 and started on the outside of Row 3. His 17th-place finish was good enough
to tie him for the 1996 IRL championship with Scott Sharp.
Sources: Star/News and SpeedNet staff reports.
