Jeret Schroeder passed his Indy Racing League rookie test in 1997 and competed in two IRL events in a G-Force/Oldsmobile/Goodyear fielded by McCormack Motorsports, Avon, Ind. The team was sponsored by Purity Farms, Ireland Coffee-Tea, Sunnyside Foods, Alfa Laval, Team Losi.
Schroeder also competed in the Sports Car Club of America's Player's/Toyota Atlantic series, which is considered to be a stepping stone to Indy car competition. He will be in the same Ralt RT-41 which he campaigned in the Atlantic series last year, although the car will be prepared by a different team.
Schroeder finished fifth in the Atlantic series, where he competed as a rookie, with the Lynx Racing Team in a Ralt RT-41 owned by his father, Bill Schroeder. His best finishes in the 12-race series were two seconds, which occurred at the races in Montreal and at Mid-Ohio.
He was chosen as a "rising star" of the sport by National Speed Sport News, and he received the Atlantic series' "Rising Star" award at the year-end banquet.
Schroeder won the U.S. Formula Ford 2000 national championship in 1995. This series is contested on ovals, road courses and street courses so that young drivers can gain experience on a wide variety of venues. It is the official Indy car development series of the U.S. Auto Club, and it is jointly sanctioned by USAC and SCCA.
Schroeder won more U.S. FF2000 races than any other driver that year, taking the checkered flag in four of the 10 events.
His first professional FF2000 victory came on June 25, 1995 at Watkins Glen, N.Y. in a Swift, and he set a track record in the process. Schroeder and crew chief Brendan Cunnane chose the team's Van Diemen for the rest of the events; Jeret won again on the oval at New Hampshire International Speedway, and a week later he won in the rain at Road Atlanta. The championship came down to the final race of the year, which was held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and Schroeder not only won the title but the race.
Schroeder's championship drive occured even though he competed in nine of the 10 events, choosing to forgo one race to compete in a Hooters Formula 2 Cup event the same day. He ran selected Hooters Cup events in 1995, finishing 11th overall in the final point standings.
In addition to the four U.S. FF2000 victories, he had one third, two fourths and a fifth in the series.
He was one of only two Americans to make the finals at the Formula Ford Festival in England, placing 14th overall in a Van Diemen.
Schroeder ran in 48 different FF2000 races in the United States in 1994, only having seven weekends off all year. The races were a combination of USAC FF2000, SCCA American Continental Challenge, SCCA nationals and regionals, and Hooters Cup events. He scored seven top-10 finishes in the USAC FF2000 national championship series enroute to a fourth-place ranking at the end of the year.
Schroeder also was one of the Americans chosen to compete in the Formula Ford Festival in Great Britain in 1994. He drove a EuroSwift and was the fastest American there.
In 1993 Schroeder began his professional racing career, joining the USAC FF2000-East series. He won the pole in his second USAC FF2000 race, the "Night Before the 500" show at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He led most of that race until he was involved in an accident that left him with leg and feet injuries, which forced him to sit out the rest of the season.
As an amature Schroeder raced SCCA Formula Fords, the division prior to Formula 2000, in 1989. He was named the SCCA's South Jersey Region Rookie of the Year in 1990. He earned an invitation to the Valvoline Runoffs, where he finished fifth, two years later.
Sources: Star/News and SpeedNet staff reports.
