A. J. Fike

A. J. Fike

Fike's midget car in 2008
Born (1980-12-29) December 29, 1980
Galesburg, Illinois
Awards 1999 USAC National Midget Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
7 races run over 1 year
Best finish 68th (2005)
First race 2005 Hershey's Take 5 300 (Daytona)
Last race 2005 Sam's Town 250 (Atlanta)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
2 races run over 2 years
Best finish 108th (2004)
First race 2003 Chevy Silverado 150 (Phoenix)
Last race 2004 O'Reilly 200 (Bristol)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of June 18, 2008.

A.J. Fike (born December 29, 1980) is an American professional racing driver.[1] He is the older brother of NASCAR driver Aaron Fike. Fike won the 1999 United States Auto Club (USAC) Midget Car rookie of the year title[1] and his younger brother Aaron Fike won the award the following season making them the first brothers to win the award in back to back season. He later drove in several NASCAR races.

Racing career

ARCA

In Chevrolets and Pontiacs fielded by former ARCA RE/MAX Series driving champion Andy Hillenburg, he finished 7th in ARCA RE/MAX Series points in his first season on tour. In 50 career ARCA Series starts, he has 8 top-5 finishes and 19 top-10s with a career-best finish of second at Berlin Raceway in 2004.[2] He scored his first career win in the ARCA series in 2015 when he led the most laps and won on a green-white-checkered finish at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. Fike competed 15 of 20 ARCA Series events in 2016; he finished 9th in points with eight Top 10 and three Top 5 finishes.[3]

Open-wheel

He finished tenth in the Indianapolis Speedrome midget points in 1997. In 1998 he finished second in NAMARS Midgets points with three feature event victories. He joined the USAC National Midget Tour in 1999 and was the Rookie of the Year. Fike finished a career-best second in USAC Midget points in 2001[1] with two victories at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas and at the Belleville Midget Nationals, also in Kansas. He finished runner-up in USAC Midget Copper World Classic at Phoenix in 2001. He also finished sixth in USAC Midget national points in 2002; posting a win at Limaland Motorsports Park in Ohio. His career-best Silver Crown finish was a third in the Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway in 2002. Fike also posted three top-10 Silver Crown finishes in 5 starts in 2002. He finished 11th in USAC Sprint national points in 2002 with two runner-up finishes.

He was the Pork Pole winner at the Springfield mile-dirt track. Fike also qualified second at DuQuoin & Berlin. His best superspeedway qualifying effort was tenth at Gateway. Fike led for 48 laps in two races. A veteran of USAC Sprint, Midget and Silver Crown Series competition, NAMARS, Badger and ARCA Midgets and go-karts.

After racing in NASCAR, he resumed racing in ARCA and Open Wheel. In 2009, he finished second in the USAC Silver Crown points.[4]

NASCAR

Truck Series

Fike made two career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series.[5] In 2003, Fike drove the #82 Ninetynine Racing Chevy at Phoenix. He started last in his debut, 36th in the field and finished 27th in the race, 6 laps off the pace.[5] The next year, Fike would compete again for one race. He drove the #08 1-800-For-A-Phone Chevy at Bristol Motor Speedway for Green Light Racing. He once again started 36th and finished 33rd.[5]

Busch Series

Fike began running the Busch Series part-time in 2005, splitting time with his brother Aaron in the #43 fielded by Curb Racing.[6] He made his debut at the season opener at Daytona, starting 25th and finishing 30th. At Phoenix, A.J. made the field in 36th, but finished in 30th, one lap off the pace. He would race again at Nashville in June, securing his best career finish at that time of 28th. He was 32nd at Milwaukee Mile, 30th at Pikes Peak International Raceway and 33rd at IRP. A.J. started his last race of the season at Memphis Motorsports Park, finishing on the lead lap for the second time that season and finished 21st in his Liberty Village Dodge.

Personal life

Fike is single and has a daughter, Kylie.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A.J. Fike Biography". Motor Racing Network. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "A.J. Fike Career Statistics". racing-reference.info. 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "2016 Driver Point Standings". ARCA Racing Series. October 17, 2016.
  4. ↑ "24th Annual Chili Bowl". Chili Bowl. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 "Craftsman Truck Series results". NASCAR. Archived from the original on 2 March 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  6. ↑ "NASCAR Nationwide Series results". NASCAR. Retrieved 6 April 2010.

External links

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