Mike Groff

Mike Groff
Nationality	American
Born	November 16, 1961 Van Nuys, California
Retired	1999
Related to	Robbie Groff
Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
Years active	1996-1998
Teams	A. J. Foyt Enterprises Walker Racing Byrd-Cunningham Racing
Starts	12
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	6th in 1996

Mike Groff
CART Championship Car
Years active	1990-1994, 1996
Teams	Euromotorsport A. J. Foyt Enterprises Walker Racing Rahal-Hogan Racing
Starts	54
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	16th in 1991
Previous series
1986-1989 1985	American Racing Series American Formula Super Vee
Championship titles
1989	American Racing Series champion

Michael Dennis Groff (born November 16, 1961 in Van Nuys, California) is a former race car driver who competed in CART and the IRL IndyCar Series and was the 1989 Indy Lights champion. His younger brother Robbie was also a CART and IRL driver from 1994 to 1998.

Racing career

Formula Super Vee and Indy Lights

Groff made his professional debut in 1984 competing in the Valvoline/Robert Bosche Formula Super Vee series. He finished third in the series in 1985 and second in 1986. In 1986 he also made his American Racing Series debut (later renamed Indy Lights). Driving for a family team, he captured wins at the Milwaukee Mile and Road America and finished third in points. In 1987 he won at Nazareth Speedway and finished fifth in points. In 1988 he only competed in three Indy Lights races for three different teams, but finished second at Nazareth. In 1989 he competed full-time for Leading Edge Racing and captured four wins on his way to the championship.

CART Champ Car

Groff attempted to make his CART Champ Car debut in the 1990 Indianapolis 500 for Euromotorsport but failed to qualify. He made his debut three weeks later at the Detroit Grand Prix with the same team and completed the season with them. In 12 starts he had a best finish of seventh at Nazareth and finished 17th in points.

In 1991 Groff initially returned to Euromotorsport but switched to A. J. Foyt Enterprises for the final five races of the season. his best finish was eighth (three times) and he finished 16th in points. He also competed in his first Indianapolis 500.

Groff entered 1992 without a full-time ride. He qualified a second car for Walker Racing in the 1992 Indianapolis 500 but when regular driver Scott Goodyear failed to qualify, he replaced Groff. Groff made six starts that season for Euromotorsport (2 races), Walker (1 race), and Foyt (3 races) and finished 23rd in points.

In 1993 Groff joined Rahal-Hogan Racing for a limited race schedule. Groff made six starts in 1993 for Rahal-Hogan with a best finish of ninth at Portland International Raceway. He finished 23rd in points.

1994 saw Groff return to Rahal-Hogan full-time. The team had since abandoned their bespoke chassis but were the first team to experiment with Honda's new CART engine package. The team struggled with the package throughout the season and had to purchase Ilmor-powered cars from Team Penske to make the 1994 Indianapolis 500. Despite a full-season with a well-funded team, Groff only finished 20th in points. Rahal managed a slightly more respectable tenth.

In 1995 Groff's only on-track activity was practice laps for the 1995 Indianapolis 500 with Chip Ganassi Racing, but he did not make an attempt to qualify.

IRL IndyCar

In 1996 Groff joined the new IRL IndyCar Series with Foyt Enterprises. Groff finished sixth in the series' first race and third at the second race at Phoenix International Raceway. He then was hired by Walker to race in the CART race at Nazareth where he finished 14th and qualified 11th for the 1996 Indy 500 but was sidelined by a fire after 122 laps, also driving for Walker (which was one of the few teams to participate in both CART and the IRL in 1996). Groff finished sixth in the 1996 IRL championship.

For the 1996-1997 Indy Racing League season Groff joined Byrd/Cunningham and captured 3 straight top-five finishes to start the season including a third at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a second at Walt Disney World Speedway (the first with the series new naturally aspirated cars). He finished 12th in the 1997 Indianapolis 500 and finished fourteenth in the championship. Groff returned to Byrd-Cunningham Racing in 1998. After finishes of 7th, 15th, and 15th to start the season, he was replaced at the Texas Motor Speedway race by John Paul, Jr.. He was out of a ride for the rest of the season.

Groff attempted to qualify for the 1999 Indianapolis 500 for Team Xtreme Racing but failed to make the field. It would be his last IndyCar appearance.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1986	Groff Motorsport	PHX1 12	MIL 1	MEA 12	TOR 2	POC 2	MDO 13	ROA 1	LS 7	PHX2 7	MIA			5th	89
1987	Patrick Racing	PHX 4	MIL 3	MEA 10	CLE 12	TOR 2	POC 10	MDO 3	NAZ 1	LS 5	MIA 11			3rd	96
1988	Agapiou Racing	PHX	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	MEA 15	POC	MDO	ROA 5				13th	26
	Leading Edge Motorsport										NAZ 2	LS	MIA
1989	Leading Edge Motorsport	PHX 1	LBH 9	MIL 1	DET 4	POR 5	MEA 1	TOR 7	POC 13	MDO 2	ROA 4	NAZ 1	LS 2	1st	163

CART

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1990	Euromotorsport	Lola T89/00	Cosworth DFS V8t	PHX	LBH	IND DNQ	MIL	DET Ret	POR Ret	CLE 9	MEA Ret										17th	17
		Lola T90/00										TOR 11	MIS 11	DEN 14	VAN Ret	MDO 10	ROA Ret	NAZ 7	LS 15
1991	Euromotorsport	Lola T91/00	Cosworth DFS V8t	SRF 8	LBH Ret	PHX Ret	IND Ret	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR 11	CLE 10	MEA 11									16th	22
	A. J. Foyt Enterprises		Chevrolet 265A V8t										TOR 8	MIS	DEN DNS	VAN	MDO Ret	ROA 8	NAZ	LS Ret
1992	Walker Racing	Lola T91/00	Chevrolet 265A V8t	SRF	PHX	LBH	IND	DET	POR						ROA Ret	VAN					25th	5
	Euromotorsport		Cosworth DFS V8t							MIL 14	NHA 13	TOR	MIS	CLE
	A. J. Foyt Enterprises		Chevrolet 265A V8t														MDO 15
		Lola T92/00																NAZ Ret	LS 8
1993	Rahal-Hogan Racing	Rahal-Hogan RH-001	Chevrolet 265C V8t	SRF	PHX	LBH	IND	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR 9	CLE	TOR	MIS	NHA 11							23rd	8
		Lola T93/00													ROA Ret	VAN	MDO Ret	NAZ	LS
1994	Rahal-Hogan Racing	Lola T93/00	Honda HRX V8t	SRF 8																	20th	17
		Lola T94/00			PHX 6	LBH Ret		MIL 19	DET Ret	POR 11	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	MDO Ret	NHA Ret	VAN 14	ROA Ret	NAZ 11	LS 15
		Penske PC-22	Ilmor 265C V8t				IND Ret
1995	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	MIA	SRF	PHX	LBH	NAZ	IND DNQ	MIL	DET	POR	ROA	TOR	CLE	MIS	MDO	NHA	VAN	LS	NC	-
1996	Walker Racing	Reynard 96i	Ford XD V8t	MIA	RIO	SRF	LBH	NAZ 14	500	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MDO	ROA	VAN	LS		34th	0

Indy Racing League

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
1996	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Lola T95/00	Ford XB V8t	WDW 6	PHX 3										6th	228
	Walker Racing	Reynard 95i				INDY 20
1996-1997	Byrd-Cunningham Racing	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	NHM 4	LVS 3										14th	169
		G-Force GF01	Infiniti VRH35ADE V8			WDW 2	PHX 6	IND 12	TXS DNS	PPI		NH2 DNS	LV2
			Oldsmobile Aurora V8								CLT 14
1998	Byrd-Cunningham Racing	G-Force GF01B	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	WDW 7	PHX 15	INDY 15	TXS Rpl	NHM	DOV	CLT	PPI	ATL	TX2	LVS	30th	56
1999	TeamXtreme	Dallara IR9	Infiniti VRH35ADE V8	WDW	PHX	INDY DNQ	TXS	PPI	ATL	DOV	PP2	LVS	TX2		NC	-

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Tean
1990	Lola T89/00	Cosworth DFS V8t	DNQ		Euromotorsport
1991	Lola T91/00	Cosworth DFS V8t	18	24	Euromotorsport
1992	Lola T91/00	Chevrolet 265A V8t	Raced by S. Goodyear		Walker Racing
1993	Rahal-Hogan RH-001	Chevrolet 265C V8t	No Attempt		Rahal-Hogan Racing
1994	Penske PC-22	Ilmor 265C V8t	31	31	Rahal-Hogan Racing
1995	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	Raced by Bryan Herta		Chip Ganassi Racing
1996	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	11	20	Walker Racing
1997	G-Force GF01	Infiniti VRH35ADE V8	18	12	Byrd
1998	G-Force GF01B	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	32	15	Byrd
1999	Dallara IR9	Infiniti VRH35ADE V8	DNQ		TeamXtreme

External links

• Driver Database Profile