Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

Born on this day with the need, the need for Speed

Scott Speed came into this world on this day 41 years ago with a predestined name that naturally carved out his path in his professional life.

At the time of his F1 debut, Speed was that rarest of things: an American driver in modern day Formula 1.

The Californian gained access to the pinnacle of motorsport thanks to Red Bull, and raced with Toro Rosso in 2006 and 2007, but parted company with the Faenza-based outfit mid-season when the team decided to usher in young star Sebastian Vettel.

Speed never did manage to score any championship points during his time in Formula 1, but he made his impact felt in the sport in another way by earning himself a $5,000 fine for using abusive language against fellow Red Bull driver David Coulthard in a post-race hearing.

Speed ended up returning to the States to compete in NASCAR and later enjoyed a brief spell in Formula E with Andretti Autosport before he successfully devoted himself to rallycross.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.