Andy Santerre

Anthony Lee Santerre (born September 7, 1968) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He is a former competitor in the NASCAR Busch Series and a four-time champion of the NASCAR Busch North Series.

Andy Santerre
Born (1968-09-07) September 7, 1968
Cherryfield, Maine
Achievements2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 NASCAR Busch North Series Champion
Awards1998 NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
68 races run over 9 years
Best finish20th (1998)
First race1993 NE Chevy 250 (New Hampshire)
Last race2002 Stacker 2 200 (Nazareth)
First win1999 NAPA Autocare 250 (Pikes Peak)
Wins Top tens Poles
1 7 1
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish88th (2000)
First race2000 Bully Hill Vineyards 150 (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0

Personal life

At the age of 19, Santerre was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome, which had him hospitalized for several months.[1]

Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series career

Andy Santerre made his Busch debut in 1993, driving for his own #15 O'Connor Buick team. He ran his first and only race of the year at NHIS, starting the race in 11th position and finished the race in 14th.

Santerre made two starts in 1994. He ran the #51 Chevy at Nazareth and finished 18th. The next time out, running the #1 Primetime Van Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, Santerre set his best qualifying effort to that point of 8th in the field at Watkins Glen International. However, he only ran four laps and finished 39th with transmission problems.

All three of those races, however, were combination Busch North-Busch Grand National Series races, a procedure popular in NASCAR until the Winston West and Busch North Series were combined into a single rules package, to increase car counts in regional races.

Santerre made a Busch Series start in 1996 while earning points a Busch North driver, when he drove the #35 Ford for Mike Laughlin Jr. at Daytona. He started deep in the pack in 40th, but had a 22nd-place finish.

Santerre made his official Busch Series debut in a one-off appearance in 1997. All Busch Series finishes through 1996 for Santerre were 'combination races' with the Busch North Series. Once again driving for Laughlin, Santerre started the #45 Hunters Specialties Chevy at New Hampshire. He started 16th and upped his position by one to 15th. Also, Santerre led his first lap of Busch Series competition during a green flag pit cycle.

Santerre, after numerous wins in the Busch North Series, moved South in 1998, where he would win Rookie of the Year with Innovative Motorsports. However, despite the award, it was still a tough season. Santerre's best finishes were a 4th at Gateway and a 10th at Richmond. He had a pole at Richmond finished 20th in overall points, despite missing two races.

Santerre began 1999 with a broken leg at Daytona, and was not able to return to the #47 Chevy for 16 races, returning with a 30th at the Glen. Yet, just three races later, Santerre took control late in the race at Pikes Peak. Leading seventeen laps, earned to his first career victory. Despite this, Santerre was released four races later.

Santerre ran seventeen races in 2000, sharing a ride Kenny Wallace in the #25 Lance Snacks Chevy for Team Rensi Motorsports. His best finish was at Pikes Peak, where he had a third-place finish. He also tallied on three other top-10s. Also in 2000 Santerre made his only career Craftsman Truck Series start. Driving the #57 Whelen Ford, Santerre made the 2000 Watkins Glen race. Once again, Santerre made a good debut. He started 21st, ran on the lead lap and finished 16th.

In 2001, Santerre ran 13 races for three teams. Running for the #01 EJP team, #11 Channellock team and the #31 Whelen team. For the third straight year, the #11 Chevy at Pikes Peak recorded Santerre's best finish of the year of 13th place. Overall, Santerre had four top-20 finishes.

Santerre made his last two starts in 2002. He earned a 38th at New Hampshire and 36th at Nazareth. At that point, Santerre dropped all Busch Series racing and went back to the North Series.

Busch North Series / East Series career

Santerre stayed in the Charlotte area, and based his Busch North team in the middle of Charlotte, becoming a four-time champion of the Busch North Series, holding the record for most series championships, and winning them consecutively from 2002–2005.

At the end of the 2005 season, he stepped out of the car and concentrated on managing Grizco Racing, a Busch East Series team owned by Steve and Peg Griswold, which became Andy Santerre Motorsports. With driver Sean Caisse, the team finished second to Mike Olsen, the grandson of popular Northeastern driver Stub Fadden, in the 2006 Busch East Championship. Caisse also drew the attention of Kevin Harvick, who signed him to a driver development contract.

In 2007, Caisse was joined by Jeffrey Earnhardt, son of Kerry Earnhardt and grandson of Dale Earnhardt, to race in a second Santerre Camping World Wast East car under NASCAR's new rule reducing the minimum age in the Grand National and Whelen Modified divisions to 16. Caisse won four races and finished second in points to champion and rookie of the year Joey Logano. Earnhardt would place fifth in the standings. Caisse and Earnhardt would move on from Andy Santerre Motorsports to pursue other opportunities.

In 2008, Richard Childress' grandson and RCR development driver 17-year-old Austin Dillon signed on to drive the No. 3 Garage Equipment Supply Chevrolet for Andy Santerre Motorsports.

After running his own team in the Camping World East/K&N Pro Series East series for several years, Santerre spent two years as competition director for Rev Racing, and in 2012 joined Hattori Racing Enterprises in that position.[2] After the 2012 season, he accepted a non-racing job offer in his native Maine, announcing his semi-retirement from racing activities.[2]

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

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 NBSC Pts
1993 Charles O'Connor 15 Buick DAY CAR RCH DAR BRI HCY ROU MAR NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW TAL IRP MCH NHA
14
BRI DAR RCH DOV ROU CLT MAR CAR HCY ATL 93rd 121
1994 H&H Motorsports 51 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL MAR DAR HCY BRI ROU NHA NZH
18
CLT DOV MYB 82nd 155
Team Goewey 1 Olds GLN
39
MLW SBO TAL HCY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT MAR CAR
1996 Laughlin Racing 35 Ford DAY
22
CAR RCH ATL NSV DAR BRI HCY NZH CLT DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NHA TAL IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR HOM 88th 97
1997 45 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL LVS DAR HCY TEX BRI NSV TAL NHA
15
NZH CLT DOV SBO GLN MLW MYB GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAL CAR HOM 85th 118
1998 Innovative Motorsports 47 Chevy DAY
25
CAR
25
LVS
26
NSV
16
DAR
37
BRI
11
TEX
19
HCY
29
TAL
38
NHA
17
NZH
34
CLT
DNQ
DOV
37
RCH
43
PPR
22
GLN
12
MLW
23
MYB
13
CAL
34
SBO
15
IRP
29
MCH
36
BRI
16
DAR
20
RCH
10
DOV
38
CLT
DNQ
GTY
4
CAR
23
ATL
21
HOM
40
20th 2598
1999 DAY
42
CAR LVS ATL DAR TEX NSV BRI TAL CAL NHA RCH NZH CLT DOV
DNQ
SBO
DNQ
GLN
30
MLW
13
MYB
DNQ
PPR
1
GTY
19
IRP
35
MCH BRI
13
DAR
DNQ
RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO 57th 702
Labonte Motorsports 44 Chevy HOM
DNQ
2000 Team Rensi Motorsports 25 Chevy DAY CAR LVS
30
ATL DAR BRI TEX
20
NSV
15
TAL CAL
21
RCH NHA
6
CLT DOV
39
SBO
10
MYB
19
GLN
27
MLW
14
NZH
23
PPR
3
GTY IRP
10
MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM
32
PHO HOM 34th 1498
2001 Santerre-Reece Motorsports 01 Chevy DAY CAR
23
LVS ATL DAR BRI
31
TEX NSH
33
TAL CAL RCH NHA
27
NZH CLT DOV KEN MLW GLN
18
CHI 44th 928
HighLine Performance Group 11 Chevy GTY
16
PPR
13
IRP
17
MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV
Marsh Racing 31 Chevy KAN
32
CLT MEM PHO
42
CAR HOM
38
2002 Santerre Racing 01 Chevy DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX NSH TAL CAL RCH NHA
38
NZH
36
CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI GTY PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL CAR PHO HOM 96th 104

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NCTC Pts
2000 Santerre Racing 57 Ford DAY HOM PHO MMR MAR PIR GTY MEM PPR EVG TEX KEN GLN
16
MLW NHA NZH MCH IRP NSV CIC RCH DOV TEX CAL 88th 115

References

  1. Brooks, Melanie (April 1, 2011). "My Maine Home". Bangor Metro. Bangor, Maine. Archived from the original on 2011-08-08. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  2. Mahoney, Larry (January 18, 2013). "Andy Santerre leaves auto-racing job to return to Maine". Bangor Daily News. Bangor, ME. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Mike Olsen
NASCAR Busch North Series champion
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Succeeded by
Mike Olsen
Achievements
Preceded by
Steve Park
NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year
1998
Succeeded by
Tony Raines
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