Max Papis facts for kids

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Max Papis

Papis in 2016

Born

Massimiliano Papis
3 October 1969 (age 55)
Como, Italy

Achievements

2004 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Co-Champion

NASCAR Cup Series career

36 races run over 4 years

2013 position

58th

Best finish

43rd (2009, 2010)

First race

2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma)

Last race

2013 Cheez-It 355 at The Glen (Watkins Glen)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
0	1	0

NASCAR Xfinity Series career

14 races run over 8 years

2013 position

48th

Best finish

48th (2013)

First race

2006 Zippo 200 (Watkins Glen)

Last race

2013 Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 (Mid-Ohio)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
0	4	0

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series career

45 races run over 5 years

2013 position

92nd

Best finish

18th (2011)

First race

2008 Chevy Silverado 350K (Texas)

Last race

2013 Chevrolet Silverado 250 (Mosport)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
0	5	0

NASCAR Pinty's Series career

1 race run over 1 year

Best finish

55th (2012)

First race

2012 Pinty's 250 (Kawartha)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
0	0	0

IndyCar Series career

3 races run over 2 years

Best finish

26th (2006)

First race

2002 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)

Last race

2006 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)

Wins	Podiums	Poles
0	0	0

Champ Car career

113 races run over 8 years

Best finish

5th (1999)

First race

1996 Miller 200 (Mid-Ohio)

Last race

2003 Molson Indy Montreal (Montreal)

First win

2000 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami (Homestead)

Last win

2001 Honda Grand Prix of Monterey (Laguna Seca)

Wins	Podiums	Poles
3	11	2

Statistics current as of November 17, 2013.

Formula One World Championship career

Nationality

Italian

Active years

1995

Teams

Footwork

Entries

7 (7 starts)

Championships

Wins

Podiums

Career points

Pole positions

Fastest laps

First entry

1995 British Grand Prix

Last entry

1995 European Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career

Years

1997, 2003–2008

Teams

Moretti Racing, JML Team Panoz, Corvette Racing

Best finish

5th (2003)

Class wins

Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born October 3, 1969) is a famous Italian race car driver. He has competed in many different types of top-level races around the world. These include the exciting Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One, and Champ Car series. Max Papis has won three Champ Car races. He is also related to another racing legend, Emerson Fittipaldi, who is his father-in-law.

About Max Papis
Max's Racing Career
"Mad Max" Nickname
Images for kids
See also

About Max Papis

Max Papis was born in Como, Italy, on October 3, 1969. He grew up in Italy and became interested in car racing very early. As a young boy, he won many go-kart races. He also won several races for different racing clubs in Italy.

Max is married to Tatiana Papis. She is the daughter of the famous race car driver Emerson Fittipaldi. Max and Tatiana have two children. Their children are cousins to other well-known young drivers, Pietro Fittipaldi and Enzo Fittipaldi. Max Papis was also part of a group of close friends who were all CART drivers. They called themselves the "brat pack" and included drivers like Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan.

Max's Racing Career

Max Papis has had a long and exciting career in many different racing series. He has driven in open-wheel cars, stock cars, and sports cars.

Formula One Racing

Papis made his Formula One debut for Footwork at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

Before joining Formula One, Max Papis was a test driver for the Lotus team in 1994. In 1995, he got a chance to race for the Footwork team. He took part in seven races during the middle of the season.

Even though he had won races in other series, Formula One was a big challenge. He sometimes had bad luck, like a tire problem in his first race. He also had a transmission issue in another race. In the 1995 Italian Grand Prix, he spun out on the first lap, causing a crash. However, he almost scored a point in that race after it restarted. After these seven races, he moved on to race in America.

Champ Car Series

In 1996, Max Papis started racing in the CART series. He joined the Rahal team in 1999, which was a very competitive team. He almost won the US 500 race but ran out of fuel near the end. That year, he finished fifth overall in the series standings.

In 2000, Max won the first race of the season. He won two more races in 2001 and finished sixth overall. However, he left the team after some crashes with his teammate. In 2002, he had two third-place finishes with another team before they faced money problems. Max also raced in the famous Indianapolis 500 race in 2002 and 2006. He finished 14th in his second attempt.

IndyCar Series

Max Papis also raced in the IRL, which is now known as the IndyCar Series. He drove for well-known teams like Roger Penske and Andretti-Green Racing. He raced in this series from 2001 to 2009.

Max is good friends with fellow drivers Tony Kanaan and Alex Zanardi. In 2013, he was there to celebrate with Tony Kanaan when Tony won his first Indianapolis 500. In 2016, Max Papis became a race steward for the IndyCar Series. This means he helps make sure the races are fair and follow the rules.

ASCAR Racing

On June 8, 2003, Max Papis tried out the ASCAR Racing Series in Britain. This is a type of Stock Car racing. He raced for Team HTML at Rockingham Motor Speedway and finished 14th. This was his only race in that series for the season.

NASCAR Racing

Max Papis's 2011 Nationwide car at Road America.

Max Papis made his NASCAR debut in August 2006. He raced in the Busch Series at Watkins Glen International Raceway. He also tried to qualify for a NASCAR Cup Series race but did not make it.

In 2007, he raced two more times in the Busch Series. At Montreal, he finished third after avoiding a crash. The next week at Watkins Glen, his engine broke down.

Max made his Cup Series debut in 2008 at Infineon Raceway. He also drove in some Nationwide Series races. In 2009, he was announced as a driver for the No. 13 GEICO Toyota car. He raced in 18 Cup Series races that year and had a full-time ride in 2010.

In 2009, he had his best Cup Series finish, coming in 8th place at Watkins Glen. He also started 15th at Fontana. In 2010, he was very fast in a Truck Series race at Daytona and almost won. However, he was caught in a crash near the end.

After the Watkins Glen race in 2010, his team announced that another driver would replace him for 2011. Max then focused on racing in the Truck Series for the team. In 2010, he also finished in the top 30 at the 2010 Daytona 500. In a Nationwide Series race at Montreal, he was leading on the final lap but took a turn too wide and finished second.

In 2011, Max raced in the Truck Series and finished 18th in the standings. From 2011 to 2013, he had strong performances in road course races but did not win. In 2011, at Road America, he was spun out by another driver. After the race, they had a heated argument. In 2012, he finished fourth at Road America. He also raced in the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series that year.

In 2013, at Road America, Max was spun out twice. After the race, he was very angry and slapped another driver, Billy Johnson. Max later apologized for his actions. In August 2013, Max filled in for Tony Stewart in a Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen and finished 15th. He also finished fourth in a Nationwide Series race at Mid-Ohio.

In September 2013, Max Papis raced in the first-ever Truck Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He finished sixth. After that race, he was slapped by the girlfriend of another driver, which caused his jaw to be dislocated.

Also in 2013, Max raced in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. He had a best finish of second place at Tours Speedway. In 2014, his own team, Max Papis Racing, entered a car in the Euro Series. In 2017, he raced one more time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Watkins Glen.

Other Racing Events

In 2016, Max Papis also competed in the Stadium Super Trucks series. He raced in the Toronto rounds and finished eleventh and seventh.

"Mad Max" Nickname

Max Papis earned his nickname "Mad Max" at the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona race. During his last part of the race, his car was damaged but he drove incredibly fast. He passed the race leader and set some of the fastest laps of the entire race. He was pushing his car to its limits, using a lot of fuel. At one point, he sped into the pit lane very quickly for fuel. Because of this, new rules were put in place the next year to limit pit lane speeds. Even with his amazing speed, the leader was still ahead by 64 seconds at the end of the race.