This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (August 2009) Find sources: (Adrian Fernández – news, books, scholar)

José Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1965 in Mexico City) is a Mexican race car driver and co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team.

Contents 1 Racing Career 2 Trivia 3 Miscellaneous 4 Career Results 4.1 American Open-Wheel 4.1.1 CART results

[edit] Racing Career

Adrian Fernandez began his career by racing motorcross at age eight. He entered his first auto race in 1981 at the "24 Hours of Mexico" and at the age of 15 he made the permanent move to cars in 1982. From 1982 to 1984 Fernandez competed in the Formula Vee Championship taking the title in '83 and '84. He also raced in the Formula K Series in 1984, competing in that series through 1986. He finished in the top four in the standings all three years in Formula K.

In 1987 he ran one race in the Benelux Formula Ford 1600 Championship, one British RAC Formula Ford 1600 Championship race and competed in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. From 1988-89 he ran the British RAC and Esso Formula Ford 1600 Championship series before moving to the International F3 Championship for 1990 and 1991. He captured the Formula 3 title in '91.

In 1992 Fernandez came to the United States to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship (now the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship). He finished third in the points winning four races, a rookie record, and took the "Indy Lights Rookie of the Year" honors and made more than two million dollars in prize earnings.

His talent apparent, Fernandez made the jump to CART cars in 1993 competing in five races for Galles Racing International. He ran his first full CART season in 1994 with Galles finishing 13th and capturing the "Marco Magania" and "Luchador Olmeca" awards and the "JAC" trophy for "Best Driver" outside Mexico. Competing again with Galles in 1995, Fernandez finished 12th in the standings placing in the top ten nine times.

Fernandez moved to Tasman Motorsports in 1996. He had six top ten finishes, including his first career CART victory, en route to a 12th place finish in the points. The win in Toronto made him the first Mexican to win a CART event since Hector Rebaque in 1982. However, 1997 was a disappointing season for Fernandez. The Tasman team ran a Lola chassis which failed to perform to expectations. Through force of will, determination and talent, Fernandez battled to three top ten finishes and 18th place in the PPG Cup standings.

Fernandez joined Patrick Racing for the 1998 season and proved his ability to challenge for the championship. He enjoyed 14 top ten finishes with eight top five placements and two victories, Japan and Mid-Ohio, en route to a fourth place showing in the PPG Cup race during the 1998 Fed Ex Championship. He captured his first career pole at Michigan and led the championship race for the first time in his career. However, it was his victory during the Miller Lite 200 that gave Patrick Racing one of its most memorable moments when Fernandez stood atop the podium next to his teammate Scott Pruett. Fernandez was also named the "Athlete of the Year" in Mexico.

In 1999, enjoying his most successful season in the CART series, Adrian Fernandez behind the wheel of the #40 Tecate/Quaker State Reynard Ford-Cosworth completed the year fourth in the championship battle although he lead the points series early in the season for the first time in his CART career. He won in Motegi, Japan at the Firestone Firehawk 500 and at the Marlboro 500 Speedway in Fontana, California. In addition, he was selected to participate in the IROC series during 1999 where he competed against other top-named drivers including NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt. Fernandez solid racing career which began in 1993, now has 80 total starts in the series. Of those starts he has finished in the top ten 41 times throughout his seven-year career.

After becoming the first driver to win 4 races in his rookie Indy Lights season, he moved up to CART IndyCar World Series for 1993. He took his first victory in the championship in 1996 at Toronto, in a race that claimed Jeff Krosnoff's life. Despite the one win, he was not a regular front-runner until he joined Patrick Racing in 1998. That year, he crashed at Michigan and three spectators were killed by the errant wheel from his car. On a positive note, he took two victories and 4th overall that year. In 1999 he won two races, but an accident at Detroit provoked a fracture in one of his hands, forcing him to sit out for several races. Despite of that, he managed to finish 6th in the standings. In 2000 he came close to winning the championship, despite not starting on the front row all season - he scored points in 17 of the 20 races including 2 wins and 3 further podium results. He finished second to Gil de Ferran in the championship.

In 2001 he founded Fernandez Racing, with former Ganassi manager Tom Anderson as his partner, and ex-F1 driver Shinji Nakano as his team-mate. He finished 3rd twice and took 2 poles that year, but his team's first victory came at Portland in 2003, the first win for an owner-driver since Bobby Rahal achieved the feat in 1992. That year he also ran an IRL entry for Asian-American Roger Yasukawa, in partnership with Aguri Suzuki, and for 2004 he moved the whole team to the series. Despite taking 3 wins and 4th overall in the 2004 IRL, he was unable to secure funding to race in 2005 - Delphi was driver Scott Sharp's personal sponsor while engine suppliers Honda insisted on Japanese driver Kosuke Matsuura in the second car.

In 2005 he drove the 5 Lowe's / Hitachi Chevrolet in Mexico for Rick Hendrick in the first NASCAR Busch Series race held outside the United States. In this race, (called the Telcel-Motorola 200) Fernandez raced in a one time ride to help promote NASCAR racing to the local fans. He led several laps in the race before giving up the lead to eventual race winner Martin Truex Jr.. It was announced that he would run 4 more races in the Busch Series for Hendrick Motorsports, but he did not run up front at any of those races. In 2006 he competed in 2 Busch races for Hendrick and competed full time in the Grand-Am series for his own team with Lowe's sponsorship. In 2007, he will move the team to the American Le Mans Series LMP2 class as an Acura factory team. His teammate will be fellow Mexican and Grand-Am veteran Luis Díaz.

[edit] Trivia

He won two CART World Series races in which it was marred by fatal accidents. Including his first win at Toronto in 1996, in which Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a crash that also claimed Gary Avrin, a track marshall. Also at Fontana in 1999, which driver Greg Moore was killed early in the race.

Fernández has competed in the Indianapolis 500 a total of 4 times, in 1994-1995 and 2004-2005.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Adrian Fernández utilizes a Learjet 31 for business and personal travel.

[edit] Career Results

[edit] American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

[edit] CART results

Years 1993-2002 to be completed.

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2003	Fernández	STP Ret	MTY 4	LBH 2	BRH 12	LAU 15	MIL 6	LS 7	POR 1	CLE 11	TOR 9	VAN Ret	ROA 12	MDO 7	MTL 8	DEN 5	MIA 8	MXC 8	SRF 12	FON NH	8th	105

Sporting positions
Preceded by Carlos Guerrero	Mexican Formula Three Champion 1991	Succeeded by César Jiménez