Andy Santerre

American race car driver and team owner

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.

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

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 finishing 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 and 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 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.

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 to 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. After the 2012 season, he accepted a non racing job offer in his native Maine, announcing his semi retirement from racing activities.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

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 Pts 1993 Charles O'Connor 15 Buick DAY CAR RCH DAR BRI HCY ROU MAR NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW TAL IRP MCH NHA14 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 NZH18 CLT DOV MYB 82nd 155 Team Goewey 1 Olds GLN39 MLW SBO TAL HCY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT MAR CAR 1996 Laughlin Racing 35 Ford DAY22 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 NHA15 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 DAY25 CAR25 LVS26 NSV16 DAR37 BRI11 TEX19 HCY29 TAL38 NHA17 NZH34 CLTDNQ DOV37 RCH43 PPR22 GLN12 MLW23 MYB13 CAL34 SBO15 IRP29 MCH36 BRI16 DAR20 RCH10 DOV38 CLTDNQ GTY4 CAR23 ATL21 HOM40 20th 2598 1999 DAY42 CAR LVS ATL DAR TEX NSV BRI TAL CAL NHA RCH NZH CLT DOVDNQ SBODNQ GLN30 MLW13 MYBDNQ PPR1 GTY19 IRP35 MCH BRI13 DARDNQ RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO 57th 702 Labonte Motorsports 44 Chevy HOMDNQ 2000 Team Rensi Motorsports 25 Chevy DAY CAR LVS30 ATL DAR BRI TEX20 NSV15 TAL CAL21 RCH NHA6 CLT DOV39 SBO10 MYB19 GLN27 MLW14 NZH23 PPR3 GTY IRP10 MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM32 PHO HOM 34th 1498 2001 Santerre Reece Motorsports 01 Chevy DAY CAR23 LVS ATL DAR BRI31 TEX NSH33 TAL CAL RCH NHA27 NZH CLT DOV KEN MLW GLN18 CHI 44th 928 HighLine Performance Group 11 Chevy GTY16 PPR13 IRP17 MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV Marsh Racing 31 Chevy KAN32 CLT MEM PHO42 CAR HOM38 2002 Santerre Racing 01 Chevy DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX NSH TAL CAL RCH NHA38 NZH36 CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI GTY PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL CAR PHO HOM 96th 104

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 Pts 2000 Santerre Racing 57 Ford DAY HOM PHO MMR MAR PIR GTY MEM PPR EVG TEX KEN GLN16 MLW NHA NZH MCH IRP NSV CIC RCH DOV TEX CAL 88th 115