Mike Groff

American racing driver

Michael Dennis Groff (born November 16, 1961, in Van Nuys, California) is a former race car driver who competed in CART and the IRL IndyCar Series and was the 1989 Indy Lights champion. His younger brother Robbie was also a CART and IRL driver from 1994 to 1998.

Groff made his professional debut in 1984 competing in the Valvoline/Robert Bosche Formula Super Vee series. He finished third in the series in 1985 and second in 1986. In 1986 he also made his American Racing Series debut (later renamed Indy Lights). Driving for a family team, he captured wins at the Milwaukee Mile and Road America and finished third in points. In 1987 he won at Nazareth Speedway and finished fifth in points. In 1988 he only competed in three Indy Lights races for three different teams, but finished second at Nazareth. In 1989 he competed full time for Leading Edge Racing and captured four wins on his way to the championship.

Groff attempted to make his CART Champ Car debut in the 1990 Indianapolis 500 for Euromotorsport but failed to qualify. He made his debut three weeks later at the Detroit Grand Prix with the same team and completed the season with them. In 12 starts he had a best finish of seventh at Nazareth and finished 17th in points. In 1991 Groff initially returned to Euromotorsport but switched to A. J. Foyt Enterprises for the final five races of the season. his best finish was eighth (three times) and he finished 16th in points. He also competed in his first Indianapolis 500. Groff entered 1992 without a full time ride. He qualified a second car for Walker Racing in the 1992 Indianapolis 500 but when regular driver Scott Goodyear failed to qualify, he replaced Groff. Groff made six starts that season for Euromotorsport (2 races), Walker (1 race), and Foyt (3 races) and finished 23rd in points. In 1993 Groff joined Rahal Hogan Racing for a limited race schedule. Groff made six starts in 1993 for Rahal Hogan with a best finish of ninth at Portland International Raceway. He finished 23rd in points. 1994 saw Groff return to Rahal Hogan full time. The team had since abandoned their bespoke chassis but were the first team to experiment with Honda's new CART engine package. The team struggled with the package throughout the season and had to purchase Ilmor powered cars from Team Penske to make the 1994 Indianapolis 500. Groff only finished 20th in points. Rahal managed a slightly more respectable tenth. In 1995, Groff was left without a ride. During the third day of qualifications for the 1995 Indianapolis 500, he was tabbed by Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the back up car for Bryan Herta, who had crashed and was not cleared to drive during the weekend. As Herta risked being bumped from the field, Groff was tasked with qualifying the car if such a situation had happened. To prepare for the situation, Groff did start an official qualifying attempt, which was aborted after two laps. However, Herta was not bumped, and Groff did not drive at all during Bump Day.

In 1996 Groff joined the new IRL IndyCar Series with Foyt Enterprises. Groff finished sixth in the series' first race and third at the second race at Phoenix International Raceway. He then was hired by Walker to race in the CART race at Nazareth where he finished 14th and qualified 11th for the 1996 Indy 500 but was sidelined by a fire after 122 laps, also driving for Walker (which was one of the few teams to participate in both CART and the IRL in 1996). Groff finished sixth in the 1996 IRL championship. For the 1996 1997 Indy Racing League season Groff joined Byrd/Cunningham and captured 3 straight top five finishes to start the season including a third at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a second at Walt Disney World Speedway (the first with the series new naturally aspirated cars). He finished 12th in the 1997 Indianapolis 500 and finished fourteenth in the championship. Groff returned to Byrd Cunningham Racing in 1998. After finishes of 7th, 15th, and 15th to start the season, he was replaced at the Texas Motor Speedway race by John Paul Jr. He was out of a ride for the rest of the season. Groff attempted to qualify for the 1999 Indianapolis 500 for Team Xtreme Racing but failed to make the field. It would be his last IndyCar appearance.

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref 1990 Euromotorsport Lola T89/00 Cosworth DFS V8tPHXLBHINDYMILDETPORCLEMEA17th17 Lola T90/00TORMISDENVANMDOROANAZLS 1991 Euromotorsport Lola T91/00 Cosworth DFS V8tSRFLBHPHXINDYMILDETPORCLEMEA16th22 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 265A V8tTORMISDENVANMDOROANAZLS 1992 Walker Racing Lola T91/00 Chevrolet 265A V8tSRFPHXLBHINDYDETPORROAVAN25th5 Euromotorsport Cosworth DFS V8tMILNHATORMISCLE A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 265A V8tMDO Lola T92/00NAZLS 1993 Rahal Hogan Racing Rahal Hogan RH 001 Chevrolet 265C V8tSRFPHXLBHINDYMILDETPORCLETORMISNHA23rd8 Lola T93/00ROAVANMDONAZLS 1994 Rahal Hogan Racing Lola T93/00 Honda HRX V8tSRF20th17 Lola T94/00PHXLBHMILDETPORCLETORMISMDONHAVANROANAZLS Penske PC 22 Ilmor 265C V8tINDY 1995 Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 95i Ford XB V8tMIASRFPHXLBHNAZINDYQL†MILDETPORROATORCLEMISMDONHAVANLS NC 1996 Walker Racing Reynard 96i Ford XD V8tMIARIOSRFLBHNAZ500MILDETPORCLETORMISMDOROAVANLS34th0† – Made an aborted qualifying attempt in Bryan Herta's back up car, as Herta was not cleared to drive after a crash and was in risk of being bumped.

Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points Ref 1996 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola T95/00 11 Ford XB V8tWDW 6th 228 41PHX Walker Racing Reynard 95i 60INDY 1996 97 Byrd Cunningham Racing 10NHMLVS 14th 169 G Force GF01 Infiniti VRH35ADE V8WDWPHXINDYTXSPPINH2LV2 Oldsmobile Aurora V8CLT 1998 G Force GF01BWDWPHXINDYTXSNHMDOVCLTPPIRATLTX2LVS 30th 56 1999 Team Xtreme Dallara IR9 46 Infiniti VRH35ADE V8WDWPHXCLTINDYTXSPPIATLDOVPP2LVSTX2 NC

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Tean 1990 Lola T89/00 Cosworth DFS V8t DNQ Euromotorsport 1991 Lola T91/00 Cosworth DFS V8t 18 24 Euromotorsport 1992 Lola T91/00 Chevrolet 265A V8tRaced by S. Goodyear Walker Racing 1993 Rahal Hogan RH 001 Chevrolet 265C V8tNo Attempt Rahal Hogan Racing 1994 Penske PC 22 Ilmor 265C V8t 31 31 Rahal Hogan Racing 1995 Reynard 95i Ford XB V8tRaced by Bryan Herta Chip Ganassi Racing 1996 Reynard 95i Ford XB V8t 11 20 Walker Racing 1997 G Force GF01 Infiniti VRH35ADE V8 18 12 Byrd Cunningham Racing 1998 G Force GF01B Oldsmobile Aurora V8 32 15 Byrd Cunningham Racing 1999 Dallara IR9 Infiniti VRH35ADE V8 DNQ Team Xtreme