Max Papis

Born in Como, Italy on the 3rd October 1969, Massimiliano ‘Max’ Papis contested F1 with Footwork Arrows and competed in Champ Car, NASCAR and sportscar races. He won three races in Champ Car, was the 2004 Grand American Rolex Series title winner and took five class podiums at Le Mans.

He started his racing in karts and was soon part of the Italian National Karting Team and competed in the European and World Championships. He moved into Formula Monza for a year in 1988 and during this period he had been continuing his studies alongside his racing and achieved a degree in political science at Milan University. The following year saw the start of four seasons in the Italian Formula 3 Championship, starting with Erre 3 Racing’s Ralt RT33. After his first season, 1990 saw him race for Euroteam where he had three top six finishes with the Reynard. Then came a switch to Venturini Racing and he had two victories, at Misano and Monza, plus a second place finish at Binetto, with their Dallara. There was also a trip to the Far East where he was tenth in the F3 Fuji Cup with West Surrey Racing’s Honda powered Ralt RT35. In his final F3 season in 1992, driving for Piemme Motors, he was fourth at Mugello, fifth at two rounds at Monza, sixth at Binetto and Varano then won at Vallelunga in October.

He graduated to F3000 with Vortex Motorsport and was fourth in their Reynard 93D-Cosworth on his debut at Donington Park (behind Olivier Beretta, Pedro Lamy and Olivier Panis) and had top-six finishes with fifth and sixth at Pau and Nogaro. In 1994 he drove Mythos Racing’s Reynard 94D-Judd and after an impressive victory at Barcelona his best finishes were seventh at Silverstone plus fourth and sixth at Enna-Pergusa and Magny-Cours and he was fifth in the final standings. During the year he tested for Ligier at Estoril and became a test driver for Lotus though his F1 debut came with Footwork in 1995 when he replaced Gianni Morbidelli for seven races. He suffered a puncture and suspension failure in his debut at Silverstone but often struggled with the unfamiliar car, and there were retirements due to mechanical issues at Hockenheim, Hungary and Portugal and he spun at Spa. His two finishes produced seventh at Monza and twelfth at the European GP but Max lost the seat when Morbidelli returned.

Following this a lifeline came with the offer of a Ferrari 333 SP drive at the 24 Hours of Daytona so Max headed to America. Arriving at Daytona, there were two Ferrari teams and he initially tested for Scandia Racing but told how “apparently they didn’t trust me. They said the kid is too young and too fast for endurance racing, he’s going to break our car. So that was that. But Moretti saw me testing and was interested in me so he called Piero Ferrari and then he called Gian Luigi Buitoni, the president of Ferrari USA, and said, “I want this kid to race with me.” That was basically how my adventure started with Ferrari.” It proved a thrilling race, involving a battle between the MOMO Ferrari 333 (crewed by Max, Gianpiero Moretti, Didier Theys and Bob Wollek) and Doyle Racing’s Riley & Scott Mk III (driven by Wayne Taylor, Scott Sharp and Jim Pace). Although they would finish second, the race helped make a name for Max (plus earned him the nickname ‘Mad Max’ for his barnstorming drive) and was, at that time, the closest finish in the history of the race. Both teams suffered multiple problems during it but at the 22-hour mark the Dyson began suffering a fuel flow problem and Max was on a charge, taking up to six seconds a lap off them. Taylor told how, “Here we are, supposedly in command of the race, and we’re handing back time every lap to Papis as the engine cuts out and I’m throwing switches on and off to keep going. The last hour was really worrisome and Papis made up almost a lap.” Max recorded some of the fastest laps of the race, running around 1:44.3 and 1:44.4 and shortly afterwards began dipping into the 1:43’s, a time that would have been fast enough to qualify fourth overall. Then, getting down to 1:42.5, his pace was almost seven seconds a lap faster than what Sharp was achieving at the time. With around 26 minutes remaining, Max unlapped himself and continued to press on then raced onto the pit road with 17 minutes left to take fuel and tyres. Taylor re-lapped him while he was in the pits but Max began catching him while driving laps down into the 1:41’s, just a few tenths slower than the pole speed. When Max was in his final stint in the last hour and a half of the race the team was several laps down and he recounted “with nothing to lose, they decided to put this young kid back in the car. I drove super hard, basically doing the same speeds as in qualifying. We were down three and a half laps and I made up two and a half laps on the leader. Then (with 54 minutes left in the race) one of the Lister Storms crashed and went upside down. The yellows came out and stayed out for quite a while.” Before making his pit stop he told how “I had asked the team if there was any speed limit in pit lane and they said no. So I drove down pit lane in fifth gear at 260 km/h (162 mph) because I wanted to make up time. I passed the leader again (nine minutes from the end) and got back onto the lead lap. The race finished and I was second, in what at that time was the closest ever finish of the Daytona 24 Hours. I got out of the car, and Buitoni and [Ferrari North America marketing director] Giampaolo Letta greeted me and passed me this Motorola cell phone. And who was on the phone? (Luca di) Montezemolo. It was always my dream as an Italian kid to get to talk to the president of Ferrari, and here he was, calling me and congratulating me on a great race.” Describing the final hour of the race to ESPN he said “It was a fantastic time..It was really one hundred percent. Every lap was like qualifying. I’m very proud of the car and the team.”

He went on to race with Giampiero Moretti in his first World Sports Car season and they won at Road Atlanta, Lime Rock and Watkins Glen, took second at Sears Point and Mosport, third at Sebring (joined by Didier Theys), fourth at Daytona and seventh in Texas. Besides his results in the ten starts he also had four poles and four fastest laps but was beaten to the title by Wayne Taylor at the final round, by 260 points to 245. Alongside his 333 SP drives, he was eleventh in a 6 Hour Vallelunga event alongside Andrea Garbagnati in a Ferrari F355. In August that year he drove Arciero-Wells’ Reynard 96I-Toyota for three of the last four Champ Car races after Jeff Krosnoff had sadly been killed in Toronto. He continued with Arciero-Wells for the following two seasons, with his best result a fifth place at Houston in 1998. During that period, he made his Le Mans debut in 1997 and was sixth with D.Theys and G.Moretti in the 333 SP while the following year saw him return to the Daytona 24 Hours and he, Yannick Dalmas, Bob Wollek and Ron Fellows were twentieth in Scandia Racing’s 333 SP.

At 1999’s USRRC Daytona 24 Hours he was back with a Ferrari 333 SP, though now with Jimmy Vasser, Stefan Johansson and R.Fellows, and came home third in the Fellows Racing car. In CART Max switched to Team Rahal and started the year with fifth in the opening round at Miami, then went on to take fourth at Rio, Illinois and Houston and third at Laguna Seca. However, there was heartbreak at the US 500 at Michigan. Max was leading comfortably until a crash erased his nine-second lead and allowed Michael Andretti to jump him in the pit stops. After the restart he battled with Andretti and Dario Franchitti for a few laps before breaking away again until another caution brought the field closer to him. However, once again he pulled away when the race went green and after the final round of pit stops was still in front. He was well set to take his first career win only for his car to agonisingly run out of fuel midway through the last lap and he was eventually classified seventh. He qualified on pole at Chicagoland then finished the season with second at the two final rounds at Surfers Paradise and Fontana. The year finished with him in fifth place, scoring 11 top 5 finishes in 20 starts and also recorded his first pole position, at Chicago. He took points in 14 of 20 starts overall, including 9 of the final 11, led the series in laps completed with 2650 of a possible 2769 and in miles completed with 4403.463 of a possible 4652.675.

2000 started with an emotional first victory at Homestead’s opening round in Rahal’s Reynard 2KI-Ford and was redemption for losing victory in the previous year’s Michigan race. After starting from thirteenth on the grid he hung on to the lead in the closing stages, running in second place with ten laps remaining but, after a slip by leader Tracy, dived inside and raced for the line and came home ahead of Roberto Moreno and Paul Tracy. Max recalled “With a few laps to go, I had a little glitch in my brain that made me think about Michigan and, at one point, I lost five or six lengths in the turbulence, but Bobby [Rahal] came on the radio and told me to go for it-that’s why I was able to get by Paul when he went wide.” He dedicated his win to his good friend Greg Moore, “Greg Moore is alive in my heart every day.I always think of him with a lot of smiles and a lot of happiness. What’s tough is I can’t pick up the phone and call him. It’s very difficult to walk to the grid on Sunday and he is not there. He is in my heart every second. I think about his dad and his friends a lot.” Through the rest of the season his best results were second in Detroit and fourth at Mid-Ohio.

Returning to Daytona in the Grand Am series he came home fourth alongside James Weaver, Rob Dyson and Elliot Forbes-Robinson in Dyson Racing’s Riley and Scott Mk 111. There was only a nineteenth place finish at Daytona the following year with Dyson Racing, alongside E.Forbes Robinson, R.Dyson and Niclas Jonsson. He finished sixth in the CART Series standings, with Team Rahal now running a Lola B01/00. Although the season started slowly he won at Portland and Laguna Seca (starting from twenty fifth on the grid) and finished second at Lausitzring and the final race at Fontana. Max left Team Rahal and drove for Sigma Autosport in 2002 but, after taking third place results at Long Beach and Milwaukee, the team pulled out after five rounds due to financial troubles. He had been sixth in the points after his last race start at Laguna Seca but finished the season in nineteenth place after making two starts with Fernadez Racing later in the season at Mid-Ohio and Fontana as a replacement for Adrian Fernandez. There was also an IndyCar drive with Red Bull Cheever Racing’s third car at Indianapolis where he finished twenty third in their Dallara. However, a highlight of the year was his victory at Daytona alongside Mauro Baldi, Didier Theys and Fredy Leinhard with Doran Lista’s Dallara SP1. He contested Petit Le Mans with Emanuele Naspetti and Mimmo Schiattarella in a Ferrari 550 Maranello and was thirteenth in the Team Olive Garden car. Late in the year came a call to replace an injured Gill de Ferran for Penske Racing at Texas Motor Speedway, where he finished twenty first. The team had entered two cars in an attempt to push Helio Castroneves to the IRL title with him and Sam Hornish Jr. coming into the race first and second in the Championship standings.

2003 was Max’s last season in CART, driving in seven races for PK Racing and his best result was fourth at Road America. He returned to Daytona in a Ferrari 360 Modena for JMB USA Racing with Augusto Farfus, Emmanuel Collard and Andrea Garbagnati and was fourteenth though this was his only drive in a Ferrari that year. His other races saw him in a JML Panoz LMP 01 (teamed with O.Beretta, Gunnar Jeanette and David Saelens) where they took fifth at Sebring and Le Mans, sixth at Road Atlanta and second at the Petit Le Mans in October. He conducted some NASCAR tests in the year and there was a single outing in Brumos Racing’s Fabcar FDSC/03 at the 6 Hour Mont Tremblant and he, JC France and Hurley Haywood came home in second place.

2004 saw a busy schedule and the start of his association with Riley and an even longer involvement with the Chevrolet Corvette. He became the Grand-Am Daytona Prototype class champion in CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing’s Riley Mk X1. The season started with tenth at Daytona (alongside Scott Pruett, Jimmy Morales and Scott Dixon) though he and Pruett took victory at Mont-Tremblant, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio and Fontana, podiums at Phoenix, Daytona, Virginia and Barber, fifth at Watkins Glen, seventh at Homestead plus tenth at Homestead. In three drives with Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell in Corvette Racing’s CR-5 they won the GT1 class at the Sebring 12 Hours and took second at both Le Mans and Petit Le Mans.

The following year was another busy season, again alternating between a Riley and a Corvette, but after enjoying successes in his previous seasons he failed to win a race. Teamed again with Fellows and O’Connell in the ALMS they drove the Corvette C6.R to second in GT1 at Sebring, Le Mans and Lime Rock and sixth at Petit Le Mans. His Riley Mk X1 drives came with Krohn Racing/TRG alongside Jorg Bergmeister and Oliver Gavin with their best results including third at Homestead and Daytona, fifth at Mid-Ohio, ninth in Mexico and tenth at Laguna Seca. He also entered the SCCA World Challenge GT and won at Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca plus took one pole driving a Cadillac CTS-V and there were further NASCAR tests, with Hendricks Motorsport. He was also invited to represent Italy in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and contested two rounds in the Team Ghinzani Lola. He was involved in the International Race of Champions, where twelve drivers from eight racing series competed against each other, and in the four race series he was sixth at Daytona and Texas then ninth at Richmond and Atlanta.

2006 was again mostly split between a C6.R and the Mk X1 plus there was a one off outing in a Crawford DP03 alongside Christian Fittipaldi at a 250 Mile Barber race. He was also reunited with Team Italy in A1 GP at Laguna Seca in A1GP and was seventh with Team Ghinzani. He returned to the IROC series and finished sixth in the standings, after taking fourth at Daytona (oval), tenth at Texas, second at Daytona (road course) then eighth at Atlanta. August that year saw his debut in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving for McGill Motorsports at Watkins Glen though he failed to qualify for the race.

2007 proved fruitful as he took victory in the ALMS at the Sebring 12 Hour and Petit Le Mans with O.Gavin and O.Beretta in the Corvette. He also drove Krohn Racing’s Mk X1 in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and took podiums with Colin Braun in 400km races at Mexico, Virginia and Mid-Ohio plus a 250 Mile Daytona event and fourth at Iowa.

Returning to Le Mans in 2008, he was third in the GT1 class driving the C6.R alongside O.Gavin and O.Beretta plus the trio took second at Sebring. He drove an Autohaus Pontiac GXP.R in the season opening Rolex 24 Hour Daytona and was sixteenth in the GT class with Lawson Aschenbach, Tim Lewis Jr and Craig Stanton and contested the following year’s 24 Hour race in a Ferrari F430.

2010 saw second place at Daytona with S.Pruett, Memo Rojas and Justin Wilson in the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Riley Mk XX then third in the following year’s race with Action Express Racing’s Mk X1 with JC France, Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller and Christian Fittipaldi. He drove Action Express’s Corvette DP at Daytona in 2012 alongside France, Barbosa and Borcheller but the following year was spent in a Ferrari 458 Italia in the Grand Am Championship with Jeffrey Segal and Toni Vilander (plus Giancarlo Fisichella at Daytona). In the following two IMSA Series seasons he was back in a Corvette DP and drove Marsh Racing’s car to tenth at Daytona and fifth at Petit le Mans with Eric Curran, Boris Said and Bradley Smith. 2015 saw him with Action Express where he took third at Petit le Mans, fourth at Daytona and Watkins Glen plus fifth at Sebring alongside Curran, Dane Cameron and Phil Keen.

Since his 2006 NASCAR debut, Max had been involved over the following years in its various series, including Sprint Cup, Nationwide World Truck and Euro Series. In 2007, in only his third NASCAR race, during qualifying at Montreal for the NAPA Auto Parts 200 he went straight to fourth position on his first lap and when the session ended he was second in the Miccosukee Resort & Gaming Chevrolet. In the race, after making his pit stop he resumed in seventh place but unfortunately a mix up in his later, final, pit stop required him to pit again three laps later to take on enough fuel to complete the race. He resumed in eighteenth place after having been in the top five but then made his way back up to the front of the field and after avoiding a last lap melee took the flag in third place. Describing the race, he stated “With three laps to go I got on the inside of the #28 car in Turn 6, braking as late as I could and I started battling with Harvick and Carpentier for the Lead..On the last lap, I had an awesome battle with Carpentier going side by side for a few corners trying to find my way by them. It was a great race and a testament of what I always say, which is never give up. I fought hard all day long, together with all my guys, and it’s a great result to end up finishing P3…This is like Christmas coming early. I am so happy and I only wish my Dad could have seen this race today. My Dad passed away in December but I know he’s looking down and smiling right now.” His Cup Series debut came in 2008 at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, piloting Haas CNC Racing’s Chevrolet and he also contested three road course races for Rusty Wallace, Inc. in the Nationwide Series.

In 2009 he drove the GEICO Toyota in eighteen races and had a full-time ride in 2010’s Sprint Cup where he recorded an eighth place finish at Watkins Glen and twelfth at Infineon Raceway. In February 2010 at Daytona he nearly won his first Truck series event, after leading for some laps, but was collected in an accident with 15 laps remaining. He was running in the top ten at Talladega but was caught up in an accident and while driving for Richard Childress Racing at Montreal in the Nationwide Series, he was leading on the final lap but was passed by Boris Said and came in second.

In 2011, he raced in the Truck Series, partly for KHI and Germain and from that year to 2013 had good runs on the road-course races. In 2012, he took a fourth place result at Road America plus ran one race in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at Kawartha Speedway driving Scott Steckly’s Dodge. There were some solid results in 2013 and at Road America he had spent the whole race in the top five but was spun out twice in the later laps. After the race, in a confrontation with Billy Johnson he slapped him and the pair had to be be separated by officials, though Max later apologised. In August he stood in for an injured Tony Stewart in the Sprint Cup Series at Watkins Glen and posted a top fifteen finish. He also competed in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio for Richard Childress Racing and came home in fourth place. There was one drive with NTS Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series at Mosport where he finished sixth. However, following the race he was slapped by the girlfriend of driver Mike Skeen (whom he had crashed with on the final lap) and suffered a dislocated jaw. He ran in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Elite 1 Division and in two races with his own Max Papis Racing team he was sixth at Monza. In 2014, Max’s team fielded a car for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series for Kevin Gilardoni in the Elite 1 Division and in 2017 he drove a Toyota in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for Eric McClure at Watkins Glen though finished eighteenth after the engine blew.

Max and wife Tatiana (Emerson Fitipaldi’s daughter) founded a steering wheel manufacturing company, Max Papis Innovations (MPI) in 2009. Nascar Cup teams responded favourably and in a few short years the majority of the drivers would use their steering wheels. They expanded their product selection and offered them for many forms of motorsports, from Legends, Road Racing, Drifting, SXS, Quarter Midgets, Outlaw Cage Karts, Dirt and Asphalt Short Track and more.

Max was recruited by the IndyCar Series as a race steward in 2016 and that year debuted in Stadium Super Trucks, running the Honda Indy Toronto rounds and finished eleventh and seventh.

Max and Tatiana have two sons, Marco and Matteo, and their godfathers are Alex Zanardi and Dario Franchitti.