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Friday, December 7
Updated: February 18, 2:34 PM ET

Scott Sharp
By Jack Arute
ESPN.com

Team: Kelley Racing
Nationality: United States

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Poles
Top 5
Top 10
Money
Best finish

2001 3 1 3 7 10 $1,233,825 1st, Texas

Career 6 5 20 29 $4,184,228 1st, six times

Sharp
Sharp

2001 Recap
The Good: Sharp rewarded Kelley Racing with a consistent season that saw the Connecticut native patch together strong qualifying with solid finishes. His mastery of Texas Motor Speedway continued with a win and a second-place effort at one of the IRL's fastest and most competitive tracks. He showed a continued affinity of racing at close quarters.

Season Highlight: Sharp delivered Kelley Racing its first ever pole for the Indianapolis 500.

The Bad: Some fellow drivers groused about Sharp's style resulting in a slight hand slap for the former IRL co-champion.

Season Lowlight: After enjoying two weeks of attention as the Indy 500 pole winner, Sharp proceeded to spin on a newly painted boundary line encircling the 2.5 mile oval on the very first lap of the race.

Key Stat: Sharp more than doubled his pole position production. His three poles in 2001 increased his career total to five.

2002 Outlook
What needs to be done: Fellow drivers need to quit complaining about Sharp. His take-no-prisoners style is exciting to watch and has gone a long way in positioning the IRL closer to NASCAR than CART. Kelley Racing recently moved into a new state of the art shop on the north side of Indianapolis and its general manager Jim Freudenburg has assembled a solid support staff that brings a work ethic and commitment that parallels that of other top IRL teams. Keeping key personnel is critical to continued top performances.

Prediction: Greg Ray's addition to Kelley Racing will help Sharp. These two will enjoy free exchange of setups and testing data. Sharp's use of this information will no longer be hampered by differing styles. This team will go to the Indianapolis 500 with two of the hungriest drivers on the circuit. Sharp will redeem himself for his first-lap gaffe.

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