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Profile: Darren Manning
By Andrew Cutler January 14 2008
How's this for being a versatile driver: Darren Manning holds the world's record for the fastest recorded speed while driving in reverse; a little over 102mph in a car with a specially engineered transmission. He's not too shabby at driving forwards either!

The Englishman started karting at age nine as a hobby, but by age 14 his talent had made him a fixture on the European karting scene. At 17 Darren moved up to cars and by 18 he was winning races in the British Formula Vauxhaull Series.

By 1996 Manning was ready to move up to the British Formula 3 series, where he won his first event, at Silverstone. 1997 would not be kind to him, however, as rules changes left him in an uncompeteive ride. While only able to land a part-time seat in '98, Manning did break through for 2 more wins.

His showing in '98 earned him a full-time ride in the All Japan F3 series in 1999, where he dominated the season, winning six consecutive races. He finished the year by winning the Macau F3 GP, an invitational race featuring the best drivers from F3 series worldwide. Manning not only won, he qualified on pole and set the fastest lap: a hat-trick last turned by the late Ayrton Senna.

For 2000 the BAR Honda F1 team came calling with an offer for a testing seat. Manning would remain with BAR until late 2002, while also driving in the F3000 series. When the CART series came to the oval track at Rockingham in September of that year, Darren would land a seat with an English "one-off" team. His impressive drive, finishing 9th and leading 18 laps at one point, got the attention of Walker Racing, who gave him a full-time CART ride in 2003. He had a solid rookie year, notching three top-five finishes and finishing ninth in the championship chase.

For 2004 Manning jumped to the IndyCar Series and a seat with Ganassi Racing. A year & a half with Ganassi would yield 13 top-ten finishes, including four top-fives, but he was cut from the squad midway through 2005, and would sit on the sidelines for the 2006 season as well.

In 2007 A.J. Foyt Racing came calling, and Darren was eager to get back to work. Indy legend Foyt was trying to revive his team's sagging fortunes, and Manning responded to the challenge in fine fashion, notching five top-ten finishes, including two top fives. For 2008 Darren will again drive for Foyt as the pair look to move the team back into to ranks of premiere IRL squads.  

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