| rdfs:comment | - Anthony Lazzaro (Born August 23, 1966) is a NASCAR and sports car driver from Acworth, GA. He is usually classified as a NASCAR road course ringer, however he has made other starts in the NEXTEL Cup. He also has open-wheel oval racing experience. Lazzaro started in karting, winning numerous World Karting Association championships between 1987 and 1992. In 2000, Lazzaro raced ten Busch Series races for PPI Motorsports. He was planned to move up to Cup with the #96 McDonald's team. However, after a lack of results, he was released, and replaced by Andy Houston.
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| abstract | - Anthony Lazzaro (Born August 23, 1966) is a NASCAR and sports car driver from Acworth, GA. He is usually classified as a NASCAR road course ringer, however he has made other starts in the NEXTEL Cup. He also has open-wheel oval racing experience. Lazzaro started in karting, winning numerous World Karting Association championships between 1987 and 1992. Lazzaro came-up through the open-wheel ranks, first racing Formula Ford cars, then in the Toyota Atlantic Series. As a rookie in 1996, he won the race at the Milwaukee Mile. He won races in 1997 (Homestead-Miami Speedway) and 1998 (Road America, Laguna Seca, Houston). His rise culminated in a Toyota Atlantic championship in 1999. That year he won 4 races (Nazareth, Gateway International Raceway, Trois-Rivieres, Laguna Seca). Lazzaro first began racing stock cars in the ARCA in 1999. At the ARCA event at the Talladega Superspeedway that year, Anthony was injured in a multi-car wreck late in the race after he made contact with Bil Baird and spun down to the grass, before his Thunderbird lifted off the ground and slammed the Turn 3 banking before being t-boned by Skip Smith. Lazzaro suffered a compression fracture of the thoracic T3 vertebra in the crash that eliminated half a dozen cars. In 2000, Lazzaro raced ten Busch Series races for PPI Motorsports. He was planned to move up to Cup with the #96 McDonald's team. However, after a lack of results, he was released, and replaced by Andy Houston. Besides the stint in the Busch Series, Lazzaro has raced mainly road course races, giving him the label of a road course ringer. He also made 6 starts in the Indy Racing League in 2001 and 2002 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports with a best finish of 9th. In addition, Lazzaro has had success in sports car racing. He won the GT3 class in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1999, co-driving a Porsche 911, and the SPII class in 2002 (finishing third overall). More recently, he was a regular in the American Le Mans series in 2003-2004, racing a Ferrari 360. He and Ralf Kelleners took a GT win in the 2004 race at Lime Rock Park]. He made his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003, also racing a Ferrari.
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