Zack Duff

Zack Duff (born March 12th, 1988), is a Canadian race car driver who competes in the TM Master Cup Series. Perhaps best known as being a teammate to Alexis Rainsford, Duff has been active in the TM Master Cup Series since his debut in 2008. He also competed in the TM Junior Series prior to moving up in the racing hierarchy. He is currently signed to drive the #74 car for Mitchell & Sons Racing in 2013.

Duff is also a spokesperson for Dyelated, a paint manufacturer. In 2012, the corporation became primary sponsorship for Duff during his tenure with Xenos Racing.

Early Career
At only 8 years of age, Duff's racing career began at a local karting course outside of his home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. After appearing in several testing sessions at the track, he joined the Maritime Karting Association (MKA), beginning in the 8-10 age group. In the 5th round of 12 in his first season, he picked up his first win, and his second followed shortly thereafter in the 7th round. He would go on to accumulate 3 more victories in his next two seasons before moving onward into the 11-13 age category. Despite several offers from teams in junior open-wheel series, Duff chose to compete in late model competition the following year vying to earn a ride in professional stock car racing.

TM Junior Series
Duff emerged onto the TM canon scene in 2008, driving the #97 Lenard Q9 with funding from the SoBe beverage subsidiary. Though he ran up front for several different races, bad luck plagued the team for the majority of the season. Prior to the TMMC Round of Canada late in the season, he led just under half of the TM Junior series event at Twin Ring Motegi and took his first victory in the series. This would end his campaign in the TM Junior Series as he was then allowed to move up into the TM Master Cup series.

2008 - TMMC Debut
Duff made his debut in the TM Master Cup series at the 2008 Round of Canada, shortly after taking victory in the TM Junior series overseas at the Twin Ring Motegi. Though inexperienced, Duff proved to be a real threat on track starting with practice and qualifying where he portrayed good quality driving and recorded several impressive lap times. Duff was one of two drivers who raised concerns due to the nature of the track and their inexperience, the other being fellow TM Master Cup driver Arto Kekkonen. However, Duff found himself up front for a good portion of the event and despite a couple 4-wide situations along with slight contact with his future teammate Alexis Rainsford, Duff was commended for his clean, wholesome driving throughout the event. Duff was involved in a battle for the lead with Palmer Stiles coming to the white flag and finished 5th after he was unable to make his way to the bottom groove. Leading the most laps in the race, Duff was given the Driver of the Day award.

Duff did not participate in the 2008 season finale at Decatur, but spectated the event from the JC Racing garage area. After his future teammate Rainsford took the victory, Duff was seen congratulating her in victory lane, commenting that "Alexis not only proved the crowd wrong, but also the great legend himself Benny Dwyer. She's one of the greatest drivers this sport has ever encountered."

2009
2009 came as an opportunistic year for the young Canadian driver. Duff showed up for the first round at Daytona with his new team, driving the #28 Lego Volpi for JC Racing. During the Round of Daytona, Duff made contact with Lorne Roth and Tyrone Stanley after Stanley failed to capitalize on a bold move. The incident would cut Duff's day short of the finish line, and he was quoted as saying on the radio "one hell of a car destroyed by one hell of a move. Ridiculous." After successful runs in the second and third rounds, Duff sat 5th in the point standings, only 47 points out of the lead. His success would be halted for a bit and after a series of poor finishes including a flip early on at Brands Hatch and a DNS due to the 2009 Texas strike, he fell out of the top 10 in the standings. Duff finished 4th at the Karjala Grand Prix, only a couple spots behind his teammate Alexis Rainsford who finished 2nd. The Round of New York was a disaster for JC Racing, with Rainsford, Duff, and Cooper finishing 33rd, 36th and 42nd respectively. Duff shocked everybody at the 2009 Round of Salem by taking his first ever TM Master Cup series victory at a track nobody had expected him to perform so well at. At Indianapolis, he was involved in a crash when Stuart Sandoval hooked the back of Tony Durbin. Durbin's car slid back up the track after making contact with the inside wall and collided with Duff, sending him into the outside wall before bouncing back into the racing groove. The rest of the field rocketed by the wreckage of Duff's car at high speeds, missing him by no more than a couple feet. Duff recalls the incident as "one of the most frightening moments ever in my career." His up and down season would prove continuous and he finished off the 2009 season with 1 win, 3 top-5s as well as 3 top-10s.

2010
In 2010, JC Racing became known as Volpi Racing Team during the off-season. Back in the garage area, rumors circulated that Brian Sendack was going to drive the #2 car for VRT, however that deal ultimately fell through. Duff's 2010 season didn't start in the fashion he was hoping for. At the first round in Japan, he was involved in a controversial incident when his car stalled on track. He reported it was due to some sort of mechanical problem, but because his teammate went on to win the race and Duff held up many cars behind him, several teams accused him of playing out team orders. No penalties were handed to him, however his bad luck would continue with a poor showing in Australia. His poor finish in Australia furthered his troubles when he DNQ'd for the Round of Brazil after he failed to take the start in the qualifying round due to car issues. Plagued with more bad finishes and car troubles, he missed his second race of the season when he DNQ'd for the Karjala Grand Prix, which shocked both fans and drivers alike. However, he would vow to turn his season around. At the Round of Belgium at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Duff took his second career victory in a 1-2 finish for Volpi Racing Team when his pit strategy paid off. He would repeat his success in the following few weeks, recording a pair of top-10s and a top-5 at Indianapolis. At the Round of Quincy, he found himself up and over once again as he barrel rolled following contact with Christian Johaanes. The 2010 Round of Michigan proved to be a major historical event. Duff added his name to the series' record books when he started the race in a color-changing car, something that had never been done before. He would finish 2nd only to Lance Andrews, who took his first ever TM Master Cup series win. Duff celebrated in victory lane with Andrews and formally congratulated him in his post-race interview. The remainder of his season was dreadful. After a poor finish in Wisconsin and an average performance in front of his home crowd in Canada, he was involved in an incident at Talladega and was parked for the season finale at Decatur. On the 3rd lap at the Round of Decatur, Chris Davenport, who was the substitute driver for the #28 team, rolled his car several times after contact with Alan Hodges threw both drivers off the track and into the wall.

2011
Following Alexis Rainsford's championship in 2010, Volpi Racing Team announced that Rainsford would carry the #1 next season and Duff would carry the #2 to match his teammate. Volpi also announced that Lynxe would join the #2 team as a primary sponsor for several races in 2011. At the Round of Carbondale, he tangled with Tony Durbin and Mathias Taube, sending him on his roof. This would mark the third season in a row where Duff flipped his car in a TM Master Cup series event. After rumors arose that his ride with Volpi may not be safe for the 2012 season, he ran a strong race at the Round of Czech Republic, finishing 4th. On July 28th, defending champion Alexis Rainsford announced that she would be switching over to V8 Champ Car for the remainder of the 2011 season, ending her 3rd run at the TM Master Cup championship. This left many wondering about Duff's ride as well for 2012, as Rainsford had been a very positive influence on him throughout his time with the team. At the Round of Daytona, he was involved in a major first lap accident which involved a good majority of the racing field. Duff would be one of two cars to flip over during the crash and also one of six to retire before completing a single lap.

At the 2011 Round of Michigan, he was involved in two on-track incidents when it seemed as if he intentionally turned Chris Johaanes twice, once under caution and once following the checkered flag. Duff cited "disagreements on track" between he and fellow competitor Johaanes, and later apologized for his actions. He was penalized by the TMMC officials several days later, having his 30-point result being excluded from the Round of Michigan and was also placed on a 2-race suspended ban.

At the 2011 Round of Japan, Duff's pit crew made a crucial error when the fuel member of the group accidentally threw away the fuel can. In the aftermath of this unthinkable mistake, the #2 car lost several laps on pit road and ultimately never rejoined the lead lap after their second pit stop went sour as well. Duff openly criticized his team on his Twitter account following the race, sarcastically asking to remain friends with his crew then continuing on to say "Get real guys, you suck." Duff's comments were not well received by his crew or the Volpi Racing Team, however Duff's contract with Volpi was to expire at the end of 2011 and multiple sources already claimed that he wouldn't be returning to the team.

2012
During the offseason, Xenos Racing confirmed that Duff would drive the #5 for the 2012 season. Fellow Canadian driver Marcos Leonard became his teammate, driving the #999 car. The season began poorly from the get-go, with the #5 team failing to score points in the first 4 events. A 7th-place run at the 2012 Round of France provided some short-term relief, however the team would fail to score again for several more races. At the 2012 Round of Quebec, he took his first top-5 finish of the season, finishing 4th at the Road Gatineau circuit. He would follow up his top-5 showing with a couple of points finishes in rounds 12 and 13, and then again at the 2012 Round of Indianapolis.

2013
With Xenos Racing folding at the conclusion of the 2012 racing season, Duff made the switch to Mitchell & Sons Racing to drive the famous #74 machine. Connections between Juneau Automotive and the team made the decision a "no-brainer," as stated by the driver during an interview.

Controversies
Duff's comments at the 2008 Karjala Grand Prix concerning the late Benny Dwyer sparked some anger among some of Dwyer's long-time friends and fans. He remained adamant with his statement and within time the situation died down and folded.

At the opening Round of Daytona in 2009, Duff was involved in an accident when Tyrone Stanley made contact with he and Lorne Roth. His frustration was clear when he made the comment "I hope he's not f**king serious this car was golden and now it's trash because of this guy" over the radio to his crew chief. Stanley was docked 25 points in the standings for his actions, and retaliated stating that the fault should be placed on Duff and Roth. Cyril Volpi and his teammate Rainsford defended his case and officials stayed with their decision to penalize Stanley.

During the opening Round of Japan in 2010, Duff experienced troubles with his #28 machine late in the going and stalled in front of much of the field. His teammate Alexis Rainsford was able to sneak by and take the win. Team Saar USA and FLASH Racing both protested the finish, claiming that he was obviously fulfilling team orders to allow his teammate to win the race without competition. Cyril Volpi fought back, saying that it was simply a mistake on Duff's part for not moving out of the way quickly enough when he realized he had a problem. No penalties were assessed.

At the 2010 Round of Alabama at Talladega, he was involved in a highly controversial incident. On the 6th lap of the event, Treven Terrell's smoking car was dangerously close to the racing surface and when Duff took evasive action, he made contact with Azuma Kazeyama, who collected Matt Taylor, Woody Watts, and Brian Sendack. Taylor, Watts, and Sendack were all injured in the accident and missed the season finale at Decatur. Despite protests from Volpi Racing Team and Star Team Nemoto, Duff and Kazeyama were both penalized and were forced to miss the season finale as well.

Two on-track incidents with Chris Johaanes during the 2011 Round of Michigan 30 points were revoked and he was placed on a 2-race suspended ban.