Scott Steudler

Scott Steudler (born May 9, 1984) is an American racing driver from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He currently the third driver for Hodges-Walter Racing in the TM Master Cup Series. In his first eight years in the series, Steudler scored two wins; the first came at the 2009 Round of Australia, and he finally captured his second in the 2014 Round of Argentina. His uncle, Marty Steudler, is a former Master Cup driver who made a brief comeback in 2013.

Pre-Master Cup
Scott Steudler is the nephew of Northeast racing legend Marty Steudler. When he was 8 years old, Marty took Scott into racing, by entering him in local karting series thoughout Pennsylvania. Showing some promise, by the time Scott was 16, he moved up to racing on dirt and paved ovals. After winning numerous races throughout the region, Scott had showed enough skill that Marty decided to run a TM Lights team for his nephew in 2005 and 2006. While not winning any races in TM Lights, Scott did well enough, that by 2006, rumors had gone around that he was being considered for a new 3rd car for the Hodges-Walter Racing team. By the end of the year, it was official, and Scott had signed a 3 year contract with the team.

Hodges-Walter
Scott debuted in the No. 26 Haas Manufacturing CM Nova at Daytona in 2007, and showed up with a reasonable performance at Daytona before falling down the pack late. However, as it was, it would be one of the few highlights that Scott would see for the team that season, as its newness as a 3rd car, and being a rookie driver showed, by not qualifying for nine races. 2008 would show a little more promise, as Scott would qualify for all races, and usually would finish mid-pack. As the 2009 season came along, there were rumors that Scott would possibly be going elsewhere, as the team was looking at possibly signing a promising young rookie for 2010, Adrien Devereux. Using it as motivation to try and get re-signed with the team, or at least a way to impress other teams looking to sign him to a ride, Scott performed at his best, and it showed, scoring his first (and to date, only) career victory at Australia (and famously put his car in the wall post-race trying to do donuts), two pole positions, and a 15th-place points finish (having been in the Top 10 in the points going into Decatur). That would not be enough to keep Scott at Hodges-Walter, but it has not prevented him from giving great praise to the team and Alan Hodges, having thanked him and the team many times through his career for giving him his chance to break into the series.

Camelot Racing
Before Scott's victory at Australia, it was rumored that he was to land the ride at Camelot Racing. The deal came to fruition before the end of the 2009 season, with what was at the time a three-year deal to run for the team. 2010 saw him continue to do well when he stayed out of trouble, and finish with another 15th-place points finish in the standings. 2011 however, was a different story. The season started out with great promise, with new sponsor Hershey's, and it looked like Scott would at least continue to perform like he had been, but rumors of the team moving to the ASCC, a move that Scott was against, showed, and suffered greatly in the standings, not qualifying at Karjala and Decatur, as well as Indianapolis, but being able to secure a ride that had qualified. Meanwhile, his teammate Chris Johaanes finished second in the championship to Adrien Devereux. Before the season was finished, sensing his frustration, Camelot granted Scott's release from the team at the end of the season.

Mitchell & Sons
At the close of the season, Scott announced that he had signed a three-year deal to race with Mitchell & Sons. He would be joined by his teammate, Johaanes, and his sponsor, Hershey's. After a slow start to the season, finishing a lap down at Las Vegas, but in the points, Steudler had improved his finishes considerably, by finishing in the top 10 at the Georgia, he would only finish off the pace for one more race before rattling off three straight podium finishes.

The Boycott
Amidst the MCMA boycott of the 2012 Round of Michigan, Steudler had announced intentions to run his own car in the race due to believing that teams shouldn't boycott races and rip the fans off from a full field for a race. Tensions between him and team management at Mitchell & Sons esclated to a point where if he arrived at the track under any circumstances, his contract would be terminated with immediate effect. Steudler went to the track anyway, and was fired from his ride, despite his good standing in the points. Eventually, a deal would be reached where he ended up agreeing to drive for Scuderia Tutino for two races initially, but it turned into a deal where he would agree to run the car for extra races. This deal lasted until the Round of Queensland where Steudler accepted a one race deal to drive the 08 car for Power Steering Incorporated. He would eventually attempt another race with the 08 at Decatur, but not make it out of pre-qualifying when an odd engine problem dropped him out of the race.

Manticore Engineering
Weeks after Decatur, Steudler announced that he had signed a deal with Manticore Engineering, reuniting with Johaanes after the Mitchells decided to hire Kevin Dwyer and Zach Duff. Terms of the deal weren't originally announced, but it turned out to be a one year deal. The season was marked with many struggles for the team in their first full-time season, and Steudler was replaced in some races with younger talent and pay drivers. Steudler managed to find a ride with ALERT's third car and started the races where he was benched from Manticore, thanks to the Promoter's Option.

ALERT
For 2014, Steudler signed a deal to race with ALERT full-time, replacing the retiring champion Michael Sykes, and teaming with Johaanes for a fifth consecutive season. Steudler got the opportunity to compete under a number that he had long wanted to race in, when Alan Hodges, one of the men who helped him get into the TM Master Cup series, allowed him to race the number 13; a "great honor and privilege to race in that number" in Steudler's words. After a slow start to the season, Steudler earned his first Top 5 finish of the year in France. In the Round of Argentina, Steudler finally captured his second career victory after a flat tire took Yuliya Nosova out of the lead. Steudler finished the year with six top 5s, including podiums in Argentina and Queensland, and a 16th place points finish, his best showing in the championship since 2010.

Owner/Driver
For a few seasons, Scott had convinced sponsors to help fund and put together cars for him under his name (and under the team name of Steudler Motorsports to differentiate it from his uncle's Steudler Racing). He would generally have local up and comers come to take spots in his cars, generally with poor results. In 2012, he had cars ready to go due to the aformentioned boycott the MCMA was planning in Michigan, however, with getting rides in the field with Tutino, the need for them came to pass, and none of his cars appeared in a race field in 2012. He would eventually sell the assets of the team to his uncle, to allow him to try and field entries for the 2013 season.

Personal Life
In Scott's personal time, he has been known to play ice hockey as a way to stay in shape, and has even played in some charity hockey games in the offseason. When the TM Master Cup series goes to the Northern and Central European countries known for hockey, it has almost been a given that he will bring along his hockey gear, and try to get a game in for any free time that he can get. He is also well known to, whenever the TM Master Cup series gets near Pennsylvania, that he will run some of the short tracks around the area, though with some renewed commitments in 2012, it is not known if Scott will continue to do this.

Steudler is also fluent in French, and has been utilized on occasion for French TV broadcasts of TM Master Cup races.

TM Master Cup
+ - Qualified at Texas, but pulled out of race before start @ - Did not qualify at Indianapolis, but took over another car in order to start the race.

2013 Finishes
Key to table
 * Gold - 1st
 * Silver - 2nd
 * Bronze - 3rd
 * Green - Top 10 pre-2011, Points finish 2011 onward. If DNF, will be marked with a *
 * Blue - Running at Finish pre-2011, Non-points finish running 2011 onward
 * Purple - Did not Finish
 * Red - Did not Qualify
 * White - Did not Participate
 * Black - Disqualified
 * # - DNQ race, participated in another car