Yevgeny Kuznetsov

"KUZZIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

- Yevgeny Kuznetsov, after winning his first ARLA race at Four Corners Speedway.

Yevgeny Petrovich Kuznetsov (Born October 2, 1985 in Samara, Russia (then Kuybyshev, Soviet Union)) is a driver who currently competes in the TM Master Cup Series, driving the #8 Arotel Katzev KE04 for Katzev Engineering. He spent the early part of his stock car career driving for RUS Autosport, and led an electrifying yet ultimately fruitless attempt at the ARLA Elite Series championship in 2012 driving the #82 Fatherland Vodka Frankencar. He is known for his superior wet weather skills, something that may have come from rallying. He seems to be surprisingly popular with the American crowd, and won ARLA's Most Popular Driver award in 2012.

Early Career
Beginning in 1997, Kuznetsov, with support from his parents, began to race motorcycles on local Russian circuits. By 2000, he had won two straight championships. In 2001 he was well on his way to a third when he was involved a terrible accident at the Volgoring Circuit which left him hospitalized for five months. Realizing the danger of motorcycle racing, Kuznetsov decided to make the jump to Rallycar.

After negotiations fell out for a ride in 2002, Yevgeny Kuznetsov made his Rallycar debut in 2003 driving for his own operation. Poor luck and unreliability plagued him for several years, but he finally broke through in 2006 and captured his first rally win. The next year, Kuznetsov won six more rallies in Russia, and was in the running for the championship late in the season until a busted fuel line in the finale ruined his chances at a championship.

2008
After another successful year in Rallycar, Kuznetsov made the jump to open-wheel racing. Despite his inexperience with single-seater race cars, he quickly managed to aquire a ride as a reserve driver at the VKontakte.ru Racing Team. After primary driver Alexi Vedernikov was injured in a fiery crash at Neva Ring, Kuznetsov got his first chance to compete in Formula RUS at the Volgoring Circuit. Despite being off the pace, he managed to bring the car home in the points. "Kuzzie", as he became known as, scored 8 points that year, with a best finish of 3rd at the NRING Circuit. Due to his performances, he was invited to run the team's second car for the 2009 season.

2009
The next season Kuznetsov struggled to finish races, mostly due to mechanical issues. However, he was very fast in the races he managed to finish. Kuznetsov managed to score 7 points in the unreliable VK car, with a best finish of 4th at Neva Ring. He also managed to outperform his teammate Vladimir Romadov, scoring four more points than him despite being in the second car. During the off-season, Kuznetsov was heavily rumored to take over VK's first car and contend for the championship, but funding for the team dried up and they announced their withdrawal from the series. Without a ride for the 2010 season, Kuznetsov returned to Rallycar for several races driving for a good friend of his, Russian business magnate Vitaly Tsolikov. He performed very well in these few starts, and Tsolikov was impressed enough to open up a Formula RUS team in the place of the old VKontakte.ru Racing Team, naming it RUS Autosport.

2010
Being in one of the best-funded cars on the track, Kuznetsov was finally able to show his true potential. In 2010 he won his first Formula RUS race at the track where he made his debut, at the Volgoring. He won one more race that year at Autodrom Moscow and finished on the podium four more times, accumulating 58 points and finishing 3rd in the championship. During one of the off-weeks, Kuzzie and the RUS Autosport team went to Finland to watch the 2010 Karjala Grand Prix. Amazed by what they saw, Kuznetsov, Vitaly Tsolikov, and the entire RUS Autosport team unanimously vowed that they would enter a car in the following year's race.

2011
Heading into 2011, Yevgeny Kuznetsov was considered to be one of the championship frontrunners. He did not disappoint, winning three out of the first five races and clinching the championship with two races remaining. Soon after winning the championship, he announced that he would not return to Formula RUS to defend his title, and that he had "moved on to bigger and better things."

2011
After having their entry approved, the RUS Autosport team arrived in Karjala with their hopes high for qualifying. After failing to set a fast enough time to lock themselves in through pole qualifying, the #82 Aeroflot/Transneft/Rosbank Omecha MA02 was relegated to run in the pre-qualifiers. Yevgeny Kuznetsov was running in a transfer spot when he went 4-wide with Hamilton West, Tony Durbin, and Danny Savin into Sirola Park. Kuznetsov, Durbin, and Savin all went into the sandtrap, and all three failed to pre-qualify for the 2011 Karjala Grand Prix.

Dejected, the RUS Autosport team headed back to Russia. They soon found out, however, that there was an open slot for the Round of Russia that was open to local entrants. Reinvigorated, they applied for the spot. To their amazement, they were accepted. Bringing the same car that they brought to Karjala, Kuznetsov qualified the car in the 26th position at Vnukovo International Airport, in front of many experienced stock car driver such as Ethan Everett, Luciano Soveral, and Avery Holtzmann. After avoiding a few crashes on the first lap, Kuznetsov had moved up into 17th position by the middle of lap 3. Unfortunately, he suffered a puncture and fell back to 28th position, one lap down. Through attrition, he had moved up through the running order but slid into Charlie Waters' oil when entering the pits and slammed into the #10 car, putting him out of the race. He would end up 24th in the running order. However, this entry would be a blessing in disguise as the RUS Autosport team was technically an Independent's Trophy entry despite running just this one race.

Using the free entry granted by being an Independent's Trophy entry, Yevgeny Kuznetsov and the RUS Autosport team made their first foray overseas to attempt to qualify for the 2011 Round of Indianapolis. What happened next will forever go down as one of the biggest upsets in Indianapolis history. Yevgeny Kuznetsov set the 5th fastest time during 1st Round Pole Qualifying, placing himself in 5th on the grid. Kuznetsov's odds for winning were released at 1000/1. The entire RUS Autosport team celebrated as soon as the 1st Round ended, and went to the local Dawgfather's to drink. In the race, Kuznetsov fell back quickly and was not a factor for the entire race. He finished 23rd, improving his best finish by one.

After this shocking performance coupled with the release of Mikhail Pulyakov from the team, Katzev Engineering offered Kuzzie a three-race stint in the #24 car. Kuznetsov immediately accepted.

Kuzzie's first race in the #24 would be at the West Midland Bullring in Michigan. He would quickly find out that the Katzev Engineering team was quite underpowered, and struggled with the car in qualifying. He would start 37th, having been out-qualified by one of the Tutinos as well as one of the Carringtons. As the race went on, he managed to gain a few positions through attrition, but was still quite slow and was lapped before lap 30. He was put a second lap down on lap 52, and Arto Kekkonen, despite being down a cylinder, managed to pass Kuzzie with ease. On lap 67, Kuznetsov would be involved in the first caution, as Kurt Plissken and his teammate Yuliya Nosova exited the pits right in front of Franz Redlich and Adrien Devereux. He was behind this incident and slowed down to avoid hitting his teammate, but got into Arto Kekkonen, who was also collected, and flipped him onto his roof. Afterwards, as he was driving away, he slammed into the 94 of Redlich, putting himself and Gaspar de Sousa out of the race. Kuznetsov would be called to the hauler after this and would lose 15 points due to causing multiple avoidable collisions.

Despite his points penalty, Kuznetsov would be retained for Circuit Trois-Rivières. He ran a clean race and finished in 27th position, the first car one lap down.

Yevgeny Kuznetsov's final race in the #24 for Katzev was at the HLR Circuit in British Columbia, and it quickly became his most infamous performance. In practice, Kuzzie was having trouble keeping the car on the road, so he implemented what he called his "secret rally setup," in which the team cut back on the boost and went for an abnormally high amount of downforce on the #24. When the heavy rains came on race day, he started in 36th position and was by far the slowest car in the speed trap, but ended up being the only car not to throw it off in the 7 laps run in the rain and inherited the lead. When the officials flagged the race due to the rains, Kuzzie was in the lead and was adamant that the officials should simply call the race and hand him the victory. Unfortunately, this would not happen and Kuznetsov would start on the pole for the race on Monday. He quickly fell through the field and would finish 21st, one spot out of the points in his last drive for Katzev.

Kuzzie showed up for Decatur with the same #82 Omecha that attempted Indianapolis, but was unable to make it through pre-qualifying after he ran into the spinning car of Sarah Xavier. Darrell Wallace then ran into the back of Kuznetsov, putting all three out of the race.

2012
Kuzzie ran the 2012 Karjala Grand Prix with RUS Autosport alongside Lev Azarov, and also drove for BlackDiamond Racing in his home race in Russia. Kuznetsov and RUS Autosport were at the center of controversy at Karjala, where they showed up with a modified Omecha that they called the MA03-R. Supposedly a RUS Autosport team member took pictures of the Saar Eagles driven by Kevin Dwyer and Blake Camphausen during the TM Master Cup-ARLA companion weekend at Carbondale and brought them with him back to Russia, where the team built a chassis off of his pictures.

At the 2012 Karjala Grand Prix, Kuznetsov was not fast enough to time his way into the Top-10 through Pole Qualifying, but his teammate Lev Azarov in the #80 was. Kuznetsov barely squeaked through his pre-qualifier, finishing in 14th, the final transfer spot. Unfortunately, he wrecked out of the main qualifier on the 9th lap when he overdrove the Dwyer S, taking himself and Alan Hodges out. Kuznetsov would start in the back of the field in the #80 car. Kuzzie ran a very clean race, and finished 15th, 2 laps down. He scored his first ever points, taking in 20 points as Karjala is a double-points event.

Kuzzie would get another start in the Master Cup Series in his home race, the 2012 Round of Russia. He started in 13th and ran a very clean race, bringing the #19 Rosneft Omecha home in 9th place. His current cumulative points total stands at 29, including his penalty from Michigan.

Kuznetsov and his teammate Lev Azarov made another appearance at the 2012 Round of Indianapolis, but unfortunately both cars DNPQed for the main race.

During pre-qualifying for the 2012 Round of Decatur, Kuzzie was not fast enough to transfer into the main qualifier, but his teammate Lev Azarov won his pre-qualifier and the team put Kuzzie in the #80 once more for the main qualifier. Kuznetsov solidly made the race and ran quite well, finishing a strong 15th.

2013
Shortly after the 2012 Round of Brazil, Kuznetsov was confirmed to the second seat at Katzev alongside Yuliya Nosova in what was considered to be one of the worst-kept secrets in the paddock. Kuznetsov's hiring is speculated to be more financially-based than based on talent, as Kuzzie will be bringing a cadre of sponsorship to the Katzev Engineering team.

Kuznetsov's debut as a full-time TM Master Cup Series driver came at the 2013 Round of California and began on a sour note, having crashed on his qualifying lap. After starting last, Kuznetsov worked his way up to 29th in the 2nd Katzev before the right-rear suspension housing broke on the car and he was forced to retire the car. At the 2013 Round of Carbondale, Kuzzie qualified a dismal 34th but slowly worked his way up through the field despite a collision with his teammate Nosova. Kuznetsov brought the car home in 15th place, scoring 10 valuable points for the Katzev Engineering squad. At the 2013 Round of Georgia Kuzzie was moved to the rear of the field due to his collision with Nosova, but was able to work his way towards the front of the field slowly but surely. Unfortunately for Kuznetsov, the engine let go when he was running a strong 16th, having been as high as 12th at one point.

2011
After Kuznetsov finished 23rd in the 2011 Round of Indianapolis, RUS Autosport had nothing planned for some time. On a whim, Kuznetsov suggested that the team enter the ARLA race that was to be held at Watkins Glen. However, at the time there was a one-chassis-per-team rule in the series, so RUS Autosport negotiated a deal with the #84 Tolyatti of Vitaly Karpenko and purchased the car he attempted to qualify for Indianapolis with. As there were no Tolyattis on the ARLA grid at the time, Kuznetsov's entry was allowed.

RUS Autosport arrived at Watkins Glen with high hopes. After an early puncture, Kuzzie managed to recover and finish in 7th position, an excellent performance in his debut. Perhaps spurred by this impressive performance, RUS Autosport decided not to return to Russia for the time being and purchased a race shop in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina from which to stage their attack on ARLA. Kuznetsov improved his best finish by two when he placed 5th at Darlington after avoiding several accidents. Kuzzie had a surprisingly average run the next race, finishing 19th as the first car a lap down at Appleton, and Decatur was a disaster, where he finished 34th after starting a dismal 37th. Kuzzie's abbreviated 2011 ARLA season would be cut short when he was unable to transfer through his heat, DNPQ'ing for the 2011 Rockford 200.

2012
Kuzzie's 2012 season got off to an inauspicious start when his #82 Fatherland Vodka Frankencar could barely hold onto the back of the pack during the 2012 Daytona 300 during the opening stages of the race, but after dodging several wrecks he wound up a surprising 8th. At the 2012 Radii Radiators 300, Kuznetsov's car was able to hang with the main pack unlike at Daytona, dodged a large accident between Gary DeSouza and Vijay Pushanda, and was running in the top-10 when the race was called off. At Carbondale Kuznetsov qualified in the 4th position, to the pleasure of his growing fanbase. Kuznetsov worked his way up to the front after falling back to 6th, and hung around in 3rd place for much of the event before falling back to a respectable 6th place. At the 2012 MyCheese.com 250k at Road America, Kuznetsov started 27th and sliced his way through the field to wind up in a strong 11th place. After these four races, Kuzzie was in a three-way tie for 4th in the standings with Ashley Tucker and Andy Pearson.

At the 2012 Balboa Boxers Ohio 200 Kuzzie started 12th and finished 8th, propelling himself into 3rd in the standings behind Libby Bell and Herbie Finkelberg. He was running very strongly in the top-5 early in the 2012 FABricators 250 at Quincy, earning a shout-out from the booth in the process. However, disaster struck as Harry S. Enola blew a corner, slamming into Kuznetsov, putting him on his roof. This early retirement would set him back to 13th in the points, the lowest he had been in points all season. However, Kuznetsov rebounded at the 2012 Four Corners 200, where he finally achieved his first victory after holding off Benji Flynn in the closing laps. Kuznetsov was ecstatic in his interview, and his large fanbase rejoiced with the crew in victory lane for the first time. Kuzzie backed up his win with a convincing 3rd place in the rain at the 2012 Mosport 150k, but shockingly did not qualify for the 2012 Mini Indy 500 after finishing 22nd in his qualifier. This setback put Kuznetsov in a hole that many thought he would not recover from, and his championship run was over.

However, Kuzzie set out to prove them wrong. Being a model of consistency, finishing 13th, 10th, 7th, and 4th over the next four races. Before the Japanese Tour, RUS Autosport announced that they would begin to field a 2nd car, holding "tryouts" for the #82 in 2013. As a result, their resources were stretched, and the results showed at the 2012 Sarabai 300 where Kuznetsov's car apparently broke down in the pitlane. The team could not diagnose the problem, but in an interview Kuznetsov reported that the duct tape holding the carburetor in place had come loose. For the next race, the team returned to form, with Kuzzie nearly getting a win at Saitama, but was blocked late in the going by A.J. Young. Kuznetsov snagged his 2nd win of the season in dominant fashion in the 2012 Nemoto Tokyo 120k's, leading 12 of 25 laps despite an early rough start.

When ARLA returned to the states for the final stretch of the season, the strain of RUS Autosport's equipment was more evident than ever. Kuzzie ran only in the mid-pack at Iowa and at Memphis he finished 21st, relegating him to the 2nd Twin Race at Orange County for the first time based on pace all season. However, at Orange County Kuzzie rebounded and finished 9th, putting himself 2nd in the championship, only 76 points behind Ebenezer Quiggles, Jr. At the 2012 Zing Energy 300, Kuzzie was collected in a multi-car accident early on, but Quiggles had been involved in an accident as well. At the series' return to Talladega, he surprisingly ran up front hanging just behind Quiggles, Jr, but a botched pit stop ended what looked like a promising run. After Talladega, Kuznetsov was still in the championship hunt, 87 points behind Quiggles, Jr., but had a lot of ground to make up heading into the 2012 Rockford 200.

At Rockford, Kuzzie started 18th, the best of the championship contenders. He quickly moved through the field early, until he forced the issue going three-wide with Herbie Finkelberg and J.W. Lester, taking all three cars into the wall. With this, Kuznetsov's season and championship hopes had ended, but it was not all for naught. Kuznetsov was voted ARLA's Most Popular Driver in 2012, and also won the Black Mamba Energy Drink Pass of the Year for his electrifying battle for the win at Four Corners.

2013
Kuzzie is currently listed as the reserve driver at RUS Autosport, but he is not expected to compete in any races. However, with the rise of the 2013 ARLA Russian Grand Prix, the ARLA Elite Series may have not seen the last of Yevgeny Kuznetsov.

Dash Cup
Yevgeny Kuznetsov drove a 2nd car numbered 88 for RUS Autosport in the 2012 Dash Cup Spa GP. He put together a fine performance, finishing a very strong 4th place. Kuzzie is also taking part in the 2013 Eurospeedway GP. He finished 3rd in his qualifier, locking himself in the main race. Unfortunately, he wrecked out early in the race.

Trivia

 * Kuzzie is voiced by BurningThunder, who uses him as a vehicle to release his inner Russian.
 * Kuzzie made an appearance in Ceej's Adobe After Effects final, entitled "American Grand Prix Heroes", alongside Kevin Monroe and Taylor Brillon. He is thought by Monroe and Brillon to be an evil Communist, but in reality he is a very laid-back guy.
 * When creating Kuzzie, BurningThunder painted the car first, then came up with the most generic Russian name he could think of (translates to "Eugene Smith").
 * Kuzzie was originally intended to be a vehicle for BurningThunder to practice his Russian via Twitter, but he decided that making him speak in broken English was more appealing and fan-friendly.
 * Despite consuming amounts of vodka that would be lethal to any other individual, Kuzzie always stays sober.
 * In the PCC Cup Series canon, Kuzzie died in the 2012 Round of Central Russia after his vodka bottle shattered, inflicting fatal shrapnel wounds.
 * Kuzzie is frequently lost in translation, providing many amusing hijinks in the Twitter thread.