Ben Atkins
| Ben Atkins | |
| [[Image:|150px]] | |
| Age | 37 |
| Nationality |  English
|
| TM Master Cup Series | |
|---|---|
| Car # | 90 |
| Years Competed | 2011- |
| Debut Season | 2012 |
| Current Team | Matthews Motorsports |
| Former Team(s) | Atlantic Motorsports Scuderia Tutino Manticore Engineering |
| Championships | 0 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1? |
| Best Finish | 3rd? |
| First Attempt | 2011 Karjala Grand Prix |
| First Start | 2011 Round of Decatur |
| Last Start | 2019 Round of Wales |
| Best Result | TBA |
| FARC Lowe Dollar Series career | |
| Years Competed | 2008-2016 |
| Debut Season | 2008 |
| Former Team(s) | Desert Star Motorsports HQS Racing Eichholtz Autosport |
| Championships | 0 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Top 5 Finishes | 2 |
| Top 10 Finishes | 7 |
| Best Finish | 5th |
| First Attempt | 2008 Twilight 100 |
| First Start | 2011 Radii Talladega 300 |
| Last Start | 2016 Vicker Collision and Glass Double Race 1 |
| Best Result | 32nd |
| Dash Cup career | |
| Car # | 28 |
| Years Competed | 2007-2017, 2019 |
| Debut Season | 2007 |
| Current Team | STS ATK Racing |
| Former Team(s) | The ATK Race Team STS Racing Inc. Atlantic Motorsports The ATK Project Eichholtz Atlantic Motorsports Spiedel Touring Team |
| Championships | 1, 2008 |
| Pole Positions | 16 |
| Wins | 22 |
| Podiums | ~40 |
| First Start | 2007 Eurospeedway GP |
| First Win | 2007 Norisring GP |
| Last Win | 2017 Dash Cup Zone 7 Challenge |
| Last Start | 2017 New York GP |
| Miscellaneous | |
| @BenAtkins2 | |
| Portrayed By | Ben Atkins |
| Created By | Ben Atkins |
| TM Canon Driver | |
—Ben Atkins in an interview after blowing up before the first turn at Mosport. |
Ben Atkins is a British racing driver from Chester, England. He most recently drove the #90 car for Matthews Motorsports in the TM Master Cup Series, and is a team owner and part-time driver in the Dash Cup Pirelli Stock Series, where he won the 2008 championship..
2004-2010; Early Career, Dash Cup, First ARLA Stint[edit | edit source]
Atkins' career started in several British go-kart championships, where he was very successful, picking up championships in 2004 and 2005. He then expressed his interest in stock car racing, and entered stock car races in Britain, in the British Stock Car Championship, again gaining success, gaining 4 wins and earning 2nd in points. With this performance, Atkins caught the eye of the "Spiedel Touring Team", a team that were frontrunners in the Dash Cup series.
Atkins made the move over in 2007, and he started his rookie campaign with a podium at Eurospeedway. He won the next race at Norisring. Later in the year, he won the prestigious Spa Grand Prix in his first attempt; the first rookie to win the event, and one of only three to win the event (the others being Natalie Kendall and Ashley Ambercroft). After getting several wins in the Dash Cup series in 2007, he started off 2008 in Dash Cup, earning 7 wins in 9 races before attempting to start several ARLA races. However, no instant success came to him, and he stopped attempting to race in ARLA.
Ben went back to Dash Cup for the season finale to attempt to lock up the Dash Cup championship. He was successful after a memorable win at his home track Oulton Park. Despite missing 2 races, his dominant ways in the early part of the season stopped anyone from coming close to him, and he was crowned the 2008 Dash Cup championship.
In 2009, Atkins, for the first time, never won a single race, but still finished 2nd in points, to Carla Rosinski, after consistently scoring on the podium. While Atkins was in shape to win a few races, including the Spa GP, but in that race, his fuel ran dry with two to go, and he had to pit. Due to Harold Smith suffering from a violent crash from the lead on the last lap though, Atkins scored a 2nd place finish, but he could not capitalize on the double points as Rosinski finished third.
In 2010, he opened the Dash Cup team Atlantic Motorsports with Jacob Tremblay. Ben picked up another two wins to his name, only to finish 2nd to his less experienced teammate Daniel Miller. At Spa, Atkins' misfortune at this race continued. He was leading on the white flag, trying to hold off Justin Keith for the win, but in the fifth turn, Keith ran into the back of Atkins, spinning him out, then Atkins' car hit the tire barrier and suffered terminal damage, while Keith went on to score the victory. Fan say this lost Atkins the title, as Miller had DNF'd from the race two laps earlier and scored 22nd, and if Atkins were to gain the 100 points for winning the race, he would have won the title by a fair margin over Miller.
2011-2012; Return to ARLA[edit | edit source]
He returned to ARLA in 2011, for the Radii Talladega 300 which he did reasonably well in. He then, with the team Redstone Racing, went on to race in all the superspeedway events in 2011.
Atkins has had a lackluster 2012 season. After a crash in the rookie shootout, he rallied back to finish 5th at Daytona, but he had been victim to crashes at Road America and Quincy, and bad runs at Piqua and Carbondale.
He made the Mini Indy 500 only to be wrecked by Jim Hayes in the final segment. After more lackluster runs, Atkins finally scored another top 10 at California finishing 9th with teammate Jacob Eichholtz in 7th. Atkins had a very good run going at the 2012 Sarabai 300 however, he was involved in an accident with Nami Mura and Eric Jackson under caution and that taken him out of the race.
In the 2012 Saitama 200, Atkins was having an average day, but then he got involved in another caution accident, however this time, he caused it, and taken full responsibility for it. At the 2012 Nemoto Tokyo 120k's, Atkins had an accident on lap 1 after Ashley Tucker turned him in front of the field, however, he rallied back from the accident to finish 9th in the race. Atkins then finished midfield at Iowa, then got his fourth top 10 of the year at Orange County, finishing 10th. However this was overshadowed by the death of Scott Morales.
Despite his seemingly lackluster season, Atkins was still sat 32nd in points at this time, which was fairly solid, as two superspeedways came closer; Atkins' best type of track (as his 5th at Daytona would suggest). Atkins had solid runs at New York and Talladega, scoring midfield in both, but in Rockford 200 qualifying, he finished last in his qualifying race after being taken out of the running by an incident sparked by David Krikorian. In anger, Atkins threw his helmet at the #32; arguably not the best way of saying goodbye to the season. Atkins finished 32nd in points, which is a respectable run in his rookie season.
2012-???; TM Master Cup Series[edit | edit source]
After it was confirmed he would drive for Eichholtz Autosport in 2012 for ARLA, the team entered Atkins for the 2011 Round of Decatur, in which he placed fourth in pole qualifying and locking himself into the race. Ben finished 5th on debut, which was a massive shock for everyone, including himself.
Atkins' impressive debut is perhaps the reason behind Atlantic Motorsports entering him in the Independent's Trophy for the 2012 season. Atkins piloted car #56, carrying sponsorship from the Ricky and Lewis's Auto Repair chain. Due to the relative inexperience and low budget of the team (in comparison to most TM Master Cup Series teams), they spent most of preseason testing adapting to the Omecha MA03.
Atkins finished 11th in the first of his Independent's Trophy tenure in the 2012 Round of Wales in a very good run, however, a very stellar 5th place finish at the 2012 Round of Quebec labelled Atkins as a serious contender for the Independent's Trophy.
Both Atkins and his ex-partner Carla Rosinski made the 2012 Round of Indianapolis, after Rosinski made it in through pole qualifying, and Atkins made it in through the pre qualifiers and qualifiers. They were the second romantic couple to race in the TMMC in 2012. In the race, Ben Atkins was involved in an incident coming back to the caution when Greg Woodard turned Dale Roswell and Atkins and Patrick Eichholtz got involved. Atkins was off the pace the whole day after that, and only finished 21st.
At Victoria, Atkins was well off the pace all day, then got caught up in an accident, putting him even more off the pace. Atkins then held up the leaders on several occasions, until he was finally caught up in an incident with Adrien Devereux. Devereux went to Atkins' garage after the race and the two had a confrontation. No punches were thrown, though Atkins went to Twitter afterwards, at first with an apologetic stance. After the announcement of Atkins going to the rear of the field for the next race at Queensland, Atkins had an outburst over Twitter, saying that the officials were scared to give Devereux a penalty, as he felt that was the only incident not of his own doing in the race.
Due to being put to the back of the field for Queensland, Atkins could not capitalize in any way, and he placed 29th, and fell short in his Independent's Trophy effort, finishing 9th in Independent's Trophy points.
For 2013, Atkins was picked up by Scuderia Tutino to drive the #50 car full time. Atkins announced with this that he would only do the special Dash Cup events to focus on his TM Master Cup career.
Part-Time Dash Cup; 2012[edit | edit source]
Atkins was not expect to make any races in 2012 for Dash Cup, but he attempted the Spa GP, in which he lead a handful of laps only to crash out of a podium position with a lap left to go. Despite this he still finished 9th. He then raced in the #30 car, replacing the fired Daniel Miller, in America, finishing at the back at Carbondale, then just outside the top 10 at New York. He then went on to race two races in the American Exhibition tour. At Road America, he finished 4th after Cassandra Collins ran out of gas from third, and Atkins improved on his position. Atkins was also a beneficiary at Decatur, after the front three cars crashed entering pit road, and Atkins took home the victory at the track he'd finished 5th at in the TM Master Cup Series just a year previous to this race.
Ownership Endeavors; 2010-???[edit | edit source]
Atkins use to be the main owner of Atlantic Motorsports from 2010 when he won a poker tournament. Jacob Tremblay also owned the team with him. While Tremblay had a level-headed approach when coming to the team, Atkins was usually brash and even unreasonable with his decisions, such as the firing of Daniel Miller in 2012 when Miller complained about the car in the heat of the moment after he failed to qualify for the 2012 Dash Cup Spa GP. Atkins realized his prior mistakes, and stepped down from the ownership role of the team, handing it to William Atkins, while the team merged with Eichholtz Autosport to form Eichholtz Atlantic Racing.
However, Atkins did not stay out of the ownership role for long, as Atkins brought out a prototype chassis of the Eichholtz E231 which was relabeled the Eichholtz ATKV1. The team running this chassis was called The ATK Project, and Atkins' partner Hannah Percy will be at the wheel of the car when she cannot drive the Scuderia Pazzano car.
Results[edit | edit source]
Dash Cup All-Time Record
| Year | Races | Wins | Poles | Podiums | Top 5 | Top 10 | DNF | DNQ | Season Rank | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3rd | Spiedel Touring Team (#28) |
| 2008 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1st | Spiedel Touring Team (#28) |
| 2009 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2nd | Spiedel Touring Team (#28) |
| 2010 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2nd | Atlantic Motorsports (#28) |
| 2012 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39th | Atlantic Motorsports (#84/#30) |
| 2012ET (unofficial) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ??? | Atlantic Motorsports (#31) |
| Totals | 51 | 14 | 14 | 29 | 34 | 39 | 7 | 0 | 1 Championship | 2 teams/5 seasons |
ARLA Elite Series All-Time Record
| Year | Races | Wins | Poles | Top 5 | Top 10 | DNF | DNQ | Season Rank | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 107th | Redstone Racing (#84) | |
| 2012 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 32nd | Eichholtz Autosport (#84) | |
| Totals | 23 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 teams/2 seasons | |
2012 TM Master Cup Results
| Race No. | Date | Round | Track | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | May 6, 2012 | 36th Karjala Grand Prix | Karjala Raceway | DNPQ | 0 |
| 9 | June 3, 2013 | Wales | Launch Energy Motorpark | 11th | 18 |
| 11 | July 1, 2012 | Quebec | Road Gatineau | 5th | 35 |
| 15 | August 19, 2012 | Indianapolis | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | 21st | 0 |
| 16 | September 9, 2012 | Victoria | Calder Park Thunderdome | 25th | 0 |
| 17 | September 17, 2012 | Queensland | Fraser Coast Motorpark | 29th | 0 |
| 20 | November 11, 2012 | Decatur | Decatur Raceway | DNPQ | 0 |
2012 ARLA Elite Series Results
| Year | Entrant | - | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAL(NP) | DAY | TAL | CAR | RA | PIQ | QUI | FC | MOS | IRP | LSS | BUF | ALB | CAL | MOT | SAI | TOK | IOW | MEM | OC | NY | TAL | ROC | ||
| 2012 | Eichholtz Autosport | 23 | 5 | N/A | 24 | 14 | 25 | 32 | 18 | 38 | 24 | 29 | 27 | 12 | 9 | 25 | 19 | 9 | 18 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 18 | DNQ |
Personal Life[edit | edit source]
Atkins is currently married to former Dash Cup champion Hannah Percy. The two married in September 2014, then announced three years into their marriage, in May 2017 that they were expecting their first child together. On the 6th January 2018, their first daughter, Ruby Felicity Atkins, was born. Atkins took time out of his racing career during his wife pregnancy and the first year of his daughters life to spend time with his family, but announced a comeback to race in time for 2019.
Atkins also is close friends with Jacob Eichholtz after the two met in the ARLA paddock in 2011, and Atkins then found a ride for 2012 in ARLA with Eichholtz Autosport. Atkins is known for falling out with his drivers, then firing them irrationally. This happened with Verity Logan and Daniel Miller who went on to perform in stellar fashion for other teams. This could be seen as one of the main reason Atkins stepped down from his ownership status at EAR. Despite him firing Miller, Atkins has began to amend the friendship the two had, with the two talking on a regular basis before Miller's death.
Atkins' favorite track is Indianapolis Motor Speedway, even though he has only make one start there in the TM Master Cup series. Atkins says that he would love to try the Indianapolis 500 at least once, but he does not feel experienced enough at this stage in his career. Atkins also wrote a play when he was 16, as he was an avid theatre student, however he never attempted to get it published. Atkins attended university at the University of Cardiff, studying Computer Science. He did his first full year in 2006 when he was in the BSC, but dropped out at the beginning on 2007 when he devoted himself to Dash Cup.