David Kudrave

David Kudrave (born March 10, 1966, in Los Angeles), is an American former open wheel racing driver. He raced in the 1993 CART season, with eight career starts. His best finish came in his first race, the Valvoline 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. Kudrave also raced in the 1996 and 1996-1997 Indy Racing League seasons, with three starts. Coincidentally, his best IRL finish was in tenth position in the 1996 Dura Lube 200, also at PIR. Currently, Kudrave is out of racing and is in the real estate brokerage business in Southern California.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Kudrave and his father would annually journey from their family home to the now defunct Ontario Motor Speedway where they would watch racing legends like Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, and others compete. He has described this experience by saying "Those drivers were thrill-seekers and I knew then that I wanted to get into it.^[1]" This led Kudrave to begin racing at just twelve years old. He attended the Jim Russell British School of Motor Racing at fifteen years old, lying about his age in order to be eligible for the program, but still beating the older attendees in most of the races that he participated in. He began competing in a racing series sponsored by Russell after finishing the program and then moved up to the Formula Ford Circuit, a class generally regarded as the most competitive amateur open-wheel class in the nation. Kudrave also attended the University of Southern California, majoring in Economics.

In 1985, Kudrave officially became a professional open-wheel race car driver by moving up to the Super Vee Series, which features cars with 200 horsepower engines. Just one year after he entered the series, he finished the season in sixth place. In 1987, he won three races, one pole position, and led for more laps and miles than any other competitor. He finished the series in second, just twenty points behind series champion Scott Atchinson.^[2] His worst race finish that year was fourth place, and he was voted the series "Most Improved Driver". That year Kudrave was publicly praised by former Formula One driver Dan Gurney, who said "He's talented, no doubt about it."

• ديفيد كودراف في مركز الظهير ريتشارد إليس