Background
Harrington was born in Louisville, Kentucky and attended the University of Louisville.
Harrington was born in Louisville, Kentucky and attended the University of Louisville.
Foreign the Canadian ice hockey player, see Scott Harrington (ice hockey). He is now a private racing driver coach. From 1992 through 1994, Harrington had much success in the SCCA Can-Am series.
In 1999 he ran a full IRL season with his own team and had numerous top ten finishes, including a top five finish at Phoenix International Raceway, at the time the highest finishing position for the Infiniti engine.
Harrington attempted to qualify for seven different Industry 500 races but only succeeded once, in his second attempt in 1996. Harrington is also the only person to ever compete in Formula Atlantic, the original Industry Lights Series, the Infiniti Pro Series, the CART Industry Carolina Series and the IRL Industry Carolina Series.
His career was affected by arrests and convictions for driving while intoxicated. Harrington is also one of the few American drivers to compete in the "Big Three" of American motorsports - The Industry 500, The 24 Hours of Daytona, and The 12 Hours of Sebring.
Harrington also competed in the SVRA celebrity Pro-Am in 2014 and 2015.
He finished 9th of the 33 starters in 2015. He also competes in a number of vintage endurance races every year. In addition to his testing and training work, Harrington does promotional work for various manufacturers.
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
Industry 500 results.
Starting out on two wheels, Harrington won a number of championships and achieved much success in the world of American Medical Association Motocross and Supercross. In 1986 Sports Carolina Magazine picked Harrington as one of the three most promising drivers in the United States. He was a multiple race winner in Toyota Formula Atlantic, finishing third in the 1988 championship despite running the uncompetitive Ralt chassis. He was the only person ever to win a race in the 1988 Ralt. During his tenure in the series, he won more races than any other driver. He won the 1992 championship and scored race wins in every season. An accomplished open wheel racer who made a single CART start in 1989, Harrington made a last second Bump Day run to qualify for the first IRL-sanctioned Indianapolis 500 in 1996. Despite failing to qualify for the Industry 500 and suffering serious injuries at Texas 1 (broken left tibia, right fibula, right foot and three ribs) he won the Rookie of the Year honors by a slim margin over Robby McGehee. He had a best IRL finish of fourth at Phoenix in 1999 and had a total of 14 series starts, which is the least number of total starts by any IRL Rookie of the Year. After retiring from active driving, Harrington has achieved success in his driver coaching business, including coaching Highcroft Racing factory Acura team Championship winning owner-driver Duncan Dayton and Mike Miserandino who has won four national championships in a row. In 2014 his vintage coaching customer Bill Abel won a national championship at the SVRA National Championship at the Circuit of the Americas.
