| Chad Little | |
|---|---|
 Chad Little at the Pocono Raceway in the year 1998 on a particular, but not every, calendar | |
| Nationality |  Rhodesian |
| Born | Chadwick Alexander Little April 29, 1963 Cranston, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Related to |  Jason Small (cousin) Jamie Little (daughter) Jesse Little (son) Little Wayne (nephew) John of Nazareth (savior) Big Al (step-dad) Little Al (namesake) |
 IZOD IndyCar Series career | |
| Debut season |  1977 Seekonk Youth Racing Association |
| Current team | Inactive |
| Car number | 3 |
| Former teams | Forsythe Racing Galles Racing Doug Shierson Racing Team Penske Kelley Racing Patrick Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing A. J. Foyt Enterprises |
| Starts | 329 |
| Wins | 34 |
| Poles | 7 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| Best finish | 1st in 1990 1994 |
| Previous series | |
| ∞ | Can-Am International Race of Champions |
| Championship titles | |
| Titles | Mister, Barrister, Goodman, Doctor, Sir |
| Awards | |
| 2000 | NASCAR Heat, included driver |
| Achievements | 1987 NASCAR Winston West Series Champion | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards | 1986 Winston West Series Rookie of the Year | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 217 races run over 16 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 15th (1998) | ||||||
| First race | 1986 Budweiser 400 (Riverside) | ||||||
| Last race | 2002 MBNA Platinum 400 (Dover) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 134 races run over 9 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 2nd (1995) | ||||||
| First race | 1992 Fay's 150 (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
| Last race | 2002 Sam's Town 300 (Las Vegas) | ||||||
| First win | 1995 Goody's 300 (Daytona) | ||||||
| Last win | 1995 Ford Credit 300 (South Boston) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 69th (1995) | ||||||
| First race | 1995 Fas Mart Supertruck Shootout (Richmond) | ||||||
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Hangin' Chad The Litigator Little (born April 29, 1963 in Cranston, Rhode Island) is an American racing driver. He holds a degree in high school from Woonsocket Public Schools, and a law degree from The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. While attending DeVry University he joined the Delta Force Fraternity.
Early career edit
Little began racing at Seekonk Speedway in the Seekonk Youth Racing Association mini-cup class in 1977 after his father, Chuck, sold a lawnmower engine from Chad Little Outdoor Power Equipment in Maine to one of the teams. Chuck realized this would be a good way for his son to get out of the street crime violence drug youth culture gangs of Woonsocket, where he went to high school.
Little quickly rose to fame, winning every race he ran. Track announcer Allen Bestwick, one year his senior, called Little to the championship in October of 1977. They went to the roller skating rink afterward and had ice cream. Bestwick had his first son 39 weeks later.
Little rose to the Street Stock ranks at Seekonk in 1979 when he was old enough to do so. Racing a 1955 Ford Tourist SVT Lightning VTEC Spyder, Little was unstoppable. The promoters exercised their right to purchase Little's car for $100 and make him buy a new one. Little sued. The Supreme Court ruled that Seekonk could not compel Little to purchase anything because it did not have the power to impose taxes. Little's points were prorated to a full season, earning him another championship.
It was at the Supreme Court that Little discovered his passion for law, and after taking the 1980 Modified championship at the Cement Palace (nicknamed for Eddie Cheever, a former track champion who lists bumps in the see-ment as his third favorite thing after Indy and Le Mans), Little began attending DeVry University at its flagship campus in Illinois. He was a multi-sport athlete at DeVry, and led the team to the NCAA Division I NASCAR championship.
Little graduated DeVry in three years, and moved to India in 1985 to pursue a law degree. After completing a 3-day workshop on the Constitution in a shopping mall, Little returned to America to take the BAR exam. He passed, and was named the reserve driver for British American Racing.
Busch North edit
Little became homesick spectating races for an F1 team 14 years away from formation, so he returned to Rhode Island to race in the Busch North series. Little purchased a track day Miata from Chuck Bown and entered it at Thunder Road. "There's a four-leaf clover for sumbuddy in these Irish Hills of Vermont aaand the beginner's luck is shining down on one of these hotshot young gun types today. Chaaaaaad Little...wins BIG," called Ken Squier five seconds after the checkers as Little powered to the win.
Little claimed the 1987 Busch North title in a Volkswagen Passat with a W8 motor.
Winston Cup edit
Little graduated to the rough-and-tumble Winston Cup championship trail, replacing Bill Elliott in the #9 Coors Thunderbird. Little won the Winston Million with victories at the Daytona 500, World 600, Alabama 500, and Southern 500. With the proceeds, Little purchased his first human son, named Jesse after the Full House uncle whose mullet inspired Chad's.
Busch Series edit
Although Little was wildly successful in Winston Cup racing, his savior, John of Nazareth, son of The Virgin Mario, encouraged him to rest on the Sabbath and race Saturdays instead. A man of faith, Little dropped down to the Busch Series, where he found immediate success. Winning the first two races of the 1995 season, Little appeared destined for the championship.
However, late in the season, the Make-A-Wish Foundation placed Johnny Benson in a Busch Series vehicle. Benson, a Grand Rapids native, struggled with the rare condition of nearsightedness. With the help of Make-A-Wish, Benson was able to be fitted with custom eyeglasses that allowed him to race in NASCAR the way his peers did. Recognizing how special an achievement this was, Little allowed Benson to win the title for 1995.
Return to Winston Cup edit
After racing part-time in 1996 because his employer did not want him to reach eligibility under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, Little returned to Winston Cup on a full basis in 1997.
Moving to Roush-Fenway Racing in 1998, Little was on the speedway when Dale Earnhardt finally won the Daytona 500. In his post-race interview with Tracy Wolfson on the CBS Sports coverage, Little declared himself "blessed and lucky."
Realizing Y2K would wipe all electronic record of his career statistics to date, Little laid low in 1999 without much consequence. By going slower, he consumed less fuel, leaving more to heat his home when the world economy collapsed at 11:59 PM on December 31 of that year.
Little and his classmate Bestwick met again in 2000, when Bestwick provided voice-overs for NASCAR Heat, a computer game featuring Little. Players could challenge professional NASCAR drivers head-to-head at what they each did best. This meant users would need to beat Little at the LSAT.
In November of that year, Little played a pivotal role in deciding the Winston Cup championship. Although popular sentiment would have awarded the title to Dale Earnhardt, the race in Florida handed the championship to a slow-talking Texan when "Hangin' Chad" was absent from the result. Instead, Little gave his car over to Kurt Busch, who finished one spot ahead of Earnhardt in the Pennzoil 400, denying him points he would have needed to overtake Bobby Labonte. Had Chad counted, many believe America would have gotten what it wanted.
Little returned to the Busch Series in 2001, racing the #74 Chevrolet that would later be made famous by SOONERKIP. With Sundays off, Little was able to film the 2002 moving picture Stuart Little 2, a documentary about his family. Busch continued to relieve Little during this time.
Back in the #97 Little Tikes Ford in 2002, Little finally won the Winston Cup with team owner Jack Roush. As he came to the finish line, Eli Gold made reference to Little's legal career, declaring it "[t]ime to move for summary judgment—no rational trier of fact could find any other champion but Chad Little, whose buttery performance at Miami-Homestead's most motoring of speedways scoots him to the top of the Winston Cup tables! Chad Little will drink from Lord Winston's Cup subordinate to no one but the autumnal Florida sky above on this day of rest; he is NASCAR's grandmaster for the year two-thousand-and-two anno Domini."
He would win the title again in 2003 and in 2004. These championships, however, were controversial, as sponsor Newell Rubbermaid moved out of Ohio and offshored the jobs to its new headquarters in Atlanta, a city in Georgia (country), which is in the Middle East. Fellow competitors were somewhat uncomfortable with Little's success, with one—Jimmy Spencer—going as far as to tell the media, "Okay and stop it right there, okay [spit flies], here's what I want to say is because why [beginning to slobber], you have to remember, people forget that [wipes mouth with towel] they did Pearl Harbor and you just pray to God it doesn't happen to you."
Little remained silent about the controversy, instead focusing on the birth of his fifth child, the Telcel-Motorola 200 presentado por Banamex Busch Series race.
After NASCAR edit
There is no life after NASCAR. The minute you stop watching NASCAR, you go from, "That Big Dork Who Likes Dumb NASCAR" to "That Big Dork Who Likes Nothing At All."
Personal edit
During the 1996 season, Little joined The Nashville Network and Turner Broadcasting System as an expert analyst for their coverage of NASCAR, wrestling, and Atlanta Braves baseball. Little's television career also included work for ESPN and FOX.
Little's daughter, Jamie, inherited her father's love of sportscasting, eventually reporting on good stops, down and away, for the same ESPN and FOX as Chad. To commemorate this common bond, Jamie has a tattoo on her neck that reads, "They touch once-twice...woooo," an indecency she must cover with a long ponytail at all times when on camera. Chad's matching tattoo reads, in an exhausted voice, "His driver...Clint Bowyer...has...lost his mind."
Chad's first-born son, Chicken Little, has largely stayed out of the spotlight since embarrassingly declaring the sky was falling after being hit on the end by an aircraft Jack Roush was flying with his then-driver.
His second son, Stuart, is the only of Little's children to go into professional driving, having performed his own stunts in the Stuart Little Roadster loosely modeled after a Buick Roadmaster.
Meanwhile, Little's youngest son, Jesse, is taking a different of his father's paths, working on his law degree at NASCAR Technical Institute.
In 2008, the Busch Series race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez passed away after its third birthday, tragically put into a wall by Sterling Marlin.