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Brown Rice (born January 31, 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an auto racing driver best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 as part of Rahal Letterman Racing. The race, though, was cut short 50 miles due to rain. He finished 3rd in the IRL championship that year. He was the 2000 Toyota Atlantic Series champion and had his first race in the IRL in 2002 for Red Bull Cheever Racing, and was their only driver for much of 2003 until the more experienced Alex Barron replaced him.

O of a ride in the IRL, Rice had various options. In November 2003, he dabbled with a one-off at Homestead during a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, before earning the call from Bobby Rahal to at minimum substitute in the #15 Argent Mortgage Honda when Kenny Bräck was injured in a late-race crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003. Rice pulled the surprise in 2004 by winning the Indianapolis 500.

For 2005 he and Vitor Meira were joined by Danica Patrick. However, Rice was injured in a crash himself at Indianapolis during practice was not cleared to race. In an ironic twist of events, Bräck substituted for Rice.

The 2006 season started tragically for Rice and Danica Patrick, who withdrew immediately from the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway following the death of new Rahal Letterman Racing teammate Paul Dana in final practice. Rice started his 2006 season at St. Petersburg, Florida, in the second race. His Indianapolis 500 ended early in a crash with Helio Castroneves.

Rice will make his Champ Car debut 5 years later than he expected in November 2006 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in the 2006 season finale for Forsythe Championship Racing, replacing NASCAR-bound A. J. Allmendinger.

In an interview on SPEED during the 2007 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Buddy Rice stated that he would definitely be in an open wheel car for the year. The following day he announched that he had signed a contract with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to return to the IndyCar series in 2007.

Rice is an Arizona native and attended Shadow Mountain High School.

Year	Team	Wins	Points	Championship Finish
2002	Cheever Racing	0	140	22nd
2003	Cheever Racing	0	229	16th
2004	Rahal Letterman Racing	3	485	3rd
2005	Rahal Letterman Racing	0	295	15th
2006	Rahal Letterman Racing	0	234	15th

3 wins, best championship result: 3rd

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
2003	Dallara	Chevrolet	19th	11th
2004	G-Force	Honda	1st	1st
2005	Panoz	Honda	Practice Crash
2006	Panoz	Honda	14th	26th

• Buddy Rice's page on the Rahal Letterman Racing site

Preceded by Gil de Ferran

Indianapolis 500 Winner 2004

Succeeded by Dan Wheldon

Indianapolis 500 Winners

Four-time winners A. J. Foyt • Al Unser, Sr. • Rick Mears Three-time winners Meyer • Shaw • Rose • Rutherford • B. Unser Two-time winners Milton • Vukovich • Ward • Johncock • Fittipaldi • Luyendyk • Unser, Jr. • Castroneves One win Harroun • Dawson • Goux • Thomas • DePalma • Resta • Wilcox • Chevrolet • Murphy • Corum • Boyer • DePaolo • Lockhart • Souders • Keech • Arnold • Schneider • Frame • Cummings • Petillo • Roberts • Davis • Robson • Holland • Parsons • Wallard • Ruttman • Sweikert • Flaherty • Hanks • Bryan • Rathmann • Jones • Clark • Hill • Andretti • Donohue • Sneva • Sullivan • Rahal • Villeneuve • Lazier • Cheever • Brack • Montoya • de Ferran • Rice • Wheldon • Hornish