He was a contestant on ABC's dating competition The Bacheloretteseason 8 in 2012, where he placed first runner-up, and starred in the 22nd season of its sister show The Bachelor, which premiered on January 1, 2018. In 2023, he was a contestant on The Traitors where he finished in fourth place.
Early life
Luyendyk was born in the Netherlands,[3] to Arie and Mieke Luyendyk.[4] At age 3,[3] he immigrated with his family, including sister Maida, to the United States and settled in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Luyendyk has two younger twin brothers, Alec and Luca.[4] He graduated from Desert Mountain High School in 2000.[5]
Career
Luyendyk began racing karts in 1992, and moved to Sports Car Club of America club Formula Ford competition six years later at the age of 16. He raced in a number of American junior formulae, notching wins in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge series and top five finishes the U.S. Formula Ford 2000 Championship. In 2001, Luyendyk finished third in the Formula Continental class at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs as well as winning the SCCA Southern Pacific divisional title on the strength of four wins in that same class. [citation needed]
He competed full-time in the first three seasons of the Indy Racing League's Indy Pro Series (now known as Firestone Indy Lights), beginning in 2002. In his Firestone Indy Lights career, Luyendyk has 1 victory, four pole positions and 24 top-5 finishes. Luyendyk finished second in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship in 2002, third in 2004, and fourth in 2008.[citation needed]
In 2005, Luyendyk attempted to make his IndyCar Series debut by qualifying for the 2005 Indianapolis 500 in a car owned by Curb-Agajanian/Beck Motorsports. Luyendyk's qualifying speed of 215.039 mph (346.072 km/h) was close to 2 mph (3.2 km/h) slower than the next slowest qualifier at the time. A. J. Foyt hired driver Felipe Giaffone to qualify a third car for him, and Giaffone's 217.645 mph (350.266 km/h) four-lap average bumped Luyendyk from the field.
Luyendyk did qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 in a car owned by his father and backed by cheapcaribbean.com and Blue Star Jets. The team had limited practice time due to a second week engine program. However, his first race in the more powerful cars ended early due to handling issues, with Luyendyk finishing 54 laps out of 200 and ending in 28th place in the field of 33. [citation needed]
In 2010, he returned part-time to Indy Lights and drove in the Freedom 100 for Andersen Racing and three other oval races for Alliance Motorsports. His best finish was seventh at Chicagoland.[citation needed]
In 2013, Luyendyk made the switch to off-road racing in the Stadium Super Trucks series,[6] finishing seventh in points. In his partial season, Luyendyk notched a heat win and three 4th-place finishes in seven starts. Two years later, he won the bronze medal at X Games Austin 2015 in the SST category.[7]
Luyendyk finished the season driving in the Traxxas TORC Series with Aero Motorsports backed by Ethika and Cooper Tires. In Luyendyk's TORC debut he finished fourth at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway driving in the Pro Light class. On November 18, 2013, Luyendyk completed a test with Dale Coyne Racing in the DW12 IndyCar. Luyendyk ran 138 laps.[citation needed]
In 2009, Luyendyk became the driver analyst for Versus broadcasts of Indy Lights races. In 2012 Luyendyk returned to the booth, commentating the Indy Lights races for the NBC Sports Network. He appeared as himself in season nine of Hell's Kitchen. The chefs visited the Grand Prix of Long Beach in which Luyendyk was participating.[11]
In 2023, he appeared as a contestant on the reality game show The Traitors, which aired on Peacock.
In 2017, it was announced that Luyendyk would appear in the 22nd season of The Bachelor. He asked Rebecca "Becca" Kufrin to marry him at the season finale however he later regretted rejecting Lauren Burnham, the runner-up, and tried to rekindle things with Burnham. Luyendyk and Kufrin broke up after the show, but the breakup was televised. Luyendyk revealed that he had been talking to Burnham, and later the two began dating.
Personal life
Luyendyk works as a real estate broker for RE/MAX in Scottsdale, Arizona.[14] After realizing he had made a mistake upon proposing to Becca Kufrin on Season 22 of "The Bachelor," he became engaged to the runner-up, Lauren Burnham,[15][16] and Burnham moved to Scottsdale to be with Luyendyk.[17] The couple married on January 12, 2019.[18] They have a daughter who was born on May 29, 2019.[19] On June 11, 2021, Lauren gave birth to twins.
† – Replaced by Casey Mears, points went to Luyendyk
1 The race was abandoned after Matt Mingay suffered serious injuries in a crash on lap three. 2 Standings were not recorded by the series for the 2020 season.
^ abHuggins, Sarah (October 25, 2017). "Who's the Next Bachelor 2018? It's Arie Luyendyk Jr". ABC. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2017. Born in the Netherlands, Arie, 36, and his family immigrated to the United States when he was just three years old.
