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Forsythe/Pettit Racing is a racing team that competed in the Champ Car World Series owned by Gerald Forsythe and Dan Pettit. The Champ Car effort ceased operations after the 2008 unification of North American open wheel racing. However, the team continues to race in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship as Forsythe Racing, and will join the Firestone Indy Lights series in 2009[1].
Team History
The team first operated as Forsythe Racing from 1983 to 1985 with moderate success, most notably with rookie driver Teo Fabi who won four races in 1983, and started on the pole position at Indianapolis. The team returned in 1994 as Forsythe-Green Racing with co-owner Barry Green, but by the next year the two had split and Green took their driver Jacques Villeneuve to his new Team Green and won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and CART championship. The team signed Greg Moore in 1995 and he would drive with them for the next five seasons, one in Indy Lights where he would win 10 of 12 races, and four in Champ Car until his tragic death at the end of the 1999 season. Along the way Moore would capture five wins and place fifth in the 1998 points standings.
In 1998 the team expanded to two cars by adding Patrick Carpentier to the all-Canadian squad. Carpentier would drive for Forsythe until 2004 (when he jumped ship to the rival Indy Racing League) and capture five wins with the team. In 2003, veteran Paul Tracy was brought on to replace Alex Tagliani. Tracy would win 7 races on his way to bringing Forsythe its first CART championship in CART's final year of operations. In 2006, Mario Dominguez, who had replaced Carpentier, was fired mid-season and Forsythe brought in displaced American A. J. Allmendinger. Allmendinger proceeded to win his first three races with the team, his first Champ Car victories. Allmendinger was teammates with Paul Tracy who finished fourth in points in 2004 and 2005 after his championship-winning season. However, Allmendinger and the team were not able to come to terms for 2007 and Allmendinger announced he would be going to NASCAR Nextel Cup with Team Red Bull. Forsythe would later announce Dominguez's return to his team on March 30. Dominguez, however, was replaced by Oriol Servia on a race by race basis until Servia was hired full time. For the 2008 season, Jerry Forsythe and former RuSPORT owner Dan Pettit, were to merge their teams into Forsythe/Pettit Racing to field at least two cars.[2] However, changes brought about the unification of open wheel racing into the IndyCar Series made competitive racing financially unviable in the eyes of Forsythe and he elected not to race in the IndyCar Series in 2008. The team's Atlantic operation, Forsythe Racing will continue to contest that series and field at least 3 of the team's Panoz DP01 chassis in the 2008 Long Beach Grand Prix.[3].
On July 15, 2008 Forsythe Racing announced that they would return to the Firestone Indy Lights Series grid in 2009. According to additional reports, Forsythe Racing are close to finalizing IRL IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series programs for 2009, according to team manager Ken Swieck. Swieck confirmed that Forsythe intended to compete in both series rather than choosing one or the other.[4]
Statistics
The Forsythe team and its derivatives have amassed 37 CART and Champ Car victories and a single championship in 2003 with Paul Tracy.
Drivers who competed for Forsythe
References
- ^ Lewandowski, Dave. [1], indycar.com, July 15, 2008
- ^ Malsher, David. Pettit joins Forsythe as RuSPORT close, autosport.com, November 26, 2007
- ^ Racer Staff, Forsythe Championship Racing Ceases Operations, SpeedTV.com/Racer Magazine, February 28, 2008
- ^ Phillips, David. Forsythe plan IRL and ALMS for '09, Autosport.com, July 19, 2008
External links
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