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Forsythe Championship Racing

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United States Forsythe Championship Racing
Founded1982
Folded2008
Team principal(s)Gerald Forsythe
Former seriesChamp Car World Series
Indy Lights
Champ Car Atlantic Championship
Noted driversUnited States Danny Sullivan
United States Al Unser Jr.
Italy Teo Fabi
Canada Jacques Villeneuve
Canada Greg Moore
Brazil Tony Kanaan
Canada Patrick Carpentier
Canada Alex Tagliani
United States Bryan Herta
Canada Paul Tracy
United States A. J. Allmendinger
Drivers'
Championships
Champ Car World Series 2003 Canada Paul Tracy

Indy Lights
1995 Canada Greg Moore
1996 Canada David Empringham

Atlantic Championship

1998 Canada Lee Bentham
Bryan Herta's #77 Forsythe Reynard at Rockingham Motor Speedway in 2001

Forsythe Championship Racing was an American racing team that competed in the Champ Car World Series owned by Gerald Forsythe. The Champ Car effort ceased operations after the 2008 unification of North American open wheel racing. The team won the 2003 championship with driver Paul Tracy.

History

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1981–1985

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Forsythe Racing began sponsoring Lee Brayton's entry for his son Scott in 1981. Forsythe later started his own team, racing in CART part-time in 1982 with Héctor Rebaque and Danny Sullivan who drove for the team in the 1982 Indianapolis 500 and finished 13th and 14th, respectively. Later that season Rebaque won at Road America. Before Indy, Sullivan finished third at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Also that season Al Unser Jr. made his CART debut for the team at Riverside International Raceway and finished fifth. Moderate success continued from 1983 to 1985, most notably with rookie driver Teo Fabi who won four races in 1983, and started on the pole position at Indianapolis.

1994–1997

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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 and Canadian cigarette sponsor Player's LTD to his new Team Green and won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and CART championship. Forsythe reunited with Teo Fabi in a full-time effort in 1995 with Combustion Engineering sponsoring their team. Forsythe did keep sponsor Player's LTD for his Indy Lights team and Canadian Greg Moore brought home the 1995 Indy Lights championship for Forsythe. Moore tested a Champ Car for Team Penske late in 1995 so Forsythe quickly signed Moore to run their single 1996 Champ Car entry with Player's moving back from the Team Green squad as Villeneuve left IndyCar for Formula One. Moore would drive with Forsythe for the five seasons in total, one in Indy Lights where he would win 10 of 12 races, and four in Champ Car until his death at the end of the 1999 season. In Champ Car, Moore would capture five wins and place a best of fifth in the 1998 points standings, all with Forsythe Racing.

1998–2008

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In 1998, the team expanded to two cars by adding Patrick Carpentier to the all-Canadian squad. Carpentier would drive for Forsythe through 2004 when he was hired by Cheever Racing of the rival Indy Racing League for 2005. Patrick captured five wins with the team. For 2000, Forsythe tabbed rookie Alex Tagliani to drive alongside Carpentier. In three seasons, Tagliani scored three poles and five podiums but no wins, so Alex was replaced by veteran Paul Tracy for the 2003 season. Tracy would win seven races on his way to bringing Forsythe its first CART championship in CART's final year of operations. In 2006, Mario Domínguez, 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 Servià 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.[1] However, changes brought about the unification of open wheel racing into the IndyCar Series. This 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 continued to contest that series through the end of the 2008 season and the team fielded three of the team's Panoz DP01 chassis in the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.[2]

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 were 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.[3] However, Forsythe never fielded any entries in either series.

Statistics

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The Forsythe team and its derivatives have amassed 34 CART and Champ Car victories and single championship in 2003 with Canadian Paul Tracy.

Drivers who competed for Forsythe

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Racing results

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Complete CART / Champ Car World Series results

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(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pts Pos Pts
1982 PHX ATL MIL CLE MCH MIL POC RIV ROA MCH PHX
March 82C Cosworth DFX V8t G Mexico Héctor Rebaque 32 13 DNS 18 25 DNP 20 1 15th 48
United States Danny Sullivan 33 3 21 22nd 28
United States Al Unser Jr. 5 21st 30
1983 ATL INDY MIL CLE MCH ROA POC RIV MDO MCH CPL LAG PHX
March 83C Cosworth DFX V8t G Italy Teo Fabi 33 20 26 4 3 15 15 1* 2 1* 3 25 1* 1* 2nd 146
1984 LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH PHX LAG CPL
March 84C Cosworth DFX V8t G Italy Teo Fabi 33 Ret Ret Ret 12 3 Ret 13 25th 15
United States Kevin Cogan 8 10 DNQ 24th 17
Lola T800 Italy Corrado Fabi Ret 10 6 Ret 28th 11
United Kingdom Kenneth Acheson DNQ 40th 0
1985 LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH LAG PHX MIA
Lola T900 Cosworth DFX V8t G Netherlands Jan Lammers 32 5 20 26th 11
33 13
United States Howdy Holmes 14 10 11 17 13 22 9 10 21 16 21 18 DNS 25th 12
1995 MIA SFR PHX LBH NAZ INDY MIL DET POR ROA TOR CLE MCH MDO NHA VAN LAG
Reynard 95i Ford XB V8t G Italy Teo Fabi 33 16 13 7 3 7 8 4 7 23 9 4 19 4 17 12 19 9 9th 83
1996 MIA RIO SFR LBH NAZ 500 MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG
Reynard 96i Mercedes-Benz IC108C V8t F Canada Greg Moore 99 7 18 3 22 2 13 5 20 25 3 4 17 9 23 25 6 9th 84
1997 MIA SFR LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG FON
Reynard 97i Mercedes-Benz IC108D V8t F Canada Greg Moore 99 4 2 23 16 2 13 1* 1 5 24 23 27 2 18 17 24 13 7th 111
1998 MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG HOU SFR FON
Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t F Canada Patrick Carpentier 33 11 19 28 13 17 15 25 15 9 9 25 8 7 28 27 17 22 9 26 19th 27
Canada Greg Moore 99 2 4 6 3 1 3 13 5 27 25 11 1 22 21 20 21 26 8 2 5th 141
1999 MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL POR CLE ROA TOR MCH DET MDO CHI VAN LAG HOU SRF FON
Reynard 99i Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t F Canada Patrick Carpentier 33 7 26 17 14 6 22 9 9 7 22 11 10 23 6 2 9 19 24 25 13th 61
Canada Greg Moore 99 1* 4 8 12 8 6 2 13 18 4 20 23 3 11 26 20 23 16 17 26 10th 97
Honda HRS V8t Brazil Tony Kanaan 44 21 6 22* 23 5 7 18 15 22 6 17 1 6 23 11 9 21 9 6 8 11th 85
2000 MIA LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH CHI MDO ROA VAN LAG GAT HOU SRF FON
Reynard 2Ki Ford XF V8t F Canada Patrick Carpentier 32 5 21 3 5 10 5 7 4 14 7 21 24 9 2 19 5 14 11th 101
United States Memo Gidley 21 8 18 20th 20
Canada Alex Tagliani 33 9 4 13* 15 19 22 6 13 16 5 16 9 9 14* 18 23 14 16 22 6 16th 53
United States Bryan Herta 77 4 18th 26
2001 MTY LBH TXS NAZ MOT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH CHI MDO ROA VAN LAU ROC HOU LAG SRF FON
Reynard 01i Ford XF V8t F Canada Patrick Carpentier 32 25 23 C1 25 19 17 8 5 26 21 1 2 3 9 16 3 16 10 26 11 10 10th 91
Canada Alex Tagliani 33 21 18 C1 22 22 12 21 12 9 2 6 6 7 8 23* 21 14 19 15 3 3 11th 80
United States Bryan Herta 77 16 10 C1 21 21 22 15 14 3 18 5 21 25 24 17 27 15 13 12 18 25 22nd 28
2002 MTY LBH MOT MIL LAG POR CHI TOR CLE VAN MDO ROA MTL DEN ROC MIA SFR FON MXC
Reynard 02i Ford XF V8t B Canada Patrick Carpentier 32 7 19 4 15 5 5 16 10 1* 5 1* 7 15 17 3 16 2 3 4 3rd 157
Canada Alex Tagliani 33 5 16 2 19 10 12 7 7 5 7 7 2 11 12 18 4 6 8 10 8th 111
2003 STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL LAG POR CLE TOR VAN ROA MDO MTL DEN MIA MXC SFR
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t B Canada Paul Tracy 3 1* 1* 1 17 12 12 3 2* 2* 1* 1* 15 1* 6 4 16 1* 13 1st 226
Canada Patrick Carpentier 32 8 8 6 5 7 3 1* 16 4 7 13 5 2 3 17 6 14 5 5th 146
2004 LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LSV SFR MXC
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t B Canada Paul Tracy 1 1* 7 17 3 17 5 1* 12 2* 4 10 18 4* 10 4th 254
Mexico Rodolfo Lavín 3 10 13 9 18 9 14 15 2 11 11 12 4 15 13 14th 156
Canada Patrick Carpentier 7 4 4 2 4 16 3 16 14 9 2 1* 3 16 6 3rd 266
2005 LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL LSV SRF MXC
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t B Canada Paul Tracy 3 2 15 1* 3 1* 16 3 2 16* 8 17* 17 3 4th 246
Mexico Mario Domínguez 7 5 13 7 4 17 13 5 5 2 10 4 18 12 9th 198
2006 LBH HOU MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL ROA SRF MXC
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t B Canada Paul Tracy 3 17 2 4 16 7 16 2 5 15 6 2 10 4 7th 209
Mexico David Martínez 9 22nd 13
Mexico Mario Domínguez 7 4 3* 6 14 9th 202
United States A. J. Allmendinger 1* 1* 1* 3 7 1* 17 1 16 3rd 285
United States Buddy Rice 10 23rd 11
2007 LSV LBH HOU POR CLE MTT TOR EDM SJO ROA ZOL ASN SFR MXC
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t B Canada Paul Tracy 3 3 10 1 15 14 5 11 12 10 17 9 5 11th 171
Spain Oriol Servià 2 4 6th 237
7 11 7 9 10* 6 3* 4 6 8
Mexico Mario Domínguez 9 17 6 18th 78
Mexico David Martínez 10 14 20th 18
  1. ^ The Firestone Firehawk 600 was canceled after qualifying due to excessive g-forces on the drivers.

Complete IndyCar Series results

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(key)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Pts Pos Pos
2008 HMS STP MOT LBH1 KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF2
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t B Canada Paul Tracy 3 11 33rd 51
France Franck Montagny 7 2 NC
Mexico David Martínez 37 8 NC
  1. ^ Run to Champ Car specifications.
  2. ^ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

IndyCar wins

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# Season Date Sanction Track / Race No. Winning Driver Chassis Engine Tire Grid Laps Led
1 1982 September 19 CART Road America (R) 32 Mexico Héctor Rebaque (R) March 82C Cosworth DFX V8t Goodyear 9 1
2 1983 August 14 CART Pocono 500 (O) 33 Italy Teo Fabi (R) March 83C Cosworth DFX V8t Goodyear 2 116
3 September 11 CART Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (R) 33 Italy Teo Fabi (R) (2) March 83C Cosworth DFX V8t Goodyear 2 40
4 October 23 CART Laguna Seca Raceway (R) 33 Italy Teo Fabi (R) (3) March 83C Cosworth DFX V8t Goodyear Pole 95
5 October 29 CART Phoenix International Raceway (O) 33 Italy Teo Fabi (R) (4) March 83C Cosworth DFX V8t Goodyear Pole 138
6 1997 June 1 CART Milwaukee Mile (O) 99 Canada Greg Moore Reynard 97i Mercedes-Benz IC108D V8t Firestone 5 104
7 June 8 CART Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix (S) 99 Canada Greg Moore (2) Reynard 97i Mercedes-Benz IC108D V8t Firestone 7 20
8 1998 May 10 CART Rio 200 (O) 99 Canada Greg Moore (3) Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t Firestone 7 5
9 July 26 CART Michigan 500 (O) 99 Canada Greg Moore (4) Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t Firestone 14 36
10 1999 March 21 CART Homestead–Miami Speedway (O) 99 Canada Greg Moore (5) Reynard 99i Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t Firestone Pole 96
11 July 25 CART Michigan 500 (O) 44 Brazil Tony Kanaan Reynard 99i Honda HRS V8t Firestone 11 7
12 2001 July 22 CART Michigan 500 (O) 32 Canada Patrick Carpentier Reynard 01i Ford XF V8t Firestone 21 3
13 2002 July 14 CART Grand Prix of Cleveland (S) 32 Canada Patrick Carpentier (2) Reynard 02i Ford XF V8t Bridgestone 2 66
14 August 11 CART Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (R) 32 Canada Patrick Carpentier (3) Reynard 02i Ford XF V8t Bridgestone Pole 89
15 2003 February 23 CART Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (S) 3 Canada Paul Tracy Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 2 71
16 March 23 CART Fundidora Park (S) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (2) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 2 69
17 April 13 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (S) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (3) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 2 33
18 June 15 CART Laguna Seca Raceway (R) 32 Canada Patrick Carpentier (4) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 87
19 July 13 CART Exhibition Place, Toronto (S) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (4) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 112
20 July 27 CART Streets of Vancouver (S) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (5) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 77
21 August 10 CART Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (R) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (6) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 69
22 October 12 CART Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (R) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (7) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 64
23 2004 April 18 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (S) 1 Canada Paul Tracy (8) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 3 78
24 July 25 CART Streets of Vancouver (S) 1 Canada Paul Tracy (9) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 81
25 September 12 CART Laguna Seca Raceway (R) 7 Canada Patrick Carpentier (5) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 2 40
26 2005 June 4 CART Milwaukee Mile (O) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (10) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 5 192
27 June 26 CART Grand Prix of Cleveland (S) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (11) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 46
28 2006 June 18 CART Grand Prix of Portland (R) 7 United States A. J. Allmendinger Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 2 100
29 June 25 CART Grand Prix of Cleveland (S) 7 United States A. J. Allmendinger (2) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone Pole 36
30 July 9 CART Exhibition Place, Toronto (S) 7 United States A. J. Allmendinger (3) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 2 38
31 August 13 CART Grand Prix of Denver (S) 7 United States A. J. Allmendinger (4) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 2 45
32 September 24 CART Road America (R) 7 United States A. J. Allmendinger (5) Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t Bridgestone 5 7
33 2007 June 24 CART Grand Prix of Cleveland (S) 3 Canada Paul Tracy (12) Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t Bridgestone 7 26

References

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  1. ^ Malsher, David. Pettit joins Forsythe as RuSPORT close, autosport.com, November 26, 2007
  2. ^ Racer Staff, Forsythe Championship Racing Ceases Operations Archived 2008-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, SpeedTV.com/Racer Magazine, February 28, 2008
  3. ^ Phillips, David. Forsythe plan IRL and ALMS for '09, Autosport.com, July 19, 2008
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2008 Champ Car season
NHL Forsythe/Pettit Minardi Australia Rocketsports Coyne PKV PCM Conquest
Wilson
Rahal
Tracy
7 TBA
4 TBA
14 Doornbos
Power
15 TBA
Bernoldi 11 TBA
19 TBA
21 TBA
22 Servià
28 TBA
29 Figge
24 Perera
34 TBA
Long Beach - Houston - Laguna Seca - Zolder - Jerez - Cleveland - Mont-Tremblant - Toronto - Edmonton - Portland - Road America - Assen - Surfers Paradise - Mexico City