Forsythe/Pettit Racing

Forsythe/Pettit Racing
Founded	1982
Team principal(s)	Gerald Forsythe
Former series	Champ Car World Series Indy Lights Champ Car Atlantic Championship
Noted drivers	Paul Tracy David Martínez Franck Montagny
Drivers' Championships	Champ Car World Series 2003 Paul Tracy Indy Lights 1995 Greg Moore 1996 David Empringham Atlantic Championship 1998 Lee Bentham
Folded	2007

Bryan Herta's #77 Forsythe Reynard at Rockingham Motor Speedway in 2001

Forsythe/Pettit Racing was 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.

History

1981–1985

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

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

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, "Tags" would score three poles, five podiums, but no wins so Alex was replaced by veteran Paul Tracy for the 2003 season. 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 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 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 3 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

The Forsythe team and its derivatives have amassed 37 CART and Champ Car victories and single championship in 2003 with Canadian Paul Tracy.

Drivers who competed for Forsythe

A. J. Allmendinger (2006)
Patrick Carpentier (1998–2004)
Kevin Cogan (1984)
Mario Domínguez (2005–2007)
Corrado Fabi (1984)
Teo Fabi (1983–1984, 1995)
Memo Gidley (2000)
Bryan Herta (2000–2001)
Howdy Holmes (1985)
Tony Kanaan (1999)
Rodolfo Lavin (2004)
David Martínez (2006–2008)
Franck Montagny (2008)
Greg Moore (1996–1999)
Jan Lammers (1985)
John Paul, Jr. (1985)
Héctor Rebaque (1982)
Buddy Rice (2006)
Oriol Servià (2007)
Danny Sullivan (1982)
Alex Tagliani (2000–2002)
Paul Tracy (2003–2008)
Al Unser, Jr. (1982)
Jacques Villeneuve (1994)

Racing results

Complete CART / Champ Car World Series results

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

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
1982	March 82C	Cosworth DFX V8 t			PHX	ATL	MIL	CLE	MCH	MIL	POC	RIV	ROA	MCH	PHX
			Héctor Rebaque	32		13	DNS	18	25	DNP		20	1
			Danny Sullivan	33		3	21
			Al Unser, Jr.	33								5
1983	March 83C	Cosworth DFX V8 t			ATL	INDY	MIL	CLE	MCH	ROA	POC	RIV	MDO	MCH	CPL	LAG	PHX
1983	March 83C	Cosworth DFX V8 t	Teo Fabi	33	20	26	4	3	15	15	1*	2	1*	3	25	1*	1*
1984	March 84C	Cosworth DFX V8 t			LBH	PHX	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	PHX	LAG	CPL
			Teo Fabi	33	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	3	Ret	13
			Kevin Cogan									8	10	DNQ
	Lola T800		Corrado Fabi												Ret	10		6		Ret
	Lola T800		Kenneth Acheson																DNQ
1985	Lola T900	Cosworth DFX V8 t			LBH	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	LAG	PHX	MIA
			Jan Lammers	32													5	20
			Jan Lammers	33															13
			Howdy Holmes	33	14	10	11	17	13	22	9	10	21	16	21	18	DNS
1995	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8 t			MIA	SFR	PHX	LBH	NAZ	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	ROA	TOR	CLE	MCH	MDO	NHA	VAN	LAG
1995	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8 t	Teo Fabi	33	16	13	7	3	7	8	4	7	23	9	4	19	4	17	12	19	9
1996	Reynard 96i	Mercedes-Benz IC108C V8 t			MIA	RIO	SFR	LBH	NAZ	500	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG
1996	Reynard 96i	Mercedes-Benz IC108C V8 t	Greg Moore	99	7	18	3	22	2	13	5	20	25	3	4	17	9	23	25	6
1997	Reynard 97i	Mercedes-Benz IC108D V8 t			MIA	SFR	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	FON
1997	Reynard 97i	Mercedes-Benz IC108D V8 t	Greg Moore	99	4	2	23	16	2	13	1*	1	5	24	23	27	2	18	17	24	13
1998	Reynard 98i	Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8 t			MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SFR	FON
			Patrick Carpentier	33	11	19	28	13	17	15	25	15	9	9	25	8	7	28	27	17	22	9	26
			Greg Moore	99	2	4	6	3	1	3	13	5	27	25	11	1	22	21	20	21	26	8	2
1999	Reynard 99i	Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8 t			MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	POR	CLE	ROA	TOR	MCH	DET	MDO	CHI	VAN	LAG	HOU	SRF	FON
			Patrick Carpentier	33	7	26	17	14	6	22	9	9	7	22	11	10	23		6	2	9	19	24	25
			Greg Moore	99	1*	4	8	12	8	6	2	13	18	4	20	23	3	11	26	20	23	16	17	26
		Honda HRS V8 t	Tony Kanaan	44	21	6	22*	23	5	7	18	15	22	6	17	1	6	23	11	9	21	9	6	8
2000	Reynard 2Ki	Ford XF V8 t			MIA	LBH	RIO	MOT	NAZ	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	GAT	HOU	SRF	FON
			Patrick Carpentier	32	5				21	3	5	10	5	7	4	14	7	21	24	9	2	19	5	14
			Memo Gidley	32		21	8	18
			Alex Tagliani	33	9	4	13*	15	19	22	6	13	16	5	16	9	9	14*	18	23	14	16	22	6
2001	Reynard 01i	Ford XF V8 t			MTY	LBH	NAZ	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LAG	SRF	FON
			Patrick Carpentier	32	25	23	25	19	17	8	5	26	21	1	2	3	9	16	3	16	10	26	11	10
			Alex Tagliani	33	21	18	22	22	12	21	12	9	2	6	6	7	8	23*	21	14	19	15	3	3
			Bryan Herta	77	16	10	21	21	22	15	14	3	18	5	21	25	24	17	27	15	13	12	18	25
2002	Reynard 02i	Ford XF V8 t			MTY	LBH	MOT	MIL	LAG	POR	CHI	TOR	CLE	VAN	MDO	ROA	MTL	DEN	ROC	MIA	SFR	FON	MXC
			Patrick Carpentier	32	7	19	4	15	5	5	16	10	1*	5	1*	7	15	17	3	16	2	3	4
			Alex Tagliani	33	5	16	2	19	10	12	7	7	5	7	7	2	11	12	18	4	6	8	10
2003	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t			STP	MTY	LBH	BRH	LAU	MIL	LAG	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	MDO	MTL	DEN	MIA	MXC	SFR
			Paul Tracy	3	1*	1*	1	17	12	12	3	2*	2*	1*	1*	15	1*	6	4	16	1*	13
			Patrick Carpentier	32	8	8	6	5	7	3	1*	16	4	7	13	5	2	3	17	6	14	5
2004	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t			LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	DEN	MTL	LAG	LSV	SFR	MXC
			Paul Tracy	1	1*	7	17	3	17	5	1*	12	2*	4	10	18	4*	10
			Rodolfo Lavín	3	10	13	9	18	9	14	15	2	11	11	12	4	15	13
			Patrick Carpentier	7	4	4	2	4	16	3	16	14	9	2	1*	3	16	6
2005	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t			LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	LSV	SRF	MXC
			Paul Tracy	3	2	15	1*	3	1*	16	3	2	16*	8	17*	17	3
			Mario Domínguez	7	5	13	7	4	17	13	5	5	2	10	4	18	12
2006	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t			LBH	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA	SRF	MXC
			Paul Tracy	3	17	2	4	16	7	16	2	5	15	6	2	10	4
			David Martínez	3														9
			Mario Domínguez	7	4	3*	6	14
			A. J. Allmendinger						1*	1*	1*	3	7	1*	17	1	16
			Buddy Rice															10
2007	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE V8 t			LSV	LBH	HOU	POR	CLE	MTT	TOR	EDM	SJO	ROA	ZOL	ASN	SFR	MXC
			Paul Tracy	3	3			10	1	15	14	5	11	12	10	17	9	5
			Oriol Servià	3		2	4
			Oriol Servià	7				11	7	9	10*	6	3*	4	6	8
			Mario Domínguez		9	17	6
			David Martínez														10	14

Complete IndyCar Series results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
2008	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE V8 t			HMS	STP	MOT	LBH	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF¹
			Paul Tracy	3				11
			Franck Montagny	7				2
			David Martínez	37				8

¹ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

References

↑ 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

Official website (dead link)

2008 Champ Car season
NHL	Forsythe/Pettit	Minardi	Australia	Rocketsports	Coyne	PKV	PCM	Conquest
1 Wilson 2 Rahal	3 Tracy 7 TBA	4 TBA 14 Doornbos	5 Power 15 TBA	8 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

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