Cheever Racing was an auto racing team founded in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Eddie Cheever Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 years in Formula One, sports cars, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 Formula One World Championship ...

as Team Cheever in the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

. They fielded a car for Cheever for much of its existence, but occasionally ran two cars, almost always for the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

. The team won the 1998

with Cheever driving and then switched to

Infiniti is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. Infiniti officially started selling vehicles on November 8, 1989, in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti-branded vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in ...

engines and gained sponsorship from

Excite Excitation, excite, exciting, or excitement may refer to: * Excitation (magnetic), provided with an electrical generator or alternator * Excite Ballpark, located in San Jose, California * Excite (web portal), web portal owned by IAC * Electron ex ...

for

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. The team continued to be moderately successful and gained Infiniti's first series win. When Infiniti left the series in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

the team, which by then was sponsored by

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

switched to

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

engines and then switched to

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, after Chevrolet's departure. Despite some of the most talented drivers in the league, a long string of bad luck and underpowered engines rendered the team little more than mid-pack. With no sponsor for the 2006 season, Eddie decided to trim the team to a single car and return to the cockpit as both a cost-cutting move and to seize the opportunity to return to racing before he felt he got too old to be competitive. Cheever only committed to drive until the

but continued until the 8th race of the season. The IRL operation shut down after the

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...

race when it could not find a sponsor or

pay driver A pay driver is a driver for a professional auto racing team who, instead of being paid by the owner of their car, drives for free and brings with them either personal sponsorship or personal or family funding to finance the team's operations. Th ...

to continue. Cheever Racing also ran a Daytona Prototype car in the

Grand-Am Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

. In 2007 Cheever purchased the intellectual property rights to the Fabcar chassis and has renewed its development and begun offering the chassis to other teams in the series. The car was subsequently renamed the Coyote chassis, in tribute to the racing cars built in the 1970s by

A. J. Foyt Enterprises A. J. Foyt Racing, officially and historically known as A. J. Foyt Enterprises, is an American racing team in the IndyCar Series and formerly NASCAR. It is owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, 1972 Daytona 500 winner, 1967 24 Hours of Le ...

.Cheever Group Revives A.J. Foyt's Coyote Chassis Brand
, A.J. Foyt Racing News Releases, January 3, 2008 Cheever Racing did not field any entries for the 2009 Rolex 24 at Daytona. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Cheever also founded an

Indy Pro Series Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

team. In 2006 its car was driven by

Chris Festa Chris Festa, born in Atlanta on September 5, 1985, is an American auto racing driver. Festa raced the #9 Dallara for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Indy Pro Series in 2007. He also served as Target Chip Ganassi Racing's development driver where he ...

. Their driver for the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

season was

Richard Antinucci Richard Antinucci (born January 26, 1981) is an American race car driver. Career In 1998 he competed in Italian Formula Ford, moving to the British Formula Renault Winter Series in 1999 and to Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup in 2000, where he st ...

, Eddie's nephew, who captured two wins on a part-time schedule.

Drivers who have driven for Cheever

IRL IndyCar Series

* Alex Barron (2003–2005) * Ed Carpenter (2004) *

Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier (born August 13, 1971) is a retired Canadian professional auto racing driver. In the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series, he achieved five wins and 24 podiums, as well as two third place championship finishes in 2002 ...

(2005) *

(1996–2002, 2006) *

Tomáš Enge Tomáš Enge (; born 11 September 1976) is a Czech former professional racing driver who has competed in many classes of motorsport, including three races in Formula One. He has twice been sanctioned professionally for drug offences. Career Born ...

(2006) *

Wim Eyckmans Wim Eyckmans (born 23 March 1973, Herentals, Belgium) is a Belgian racecar driver who starting in karting in 1986 has been in prototype racing since 2003. He participated in Formula 3000 in 1994 and 1995 and ran the Indy Lights series in 1998. ...

(1999) *

Scott Goodyear Scott Goodyear (born December 20, 1959) is a Canadian former race car driver. He ran the Indy Racing League and Champ Car series during his career from 1987, winning the Michigan 500 in 1992 and 1994. Goodyear qualified for eleven runnings of th ...

(2001) *

Robby McGehee Robby McGehee (born July 20, 1973) is an American former race car driver. He competed in the Indy Racing League and won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award in 1999 after finishing fifth. He then raced for veteran owner Fred Treadway the ...

(2002) *

Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...

(2002, 2006) *

Buddy Rice Buddy Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American former race car driver. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona for Brumos Racing. Career Early years ...

(2002–2003) *

Tomas Scheckter Tomas Scheckter (born 21 September 1980) is a South African former racing driver best known for his time in the IndyCar Series. Early years Scheckter was born in Monte Carlo to 1979 Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter and his first wife ...

(2002) *

Robby Unser Robby Unser (born January 12, 1968) is an American former Indy Racing League driver and nine-time winner of the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. He was the IRL rookie of the year in 1998. Robby made two starts in the Indianapolis 500 with a best ...

(1998) * Jeff Ward (1997)

Indy Pro Series

(2007) *

(2006)

Grand Am

Fabio Babini Fabio Babini (born 3 November 1969) is an Italian professional racing driver. Born in Faenza, Babini competed in the FIA GT Championship from 2000 until 2004 and in one race of the American Le Mans Series each year from 2001 to 2003. From 1990 ...

(2008) *

Matteo Bobbi Matteo Bobbi (born 2 July 1978 in Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

(2008) * Harrison Brix (2007) *

(2006) *

(2006–2007) *

Emmanuel Collard Emmanuel Collard (born 3 April 1971) is a French professional racing driver. He is a former member of the Porsche Junioren factory team, but also drives for other marques. Born in Arpajon, Essonne, Collard is the winner of the Le Mans Series f ...

(2007) *

Tommy Erdos Thomas "Tommy" Erdos (born 30 October 1963) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He has raced for most of his career in Great Britain and Europe, where he currently resides in Buckinghamshire England with his partner Sheila. He has three childre ...

(2007–2008) *

Christian Fittipaldi Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and parti ...

(2006–2008) * Antonio García (2008) *

Stefan Johansson Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...

(2006) *

Tom Kimber-Smith Tom Kimber-Smith (born 1 November 1984 in Ascot, Berkshire) is a British race car driver. He is currently driving the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca FLM09 in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship PC class with Robert Alon. He has enj ...

(2008) *

Lucas Luhr Lucas Luhr (born 22 July 1979) is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. Early career Born in Mülheim-Kärlich, Luhr ...

(2006) *

Sascha Maassen Sascha Maassen (born 28 September 1969 in Aachen, Germany) is a veteran sports car driver. Early career Maassen began his career in karts, and moved to cars in 1989, in Formula Ford 1600. During the early 1990s, he raced in the German Formula 3 s ...

(2007) * Scott Mayer (2008) * Mike Newton (2007–2008) *

Hoover Orsi Hoover Orsi Pereira Martins (born May 16, 1978 in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul) is a Brazilian race car driver. He began his professional career in 1998 in the European Formula Renault series where he captured 4th place. He returned to Sout ...

(2006) *

Stephane Ortelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece) A stephane (''ancient Greek'' στέφανος, from ''στέφω'' (stéphō, “I encircle”), '' Lat.'' Stephanus = wreath, decorative wreath worn on the head ...

(2008) *

Brent Sherman Brent Sherman (born May 24, 1974) is an American professional racing driver who competed in the ARCA Racing Series, NASCAR, and the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Racing career Sherman's route to NASCAR was not like that of most drivers. After hi ...

(2008)

Racing results

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) # The 1999

VisionAire 500K The VisionAire 500K was an Indy Racing League race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1997 to 1999. During the 1999 event, three spectators were killed when debris from a crash on the track went into the grandstands. The race was stopped and c ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities.

Complete Indy Pro Series results

(

)

IndyCar wins

References

{{IndyCar Series teams IndyCar Series teams Indy Lights teams Grand American Road Racing Association teams American auto racing teams Red Bull sports teams