FAZZT Race Team was an auto racing team started by Montreal entrepreneur Andre Azzi, race car driver

Alex Tagliani Alexandre Tagliani (; born October 18, 1973), nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, driving the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro for 22 Racing. Tagliani has competed in a variety ...

, and former

Kelley Racing Kelley Racing is a former Indy Racing League team founded by Fort Wayne, Indiana-based car dealer Tom Kelley that fielded a Delphi sponsored car for Scott Sharp during its entire existence from 1998 to 2004. The team was based in Indianapolis and ...

co-owner Jim Freudenberg (thus Freudenberg, Azzi, Tagliani).

Team history

The team's history can be traced to Freudenberg and

Jason Priestley Jason Bradford Priestley (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian actor and television director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–1998, 2000), as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick in t ...

's Rubicon Race Team fielding an entry into the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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 ...

with veteran driver

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 ...

on March 4 of that year. The car was prepared by the

Sam Schmidt Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren (competing as Arrow McLaren due to sponsorship) is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. After a series of partnerships and name ...

crew. However, Papis crashed the car during the morning warm up of the third day of qualifying and while the car was repaired for the final day of qualifying, the team failed to find speed and struggled with gearbox problems during Bump Day and failed to make the field. For the 2009 season, after a failed attempt to field a car with Pacific Coast Motorsports the group was renamed Rubicon Sports Agency and partnered with

Conquest Racing Conquest Racing is an auto racing team that competed in the IndyCar Series and the Atlantic Championship. Formerly it competed in the Champ Car World Series. History It is owned by former series competitor Éric Bachelart. The team ran in Indy Li ...

to field driver

for a partial schedule. Both Rubicon and Tagliani left Conquest after the 2009 Rexall Edmonton Indy. It was announced on August 28, 2009 that Azzi Race Division, ATG, and Rubicon Sports Agency would be fielding a full-time

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 ...

team beginning in 2010. The combined group purchased all the equipment of

Roth Racing Roth Racing was a race team owned by Canadian real estate magnate and racecar driver Marty Roth. It competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. 2004-2005 The team was founded in 2004 when Marty Roth purchased the Indy Pro Series equip ...

including four Dallara chassis and has signed driver

to a four-year contract with an option for a fifth year.

Walker Racing Walker Racing was a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. It last competed in the United SportsCar Championship under the name of Team Falken Tire until Falken Tire pulled out of not o ...

veteran Rob Edwards was signed as team manager with Andre Azzi as CEO and Jim Freudenberg as COO. The team's race shop is in Indianapolis with a proposed additional R&D facility and offices located in Montreal. The team has started a development program for Canadian drivers. In 2010

Maryeve Dufault Maryeve Dufault (born February 16, 1982) is a Canadian professional racing driver, model, and advertising spokeswoman. She has raced in the Skip Barber, Formula BMW, Formula Renault, Star Mazda, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, ARCA Racing Series and ...

was announced as the first driver signed to the team's development program.Sam Schmidt Motorsports
In June 2010, General Manager Rob Edwards took over the role of COO when Freudenberg left the team and ownership group to pursue another business venture. The team completed the entire 2010 season with Tagliani in the number 77 car with sponsorship from

Bowers & Wilkins Bowers & Wilkins, commonly known as B&W, is a British company that produces consumer and professional loudspeakers and headphones. B&W was founded in 1966 by John Bowers in Worthing, West Sussex, England. In October 2020, B&W was acquired by ...

. Tagliani finished 13th in points with a best finish of fourth at the

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regio ...

, where he also led the most laps.

Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early c ...

drove a second car for the team in the

2010 Indianapolis 500 The 94th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 30, 2010. It was the 15th Indy 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and was the premier event of the 2010 IndyCar Series season, 2010 IZ ...

and was the fastest second-day qualifier, but he crashed early in the race and was credited with 32nd. Tagliani qualified for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 on the second row in fifth spot and finished 10th. For 2011,

bought the assets of FAZZT and retained all of the personnel including Tagliani. The team effectively did not run for 2011.

Racing Results

Complete 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 ...

)

References

External links

FAZZT Race Team official website
{{IndyCar Series teams American auto racing teams IndyCar Series teams Auto racing teams established in 2009 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2011