Forsythe/Pettit Racing was an American racing team that competed in the

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

owned by

Gerald Forsythe Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

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 Lee E. Brayton (August 13, 1933 – April 30, 2022) was an American racing driver from Coldwater, Michigan. He competed in the USAC Championship Car series from 1972 to 1975, making 16 starts with the best finish of 10th three times (twice at Mic ...

's entry for his son Scott in 1981. Forsythe later started his own team, racing in CART part-time in 1982 with

Héctor Rebaque Héctor Alonso Rebaque (born 5 February 1956) is a Mexican former racing driver who raced in Formula One and CART IndyCar in the 1970s and 1980s. He also ran for his own Formula One team called Rebaque in 1978 and 1979. Racing career Rebaque par ...

and

Danny Sullivan Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Champions ...

who drove for the team in the

1982 Indianapolis 500 The 66th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 30, 1982. Gordon Johncock, who had previously won the rain-shortened 1973 race, was the winner. Polesitter Rick Mears finished second by a m ...

and finished 13th and 14th, respectively. Later that season Rebaque won at

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Champ ...

. Before Indy, Sullivan finished third at

Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series ...

. Also that season

Al Unser Jr. Alfred Unser Jr. (born April 19, 1962), nicknamed "Little Al", "Al Junior", or simply "Junior", is a retired American race car driver and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. History Unser was born into a racing family in Albuquerque, New Mexic ...

made his CART debut for the team at

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Riverside ...

and finished fifth. Moderate success continued from 1983 to 1985, most notably with rookie driver

Teo Fabi Teodorico Fabi (born 9 March 1955) is an Italian former racing driver. He competed in Formula One and sports car racing, and claimed pole position in his rookie year at the 1983 Indianapolis 500. Teo is the older brother of former Formula One d ...

who won four races in 1983, and started on the

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

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 Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve ( born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams. In addition to Formula One (F1) he has competed in various ot ...

and Canadian cigarette sponsor Player's LTD to his new Team Green and won the 1995

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 ...

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 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

. Moore would drive with Forsythe for the five seasons in total, one in

Indy Lights 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 ...

where he would win 10 of 12 races, and four in

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...

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 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 ...

to the all-Canadian squad. Carpentier would drive for Forsythe through 2004 when he was hired by

Cheever Racing Cheever Racing was an auto racing team founded in 1996 by Eddie Cheever as Team Cheever in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. They fielded a car for Cheever for much of its existence, but occasionally ran two cars, almost always for the Indianap ...

of the rival

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 ...

for 2005. Patrick captured five wins with the team. For 2000, Forsythe tabbed rookie

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 ...

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 Paul Anthony Tracy (born December 17, 1968) is a Canadian-American former professional auto racing driver who competed in CART, the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series. He is known by the nicknames "PT" and "the Thrill from West Hill" ...

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 Mario Domínguez (born December 1, 1975, in Mexico City) is a Mexican racing driver. He has competed in the CART and CCWS Champ Car series and later the IndyCar Series. Early career Domínguez first began racing in 1987 driving go-karts. H ...

, who had replaced Carpentier, was fired mid-season and Forsythe brought in displaced American

A. J. Allmendinger Anthony James "A. J." Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger's professi ...

. 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 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Nextel Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

with

Team Red Bull Red Bull Racing Team, also known as Team Red Bull, was a NASCAR team owned by Red Bull founders Dietrich Mateschitz and Chaleo Yoovidhya. The team was based in Mooresville, North Carolina in the United States and was managed by Jay Frye. The te ...

. Forsythe would later announce Dominguez's return to his team on March 30. Dominguez, however, was replaced by

Oriol Servià Oriol Servià i Imbers (born 13 July 1974) is a Spanish racing driver who competes part-time in the IndyCar Series. He raced for Dragon Racing in the 2014–15 Formula E season, and left the series prior to the 2015 Miami ePrix to become man ...

on a race by race basis until Servia was hired full-time. For the 2008 season, Jerry Forsythe and former

RuSPORT RuSPORT was an auto racing team that competed in the Champ Car World Series. It was founded in September 2002 by Carl Russo. Team history Russo drove for the team then known as Performance Development and Racing (PDR) based in Fort Collins, Colo ...

owner Dan Pettit, were to merge their teams into Forsythe/Pettit Racing to field at least two cars. However, changes brought about the unification of open wheel racing into the

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 ...

. 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 The Panoz DP01 is an open-wheel car that was produced by Élan Motorsport Technologies at Braselton, Georgia, United States. It was developed for use in the 2007 Champ Car World Series season, replacing the aging de facto-spec Lola chassis. The ...

chassis in the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. 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.Phillips, David
Forsythe plan IRL and ALMS for '09
''Autosport.com'', July 19, 2008 However, Forsythe never fielded any entries in either series.

Statistics

The Forsythe team and its derivatives have amassed 34 CART and Champ Car victories and single championship 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 ...

with Canadian

Drivers who competed for Forsythe

(2006) *

(1998–2004) *

Kevin Cogan John Kevin Cogan (born in Culver City, California on March 31, 1956) is a former race car driver who drove in Formula One from to . Driving a RAM Williams in the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix, he failed to qualify, suffering the same result driving f ...

(1984) *

(2005–2007) *

Corrado Fabi Corrado Fabi (born 12 April 1961) is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in 18 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 13 March 1983, scoring no championship points. He was the 1982 European Formula Two Champion driving a March Engin ...

(1984) *

(1983–1984, 1995) *

Memo Gidley José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican-born racing driver, of German and Canadian ancestry, born in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico on September 29, 1970. He holds dual citizenship - American and Mexican. In his early years, he sold his a ...

(2000) *

Bryan Herta Bryan John Herta (born May 23, 1970) is an American former race car driver. He currently runs his own team, Bryan Herta Autosport in the NTT IndyCar Series. His team won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with driver Dan Wheldon and the 2016 Indianapol ...

(2000–2001) *

Howdy Holmes Howdy Holmes (born December 14, 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a former racing driver in the CART Championship Car series. He began racing in the early 1970s and was based in Stockbridge, Michigan, about southeast from downtown Lansing and ...

(1985) *

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed TK, is a Brazilian racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 6 Toyota Corolla E210 for Full Time Bassani a ...

(1999) * Rodolfo Lavin (2004) * David Martínez (2006–2008) *

Franck Montagny Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a retired French professional racing driver. He briefly raced for the Super Aguri Formula One team in 2006. Early career Born in Feurs, Loire, Montagny started racing karts there in 1988, winning the cade ...

(2008) * Greg Moore (1996–1999) *

Jan Lammers Jan Lammers (Johannes Antonius Lammers, Zandvoort, 2 June 1956) is a racing driver from the Netherlands whose most notable claim to fame is victory in the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours for Silk Cut Jaguar/ TWR, next to a four-season spell in Formula One ...

(1985) * John Paul Jr. (1985) *

(1982) *

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 ...

(2006) *

(2007) *

(1982) *

(2000–2002) *

(2003–2008) *

(1982) *

(1994) *

Lee Bentham Lee Bentham (born July 27, 1970) is a Canadian former racing driver from Richmond Hill, Ontario. In 1990 and 1992 he competed in the Formula K karting World Championship series. He moved to cars in the Toyota Atlantic series in 1995 in a succes ...

(1997-1999)

Racing results

Complete CART / Champ Car World 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 ...

) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) # The

Firestone Firehawk 600 The Firestone Firehawk 600 was a CART series auto race scheduled for April 29, 2001 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was scheduled for 248 laps around the oval at TMS. However, it was postponed and ultimately ca ...

was canceled after qualifying due to excessive

g-forces The gravitational force equivalent, or, more commonly, g-force, is a measurement of the type of force per unit mass – typically acceleration – that causes a perception of weight, with a g-force of 1 g (not gram in mass measure ...

on the drivers.

Complete IndyCar Series results

(

) # Run to

specifications. # Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Indy car wins

* Note: this does not include the win achieved by

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

as a driver of Forsythe-Green Racing.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forsythe Pettit Racing Champ Car teams American auto racing teams Indy Lights teams Atlantic Championship teams IndyCar Series teams Auto racing teams established in 1982 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2008 Red Bull sports teams