Intersport Racing is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

team founded by Jon Field. The team was based in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. They previously operated two

Oreca FLM09 The Le Mans Prototype Challenge (shortened to LMP Challenge or LMPC) was a spec racing, spec sports prototype formula created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and sports car racing, sports car constr ...

sports cars in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

. At current, the company has transitioned into diet supplements.

History

Beginnings

The team was founded in 1998 by

IMSA GT Championship IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada. History The series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop, and Bill F ...

driver Jon Field. Pickett bought a

Riley & Scott Mk III The Riley & Scott Mark III (Mk III) was a sports prototype auto racing car developed by Bob Riley, Bill Riley, and Mark Scott of Riley & Scott Cars Inc. Initially designed in 1993, the car was created for the World Sports Car (WSC) category whic ...

and raced it in the WSC class. Car number 28 made its début at the 1998 12 Hours of Sebring with Field joined by

Butch Brickell William "Butch" Brickell (April 18, 1957 – October 13, 2003) was an American racing driver and stuntman from Miami, Florida. He was the great-grandson of Miami co-founder William Brickell. Racing career As a racer, Brickell participated in the 2 ...

and

Rick Sutherland Rick Sutherland (5 November 1960 – 10 February 2015 ) was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Austra ...

but retired after 173 laps. The team finished fourth in the WSC standings. 1999 saw the birth of the

. Intersport entered the 1999 season with a brand new Ford powered

Lola B98/10 The Lola B98/10 was a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola Cars, Lola Cars International for use in the FIA Sportscar Championship, International Sports Racing Series, American Le Mans Series, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. It would be the first internat ...

chassis, although Intersport did use a

for some events. The team raced in the LMP class for the season and team principal Jon Field recruited

Ryan Jones Ryan Paul Jones (born 13 March 1981) is a Wales former international rugby union player who played at number eight, blindside flanker or second row. He was involved in three Grand Slam wins, in 2005, as captain in 2008, and 2012. He is one ...

and

Chris Goodwin Stephen Christopher Goodwin (10 March 1967) is a British auto racing driver. Currently he works as Expert High Performance Test Driver for Aston Martin. Additionally he manages the racing career of Bruno Senna and continues to race in Internat ...

for the first round of the season at Sebring. The car finished 19th overall and eleventh in class. The team did not score any podiums afterwards and did get some points finishes. Intersport finished ninth in the teams championship. 2000 saw Intersport remain in the top LMP class in

ALMS Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...

with a brand new

Lola B2K/10 The Lola B2K/10 was a Le Mans Prototype developed in 2000 by Lola Cars International for use in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series, Grand American Road Racing Championship, and Sports Racing World Cup. It was a replacement for th ...

chassis to be raced in every round with the exception of the Sebring round where the team would race the B98/10 of the previous year. Intersport also raced in the Grand-Am Road Racing Championship with the same cars as raced in ALMS. Field drove mainly in 2000 with

Oliver Gavin Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972), is a British racing driver who joined Corvette Racing in 2002. He has won five American Le Mans Series class championships, five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, five 12 Hours of Sebring class win ...

and Rick Sutherland. They did pick up an impressive second-place finish at the

Watkins Glen 6 Hours The Six Hours of Watkins Glen (currently sponsored as the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen) is a sports car endurance race held annually at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. The race dates from 1948, and has been a part of the ...

. Intersport finished seventh in the Grand-Am teams championship, whilst finishing sixth in the ALMS.

2001

2001 saw Intersport earning success, particularly in

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. ...

where Intersport won two events in the season in the top SRP class, winning at

Mid-Ohio 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 ...

and

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

in the

- Judd. Oliver Gavin was once again Jon Field's team mate for the season. For

duties, Jon gave his son Clint Field an opportunity to race alongside his father. Jon switched between Clint and Rick Sutherland throughout the season. Racing the same Lola-Judd in Grand-Am, the car did finish in the points but did not pick up any wins or podiums due to tough competition from Audi Sport who race in the LMP900 class with Intersport. The team finished sixth in the teams championship out of eight teams. Intersport did well in Grand-Am, finishing fourth in the teams championship and Jon Field, fourth in the drivers.

2002 - ALMS Success

For 2002, Intersport left Grand-Am and focused on

. The dropped down to LMP675, the lowest Le Mans Prototype class, purchasing an

MG-Lola EX257 The MG-Lola EX257 (sometimes referred to as simply MG EX257) is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola for the MG car company for their attempt to compete again at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in . The car has had many years of mixed success since its in ...

Duncan Dayton Duncan Dayton (born April 28, 1959 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an entrepreneur, former racing driver and racing team owner. Dayton raced in various formula racing and sportscar racing series. Currently, Dayton is the owner of Highcroft Racing. ...

, Michael Durand and Clint Field were his team mates during certain events over the season. LMP675 cars at first tended to be quite unreliable but at the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second round ...

, the Intersport Lola did very well, finishing seventh overall and by far the winning LMP675 car. The next nearest LMP675 finisher finished 25th overall, 62 laps behind. Intersport picked up two more victories after Sebring, the first at the Grand Prix of Washington D.C. and at

Petit Le Mans The Petit Le Mans ( French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which a ...

. It was evident that the car is more suited for endurance racing rather than three hour "sprint" races. Intersport finished second in the teams championship, losing out by a point to KnightHawk Racing who used almost the same AER-powered MG-Lola car as Intersport. In the drivers championship, Jon Field took that crown, 15 points ahead of second place Ben Devlin of Archangel Motorsports.

2003 - 2004

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 ...

saw little change in the Intersport camp as they stuck with the championship winning MG-Lola of 2002. They did also enter a car in the LMP900 class, racing a Judd-powered

chassis for the first half of the season then switching to a Riley & Scott Mk III C with an

Élan Elan Corporation plc was a major drugs firm based in Dublin, Ireland, which had major interests in the United States. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ELN, the Irish Stock Exchange as ELN.I, and the London Stock Exchange as ELN. ...

engine. The first round at Sebring was a mixed reaction in the team with the LMP675 car finishing second in class in the hands of Jon Field, Dayton and Durand but the LMP900 car of Clint Field, Sutherland and

John Macaluso John Macaluso (born January 21, 1968) is an American drummer who has played for bands such as Ark, TNT, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Born in Commack, New York, Macaluso started playing drums at age 11. He has recorded over 200 records and played multi ...

retired but was disqualified anyway for receiving outside assistance while still on the race course. Round two at

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

saw the LMP675 MG-Lola win in class, narrowly ahead of the similar

Dyson Racing Team Dyson Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Poughkeepsie, New York in the United States. Founded by Rob Dyson in 1974, the team competed successfully in North American sports car racing series, including the IMSA GT Champions ...

. Intersport also finished third place overall. Intersport took another class victory at the

Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

, finishing narrowly ahead of the LMP900 class car. In October, the team returned to

for the

which saw the MG-Lola replaced with an all new Lola B01/60. The AER two litre turbo powerplant was replaced by a naturally aspirated 3.4 litre Judd V8. It was successful, with Dayton, Jon Field and

Larry Connor Larry Connor (January 7, 1950) is an American real estate and technology business person, as well as a space tourist. Connor is the head of the Connor Group, a real estate investment firm located in Dayton, Ohio. Education Born in 1950 in Alb ...

winning in the LMP675 class. Intersport finished second in the LMP675 teams championship and fifth in LMP900. 2003 was the teams début at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

. They used the MG-Lola that was used during most of the ALMS season. They qualified second fastest in the LMP675 class behind RN Motorsports Ltd. The car retired with engine problems after 107 laps. The 2004 American Le Mans Series season was quite similar to 2003. They used two cars throughout the season, a Lola B01/60 and Riley & Scott Mk III C in the LMP1 class and a

Lola B2K/40 The Lola B2K/40 was a Le Mans Prototype developed in 2000 by Lola Cars International as a cheaper, smaller, and lighter alternative to the similar Lola B2K/10. Although specifically designed to compete in the SR2 class of the Sports Racing Worl ...

in the LMP2 class. It was LMP2 that was most successful for Intersport. They won six of the nine events, however the races they did not win, they did not finish at all which cost them the teams championship in the end, losing out to Miracle Motorsports. LMP1 saw very little success for Intersport, apart from second place at the

Road America 500 The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America (formerly the Road America 500) is a sports car racing, sports car race held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The event began in 1950, and in 1951 was added to the SCCA National S ...

. They finished fourth in the LMP1 teams championship. The two LMP1 and LMP2 cars ran at that year's Le Mans 24 Hours. The LMP1 car was driven by Jon Field, Duncan Dayton and Larry Connor and the LMP2 car was driven by Clint Field, Rick Sutherland and William Binnie. The LMP1 car took an early exit, crashing out after 29 laps but the LMP2 car was successful, winning in class, although it was second last overall of the classified finishers.

2005 - Driver and Team Glory

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 ...

saw Telesis Intersport Racing ran two LMP2 cars at the

before opting to race one car for the full season. Car No. 30 was a

- Judd that was to be used just for Sebring and car 37 was a brand new

Lola B05/40 The Lola B05/40 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola Cars International for use in the LMP2 class for the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Developed in 2005, it was intended as a replacement for both the Lola B ...

- AER which would be used for the full season. Both cars retired at Sebring before father and son, Jon and Clint won the next round in the LMP2 class at

. Jon only raced some events in 2005 to let Clint attempt to repeat Jon's 2002 LMP2 winning ways, with help from various team mates such as

Liz Halliday Elisabeth Halliday (born December 14, 1978) is an American equestrian, race-car driver and commentator. She was born in San Diego, California, and currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky. Before becoming a full-time equestrian, Halliday was the m ...

and

Gregor Fisken Gregor Fisken is a British racing driver and businessman (born 28 September 1964) who currently races historic and modern-day sportscars. He is one of only a handful of racing drivers to have driven in all four classes (LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2) ...

. They won four rounds after Road Atlanta, their most impressive win was on their return to Road Atlanta at the

. 2005 is considered to be Intersport's most successful year. They won the teams championship in LMP2 with 133 points, 16 points ahead of Miracle Motorsports. Clint Field won the LMP2 drivers championship, racing every race for Intersport in 2005, with Jon finishing in fifth.

2006

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 ...

was a tough year for Intersport with the arrival of

Penske Racing Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organiza ...

and the

Porsche RS Spyder The RS Spyder (Type 9R6) is a racing car designed by Porsche in conjunction with Penske to compete in Le Mans Prototype Class 2 (LMP2) racing. The car takes its name from the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder of the 1950s (combined with Porsche's co ...

. The Porsche was very fast and reliable winning overall in some races over LMP1 cars. Clint Field and Liz Halliday were the full season drivers with appearances from Jon Field and Duncan Dayton. The Intersport Lola-AER was very quick at Sebring winning in LMP2 class and finishing second overall, four laps behind Audi's new diesel R10. They won the following round in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

after mechanical problems for the leading Penske Porsche forced it to retire. Penske got the car sorted out and started winning in LMP2. Intersport won just one race after the Texas round which was at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

after the leading Porsche retired due to a battery falling off the car from earlier contact between

Highcroft Racing Highcroft Racing was an American auto racing team based out of Danbury, Connecticut and founded by driver Duncan Dayton in 1989. Initially founded for Dayton's involvement in historic motorsport, specifically the restoration and preparation of cla ...

and part-time Intersport driver Duncan Dayton. Intersport finished second in LMP2 teams championship 34 points behind Penske and an impressive 99 points ahead of third place B-K Motorsports. Interpsport returned to

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

in 2006 with Clint Field, Halliday and Dayton piloting the Lola-AER. Intersport finished 19th overall and fourth in LMP2 class.

2007-2008

2007 saw Intersport return to LMP1 with a brand new

Creation CA06/H Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing *Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it *Creationism, the belief that ...

chassis, powered by a five-litre Judd V10. Unfortunately, Audi Sport North America dominated the LMP1 class with their diesel R10, winning every race in LMP1 class. Their best class finish was second at the

Northeast Grand Prix The Northeast Grand Prix (until 2006: New England Grand Prix) is a professional sports car race held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States as part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Previous editions of the Gran ...

with Jon and Clint joined by Richard Berry. After seven consecutive points finishes, the seventh round at

was the final race in which Intersport scored points. For

, Intersport purchased the ex-Dyson Racing

Lola B06/10 The Lola B06/10 is a Le Mans Prototype developed by Lola Cars International for use in the LMP1 class of the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was developed in 2006 as a replacement for the Lola B2K/10 as wel ...

-AER but this did not help their points drought, retiring at Road Atlanta and in

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Rancho La ...

. The 2008 season saw Intersport race the Lola they debuted at Petit Le Mans in 2007. There was very little competition in LMP1, with no other team racing a full season with the exception of the dominant Audi team and Autocon Motorsports. Intersport did get a win which was at

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

when the initial LMP1 winner, the No. 1 Audi failed post-race inspection as the car was under the minimum weight requirement for its class (900 kg). Jon, Clint and Richard Berry won in LMP1 from 22nd overall. Due to Intersport being the only other decent full season entry apart from Audi, they comfortably finished second in the teams championship in LMP1.

2009-2010

Intersport Lola ALMS 2010 Northeast Grand Prix 02

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

saw

Acura Acura is the luxury vehicle, luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched in the United States and Canada on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. It ...

replace Audi as the dominant LMP1 force as Audi did not enter a full ALMS season, only racing at the long events such as Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Intersport used the same Lola-AER as before. Their best finish was second place at

St. Pete St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. The team finished third in the LMP1 teams championship behind the Acura teams of

and

de Ferran Motorsports De Ferran Motorsports was a motor racing team that competed in the American Le Mans Series. The team was owned by the 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran. On August 7, 2009 de Ferran announced that he would retire from racing at the end of ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

was another unsuccessful season for Intersport with LMP1 and LMP2 merging to form a single LMP class. Intersport used the same Lola-AER that has been plagued with reliability problems but the four litre twin-turbo V8 has shown glimpses of its pace with the car leading overall for a brief period at

before retiring with a turbo problem. The two LMP classes split at the Sebring and Petit Le Mans rounds. At the 2010 Petit Le Mans, Intersport was the surprise package as the mechanically troubled Lola-AER completed the race in fifth overall and fourth in LMP1 class but scored the maximum 30 points as it was the highest placed full season LMP1 entry. The 2010 season saw interesting new changes in classes. One of those was the new Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC) class which was introduced. It was a spec class using the same cars used in

Formula Le Mans The Le Mans Prototype Challenge (shortened to LMP Challenge or LMPC) was a spec sports prototype formula created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and sports car constructor Oreca. The formula is inte ...

. Intersport bought one of these

cars and ran a full season with many different drivers. Intersport finished fourth in the championship.

2011

For the 2011 American Le Mans Series season, Intersport left the B06/10 and used two Oreca FLM09 LMPC cars. The team finished third in the Teams' Championship out of five teams. They won two of the nine rounds during the season, the first being at

where Kyle Marcelli and

Tomy Drissi Tomy Drissi ( ; born December 9, 1958) is an American professional stock and sports car racing driver, and an advertising executive in the movie industry. A long-time competitor in the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series, he was the serie ...

drove the #37 car across the chequered flag. The same duo won Intersports second and only win in 2011 at the

Baltimore Grand Prix The Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT was an IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series race for 3 years held on a street circuit in Baltimore, Maryland. The inaugural race was held September 4, 2011. ESPN said it was the best inaugural ...

although in the #89 car this time round. There were many different driver combinations used by the team throughout the season. Of the ten drivers that competed for Intersport throughout the season, Kyle Marcelli was the highest placed driver in the Drivers' Championship finishing in third place.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Intersport Racing American Le Mans Series teams American auto racing teams Sports in Dublin, Ohio Companies based in Dublin, Ohio Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area 24 Hours of Le Mans teams