RuSPORT was an

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 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 ...

. 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, Colorado (USA) which was owned by Steve Wulff. Russo competed in the Toyota Atlantic Series driving a car prepared by PDR in the 2002 season before he decided that team ownership suited him better than being a driver. Russo acquired the assets of PDR from Wulff in late 2002, which gave rise to RuSPORT. Wulff stayed on Operations Director and Jeremy Dale, a longtime associate of Russo's, was brought on as President of the new operation. RuSPORT competed in the 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship Series with drivers

Aaron Justus Aaron Justus (born October 23, 1973 in Pittsfield, Illinois) is a former American racing driver. Justus won the USF2000 championship in the year 2000 and continued into the Atlantic Championship. Currently Justus is an entrepreneur with his own gr ...

and

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 won the championship with seven victories from 11 starts. RuSPORT and Allmendinger moved to

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 ( ...

in 2004 along with a second car driven by

Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Lascurain, better known as Michel Jourdain Jr. (born September 2, 1976), is a Mexican racecar driver, best known for winning two Champ Car races in 2003. He is the 2020 Super Copa GTM Champion. Formula racing Jourdain started ra ...

The team quickly grew from a small Atlantic Series team to a two-car Champ Car team with more than 40 employees. The rookie team placed Jourdain and Allmendinger in the top-five numerous time en route to Allmendinger winning Rookie-of-the-Year honors. This was only the second time in the history of the Champ Car Series that a rookie team with a rookie driver accomplished the feat. In 2005, Justin Wilson was signed as a replacement for 2005 for Jourdain, leading the team to their first wins. Wilson scored two victories (Toronto and Mexico City) and finished third in the championship. Allmendinger came close to victory, with four runner-up finishes during the season. For 2006 they were expected to be challengers to

Newman/Haas Racing Newman/Haas Racing was an auto racing team that competed in the CART and the IndyCar Series from 1983 to 2011. The team operations were based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Newman/Haas Racing was formed as a partnership between actor, automotive enth ...

. Mid-way through the season & after 3 straight top 10 finishes, the team surprisingly replaced Allmendinger with 2002 CART champion

Cristiano da Matta Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born 19 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004. Career biography Origins and early car ...

who moved over from

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

. Allmendinger would win the next 3 races in a row for his new team.

was injured in a freak collision with a deer during testing 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 ...

on August 3, 2006. On September 17, 2006, the team announced that it had selected Australian

Ryan Briscoe Ryan Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America. In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishing third ...

, to fill in for the final two races of the 2006 season, Surfers Paradise, Australia and Mexico City. At the conclusion of the 2006 season, Russo's time and energy were being increasingly directed toward his rapidly growing company, Calix, and he was forced to leave behind the team he created and the sport he loved. In November 2006

PKV Racing Padayatt Kesavapillai Vasudevan Nair (2 March 1926 – 12 July 2005), popularly known as PKV, was the 9th Chief Minister of Kerala and a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times, in 1957, ...

co-owner

Dan Pettit Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

purchased the team from Russo. On January 22, 2007, RuSPORT confirmed the return of Justin Wilson and title sponsor,

CDW CDW Corporation, headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois, is a provider of technology products and services for business, government and education. The company has a secondary division known as ''CDW-G'', devoted solely to United States governm ...

. They reportedly signed Wilson to a multi year contract. RuSPORT also formed a technical alliance with the

Rocketsports Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States. Team history Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 2004 ...

team, and the team was dubbed

RSPORTS RSPORTS was an auto racing team that competed in the Champ Car World Series. It was founded officially in 2007 as a technological partnership, but started out originally as two different teams owned by former race car drivers Carl Russo, who owned ...

. Wilson won at Assen and scored solidly enough to finish second overall, while Tagliani struggled and finished outside the series top 10. The alliance was however dissolved before the end of the 2007 season. The RuSPORT team dissolved as of December 31, 2007 and Pettit merged his team ownership with

Forsythe Championship Racing Forsythe/Pettit Racing was an American 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. Histor ...

.Malsher, David
Pettit joins Forsythe as RuSPORT close
autosport.com, November 26, 2007 Forsythe would ultimately fold its team when ChampCar merged into 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 ...

for 2008.

Past drivers

(2003–2006) *

(2006) *

(2004) *

(2003) * Justin Wilson (2005–2007)

Racing results

Complete 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) # Competed as

at Rds. 1-10.

References

{{Champ Car teams Champ Car teams American auto racing teams Atlantic Championship teams Auto racing teams established in 2002 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2007