Chip Ganassi Racing

Chip Ganassi Racing Teams or simply Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the NTT IndyCar Series and NASCAR Cup Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Global Rallycross Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It was founded in 1990 by businessman and former race driver Chip Ganassi, from the assets of Patrick Racing to compete in the CART IndyCar World Series.

After winning four consecutive CART championships from 1996–1999 with drivers Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya, in 2000 Ganassi became the first CART organization to return to the Indianapolis 500 after the open wheel "Split" between CART and the Indy Racing League in 1996. A dominant victory with Montoya would foresee the team's permanent switch to the IRL (now IndyCar Series), where further championships would be won with Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, including another four straight from 2008–2011. The team fields the Nos. 8, 9, and 10 Dallara-Hondas for Marcus Ericsson, Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist.

In 2001, Ganassi bought a majority stake in Felix Sabates' Team SABCO NASCAR team, which had operated since 1989, marking his entry into that championship and inheriting that organizations history, while also partnering to compete in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2009, Ganassi partnered with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. owner Teresa Earnhardt to merge their NASCAR operations into Ganassi's shop and run independently as Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. The NASCAR team dropped the Earnhardt name in 2014, and Ganassi revealed that Teresa was never truly involved with the team. Rob Kauffman, chairman of the Race Team Alliance, purchased a stake in the team in 2015. After the 2020 season, Sabates will retire from his ownership role. The NASCAR program has fielded full-time entries for notable drivers including Kyle Petty, Joe Nemechek, Sterling Marlin, Jimmy Spencer, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray. They currently run the Nos. 1 and 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LEs for Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth in a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports.

Together, they have won 12 Open Wheel titles (4 in CART, 8 in IndyCar), 5 Grand-Am Road Racing championships, and wins in the Indianapolis 500 (Four times), Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and a 24 Hours of Le Mans class win, and over 200 wins across all categories.

Current

 * 8 Marcus Ericsson,
 * 9 Scott Dixon, PNC Bank
 * 10 Felix Rosenqvist, NTT Data

Drivers (chronological)

 * 🇺🇸 Eddie Cheever (1990–1992)
 * Arie Luyendyk (1992–1993, 1997)
 * 🇺🇸 Robby Gordon (1992)
 * 🇧🇪 Didier Theys (1992)
 * 🇺🇸 Michael Andretti (1994)
 * 🇧🇷 Maurício Gugelmin (1994)
 * 🇺🇸 Bryan Herta (1995)
 * 🇺🇸 Mike Groff (1995)
 * 🇺🇸 Jimmy Vasser (1995–2000, 2001: Indianapolis only)
 * 🇮🇹 Alex Zanardi (1996–1998)
 * 🇨🇴 Juan Pablo Montoya (1999–2000)
 * 🇫🇷 Nicolas Minassian (2001)
 * 🇲🇽 Memo Gidley (2001)
 * 🇺🇸 Tony Stewart (2001: Indianapolis only)
 * 🇧🇷 Bruno Junqueira (2001–2002)
 * 🇺🇸 Jeff Ward (2002)
 * 🇸🇪 Kenny Bräck (2002)
 * 🇳🇿 Scott Dixon (2002–present)
 * Tomas Scheckter (2003)
 * 🇺🇸 Tony Renna (2004)
 * 🇬🇧 Darren Manning (2004–2005)
 * 🇺🇸 Jaques Lazier (2005)
 * 🇮🇹 Giorgio Pantano (2005, 2012)
 * 🇦🇺 Ryan Briscoe (2005, 2013: Indianapolis only, 2014)
 * 🇬🇧 Dan Wheldon (2006–2008)
 * 🇬🇧 Dario Franchitti (2008–2013)
 * 🇺🇸 Graham Rahal (2011–2012)
 * 🇺🇸 Charlie Kimball (2011–2017)
 * 🇨🇦 Alex Tagliani (2013)
 * 🇧🇷 Tony Kanaan (2014–2017)
 * 🇺🇸 Sage Karam (2015)
 * 🇨🇴 Sebastian Saavedra (2015)
 * 🇬🇧 Max Chilton (2016–2017)
 * Ed Jones (2018)
 * 🇸🇪 Felix Rosenqvist (2019–Present)
 * 🇸🇪 Marcus Ericsson (2020–Present)

CART history
In 1989, Chip Ganassi, who had driven in the IndyCar World Series but had his career cut short due to a career-ending crash at Michigan in 1984, joined Pat Patrick as co-owner for Emerson Fittipaldi's Marlboro IndyCar team. Patrick had announced he was going to retire at the end of the year, and the team would go completely to Ganassi. The team won the Indy 500 and the IndyCar Championship.

By season's end, Patrick had second thoughts. Instead of retracting the sale of the team to Ganassi, he went ahead with the deal as planned, and instead restarted his team by taking over the upstart Alfa Romeo IndyCar effort for 1990. Fittipaldi took the Marlboro sponsorship to Team Penske, an arrangement that was also pre-planned. (Penske had supplied Patrick with a fleet of Penske chassis for 1989 as part of the deal).

Ganassi officially took over the remaining assets of the team (including the 1989 Penske chassis), and renamed it Chip Ganassi Racing. He signed former Formula One driver Eddie Cheever and raced full-time in the IndyCar World series with Target as primary sponsor.

In 1992 Ganassi expanded to a two-car effort for the Indy 500, adding Arie Luyendyk for the Indy-only entry. Later Ganassi debuted rookie Robby Gordon in selected events. For 1993, Luyendyk replaced Cheever full-time. Luyendyk won the pole position for the Indy 500 and finished second to Fittipaldi, Ganassi's former driver in his partnership with Patrick. For 1994, Michael Andretti joined the team, immediately after returning from his failed transition to Formula One in. He scored Ganassi's first IndyCar victory at Surfers Paradise.

Target continued to sponsor Ganassi's operation through the decade, and by the mid part of the decade, the team had risen to the top of the series. Perhaps the most impressive was Juan Pablo Montoya winning the championship in his rookie season in 1999. They won four consecutive series championships, with Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997–1998), and Montoya in 1999, becoming the first car owner to win four consecutive CART championships. In 2000, Ganassi became the first CART team to break ranks and return to race in the Indianapolis 500, part of the rival Indy Racing League. The team saw instant success as Montoya dominated the race. Montoya also became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Michigan 500 in the same year since Rick Mears in 1991. However, he was unable to duplicate his championship success of 1999. Vasser's performance steadily dwindled, as his lone victory at Houston was his first in nearly two years.

The team ran from 1992 to 2002 before moving into the Indy Racing League full-time. They had run one IRL entry for former motocross racer Jeff Ward in 2002, in which Ward won one race at Texas in one of the closest finishes in IRL history.

IndyCar Series history
Chip Ganassi Racing initially entered the Indy Racing League (IRL) with Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmy Vasser in the 2000 Indianapolis 500 won by rookie Montoya. In 2001 they returned to Indy with Vasser, Bruno Junqueira, Nicolas Minassian, and NASCAR's Tony Stewart, who would also compete in that evening's Coca-Cola 600. But in neither year did they run the entire IndyCar Series season.

For 2002, Ganassi made the jump to the IndyCar Series full-time with Jeff Ward driving one car, with the addition of Ganassi's two CART Championship drivers Kenny Bräck and Bruno Junqueira at Indianapolis. None of those three would drive for Ganassi in 2003; the replacements were Scott Dixon – a midseason addition to Ganassi's Champ Car team in 2002 – and Tomas Scheckter. Dixon won three races and the series championship while Scheckter struggled and was released from his contract. Tony Renna was due to replace him, but was killed in a testing crash at Indianapolis. Englishman Darren Manning wound up in the seat for 2004. The team's performance suffered the next two seasons and when Manning was fired, a bevy of drivers ran in Ganassi's cars, among them former Formula One test drivers Ryan Briscoe and Giorgio Pantano, and Jaques Lazier. For 2006, Ganassi scaled back to two cars, with Dixon returning along with 2005 Indianapolis 500 Champion Dan Wheldon, whom Ganassi signed away from Andretti Green Racing in the offseason. The team also changed to Honda engines (due to series engine supplier standardization from 2006 to 2011 seasons), along with all other IndyCar teams, and Dallara chassis for 2006.

The 2007 IndyCar Series season showed promise for Ganassi, as Dixon took 4 wins at Watkins Glen, Nashville, Mid Ohio, and Sonoma and Wheldon took 2 additional wins at Homestead and Kansas. The 2008 IndyCar season was even stronger for the team with eventual champion Dixon taking wins at Homestead, Indianapolis, Texas, Nashville, Edmonton, and Kentucky, and teammate Wheldon finishing 4th overall after winning at Kansas again and at Iowa. Shortly before the conclusion of the season it was announced that Wheldon would not return as Dixon's teammate in 2009, a role taken by 2007 IndyCar Champion and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti of Scotland. Franchitti teamed with Dixon for the non-championship race at Surfers' Paradise at the end of 2008.

The Target Chip Ganassi car driven by Franchitti won the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday May 30, 2010.

For 2011, Ganassi expanded, to add an additional 2-car team for Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball housed in the race shop of NHRA drag racer Kenny Bernstein.

Ganassi announced that in 2012, all 4 cars would be powered by Honda engines after the series decided to have multiple engine manufacturers (Honda, Chevrolet and Lotus) for the first time since 2005.

The Ganassi cars driven by Franchitti and Dixon came in first and second in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 on Sunday May 27, 2012. It was Franchitti's third Indianapolis 500 win and his second win with Ganassi. Rahal left Ganassi following the season for his father's team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. In 2013, the team was dominant for the second half of the year, with Kimball's first win at Mid-Ohio, and Dixon adding four wins to overtake Hélio Castroneves for his third IndyCar title. The team also ran a fourth car, the No. 8, at Indianapolis for Briscoe, sponsored by NTT DATA. In spite of the title, Ganassi was dealt a major blow when Franchitti was medically forced into retirement following a crash at Race 2 in Houston. Alex Tagliani replaced Franchitti at Auto Club.

In 2014, Ganassi switched to Chevrolet engines. In a twist, Ganassi would hire 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan to drive the No. 10 Target car, while Briscoe and NTT Data signed on for a full season in the No. 8 car. The team once again struggled during the first half of the season, but hit its stride during the second half, with Dixon winning at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma, while Kanaan won the season finale at Auto Club. For 2015, the team would sign Indy Lights champion Sage Karam to share the No. 8 with Sebastián Saavedra. Dixon would claim his fourth title in a tiebreaker with Juan Pablo Montoya on the strength of three wins at Long Beach, Texas, and Sonoma. Kanaan would not win that year, but had two runner up finishes at Texas and Fontana. Both Karam and Saavedra would struggle in the No. 8, save for a lone podium by Karam at Iowa. For 2016, Ganassi would replace Karam and Saavedra with former Formula 1 driver Max Chilton. 2016 would be a down year for the team, with Dixon winning twice at Phoenix and Watkins Glen, while Kanaan had only two podiums while Chilton and Kimball struggled.

Beginning in the 2017 season, Ganassi changed engine suppliers back to Honda, retaining their four drivers. Also, 2017 marked the end of Target sponsorship in Indycar, as a new chairman elected to change the retail giant's sporting sponsorships.

For 2018, Ganassi would downsize to two cars, with Kimball and Chilton taking their sponsorship over to Carlin due to team's cost-efficiency. Scott Dixon remains in the No. 9 with sponsorship from PNC Bank. In addition, Ganassi signed 2017 Indycar Rookie of the Year Ed Jones to drive the No. 10 car in 2018, with sponsorship from NTT Data, replacing Tony Kanaan. Dixon would win his fifth IndyCar title on the strength of wins at Detroit, Texas, and Toronto. Jones would only have two podiums and was released at season's end in favor of Formula E driver Felix Rosenqvist.

For the 2019 season, Dixon would again find victory at Detroit as well as Mid-Ohio, but a inconsistent season would leave him a distant fourth in points. Rosenqvist would have a consistent season, fending off Colton Herta for Rookie of the Year honors. The 2020 season saw the return of its No. 8 entry, driven by former Alfa Romeo Racing driver Marcus Ericsson.

Firestone Indy Lights Series
On December 20, 2006, Chip Ganassi Racing announced that it would field an Indy Lights team for the first time in 2007, with drivers Chris Festa and Pablo Pérez. Perez was severely injured in a crash in the opening race of the Indy Lights season and was not replaced. Festa finished 10th in points without winning a race in a season dominated by Alex Lloyd who was signed by Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the season. The team partnered with Integra Motorsports in 2007 and 2008 fielding a variety of development drivers, notably New Zealanders Marc Williams and Jonny Reid.

Complete CART FedEx Championship Series results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
 * The Firestone Firehawk 600 was canceled after qualifying due to excessive g-forces on the drivers.

Complete IndyCar Series results
(key) * Season still in progress


 * 1)  Non-points-paying, exhibition race.
 * 2)  The final race at Las Vegas was canceled due to Dan Wheldon's death.

Grand-Am
Initially, CGR fielded the 01 Lexus-Riley car driven by Scott Pruett and Max Papis. Their second team car, the 02, was driven by Jimmy Morales and Luis Diaz. CGR won the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona with Ganassi IRL drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon along with NASCAR driver Casey Mears. In 2007, Ganassi won the race again, this time with Pruett, former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, and Salvador Duran, making him the first owner to win it in back to back years since Al Holbert in 1986–87. In 2008 Chip Ganassi Racing won a third Daytona 24 in a row. Also in 2008, Chip Ganassi Racing won their 3rd Grand-Am Championship, with drivers Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas. It was Pruett's 8th Road Racing Championship. Also participating was Memo Rojas, the first Mexican to win a major Road Racing title in North America. For the 2010 Grand Am season the team switched from Lexus-Riley to BMW-Riley. Rojas and Pruett won 9 out of 12 races and eventually won the Grand-Am championship.

2011 Rolex 24 victory
Ganassi's Grand-Am Series team started 2011 in the best possible fashion, earning a one-two finish in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race. Ganassi's two cars ran towards the front of the field for the majority of the race, and driver Scott Pruett, having started third, defeated Scott Dixon by a margin of victory of over two seconds in a one-lap sprint to the finish after a late caution period.

The victory made Ganassi the first racing team owner to win the four of the most important races in North American auto racing, the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400, and 24 Hours of Daytona, within the same 12-month span. It was Pruett's fourth win in the event; for co-driver Memo Rojas, his second victory, while co-drivers Joey Hand and Graham Rahal won for the first time, the latter thirty years after his father, Bobby Rahal, won the event.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
CGR would field a Riley-Ford Daytona Prototype in the inaugural season of the merged United SportsCar Championship for Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, winning three races. In 2015, Rojas was replaced by ex-BMW works driver Joey Hand, and the team fielded an "all-star car" at Daytona consisting of the teams IndyCar and NASCAR drivers.

For 2016, the team would move to the GTLM class with the brand new Ford GT and thus the Daytona Prototype programme officially disbanded. Long time Ganassi driver Pruett would no longer have a place on the team, as Hand would partner with Dirk Müller (another ex-BMW works driver), while Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook were hired to drive the second GT. For Daytona, the team would bring out the Riley DPs one last time, the IndyCar/NASCAR "all-star car" being joined by a team of Alexander Wurz, Brendon Hartley, Andy Priaulx and Lance Stroll, in the last Rolex 24 of the DP era.

FIA World Endurance Championship
On 12 June 2015, at Le Mans, it was announced that Ford will return to the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 with a factory-supported, four-car effort operating as Ford Chip Ganassi Racing. The cars will be campaigned by Chip Ganassi Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and by Multimatic Motorsports Europe (joint-venture) in the FIA World Endurance Championship under the Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK banner. With the Chip Ganassi teams racing their GT, Ford has had podium wins in the FIA GT manufacturer's category both years that it has competed.

Notable Team Chip Ganassi UK/US Accomplishments
FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Manufacturers 2016 3rd Place: Ford 2017 2nd Place: Ford FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Pro Teams 2016 2nd Place: Car #67 2016 4th Place: Car #66 2017 2nd Place: Car #67 2017 7th Place: Car #66 World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers 2016: S. Mücke & O. Pla ranked 4th 2016: A. Priaulx, H. Tincknell ranked 5th 2016: B. Johnson ranked 9th 2016: M. Franchitti 13th 2017: A. Priaulx, H. Tincknell ranked 3rd 2017: S. Mücke & O. Pla ranked 8th 2017: L. Derani ranked 10th 2017: B. Johnson ranked 12th Pole Positions 2016 6 Hours of Fuji: #66 Car (Mücke, Pla) 2016 6 Hours of Shanghai: #67 Car (Priaulx, Tincknell) 2017 6 Hours of Silverstone: #67 Car (Priaulx, Tincknell, Derani) 2018 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: #67 Car (Priaulx, Tincknell, Kanaan) Fastest Laps 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours: Scott Dixon in #69 at 3:51.514 2016 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas: Olivier Pla at in #66 2:05.244 2016 6 Hours of Fuji: Harry Tincknell in #67 at 1:38.575 2017 6 Hours of Silverstone: Andy Priaulx in #67 at 1:57.416 2017 6 Hours of Shanghai: Olivier Pla in #66 at 2:02.154

Global RallyCross Championship
Ganassi expressed plans to start a team in the AMA Supercross Championship, but in late 2014, Ganassi attended the Global RallyCross Championship's season-ending race in Las Vegas, and as a result, expressed interest in fielding a GRC team. On March 18, 2015, Ganassi announced the creation of a team that began competing in the GRC in 2015. The team is based in the NASCAR shop in Concord, North Carolina, and is led by former Ford World Rally Team engineer Carl Goodman. The team hired former JR Motorsports NASCAR driver Steve Arpin and 13-time X Games medalist Brian Deegan to run the No. 00 and 38 M-Sport Ford Fiestas, respectively. Arpin contested the full season, while Deegan competed in seven of the season's twelve races.

In 2016 Arpin and Deegan was back full-time. Arpin earned the team's first win at Daytona.

In 2017, Ganassi announced he would shut down the Global RallyCross program to focus on other series. The team's assets were acquired by Loenbro Motorsports.

Supercar
†Race cancelled.