Andretti Green Racing
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Andretti Green Racing (AGR) is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series.
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[edit] CART IndyCar World Series
Founded in 1993 by Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe as Forsythe Green Racing, they fielded two Atlantic cars for Claude Bourbonnais and Jacques Villeneuve. In 1994 Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe split up and Barry renamed the team Team Green, with his brother Kim Green joining as team manager, and competing in the 1994 CART IndyCar World Series as a single car team for Jacques, eventually winning both the Indianapolis 500 and the CART PPG IndyCar World Series Cup in 1995. In 1996, Team Green became known as the Brahma Sports Team for a season, with driver Raul Boesel. In 1997, KOOL cigarettes took over as a major sponsor with Parker Johnstone, and the team was renamed Team KOOL Green, before expanding to a two-car effort in 1998 with Paul Tracy and rising youngster Dario Franchitti. The two stayed on as teammates for five seasons.
In 2001, Michael Andretti joined the team in a separate effort headed by Kim Green, known as Team Motorola. Andretti won his last race as a driver at the 2002 Long Beach Grand Prix. In 2002, the team switched from Reynard to Lola chassis, producing a striking new livery to coincide with the change.
[edit] IRL IndyCar Series
After major problems in CART surfaced, Andretti, who had purchased majority interest in the team, switched the newly-renamed Andretti Green Racing in 2003 to the rival IRL IndyCar Series. Tracy left the team to stay in the Champ Car World Series, with Tony Kanaan joining Franchitti and Andretti. Andretti retired after the 2003 Indianapolis 500, and Dan Wheldon took his place.
AGR has run four cars since the beginning of 2004, with Bryan Herta behind the wheel of the additional car. At the 2005 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, AGR had all 4 drivers finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. With Wheldon at first followed by Kanaan, Franchitti and Herta to round out the top 4. Kanaan and Wheldon won consecutive IndyCar Series Championships in 2004 and 2005, with Wheldon winning the 2005 Indianapolis 500. Andretti referred to the win as his very own, as good as if he had won it as a driver, because of the nuances of car ownership and building his own team.[citation needed]
Wheldon's championship was his last before free agency, and joining Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2006. He was replaced by Michael's son, Marco Andretti. Michael Andretti came out of retirement to qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 to help his team defend their championship.
It was announced on July 25, 2006, that Danica Patrick would join the team for the 2007 IndyCar Series.[1] to replace Herta, who was being transferred to AGR's new American Le Mans Series Acura LMP2 effort.
It was announced on October 31, 2007 that Hideki Mutoh would join the team and drive the 27 car, replacing Franchitti who won the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and 2007 IndyCar Series Championship, but then decided to sign with Chip Ganassi Racing to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Mutoh was the runner up in the 2007 Firestone Indy Lights Series. The Firestone Indy Lights Series is a feeder series to the IndyCar Series and Andretti Green has formed an alliance with AFS Racing to field two cars in that series. Their 2007 entries were driven by Wade Cunningham and Jaime Camara who finished 3rd and 6th in points respectively while their 2008 entries will be driven by 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion Raphael Matos and Arie Luyendyk Jr..
[edit] American Le Mans Series
In 2006, it was announced that AGR would join Acura as one of the official works teams.[2] The team worked with Highcroft Racing on the development of the Courage LC75 chassis. The team debuted the newly-renamed Acura ARX-01a at the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring. The AGR team finished second overall, and took the maiden LMP2 win for Acura with drivers Dario Franchitti, Marino Franchitti, Bryan Herta, and Tony Kanaan. However, during the remainder of the season the Porsche RS Spyders of Penske Racing regularly outpaced the Acuras. For the 2008 season their car will be driven full-time by Herta and Christian Fittipaldi who will be joined by Kanaan at select longer distance events.
[edit] Drivers
[edit] CART (1994-2002)
Jacques Villeneuve (1994-1995)
Raul Boesel (1996)
Parker Johnstone (1997)
Dario Franchitti (1998-2002)- Paul Tracy (1998-2002)
- Michael Andretti (2001-2002)
[edit] IndyCar Series (2003-)
- Michael Andretti (2003, 2006-07)
- Dario Franchitti (2003-2007)
- Tony Kanaan (2003-Present)
- Dan Wheldon (2003-2005)
- Bryan Herta (2004-2006)
- Marco Andretti (2006-Present)
- Danica Patrick (2007-Present)
Hideki Mutoh (2008-Present)- Robby Gordon (2003) Indianapolis 500 injury replacement for Dario Franchitti
- A.J. Foyt IV (2006) Injury replacement for Dario Franchitti
[edit] ALMS (2007-)
- Dario Franchitti (2007)
- Marino Franchitti (2007)
- Bryan Herta (2007-)
- Tony Kanaan (2007-)
- Christian Fittipaldi (2008-)
- Marco Andretti (2008-)
[edit] Current sponsors
[edit] IRL
- 7-Eleven
- Bryant Heating and Cooling
- AirTran Airways
- TPR
- Gillete Fusion
- New York Stock Exchange
- Panasonic
- Motorola
- Go Daddy
- Coca-Cola
- Sparks
- The Palms
- XM Satellite Radio
- Nestle Water
- One America
- Blockbuster Video/Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Alpine
- Snickers
- Fritos
- Kellogs
- Kraft
- Accelerade
- Peak Antifreeze
- Bayer Health Care
- Meijer
- Dr.Pepper
- Forsythe Technologies
- ANA
- Autobags
- ELS
[edit] ALMS
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
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