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42-460: The Curb Agajanian Performance Group is an American motorsports team, currently competing as a co-entrant in IndyCar and IMSA . It is owned by record executive Mike Curb and racing personality Cary Agajanian; son of the late J. C. Agajanian , a race promoter and race car owner. It has fielded an IndyCar entry or co-entry in various races since 2001. Curb also was involved with NASCAR in both

84-550: A heavy emphasis has been placed on deemphasizing the IRL name and replacing it with "IndyCar". This became official on January 1, 2011, as Indy Racing League LLC adopted as its trade name INDYCAR. On November 1, 2013, the company's legal name was changed to INDYCAR LLC. The dispute between CART and IRL centered on the Indianapolis 500, long considered the flagship race of the sport. From 1980 until 1995, USAC continued to sanction

126-525: A lack of results saw Saavedra's release from the team. His replacement for 2015 would be former GP2 driver Stefano Coletti . Coletti would struggle heavily adapting to IndyCar, with a best finish of 8th at the 2015 Grand Prix of Indianapolis . Bourdais would take his second win at the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit . KV would release Coletti at the end of the season, reducing to only Bourdais' No. 11 for

168-603: A new national championship racing series, the Indy Racing League . This resulted in a legal battle over the IndyCar trademark: In March 1996, CART filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an effort to protect their license to the IndyCar mark after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had attempted to terminate it. In April, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway filed a separate lawsuit against CART to prevent them from further use of

210-578: A nickname for the cars that competed in the USAC's Championship Division of open-wheel racing in the United States, deriving from the sport's most popular competition, the Indianapolis 500 . The division's link with Indianapolis soon resulted in the term surpassing the official term "championship car" (or its short form "champ car") in common use and promotions. The term continued to be used by

252-502: A number of attempts at a compromise board failed, IMS formed the Indy Racing League in 1994 , with the series being slated to begin racing in 1996 . CART had primarily sanctioned Indy car racing since 1979 , when the organization broke away from USAC. George blueprinted the IRL as a lower-cost open-wheel alternative to CART, which in his view had become technology-driven and dominated by a few wealthy multi-car teams. The IRL

294-666: A proposal that included free cars and engine leases to Champ Car teams willing to run the entire 2008 IndyCar Series schedule in exchange for adding Champ Car's dates at Long Beach , Toronto , Edmonton , and Australia to the IndyCar Series schedule, effectively reuniting American open-wheel car racing . The offer was initially made in November 2007. On February 10, 2008, Tony George, along with IRL representatives Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart , plus former Honda executive Robert Clarke, traveled to Japan to discuss moving

336-405: A race which also counted towards the IndyCar Series championship. Vasser also competed in the race in what was his true final race. In the 2008 Indianapolis 500 , the first for the team and both drivers, Power qualified 23rd and finished 13th, while Servià qualified 25th and finished 11th. In 2009, the team ran a full-time program for Brazilian Mario Moraes . Paul Tracy also made five starts for

378-481: A third car at Long Beach . Servià scored a third place at Cleveland and finished 11th in the championship, while Legge struggled and finished 16th overall. The team's 2007 driver lineup was Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy . Mario Domínguez subbed for Gommendy at Edmonton , and Servià replaced Gommendy for the final two races due to sponsorship issues. The team's best results were Jani's pair of second places finishes at Toronto and San Jose . The team switched to

420-479: The 2014 IndyCar Series season , while de Silvestro also departed the team at season's end. They were replaced by Dragon Racing teammates Sébastien Bourdais and Sebastián Saavedra for 2014. The team had moderate success in 2014, with Saavedra claiming his first pole at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Bourdais taking his first IndyCar win at Honda Indy Toronto . Though Bourdais finished 10th in standings,

462-598: The Atlantic Championship . In its first season, the team fielded one car and employed several drivers including Patrick Lemarié , Bryan Herta , Max Papis and Mika Salo , the latter of which scored the team's best result of third late in the season. For 2004, the team was significantly revamped. It was renamed to PKV Racing , as businessman Dan Pettit and veteran driver Jimmy Vasser replaced Pollock as co-owners. The team also expanded to field two cars for Vasser and rookie Roberto González . Vasser scored

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504-615: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex, and began competition in 1996 . The trademark name INDYCAR was officially adopted on January 1, 2011. The sport of open-wheel car racing, also historically referred to as championship car racing or Indy car racing, traces its roots to as early as 1905. It is the fourth major sanctioning body to govern the sport of Indy car racing, following the American Automobile Association 's AAA Contest Board ,

546-673: The Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi . Moving that race, or postponing it, would be required in order to accommodate the Long Beach Grand Prix , which was scheduled for the same weekend. Optimism following the meeting was high. In February 2008, Indy Racing League founder and CEO Tony George and owners of the Champ Car World Series completed an agreement to unify the sport for 2008. The result

588-548: The IndyCar Series following the unification of American open wheel racing in 2008. Dan Pettit ceased his ownership role in the team and the team changed its name to KV Racing Technology . Australian businessmen Craig Gore and John Fish brought their Team Australia branding from Walker Racing along with driver Will Power to partner Servià. Power won the Champ Car finale, the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

630-585: The Kansas Speedway race and the Indy 500. Alex Barron drove in all 3 races and finished 15th in the Indy 500, 1 lap down. The team made its 2008 debut at Twin Ring Motegi with Roger Yasukawa at the controls. Yasukawa also attempted to qualify the Curb Records car in the Indianapolis 500 as well but was bumped from the field. In 2009, the team fielded a full-time IndyCar Series entry, beginning

672-559: The United States Auto Club (USAC), and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), and operated alongside the Champ Car World Series before acquiring the latter. Today, IndyCar is owned by Roger Penske via Penske Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Penske Corporation . Penske purchased IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Hulman & Co. in November 2019. The term "Indy Car" began as

714-738: The Xfinity Series and Sprint Cup Series , owning Curb Racing from 1984 to 2011. Curb had several business partners in the NASCAR operation over the years, including Agajanian from 1998 to 2006. CAPG has won two Indianapolis 500 races as a co-owner, in 2011 with Dan Wheldon , and in 2016 with Alexander Rossi . For the 2001 season, the team partnered with Beck Motorsports and returned to full-time competition with veteran driver Billy Boat . Boat finished 2nd at Nashville Superspeedway and finished 4th in points. Boat went on to form Agajanian/Boat Racing with Cary Agajanian in 2002 and captured

756-451: The 2016 season. The team would take its second consecutive win in Detroit. Despite the win, funding for the team was in doubt as Kalkhoven wished to sell the team's equipment. In response, Bourdais departed KVSH for Dale Coyne Racing . Without proper funding, Kalkhoven and Vasser attempted to sell the team to Indy Lights owner Trevor Carlin , but the deal fell through. On 16 February 2017, Vasser and Kalkhoven released statements confirming

798-523: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway. KV Racing Technology KV Racing Technology was an auto racing team that last competed in the IndyCar Series . The team was originally formed as PK Racing before the 2003 season by Australian businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and former Formula One team manager Craig Pollock from the remnants of the PacWest team. The team has also sponsored drivers in

840-459: The Indy 500, although CART drivers predominantly competed in the race and points that drivers scored during the event counted towards the CART drivers' championship. George felt that his opinions regarding increasing costs and revenue sharing were being ignored, while CART team owners felt George used his influence over USAC to have a disproportionate impact on the general operation of the sport. After

882-420: The IndyCar Series for the 2003 racing season. CART, beset by team departures and other financial issues, filed for bankruptcy that year; a trio of former CART team owners were selected by the bankruptcy court to purchase CART's assets, which they used to reorganize the Champ Car World Series . The two series were unified for the 2008 season, with the unified series using the IndyCar Series name. Post-unification,

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924-585: The USAC's replacement as the dominant governing body for open-wheel racing, CART, which called its main series the "CART PPG Indy Car World Series" despite the body not sanctioning the 500. In 1992, during an attempt by CART to broaden their board membership, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway registered the camel case trademark IndyCar with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and licensed it to CART as their new trade name. In 1996, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George launched

966-484: The car never handled properly and Luyendyk's best speed was easily bumped by Felipe Giaffone , leaving Luyendyk and the C/A/B team the only entry bumped from the field that year. The team merged with Team Leader Motorsports to field 2 cars for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 . The first team with driver P. J. Jones was Beck Motorsports owned by Greg Beck which was founded in 1995. The second team driven by Stephan Gregoire

1008-536: The death of Tony Renna in testing at Indianapolis, the IRL made additional changes to reduce speeds and increase safety. IndyCar was the first racing series to adopt the SAFER soft wall safety system, which debuted at the Indianapolis 500 and has now been installed at almost all major oval racing circuits. The SAFER system research and design was supported and funded in large part by the Hulman-George family and

1050-429: The degradation in quality especially apparent during the Indianapolis 500, which saw a dramatic decline in prestige. The IRL began to draw top teams from CART starting in 2002, contributing to the latter's bankruptcy , replacement by the Champ Car World Series in 2003, and ultimate demise and absorption by the IRL in 2008. After absorbing Champ Car, the IndyCar Series became what the CART series from which it separated

1092-467: The lack of run-offs on oval tracks, coupled with higher speeds due to the long straights and banked turns, means that there is far less margin for error. Car design was attributed as a leading cause of early injuries, and the series made improvements to chassis design to address those safety concerns. Following a series of spectacular high-profile accidents in 2003 , including American racing legend Mario Andretti and former champion Kenny Bräck , as well as

1134-427: The mark. Eventually a settlement was reached in which CART agreed to give up the use of the IndyCar mark following the 1996 season and the IRL agreed not to use the name before the end of the 2002 season. CART returned to branding as simply CART for 1997, and resurrected the term "champ car" to describe their vehicles. Following a six-year hiatus, the Indy Racing League announced it would rename their premier series

1176-479: The pole at Nashville and finished 13th in points. In 2003 Agajanian joined forces with Sam Schmidt Motorsports at the Indy 500 to field a car for Richie Hearn who was knocked out by an accident. In 2004 CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports came into being and P. J. Jones drove their entry in the Indy 500 to a 28th place DNF. In 2005, the team fielded a last-minute Indy 500 entry for rookie Arie Luyendyk Jr. , however

1218-428: The race, CAPG's first Indy 500 win. For the 2016 IndyCar Series , Curb Agajanian provided a co-entry for Andretti Herta Autosport driver Alexander Rossi . Alexander Rossi won the 2016 Indy 500 in this ride, the second Indy 500 win for CAPG. They remain listed a co-entrant in the car, now driven and co-owned by Marco Andretti . In 2012, Curb Agajanian became the first car owner to win all three USAC Championships in

1260-409: The same year (Silver Crown, Sprint Car and Midget). In 2013, Curb Agajanian again won all three USAC Championships in the same year (Silver Crown, Sprint Car and Midget). ( key ) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) IndyCar The sanctioning body was formed in 1994 under the name Indy Racing League by Hulman & Company , which also owned

1302-498: The season with NASCAR driver Stanton Barrett behind the wheel. Barrett and sports marketer Steve Sudler both joined as partners of the team and the new name was CURB/Agajanian/3G Racing (3 Guys Racing). Jaques Lazier was brought on to replace Barrett at Texas Motor Speedway after the team went home after a practice crash the previous week at the Milwaukee Mile . Lazier drove the next three oval races and Richard Antinucci

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1344-520: The team as KV Racing Technology – Lotus, or KVRT-Lotus. The team added Tony Kanaan in a third car, the #82, as a tribute to the late Formula One and Indy 500 champion Jim Clark . In the 2011 Indianapolis 500 , Sato and Viso were the first two cars retired from the race due to separate accidents. For 2012, Sato would leave KV for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing , replaced by former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barichello . The team also announced that it would be partnering with Chevrolet. Although he

1386-500: The team's best finish and second podium with a second place at Toronto , but the season was otherwise lackluster. In 2005, PKV replaced Gonzalez with former series champion Cristiano da Matta , who took the team's first win at Portland . Da Matta finished 11th in the championship, while Vasser scored two third-place finishes and was sixth overall. For 2006, the team fielded full season entries for veteran Oriol Servià and rookie Katherine Legge . Vasser retired from racing after driving

1428-426: The team: Indy 500, Watkins Glen, Edmonton, Toronto, and Mid-Ohio. Townsend Bell drove a third car for the team at the Indy 500. In 2010 the team ran full-time programs for Takuma Sato , E. J. Viso , and Mario Moraes , plus a part-time program for Paul Tracy. James Rossiter tested for the team at Barber. For 2011, Sato and Viso returned to the team, as well as gaining technical support from Lotus Cars , re-branding

1470-415: Was and its related European open-wheel formula counterparts: former prominent CART teams such as Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske are frequent race winners, there is a strong contingent of foreign-born drivers, the cars are increasingly electronic and aero dependent and the schedule includes more road and street courses than oval tracks. On January 23, 2008, Tony George offered Champ Car management

1512-451: Was brought in to drive the remaining road and street course races of the schedule. Barrett drove at Twin Ring Motegi, where he had sponsorship, and Lazier drove on all other remaining ovals. For the 2010 Indianapolis 500 , Curb Agajanian provided a co-entry for KV Racing Technology driver Mario Moraes . For the 2011 Indianapolis 500 , Curb Agajanian provided a co-entry for Bryan Herta Autosport driver and Dan Wheldon who went on to win

1554-565: Was designed only to run on oval tracks, in order to promote American drivers from the midget and sprint car ranks to graduate to IndyCar racing, the same way that IndyCar legends A.J. Foyt , Mario Andretti , Johnny Rutherford , and the Unsers ( Al Unser, Sr. and Bobby Unser ) had in the 1960s. Starting with the first IRL season, the league proclaimed that 25 of the 33 spots in the Indy 500 starting grid would be reserved for cars from full-time IRL teams. In 1996, CART retaliated by scheduling what

1596-489: Was introduced for the 2012 season. IndyCar collaborated with DreamWorks Animation to launch comedy film Turbo in 2013. Bernard was fired in October 2012, and replaced by Mark Miles . Driver safety has also been a major point of concern, with a number of drivers seriously injured, particularly in the early years of the series. There have been five fatal crashes in the history of the series. Compared to road racing venues,

1638-472: Was owned by Kent Baker which was founded in 1988. Both Baker and Beck had many years experience working with their own and various other Indy Car teams. They were joined by Cary Agajanian and Mike Curb of Curb Agajanian Motorsports . The two teams ended their partnership for 2007 with P. J. Jones competing for Team Leader Motorsports. The team made a surprise entry into the 2007 XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and participated in it,

1680-453: Was supposed to become its new showcase event, the U.S. 500 , at Michigan International Speedway on Memorial Day , the traditional date for the Indy 500. The new 1997 technical rules featured less expensive chassis and "production-based" engines that were purchased rather than leased, but most importantly, were technically incompatible with CART specifications. The IRL's early seasons consisted of sparse schedules and inexperienced teams, with

1722-460: Was that the Champ Car World Series was suspended except for the Long Beach Grand Prix . Many of the former Champ Car teams moved to the IndyCar Series using equipment provided by the IRL. Randy Bernard was announced as the new IRL CEO in February 2010. In 2011, the sanctioning body dropped the Indy Racing League name, becoming IndyCar to reflect the merged series. The new Dallara DW12 racecar

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1764-500: Was winless, Kanaan would finish 9th that season with a best finish of 2nd at Milwaukee. Both Viso and Barichello would struggle that year for results, with both drivers leaving the team at the end of the year. On 30 October 2012, HVM Racing 's Simona de Silvestro joined KV for the 2013 IndyCar Series season . Kanaan's win in the 2013 Indianapolis 500 was the first for KV, while de Silvestro scored her first podium at Houston. Kanaan departed KV to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing for

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