page_title: Chip Ganassi Racing
section_title: CART history
hierarchical_section_title: Chip Ganassi Racing / American open wheel racing history / CART history
caption_attribution_description: 1996 Reynard 96I (#12 Jimmy Vasser, Chip Ganassi Racing)
context_page_description: Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, also known as simply Chip Ganassi Racing, 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, 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.
context_section_description: 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 1993. 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.
caption: Jimmy Vasser's Reynard 96I in a Honda Collection Hall.
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