American Dream Motorsports was a racing team that competed in the Indy Racing League's Indy Lights series and the IndyCar Series' Indianapolis 500 owned by Eric Zimmerman and William T. Kelsey. Until May 2008 it was known as Playa Del Racing and was owned by Jeff Brougher, Ernie Moody, Gary Sallee, and Susan Schafer.
The team was formed in 2005 and fielded a Panoz-Toyota for Jaques Lazier in the 2005 Indianapolis 500. The team returned in 2006 and co-owner Jon Herb was to join Lazier in a second car, but he was unable to find speed and was replaced with veteran Roger Yasukawa. Herb subsequently parted ways with the other owners and re-formed his own team, Racing Professionals.
PDR fielded an Indy Pro Series car in the 2007 season starting with rookie A. J. Russell at Miami. After his poor showing, the team used Al Unser III for four summertime oval events and Phil Giebler for eight road-course events with modest success from each and also fielded a car for Sean Guthrie when his Guthrie Racing car was unavailable due to crash damage.
Playa Del Racing entered two cars into the 2007 Indianapolis 500 driven by former IndyCar race winner Jaques Lazier and one of their IPS drivers, the young American Phil Giebler. Both ended up crashing out of the race, but Giebler managed to capture the 2007 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year title.
For 2008, Playa Del Racing announced it would compete in a full season in the development IRL Firestone Indy Lights Series (formerly the Indy Pro Series) with Al Unser III as their full-time driver, thanks to sponsorship from Ethos Fuel Reformulator. On May 2, 2008 it was announced that the team had been purchased by William T. Kelsey and Eric Zimmerman and that Phil Giebler would return to the team to drive its entry in the 2008 Indianapolis 500. Giebler crashed the team's Panoz during practice on the third day of qualifying, totaling the car as well as suffering bruised lungs and a cervical sprain. The team had planned to run the Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas Motor Speedway in June with a new Dallara chassis and Jaques Lazier behind the wheel. [1] However, an entry for the team was not on the entry list posted by the league on June 3. The team's Indy Lights entry also failed to arrive at the first race after the Freedom 100 with no official reason as to why. In an interview on July 4, 2008, Al Unser Jr. indicated that the team had gone bankrupt and that he and the team's sponsor were seeking to acquire the team's assets in bankruptcy court. The team's Indy Lights equipment was ultimately sold to Bryan Herta, who used it to begin his own team.
(key)
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Drivers | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | HMS | PHX | STP | MOT | INDY | TXS | RIR | KAN | NSH | MIL | MCH | KTY | PPIR | SNM | CHI | WGL | FON | ||||||
| Panoz GF09C | Toyota Indy V8 |  Jaques Lazier | 21 | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | HMS | STP | MOT | INDY | WGL | TXS | RIR | KAN | NSH | MIL | MCH | KTY | SNM | CHI | |||||||||
| Panoz GF09C | Honda HI6R V8 | Jon Herb | 12 | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Roger Yasukawa | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jaques Lazier | 21 | 17 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | HMS | STP | MOT | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | MCH | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | ||||||
| Panoz GF09C | Honda HI7R V8 | Jaques Lazier | 21 | 27 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Phil Giebler | 31 | 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | HMS | STP | MOT | LBH | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | EDM | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | SRF 1 | ||||
| Panoz GF09C | Honda HI7R V8 | Phil Giebler | 88 | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||||
(key)
| Year | Car | Drivers | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | D.C. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Dallara-Nissan | HMS | STP1 | STP2 | INDY | MIL | IMS1 | IMS2 | IOW | WGL1 | WGL2 | NSH | MDO | KTY | SNM1 | SNM2 | CHI | ||||
| A. J. Russell | 12 | 23 | 43rd | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| Phil Giebler | 24 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 12 | 20th | 163 | |||||||||||
| Al Unser III | 8 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 26th | 93 | |||||||||||||||
| Sean Guthrie | 12 | 6 | 6 | 18th† | 99† | ||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Dallara-Nissan | HMS | STP1 | STP2 | KAN | INDY | MIL | IOW | WGL1 | WGL2 | NSH | MDO1 | MDO2 | KTY | SNM1 | SNM2 | CHI | ||||
| Al Unser III | 21 | 13 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 25th | 102 |
† Also drove for Guthrie Racing.
Alfred Richard Unser is an American former professional race car driver. Unser has competed in the Indy Lights series and Toyota Atlantics Championship. He is part of the fourth generation of the Unser family.
A1 Team USA was the American team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series.
Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program of racing series leading up to the IndyCar Series.
Jaques Lazier is an American former race car driver. He is the younger brother of 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Lazier and son of former Indy racer Bob Lazier.
Roger Yasukawa is an American-born Japanese former auto racing driver. He was born in Los Angeles, California, but holds Japanese citizenship.
Jeff Simmons is an American former race car driver who competed in the Indy Racing League.
Philip Everett Giebler is an American race car driver.
The 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League was highly competitive and parity was the order of the year. Team Menard had a very good season with their driver Greg Ray capturing 3 race wins and the series championship. This was the last year before CART teams began to break ranks and jump to the IRL.
The 2000 Indy Racing Northern Light Series was another season that saw a high level of parity, as only one driver, champion Buddy Lazier, won more than a single race. It also saw the beginning of the jump from CART as Al Unser Jr. moved to the series full-time and Chip Ganassi Racing came over to run the Indy 500, which it won with driver Juan Pablo Montoya. It was also the final season for the Riley & Scott chassis, which also saw its first series win in 2000.
The 2001 Indy Racing Northern Light Series saw the addition of five races and loss of one to bring the total to 13. Chip Ganassi Racing returned to the Indy 500 with four cars and were joined on the grid by Penske Racing and Team Kool Green. Sam Hornish Jr. won 3 races on his way to the championship while the less consistent Buddy Lazier won four races on his way to second place in his title defense.
The 2003 IRL IndyCar Series brought some of the biggest changes in its history. The league adopted the name IndyCar Series, after a settlement with CART prohibiting its use had expired. Several former CART teams brought their full operations to the IRL, most notably major squads Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Green Racing, as well as former CART engine manufacturers Toyota and Honda, replacing Infiniti who shifted its efforts to the new feeder series Infiniti Pro Series. Many of the IRL's old guard including Robbie Buhl, Greg Ray, and Buddy Lazier had difficulty competing in this new manufacturer-driven landscape. The league also added its first international race this year, taking over the CART date at Twin Ring Motegi.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is an automotive racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and Nitrocross. The team is owned by Indianapolis BMW, Infiniti, Volkswagen, MINI, and Subaru dealer Dennis Reinbold.
Jon Allen Herb is an American former racecar owner, driver in the Indy Racing League and ARCA, and convicted child sex offender.
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 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.
The 91st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 27, 2007. It was the twelfth Indianapolis 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League and the fifth race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season. Hélio Castroneves started the race on the pole position.
Beck Motorsports was a team in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series owned by Greg Beck. At times in its history the team was partnered with Curb Agajanian Performance Group and 3G Racing owners Stanton Barrett and Steve Sudler.
The 92nd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 25, 2008. Scott Dixon of New Zealand won the race from the pole position. It marked the first Indy 500 victory for Chip Ganassi Racing since 2000. It was the fifth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series in DIRECTV HD season. Dixon led 115 laps, taking the lead for the final time during a sequence of yellow-flag pit stops on lap 172. Dixon held off Vítor Meira and Marco Andretti over the final 24 laps to secure the win.
Élan Motorsport Technologies is an American enterprise that serves as an umbrella company containing the race car engineering, development and manufacturing companies owned by American racing and automotive company conglomerate Panoz Motor Sports Group. Élan engineers, designs and builds Panoz-branded race cars and components. Since its founding it has also acquired several manufacturers, including famous Formula Ford builders Van Diemen and IndyCar Series constructor G-Force. Élan-built cars have successfully competed in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, IMSA Prototype Lites and various other championships, racing series and types of professional racing throughout the world. It designs, develops and manufactures full line race cars, i.e. chassis, bodies, components and engines for professional racing competition for a variety of segments and classes.
G-Force Technologies was an American racing car manufacturer originally formed by Americans Chip Ganassi and Ken Anderson in 1991. Ganassi would leave the company early on and the company was renamed G Force Precision Engineering. The company built successful cars in the Indy Racing League and 24 Hours of Le Mans. G-Force race cars won 4 Indianapolis 500s and 2 IRL Championships. G-Force was purchased by Élan Motorsport Technologies in 2002 and all manufacturing was moved to Elan's facilities in Braselton, Georgia. Ken Anderson would leave to form Falcon Cars with Michael Kranefuss to build a competing chassis for the 2004 IRL season. Former Lola designer Simon Marshall would be brought on to design its new IRL chassis for 2003 which was branded the Panoz G-Force. During the winter of 2004, all remaining G-Force operations in England were moved to Braselton, and the England operations of G-Force were shut down. By the start of the 2005 season, the G-Force name was retired.
The G-Force GF09 is a racing car developed and produced by American manufacturer Élan Motorsport Technologies for Panoz, with original work having been performed by G-Force Technologies prior to its purchase by Panoz, for use in the IndyCar Series. A subsequent version that saw the greatest usage in IndyCar racing was the G-Force GF09B with the Panoz GF09C following.