NOVEMBER 13, 2001

Forsythe closes secondary CART team

JERRY FORSYTHE, a shareholder in British American Racing and various other racing enterprises including the Rockingham oval in Britain, has shut down his secondary CART team because he cannot find any sponsorship for next season. The news means that Bryan Herta is out of a drive.

Forsythe Championship Racing is, in effect, the old Tasman team, based in Hilliard, Ohio, which has been involved in CART since 1995 when it moved up from Indy Lights with driver Andre Ribeiro. The team enjoyed four victories in 1995 and 1996 but then fell back into a role of helping to promote young talent. Eventually team founder Steve Horne sold the team to Forsythe and although there was a brief revival with McDonalds sponsorship and driver Tony Kanaan in 1999.

The closure of the team is an indication of the current vulnerability of CART operations and of the difficulty there is in raising money for racing in the United States.