PacWest Racing
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PacWest Racing was a Champ Car racing team owned by Bruce McCaw in 1993. The team's first full time season was the next year, with drivers Dominic Dobson and future Indy Racing League co-champion Scott Sharp. In 1995, the team switched to former Formula 1 driver Mauricio Gugelmin and a fading Danny Sullivan, who would be replaced late in the season by Juan Manuel Fangio II after an injury. In 1996, Mark Blundell took over Fangio's seat. 1997 became PacWest's breakout year, with the team taking four wins, including Gugelmin's single CART victory. The team was since considered a major team, and was figured to be in contention. The next three years turned out to be a disappointment. 2001 saw Blundell, who retired after the previous season's end, replaced with 2000 Indy Lights Champion Scott Dixon, who earned PacWest's final victory at Nazareth, in which Dixon's teammate Gugelmin failed to qualify. 2002 Was PacWest's final year, in which the troubled team could only obtain associate sponsorship from NTN. The team started four races with Dixon and Oriol Servia. After the third race, Dixon was swept up by Target Chip Ganassi Racing, and Servia started one more race before McCaw closed the organization. Today, the remnants of PacWest Racing exist resurrected as PKV Racing, which, ironically enough signed Servia full time for the 2006 season alongside Katherine Legge.
It should be noted that the PacWest team's two cars were the cars used by main characters Jimmy Bly (#18) and Joe Tanto (#17) in the 2001 movie Driven.
[edit] Past Drivers
- Mark Blundell (1996-2000)
- Scott Dixon (2001-2002)
- Dominic Dobson (1993-1994)
- Teo Fabi (1996)
- Juan Manuel Fangio II (1995)
- Adrian Fernandez (1997)
- Mauricio Gugelmin (1995-2001)
- Roberto Moreno (1999)
- Oriol Servia (2002)
- Scott Sharp (1994)
- Danny Sullivan (1995)
[edit] Sources
Statistics for PacWest Racing's final season