Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, Star Mazda Championship, and U.S. F2000 National Championship.
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Founded in 1993 by Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe as Forsythe Green Racing, they fielded two Atlantic cars for Claude Bourbonnais and Jacques Villeneuve. In 1994 Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe split up and Barry renamed the team Team Green, with his brother Kim Green joining as team manager, and competing in the 1994 CART IndyCar World Series as a single car team for Jacques, eventually winning both the Indianapolis 500 and the CART PPG IndyCar World Series Cup in 1995. In 1996, Team Green became known as the Brahma Sports Team for a season, with driver Raul Boesel. In 1997, KOOL cigarettes took over as a major sponsor with Parker Johnstone, and the team was renamed Team KOOL Green, before expanding to a two-car effort in 1998 with Paul Tracy and rising youngster Dario Franchitti. The two stayed on as teammates for five seasons.
In 2001, Michael Andretti joined the team in a separate effort headed by Kim Green, known as Team Motorola. Andretti won his last race as a driver at the 2002 Long Beach Grand Prix. In 2002, the team switched from Reynard to Lola chassis, producing a striking new livery to coincide with the change.
After major problems in CART surfaced, Andretti, who had purchased majority interest in the team, switched the newly-renamed Andretti Green Racing in 2003 to the rival IndyCar Series. Tracy left the team to stay in the Champ Car World Series, with Tony Kanaan joining Franchitti and Andretti. Andretti retired after the 2003 Indianapolis 500, and Dan Wheldon took his place.
AGR has run four cars since the beginning of 2004, with Bryan Herta behind the wheel of the additional car. At the 2005 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, AGR had all 4 drivers finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. With Wheldon at first followed by Kanaan, Franchitti and Herta to round out the top 4. Kanaan and Wheldon won consecutive IndyCar Series Championships in 2004 and 2005, with Wheldon winning the 2005 Indianapolis 500. Andretti referred to the win as his very own, as good as if he had won it as a driver, because of the nuances of car ownership and building his own team.
Wheldon's championship was his last before free agency, and joining Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2006. He was replaced by Michael's son, Marco Andretti. Michael Andretti came out of retirement to qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 to race with his son. The Andretti's finished second and third in "the 500" with Marco being passed just prior to the finish by Sam Hornish, Jr. in the second closest finish in race history. From 2001 to 2010, the team had seen at least one of their drivers finish within the top three at the race.
It was announced on July 25, 2006, that Danica Patrick would join the team for the 2007 IndyCar Series.[1] to replace Herta, who was being transferred to AGR's new American Le Mans Series Acura LMP2 effort.
In October 2007, after winning the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and 2007 Indy Racing League championship, Franchitti announced his departure from the team to pursue a full-time career in the NASCAR Sprint Cup with Chip Ganassi Racing. Later that month, Hideki Mutoh was announced as his replacement in the 27 car. Mutoh was the runner up in the 2007 Firestone Indy Lights Series.
The 2008 IndyCar driver lineup returned to the team in 2009. However, for the first time since 2003, the team failed to win a race. Danica Patrick was the team's leading driver finishing 5th in points. Kanaan finished 6th with three podium finishes. The team repeated their Indy Lights championship, this time with American driver J. R. Hildebrand.
On September 25, 2009, the Indianapolis Star reported that Danica Patrick had signed a contract to stay with Andretti Green and the IndyCar Series through 2012.[2]
On November 24, 2009, Andretti Green Racing announced that the team restructuring was complete, and the team would be renamed Andretti Autosport effective immediately.
It was announced on January 4, 2010 that Ryan Hunter-Reay would join the team, replacing Hideki Mutoh. Hunter-Reay earned the team its first victory since 2008 by winning the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Kanaan picked up the team's second win of the season at Iowa. Kanaan and Hunter-Reay led the team in the points standings, finished 6th and 7th.
Following the 2010 season, veteran driver Tony Kanaan was released from the team due to the lack of sponsorship. Kanaan later signed with KV Racing Technology. It was announced that the team’s other three drivers – Hunter-Reay, Andretti, and Patrick – would return for the 2011 season. Hunter-Reay was signed to a two-year contract through 2012.
The 2011 season marked a return to the victory circle for Andretti Autosport, with Mike Conway winning at Long Beach[3] and Marco Andretti ending a personal 79 race winless drought with his second career win at Iowa.[4]. Disaster struck at Indianapolis when Marco Andretti was forced to bump teammate Mike Conway from the final spot in the field, and Michael Andretti was forced to purchase the already qualified spot of A.J. Foyt Enterprises driver Bruno Junqueira to meet Hunter-Reay's sponsorship commitments.[5].
In August 2011, Danica Patrick announced her departure from the IndyCar Series starting in the 2012 season to run a full-schedule of NASCAR Nationwide Series events and a limited schedule in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.[6]
After the completion of the 2011 season, Dan Wheldon was due to sign a contract to mark his return to the team in 2012 in the car vacated by Patrick. He was killed in an accident during the season ending 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship, leaving the future of the #7 GoDaddy team uncertain.[7]
In 2006, it was announced that AGR would join Acura as one of the official works teams.[8] The team worked with Highcroft Racing on the development of the Courage LC75 chassis. The team debuted the newly-renamed Acura ARX-01a at the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring. The AGR team finished second overall, and took the maiden LMP2 win for Acura with drivers Dario Franchitti, Marino Franchitti, Bryan Herta, and Tony Kanaan. However, during the remainder of the season the Porsche RS Spyders of Penske Racing regularly outpaced the Acuras. For the 2008 season the car was driven full-time by Herta and Christian Fittipaldi occasionally driven by Kanaan at select longer distance events. Acura discontinued their relationship with the team for the 2009 season due to mixed results. The team did not compete in 2009.
Andretti Autosport announced on Mar. 4, 2010 that they would begin competing in the USF2000 National Championship when they signed Sage Karam.[9] The team was looking for a teammate for Karam and announced on Mar. 26, 2010 that they had signed Zach Veach to join him.[10] The two have been very active on and off the racetrack. Karam won the 2010 points championship, Veach had 10 top-five finishes despite missing two events and the team secured the team championship for the 2010 season. Off the track, Karam has spoke at Operation Smile and Veach is working with Oprah Winfrey's No Phone Zone and FocusDriven as a spokesKID for both.[11]
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