CHAMPCAR/CART: Forsythe and Tasman Motorsports Group Merge Forces

Forsythe and Tasman Motorsports Group Merge Forces Forsythe Championship Racing Team Launched

WHEELING, Illinois and HILLIARD, Ohio (January 19) -- Gerald Forsythe and Steve Horne have announced the formation of Forsythe Championship Racing Ltd., which will debut in the 1999 FedEx Championship Series.

Forsythe Championship Racing builds on the foundation developed by Horne's Tasman Motorsports Group, utilizing the structure and personnel already in place. Forsythe will serve as chairman and Horne as president of the new team, which will field 1998 Rookie of the Year Tony Kanaan in a Honda-powered Reynard entry on Firestone tires. Forsythe Championship Racing also will enter two cars in the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship.

The team will be based in the former Tasman Motorsports Group facility in Hilliard, Ohio -- a suburb of Columbus -- and will operate as a parallel program to Player's/Forsythe Racing, based in Indianapolis, which fields drivers Greg Moore and Patrick Carpentier.

"I was prepared to start a new team from scratch before the opportunity came with Steve Horne and Tasman," said Forsythe. "This was of real interest to us because of Steve's reputation and the way he runs his business. His staying on board was really a key factor. We can hire drivers and team personnel, but not get a complete operation that runs at that level.

"There was not another opportunity that would have been as good for us as the Tasman association. I have told Steve to run it like his own business, and I am confident he will make the right decisions for us."

"I have known Jerry Forsythe as a competitor and also as a fellow CART board member since the early '80s," said Horne. "I've always admired his professionalism and competitiveness in racing and also his business acumen. For all of us here at Tasman, this is a huge opportunity to prove our competitiveness and ability in CART competition and we intend to make the most of it."

Forsythe returned to Champ Car competition in 1994 following a ten-year absence to focus on his business interests as chairman and CEO of the Indeck Group of Companies. Four Champ Car wins and six pole positions over the past two seasons have established Player's/Forsythe Racing as a substantial force on the CART circuit. The team will continue in the FedEx Championship Series with Moore, who earned a fifth-place ranking last season, and Carpentier.

Tasman Motorsports Group was founded by Horne in the fall of 1992. In addition to claiming its fourth Indy Lights championship title last year, the team finished ninth in the PPG Cup with Kanaan. In four years of Champ Car competition, Tasman Motorsports posted four victories, including Honda's inaugural win on the CART circuit.

Forsythe Championship Racing will host an unveiling of the #44 Honda-Reynard and announce its 1999 sponsorship program on February 2 during CART's fourth-annual Spring Training at Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex in Homestead, Florida.