PPI Motorsports

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
PPI Motorsports
ManufacturerFord, Pontiac, Chevrolet
Opened1979
Closed2006
Career
Drivers' Championships0
Race victories2

PPI Motorsports was a race team which competed in

CART, NASCAR and various off-road racing
circuits. The team had one of the few remaining single car operations in NASCAR.

Early years

PPI stood for Precision Preparation, Inc., a company founded by team owner Cal Wells in 1979. The company provided parts for

Toyota Motorsports. PPI fielded off-road trucks for Mickey Thompson's SCORE series and then later fielded trucks which competed in outdoor events such as the Baja 1000. Notable drivers for PPI include Ivan "Ironman" Stewart and a young Robby Gordon
(who also drove in CART for the team in 1998).

CART years

The car from PPI's winning CART effort

PPI's relationship with Toyota expanded into the open-wheel ranks in 1995, when Wells formed a

CART team with good friend Frank Arciero. Their initial driver was Hiro Matsushita. Known as Arciero-Wells, the CART team lasted for 5 years but only a managed a best finish of 4th in 1999 with rookie Cristiano da Matta. In 1996, they began the CART season with Jeff Krosnoff driving, but he died in a tragic accident during the Toronto
street race. All PPI cars subsequently carried a decal commemorating Krosnoff's memory.

After Arciero left in 2000, the team was rebranded as PPI Motorsports, and da Matta gave the team its first (and only) career victory in CART. During this time, the team also ran a program in the

Toyota Atlantic series, and had success in 2000 with rookie of the year Dan Wheldon
. Following the 2000 season, however, PPI shut down its open-wheel and off-road programs, ended its relationship with Toyota, and shifted its focus exclusively on NASCAR.

PPI also competed in

. Lazzaro won the championship for the team in 1999.

NASCAR years

PPI Motorsports was notable in being the first NASCAR team to require pit crew members to wear helmets before the series mandated wearing helmets starting with the 2002 season.

Car No. 32 history

The No. 32 Tide-sponsored car in 2005

PPI Motorsports started its first Cup team during the 2000 season with open-wheel and

Tide
-sponsored Ford. The team was hardly a success in its first year, finishing in 37th place and failing to qualify for six races. Pruett was released at the end of the season and returned to Trans-Am.

With the team focusing exclusively on NASCAR in 2001, PPI fielded a two-car Winston Cup effort, with Ricky Craven taking over in the 32. Craven had a number of strong races, which he capped giving the team its first career victory at Martinsville in October. He finished 21st in the points standings that year.

Craven ran strong in 2002 and, although he failed to win a race for the team, he managed to improve his point championship standing and finishing 15th overall. This was the team's last season in a Ford, as they switched to Pontiac the next season.

Craven started

Rockingham and a famous victory at Darlington, in which he beat Kurt Busch
to the finish by just 0.002 seconds, which still stands today as the smallest margin of victory in NASCAR Cup Series history. It also turned out to be Pontiac's last win in the Winston Cup Series. However, a series of DNF's dropped Craven to 27th in points.

PPI showed clear signs of struggling in

Busch Series driver Bobby Hamilton Jr. took Craven's place. Hamilton Jr. drove the car for the entire 2005 season. However, he failed to score a Top 10 during the year, and eventually finished 36th. Wells did have some success after replacing Hamilton with road course ringer Ron Fellows at Infineon, with Fellows giving the team an eighth-place finish. Hamilton was replaced by Travis Kvapil, who drove the car for the 2006 season
, only to have five DNQ's. Ron Fellows competed in the two road course races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. After originally finishing 10th at the Glen, Fellows was penalised for skipping a portion of the track and dropped to 32nd.

At the end of the 2006 season, Tide left NASCAR as a full-time sponsor. Unable to find a new sponsor, Wells shut down the team before the 2007 season and sold his owner points to Michael Waltrip Racing.

Car No. 96 history

Later in 2000, PPI started a second Cup Series team with backing from Ronald McDonald House Charities. Truck Series driver Andy Houston was to drive the #96 Ford for five races toward the end of the 2000 season, with the intent being for the team to run the full 2001 schedule.

Houston finished no better than 26th in his five starts, but the team still entered the 2001 season having picked up sponsorship from McDonald's, which had been sponsoring Bill Elliott for the previous several years in his owner-driver venture.

The #96 struggled to find its footing. After qualifying ninth for the Daytona 500, Houston fell two laps down before being collected in a massive wreck on lap 175. He then failed to qualify for the next two races at Rockingham and Las Vegas.

Houston would record his best finish at Martinsville in April, where he finished 17th and was the last car running on the lead lap. Two races later he recorded his second top twenty finish, a 19th place run at California Speedway.

After that, Houston's performance declined significantly. He failed to qualify for the races at Michigan, Pocono, and Sears Point in June, and the #96 was entered in neither the July New Hampshire or Pocono races nor the road course event at Watkins Glen. Houston also missed the Southern 500 at Darlington, having failed to qualify for either event there, and the fall race at Richmond.

In the races he did manage to qualify for, Houston also struggled to perform. Although he qualified well again at Daytona in July, he was again collected in a crash. He qualified in the top 15 at both Chicagoland and Indianapolis, but Houston's engine blew three laps into the former event and he crashed on the opening lap in the latter. In all three of these races, Houston finished 43rd and last. In fact, after his top 20 run at California, Houston finished 40th or worse seven times.

McDonald's eventually cooled to the idea of continuing to sponsor Houston because of his poor performances and during the week leading up to the race at Indianapolis, they announced that they would be dropping their full-time sponsorship of the #96 after the inaugural race at Kansas in the fall. Houston finished eighteenth in that race, failing to finish on the lead lap. He was released following the event as no sponsor signed on to replace McDonald's, resulting in the team being shut down.

Driver history

CART

NASCAR

(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 20 21 Pts Pos Pos
Arciero Racing
1982
PHX ATL MIL CLE MCH MIL POC RIV ROA MCH PHX
Eagle 81 Chevy V8 United States Pete Halsmer (R) 66 24 19 24 43 2
1983
ATL INDY MIL CLE MCH ROA POC RIV MDO MCH CPL LAG PHX
Penske PC-10/82 Cosworth DFX United States Pete Halsmer 66 4 DNQ 9 2 33 14 14 27 24 14 5 20 7 11th 48
United States Johnny Parsons Jr. 22 50th 0
1984
LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH PHX LAG CPL
Penske PC-10/82 Cosworth DFX United States Pete Halsmer 11 8 14 DNQ DNQ 9 29th 9
March 84C 22 26 14 18 13 24 18 18 26
1985
LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH LAG PHX MIA
Lola T900 Cosworth DFX United States Bill Whittington 12 16 DNS 26 16 24 DNQ 21st 15
March 85C 14 24 5 17 8
Lola T900 United States Randy Lanier 17 41st 0
57 24 DNQ 22 22 20 14 20 13 15
1986
PHX LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC MDO SAN MCH ROA LAG PHX MIA
March 86C Cosworth DFX United States Randy Lanier 12 11 13 10 20 9 6 9 21 19 20th 21
United States Jeff MacPherson 22 15 13 DNQ 37th 0
United States Steve Chassey 17 44th 0
United States Eddie Cheever 27 49th 0
1987
LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC ROA MDO NAZ LAG MIA
March 87C Cosworth DFX Italy Fabrizio Barbazza (R) 12 17 12 3 14 4 16 24 11 6 14 8 24 13 12th 42
Canada Ludwig Heimrath 23 DNQ 34th 5
1988
PHX LBH INDY MIL POR CLE TOR MEA MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG MIA
March 88C Cosworth DFX Canada John Jones (R) 12 20 12 DNQ 14 8 7 7 7 8 8 7 13 11 11 16 11th 44
United States Johnny Parsons Jr. DNQ NC
March 87C United States Steve Bren 43 17 40th 0
1989
PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG
Penske PC-17/88 Cosworth DFX Belgium Didier Theys 12 20 23 20 17 21st 9
Italy Fabrizio Barbazza 20 21 26 24 8 20 12 21 24th 6
United States Rich Vogler 28 25th 5
1990
PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LAG
Penske PC-17/88 Buick 3300 V6 tc United States Randy Lewis 12 21 22 14 14 12 16 21 22 17 12 16 17 28 21 20 28th 2
Cosworth DFX 22
Buick 3300 V6 tc United States Rich Vogler DNQ NC
8 DNQ
Cosworth DFX United States Steve Bren 24 25 42nd 0
Buick 3300 V6 tc United States Buddy Lazier (R) 26 30th 1
1991
SFR LBH PHX INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LAG
Penske PC-17/88 Buick 3300 V6 tc United States Mark Dismore (R) 12 20 21 15 DNQ 38th 0
United States Jeff Wood 24 20 31st 0
United States Pancho Carter 14 26th 3
Lola T89/00 21
Canada John Jones 21 19 10 8 11 15 21 21 13 21 18th 10
1992
SFR
PHX LBH INDY DET POR MIL NHA TOR MCH CLE ROA VAN MDO NAZ LAG
Lola T90/00 Buick 3300 V6 tc Italy Fabrizio Barbazza 30 12 20 21 DNQ 35th 1
United States Johnny Parsons Jr. DNQ NC
Lola T91/00
Jeff Wood
34 DNQ 34th 1
30 13 19 19 15 13 12
Jacques Villeneuve, Sr.
22 22 52nd 0
Canada John Jones 12 23 22 36th 1
Finland Tero Palmroth 28 58th 0
1993
SFR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH NHA ROA VAN MDO NAZ LAG
Penske 21/92 Chevrolet 265B United States Mark Smith (R) 25 18 9 10 DNQ 27 29 15 23 24 22 19 12 17 22nd 8
1994
SFR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO NHA VAN ROA NAZ LAG
Lola T94/00 Ford XB V8t Brazil Marco Greco 25 DNQ 16 23 27 20 24 20 26 15 11 DNQ 16 16 21 17 24 29th 2
Arciero-Wells Racing
1995
MIA SFR PHX LBH NAZ INDY MIL DET POR ROA TOR CLE
MCH
MDO NHA VAN LAG
Reynard 94i Ford XB Japan Hiro Matsushita 25 26 11 22 19 DNS 10 19 14 17 13 19 13 20 15 22 17 22 28th 5
1996
MIA RIO SFR LBH NAZ 500 MIL
DET
POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG
Reynard 96i Toyota United States Jeff Krosnoff (R) 25 22 26 18 26 18 18 18 15 17 16 161 35th 0
Italy Max Papis 24 9 22 27th 4
1997
MIA SFR LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG FON
Reynard 97i Toyota Japan Hiro Matsushita 24 21 25 20 25 23 15 17 19 15 20 22 9 19 24 14 28 23 27th 4
Italy Max Papis 25 19 14 25 22 13 26 19 11 28 27 15 8 14 15 20 14 12 24th 8
1998
MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR
MCH
MDO ROA VAN LAG HOU SFR FON
Reynard 98i Toyota Japan Hiro Matsushita 24 23 16 19 15 30th 0
United States Robby Gordon 7 13 20 14 23 23 13 27 11 12 23 13 13 16 9 23rd 13
Italy Max Papis 25 26 13 24 14 28 22 16 18 11 12 8 19 14 11 9 12 5 17 16 21st 25
1999 MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL POR CLE ROA TOR
MCH
DET MDO CHI VAN LAG HOU SRF FON
Reynard 99i Toyota United States Scott Pruett 24 22 21 15 10 24 14 17 24 17 25 7 14 8 17 20 13 7 10 9 22 19th 28
Brazil Cristiano da Matta (R) 25 14 25 20 4 21 17 11 11 20 21 24 17 19 9 14 5 22 11 13 23 18th 32
PPI/Wells Racing
2000 MIA LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH CHI MDO ROA VAN LAG GAT HOU SRF FON
Reynard 2Ki Toyota RVA Spain Oriol Servià (R) 96 19 6 25 24 9 19 3 8 23 11 8 15 10 10 11 17 5 9 92 20 15th 60
Brazil Cristiano da Matta 97 12 25 4 4 13 14 23 5 3 4* 17 1 17 13 7 15 4 14 4 25 10th 112
Arciero-Blair Racing
2000 MIA LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH CHI MDO ROA VAN LAG GAT HOU SRF FON
Reynard 2Ki Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t Brazil Luiz Garcia Jr. 25 17 12 12 23 15 21 22 14 20 12 11 17 25 24 15 20 25 22 12 DNS 27th 6
2001 MTY
LBH
TEX NAZ MOT MIL
DET
POR
CLE
TOR MCH
CHI
MDO ROA VAN LAU ROC
HOU
LAG SRF FON
Lola
B2K/00
Phoenix Brazil Max Wilson 25 28 21 C3 17 25th 12
Ford XF V8t 23 23 4 19 25 15 25 25 18 21 16 24
United States Alex Barron 13 9 29th 4
  1. Molson Indy Toronto
    .
  2. ^ Oriol Servià was penalized 4 points for rough driving in Surfers Paradise.
  3. ^ The Firestone Firehawk 600 was canceled after qualifying due to excessive g-forces on the drivers.

IndyCar win

# Season Date Sanction Track / Race No. Winning Driver Chassis Engine Tire Grid Laps Led
1 2000 July 30
CART
Chicago Motor Speedway (O) 97 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Reynard 2Ki Toyota RVA Firestone 5 51

Complete NASCAR Results

No. 32 Car

Nextel Cup Series
results
Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NSCC Pts!
2000 Scott Pruett 32 Ford DAY
19
CAR

DNQ
LVS

42
ATL

41
DAR

DNQ
BRI
DNQ
TEX
27
MAR

32
TAL

20
CAL

34
RCH

27
CLT
41
DOV

38
MCH

19
POC
31
SON

39
DAY

40
NHA

30
POC

36
IND
10
GLN

DNQ
MCH

17
BRI

38
DAR

24
RCH

16
NHA
41
DOV

42
MAR

DNQ
CLT

DNQ
TAL
39
CAR
30
PHO

34
HOM
43
ATL
32
37th 1929
2001 Ricky Craven DAY
23
CAR
5
LVS

41
ATL
13
DAR

27
BRI
23
TEX

27
MAR

28
TAL
15
CAL
41
RCH

43
CLT
31
DOV

4
MCH

35
POC
43
SON

16
DAY
33
CHI

21
NHA

38
POC

10
IND
9
GLN

35
MCH

2
BRI

38
DAR
18
RCH

11
DOV
26
KAN
21
CLT

35
MAR

1*
TAL

24
PHO

8
CAR

12
HOM
30
ATL

38
NHA
38
21st 3379
2002 DAY
17
CAR
5
LVS

31
ATL

5
DAR

41
BRI
13
TEX

14
MAR

30
TAL
18
CAL
37
RCH

9
CLT
3
DOV
7
POC
14
MCH

15
SON

19
DAY

23
CHI

20
NHA

21
POC

17
IND
33
GLN

34
MCH

17
BRI

16
DAR
14
RCH

21
NHA

6
DOV

9
KAN

38
TAL
15
CLT
36
MAR

7
ATL

21
CAR

9
PHO

34
HOM

24
15th 3888
2003 Pontiac DAY
26
CAR
4
LVS

36
ATL

12
DAR
1
BRI
15
TEX

21
TAL
4
MAR

27
CAL

15
RCH

38
CLT
38
DOV

8
POC
10
MCH

15
SON

21
DAY

43
CHI

25
NHA

21
POC

40
IND
17
GLN

28
MCH
40
BRI

8
DAR

8
RCH

30
NHA

38
DOV

40
TAL

8
KAN

41
CLT

19
MAR

32
ATL

35
PHO

38
CAR

39
HOM
29
27th 3334
2004 Chevy DAY
23
CAR
35
LVS

25
ATL

22
DAR

36
BRI
22
TEX

28
MAR
16
TAL

43
CAL

18
RCH

26
CLT
24
DOV

16
POC
34
MCH

29
SON

16
DAY
38
CHI

38
NHA

38
POC

20
IND
24
GLN

32
MCH

35
BRI

34
NHA

17
34th 2309
Bobby Hamilton Jr.
CAL

38
RCH

11
DOV

29
TAL

43
KAN
23
CLT

15
MAR
36
ATL
38
PHO

16
DAR

31
HOM

21
2005 DAY
35
CAL

20
LVS

11
ATL

38
BRI
39
MAR
40
TEX

39
PHO

35
TAL

40
DAR

30
RCH

36
CLT
DNQ
DOV

21
POC
23
MCH
31
DAY
38
CHI

21
NHA

28
POC

23
IND

39
MCH

35
BRI

35
CAL

23
RCH

43
NHA

29
DOV

33
TAL

DNQ
KAN

43
CLT

41
MAR

30
ATL

DNQ
TEX
38
PHO

35
HOM

36
37th 2348
Ron Fellows
SON

8
GLN

25
2006 Travis Kvapil DAY
27
CAL
DNQ
LVS
39
ATL
DNQ
BRI
40
MAR
34
TEX
27
PHO
21
TAL
19
RCH
27
DAR
30
CLT
22
DOV
29
POC
19
MCH

21
DAY
30
CHI
37
NHA

35
POC

27
IND

25
MCH

21
BRI

20
CAL
34
RCH

28
NHA
27
DOV
39
KAN
19
TAL
DNQ
CLT
20
MAR
40
ATL

32
TEX
28
PHO
30
HOM
27
37th 2648
Ron Fellows
SON

37
GLN

32

No. 96 Car

Nextel Cup Series
results
Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NWCC Pts
2000 Andy Houston 96 Ford DAY
CAR
LVS
ATL
DAR
BRI TEX
MAR
TAL
CAL
RCH
CLT
DOV
MCH
POC
SON
DAY
NHA
POC
IND
GLN
MCH

35
BRI
DAR
RCH
NHA
DOV
MAR
CLT

26
TAL CAR
28
PHO

36
HOM
42
ATL 55th 314
2001 DAY
38
CAR
DNQ
LVS

DNQ
ATL
21
DAR

DNQ
BRI
39
TEX

32
MAR

17
TAL
21
CAL
19
RCH

42
CLT
41
DOV

23
MCH

DNQ
POC
DNQ
SON

DNQ
DAY
43
CHI

43
NHA
POC
IND
43
GLN
MCH

31
BRI

40
DAR
DNQ
RCH

DNQ
DOV
40
KAN
18
CLT
MAR
TAL
PHO
CAR
HOM
ATL
NHA 46th 1187

External links