Panther Racing

Panther Racing was an American

Four years in a row (2008–2011), the team finished second at the Indianapolis 500.

Formation

The team was formed in late 1997, to compete in the Pep Boys Indy Racing League (now IndyCar Series), by six owners: open-wheel racing team manager John Barnes, Indianapolis car dealer Gary Pedigo, former radio personality Mike Griffin, television production executive Terry Lingner, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh and Indianapolis director of corporate government affairs Doug Boles. Mike Kitchel was the Director of Public Relations for Panther Racing. ^[1]

IndyCar Series

1998–2000: Early success with Scott Goodyear

For their first season in

In August 2005,

For 2007, Kosuke Matsuura joined Panther as a second car, running Panasonic sponsorship and in association with the Autobacs Racing Team Aguri, with the #55. Meira's #4 carried Delphi sponsorship. Both drivers had so-so years, with Matsuura taking a top five at Michigan.

2008–2013: National Guard sponsorship and four 2nd places at Indy

For 2008, Matsuura was released from the 55 and

In 2009, Firestone Indy Lights champion J. R. Hildebrand signed a multi-year contract to drive the #4 National Guard car starting in 2011.^[2] In the 2011 Indy 500 the team's rookie driver was leading when he crashed on the final turn of the final lap. Hildebrand coasted across the finish line to place second. Ironically former Panther Racing driver Dan Wheldon, driving the #98 William Rast car for Bryan Herta Autosport, won the race after finishing second the last two years.

Hildebrand remained with the team. He was 11th in the final points standings. Panther Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing formed a strategic alliance prior to the 2012 Indy 500. The team obtained Panther's second Chevrolet engine contract.^[3]

Hildebrand was released from his contract after the 2013 Indy 500. Ryan Briscoe and Oriol Servia alternated in the #4 car for the remainder of the season. Briscoe was injured in Race 1 of the Toronto doubleheader. With Servia unavailable, Panther Racing got Indy Lights points leader (at the time) Carlos Muñoz to drive the #4 for race 2.

2014: closedown

In 2014, Panther Racing sued

In April a report stated that only a skeleton staff remained with the organization, and their equipment was sold to KV Racing Technology to field a fourth entry for James Davison at the 2014 Indianapolis 500.^[6] The team announced that its remaining assets would be sold off at auction on July 23.^[7]

The team was officially listed as defunct in August 2014.

Infiniti Pro Series/Indy Lights

In

Hideki Muto finished 2nd in the 2007 Indy Pro Series for Super Aguri Panther Racing.

In 2008 Panther Racing fielded two cars in the Indy Lights Series. Brent Sherman competed in all 16 events. Dillon Battistini drove the other car but left for Team Moore Racing for the final race.^[8] He was replaced by Bobby Wilson. Battistini won four races.

Pippa Mann and Martin Plowman drove for Pather Racing in 2009. Both finished outside the top ten in the final standings.

Drivers who have driven for Panther

• Dave Steele (1998–1999)
• Scott Goodyear (1998–2000)
• Sam Hornish Jr. (2001–2003)
• Dan Wheldon (2002, 2009–2010)
• Billy Boat (2003) (Indy 500 only)
• Robby McGehee (2003) (Indy 500 only)
• Mark Taylor
  (2004)
• Townsend Bell (2004–2005; 2013 Indy 500)
• Tomas Scheckter (2004–2005)
• Tomáš Enge (2005)
• Buddy Lazier (2005)
• Vítor Meira (2006–2008)
• Kosuke Matsuura (2007)
• John Andretti (2007) (Indy 500 only)
• Hideki Mutoh (2007) (Chicagoland only)
• Scott Sharp (2009) (Indy 500 only)
• Ed Carpenter (2010)
• J. R. Hildebrand (2011–2013)
• Buddy Rice (2011) (Indy 500 only)
• Ryan Briscoe (2013)
• Oriol Servià (2013)
• Carlos Muñoz (2013)

Racing results

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

(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
1998					WDW	PHX	INDY	TXS	NHA	DOV	CLT	PPIR	ATL	TXS	LSV
	G-Force GF01B	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	Scott Goodyear	4	17	6	24	4	2	6	3	18	4*	22	22
			Dave Steele	43										24	27
1999					WDW	PHX	CLT	INDY	TXS	PPIR	ATL	DOV	PPIR	LSV	TXS
	G-Force GF01C	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	Scott Goodyear	4	2	1*	C1	27	1	12	16*	17	21	25	23*
			Dave Steele	43				DNQ
2000					WDW	PHX	LSV	INDY	TXS	PPIR	ATL	KTY	TXS
	Dallara IR-00	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	Scott Goodyear	4	4	2	12	9	5	16	11	2*	1
2001					PHX	HMS	ATL	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	GAT	CHI	TXS
	Dallara IR-01	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	Sam Hornish Jr.	4	1*	1*	4	14	3	2*	2	2	6*	3	3*	2	1*
2002					HMS	PHX	FON	NAZ	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MCH	KTY	GAT	CHI	TXS
	Dallara IR-02	Chevrolet Indy V8	Sam Hornish Jr.	4	1*	3*	1*	17	25	18	3	1	2	3*	7	2	5	1*	1
			Dan Wheldon	15														10	15
2003					HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MCH	GAT	KTY	NAZ	CHI	FON	TXS
	Dallara IR-03	Chevrolet Indy V8	Sam Hornish Jr.	4	10	21	6	15	10	5	4	17	11	2*	6	1*	2	1	1	17
			Robby McGehee	44				25
			Billy Boat	98				32
2004					HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MCH	KTY	PPIR	NAZ	CHI	FON	TXS
	Dallara IR-04	Chevrolet Indy V8	Mark Taylor	2	19	12	16	30	17	18
			Townsend Bell								17	5	6	8	21	12	18	22	9	9
			Tomas Scheckter	4	5	16	13	18	20	17	15	19	21	19	22	17	13	19	15	18
2005					HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MCH	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON
	Dallara IR-05	Chevrolet Indy V8	Tomáš Enge	2	21	20	16	DNS	19	19	7	11	23			11	6	5	20	13	8
			Townsend Bell												15
			Buddy Lazier											18
				95					5				9		6	6			10
			Tomas Scheckter	4	11	17	17	10	20	1*	4	5	17	3	3	21	14	16	4	20	7*
2006					HMS	STP	MOT	INDY	WGL	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MCH	KTY	SNM	CHI
	Dallara IR-05	HI6R V8	Vítor Meira	4	16	5	10	10	2	6	2	3	3	15	2*	6	3	6
2007					HMS	STP	MOT	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	MCH	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI
	Dallara IR-05	HI7R V8	Vítor Meira	4	4	16	17	8	10	5	5	9	9	17	10	17	18	10	9	15	18
			John Andretti	33					30
			Kosuke Matsuura	55	16	17	18	18	16	11	9	15	17	8	16	12	4	11	10	5	17
			Hideki Mutoh	60																	8
2008					HMS	STP	MOT	LBH	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF2
	Dallara IR-05	HI7R V8	Vítor Meira	4	10	19	16		22	2	22	7	15	20	22	6	6	19	4	7	17	27
			Dan Wheldon																				11
2009					STP	LBH	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	TOR	EDM	KTY	MDO	SNM	CHI	MOT	HMS
	Dallara IR-05	HI7R V8	Dan Wheldon	4	14	5	10	2	10	7	4	10	10	14	15	11	16	12	22	8	21
			Scott Sharp	16				14
2010					SAO	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	CHI	KTY	MOT	HMS
	Dallara IR-05	HI7R V8	Dan Wheldon	4	5	20	11	9	15	2	9	11	6	10	20	14	25	2	3*	10	9
			Ed Carpenter	20						17								20	2		13
2011					STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	TXS		MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHA	SNM	BAL	MOT	KTY	LSV
	Dallara IR-05	HI7R V8	J. R. Hildebrand	4	11	13	17	10	2	23	18	21	4	8	11	25	21	23	19	7	20	C3
			Buddy Rice	44					18												9	C3
2012					STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET	TEX	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	BAL	FON
	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	J. R. Hildebrand	4	19	15	5	7	14	14	5	22	22	7	21	9	8	12	11
2013					STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET		TXS	MIL	IOW	POC	TOR		MDO	SNM	BAL	HOU		FON
	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	J. R. Hildebrand	4	19	17	5	15	33
			Ryan Briscoe							21	13		15		14	22	DNS		17
			Oriol Servià									19		7				14		12	19	7	19
			Carlos Muñoz														17
			Townsend Bell	60					27

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Panther Racing.

• Panther Racing official website
• IndyCar Team Page