Patrick Racing

Pat Patrick began his Indy car involvement as a sponsor of the team fielded by fellow Jackson oilman Walt Michner in 1967, becoming a co-owner in 1970 and establishing Patrick Racing. Legendary chief mechanic George Bignotti joined the team from 1973 to 1980. During the 1970s and 1980s, Patrick Racing was frequently considered a chief rival to Penske Racing, battling especially at Indianapolis.

The team's first major success came with driver Gordon Johncock, who won the 1973 and 1982 Indianapolis 500. Johncock also won the 1976 USAC National Championship. The team was closely associated with STP sponsorship and Andy Granatelli during the 1973 victory. The 1973 win was overshadowed by tragedy: team driver Swede Savage suffered a devastating crash and died about a month later, and pit crew member Armando Teran — of Graham McRae's car — was struck by a fire truck and fatally injured.

In 1975, Patrick Racing initiated an in-house chassis project, naming the car the Wildcat. It was powered by the DGS engine (Drake-Goossen-Sparks), an updated version of the turbocharged four-cylinder Offenhauser. Wally Dallenbach came close to victory at Indianapolis in 1975, leading the race before engine failure on lap 162. In 1977, Gordon Johncock was leading late in the race but dropped out with only 16 laps to go with a broken crankshaft. In 1979, Pat Patrick was one of the founding owners of CART.

George Bignotti departed in 1981 and was replaced by Jim McGee. Mario Andretti joined the team in 1981 and finished second in the controversial 1981 Indianapolis 500. Bobby Unser of Penske Racing won the race, but Andretti was initially declared the winner when official results were posted the following morning after Unser was penalised for passing cars under the yellow on lap 149. After a lengthy protest and appeals process, Unser was reinstated as the victor in October of that year. In 1982, Andretti was eliminated in the Kevin Cogan crash at the start. Gordon Johncock avoided the incident and won the race, holding off Rick Mears of Penske Racing by 0.16 seconds — the closest finish in Indy history to that point.

Johncock's final win with the team came in 1983 at Atlanta. He suffered season-ending injuries in a crash at Michigan later that season and abruptly announced his retirement in 1985. Patrick utilised several drivers during 1983–1985, including Chip Ganassi, Danny Ongais, Bruno Giacomelli, and Johnny Rutherford. Ganassi suffered a violent, nearly career-ending crash at Michigan in 1984. In late 1984, two-time World Driving Champion Emerson Fittipaldi was hired as a replacement after a three-year sabbatical from racing.

Stability returned in 1985–1986 when the Wildcat chassis programme was retired and the team switched to the customer March chassis. 7-Eleven became the primary sponsor for 1985, and Marlboro joined in 1986 — their first Indy car sponsorship programme since 1971. Kevin Cogan achieved his only career win at Phoenix in 1986, and Emerson Fittipaldi won the Michigan 500 in 1985. Cogan finished a heartbreaking second place at the 1986 Indianapolis 500 after being passed with just over two laps to go.

For 1987, the team secured the new Ilmor-Chevrolet V8 engine. Fittipaldi won two races and finished 10th in points. After dropping to a one-car effort, Fittipaldi won two more races in 1988, finished 2nd at Indianapolis, and improved to 7th in points, aided by the arrival of engineer Mo Nunn.

In 1988, Chip Ganassi joined Pat Patrick as co-owner for Fittipaldi's #20 Marlboro entry. A complex deal with Penske Racing unfolded over approximately two years, involving sponsors, drivers and cars. For 1989, Marlboro agreed to stay at Patrick for another season and Penske supplied Patrick with two PC-18 chassis for Fittipaldi; in return, Penske received interim Marlboro sponsorship to field a third car for Al Unser Sr. at the three 500-mile races.

The 1989 CART season was Patrick Racing's most successful: Fittipaldi won the Indianapolis 500 and the CART championship. By season's end, however, Phillip Morris announced that Marlboro was moving permanently to Penske, and in October Fittipaldi officially signed with Penske for 1990. Patrick made a tentative deal to take over the Alfa Romeo Indy car project from Alex Morales Motorsports, which would have meant dropping the Ilmor-Chevrolet engine. Chip Ganassi, by then the majority team owner, withdrew his support over the risky engine programme, and the two split amicably in December. In January 1990, Ganassi took over the assets and the shop including the two PC-18 chassis, reinstated the Ilmor-Chevrolet engine lease, hired former Formula One driver Eddie Cheever, secured Target sponsorship, and renamed the outfit Chip Ganassi Racing.

Pat Patrick announced he was taking over the Alfa Romeo Indy car project previously run by Alex Morales Motorsports. Roberto Guerrero signed as primary driver with Al Unser Sr. scheduled for a second car at the Indianapolis 500 and the Michigan 500. The new Patrick Racing team landed primary sponsorship from Miller Genuine Draft. March constructed a chassis specifically for the Alfa Romeo, the 90CA, but by mid-season Patrick dropped it in favour of the Lola. Al Unser Sr. suffered a broken collarbone and fractured right leg in a practice crash at Michigan and subsequently quit the team. Guerrero managed three top tens and placed 16th in points.

For 1991, Danny Sullivan took over as primary driver, but the team continued to struggle. Guerrero remained for selected races and was involved in a controversial crash at Indianapolis with Kevin Cogan. By the end of the 1991 season, Patrick was in financial and legal trouble amid allegations that one of the Ilmor Chevrolet V-8 engines had been shipped to the Alfa Romeo engine developers in Italy, who allegedly disassembled it and copied design ideas. At the conclusion of the 1991 season, Sullivan left and was replaced by Bobby Rahal. Facing an uncompetitive engine situation for 1992 and escalating legal problems, Patrick sold the team outright in December 1991 to Bobby Rahal and his partner Carl Hogan, who formed Rahal-Hogan Racing — now known as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

In 1994, Patrick formed a testing team for Firestone tyres, spearheading Firestone's return to Indy car racing. They did not enter any races in 1994, operating as a non-competing factory test outfit with Scott Pruett as driver. In 1995, they returned full time to CART competition as the Firestone works team. Pruett won the 1995 Marlboro 500, achieved three other podium finishes, and placed 7th in points. Pruett also won the 1997 Surfers Paradise event.

After the 1999 season, Goodyear tires dropped out of Indy car racing, and Firestone became the effective exclusive tyre supplier for both CART and IRL. Due to financial uncertainty in Champ Car, Patrick Racing moved to the IRL in 2004, running Al Unser Jr. until his mid-season retirement and then Jeff Simmons, Jaques Lazier, and Tomáš Enge. With no sponsorship for 2005, the team ceased operations and its assets were put up for sale.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.