The series was initially founded by Doug Powell in 1990. In its first seasons, the series was mainly based in the western part of the United States, sanctioned by the united-states-auto-club. For 1992, the series started a Western Division and an Eastern Division, with the Eastern Division headed by Dan Andersen and Mike Foschi. In the 1992 season, races at indianapolis-raceway-park and Heartland Park Topeka counted towards both championships and attracted large fields. In 1994, both united-states-auto-club series were merged into one national championship. For 1995, the sports-car-club-of-america series merged with the united-states-auto-club series, creating one national championship co-sanctioned by both organizations. The series ran on the same tracks as higher-ranking series such as the indy-racing-league, nascar-cup-series, and trans-am-series. Many drivers, including dan-wheldon, graduated into higher-ranking series.
In June 2001, the series promoter, Formula Motorsports, Inc., was sold to Primus Racing, Inc., headed by Jon Baytos. Jon Baytos introduced rule changes that brought the series out of alignment with similar sports-car-club-of-america classes. The two-liter Ford NEA engine was replaced by a two-liter Ford Zetec engine. The series also ran under grand-am-road-racing sanctioning. The number of competitors dwindled, and the series folded at the end of the 2006 season. From 2004 until its folding in 2006, scca-pro-racing was the sanctioning body.
For 2010, the U.S. F2000 National Championship returned under the leadership of Dan Andersen. The intent was to return F2000 to its status as a stepping stone to higher calibers of professional open-wheel racing in the United States. The car rule package included two sub-classes: the Championship class required an Elán/Van Diemen chassis with a league-mandated aerodynamics package and a sealed Mazda MZR engine. In 2017, a new chassis, the tatuus-usf-17, was introduced. The tatuus-usf-17 is a full carbon monocoque chassis built to the latest FIA F3 test specifications, utilizing the same Mazda MZR 2.0-liter naturally aspirated engine with additional safety features. The usf2000 champion receives a scholarship package from Mazda to advance to the usf-pro-2000-championship.
Throughout the years, the usf2000 series featured a number of sub-championships. In 1996, the series introduced the Road to Indy Oval Crown. Races at walt-disney-world-speedway, pikes-peak-international-raceway, lowe's-motor-speedway, and other ovals counted towards the Oval Crown. This championship continued until the 2002 season.
Named after the former sports-car-club-of-america F2000 series, the American Continental Championship was introduced in 1999. This second-tier class was open for Formula Ford 2000 cars manufactured between 1990 and 1996, and also Van Diemen chassis built in 1997. The class continued until the 2003 season, but due to low car counts, it was dropped for 2004.
With the re-introduction of usf2000 in 2010, the National class was introduced. For 2010 and 2011, it was open to every Formula Continental spec car. For 2012 and 2013, the Formula Continental cars were outlawed, and scca-formula-enterprises cars were allowed. Due to low car counts, the National Class was discontinued for 2014 and 2015. The class returned in 2016, open to all sports-car-club-of-america-legal FC (Formula Continental) cars from any chassis manufacturer dating back to 2000. With the introduction of the new tatuus chassis in 2017, the National class was slated for Van Diemen cars conforming to the prior Championship Class spec, but it was subsequently abandoned after the first weekend.
The original usf2000 series was not a spec series. The cars were first built to sports-car-club-of-america Formula Continental specifications. They featured a spaceframe chassis, aluminum bodywork, and aerodynamic aids. Until 2002, the cars were fitted with Ford Pinto engines, coded NEA, which were naturally aspirated 2.000cc SOHC engines. The manual gearbox had a maximum of four forward gears. In the early 2000s, Yokohama tires were used.
For 2002, the Ford Zetec engine was introduced. quicksilver-racengines and elite-engines were selected as the only engine builders. The engine came out of the first generation Ford Focus and was strictly regulated. For the relaunch in 2010, van-diemen was selected as the supplier of the spec chassis. The car, initially named the van-diemen-dp08, was renamed elan-dp08 after van-diemen was integrated into Elán. The car was heavily upgraded to run in the usf2000 series, including a stronger steel spaceframe, improved side crashboxes, and new brakes. elite-engines was selected as the sole engine builder.
In 2016, the new car for the 2017 U.S. F2000 National Championship, the tatuus-usf-17, was unveiled. Italian company tatuus designed and built the tatuus-usf-17. For the first time, the car featured a carbon fiber monocoque. The car was based on the tatuus designed F4-T014 FIA Formula 4 car. The engine remained similar but was connected to a cosworth-sq6 engine control unit. sadev provides the six-speed sequential gearbox. The tatuus-usf-17 can be upgraded to the PM-18 to compete in the indy-pro-2000-championship.
Between 1997 and 2002, a constructors championship was contested. Only constructors who were Associate Members of the usf2000 championship were eligible to score points.
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.
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