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Forsythe shuts down, will not enter the IRL

Forsythe Championship Racing rocked the open-wheel world yesterday when they abruptly announced that they are shutting down and will not be transitioning to the IRL or any other series. Their press release stated:

Forsythe Championship Racing is announcing today the cessation of its racing operations. After 13 years of competition in CART and the Champ Car World Series, the team has been unable to secure the necessary sponsorship to be able to compete in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series in 2008. Forsythe Racing Inc., the parent company of FCR, will participate in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Champ Car finale, with drivers to be announced.

Forsythe Racing’s development program will continue, with popular Canadian racer James Hinchcliffe and Mexican rising star David Garza competing in the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.

The two-car team will participate in the upcoming open test at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on March 10 and 11, as well as the full 12-race Atlantic season, which begins on April 18-20 at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Hinchcliffe, a 21-year-old native of Toronto, is returning to the same operation with which he competed in his rookie Atlantic season in 2006. That season produced Hinchcliffe’s lone Atlantic victory to date at Portland, a pole position at Montreal and a total of three podium results, placing him 10th in the championship as part of a four-car operation. Last season, Hinchcliffe competed with Sierra Sierra Enterprises, improving greatly from his rookie campaign with three pole positions and five podiums en route to fourth in the championship.

The 19-year-old Garza, from Monterrey, Mexico, competed in his rookie Atlantic season in 2007 with US RaceTronics. He earned career-best results in each of his first six starts, topped by best finishes of eighth at Cleveland and the first race of the doubleheader at Edmonton. He finished 10th in the Rookie of the Year standings and 17th in the overall championship. As was the case in 2007, Garza’s car will carry sponsorship from Monterrey, Mexico-based Axtel, a leading carrier of communications services in Mexico.

Forsythe Racing Inc. owns a total of 27 victories and 27 pole positions in Atlantic competition and claimed the 1998 title with driver Lee Bentham, making it the most successful operation currently competing in the Atlantic Championship.

From a certain point of view, the decision is not surprising. Gerry Forsythe has been funding his team, and and likely sustaining the Champ Car series out of his own pocket. The team hasn’t been able to obtain a main sponsor for several seasons, and Gerry would have run only one car in 2007 if he didn’t need to bolster the car count, which was threatening to be only 15 or 16 cars at the season opener last year.

But looking at this from a different perspective, it looks like Forsythe is just taking his ball and going home. I have been a fan of the Forsythe team for a number of years, mostly because Paul Tracy is always an dramatic driver/character to follow, and the decision to just shut down in utter defeat is disappointing. Of course, it’s Forsythe’s prerogative to do so, but I thought that Forsythe was in racing for the competition.

What was the reason for racing? It certainly wasn’t for the money (quite the opposite). If Forsythe wasn’t in it for the competition then what was the drive?

But life moves on. Now Paul Tracy is on a quest to land a ride in the IRL. It would be a shame for him to be caught out without a seat in 2008. What was Tracy’s response yesterday? He said:

“I got a call from Neil (Micklewright, president of Forsythe Racing) this morning and he said, ‘I’ve got some bad news for you,’” related Tracy from his home in Las Vegas.

“Neil said he’d been trying to get a hold of my manager but he was having a colonoscopy today. That’s ironic ‘cause that’s what I feel like I got.”

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