MOTOR SPORTS: GANASSI TEAM WINS DAYTONA ROLEX 24.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services DAYTONA BEACH Daytona Beach (dātō`nə), city (1990 pop. 61,921), Volusia co., NE Fla., on the Atlantic coast and Halifax River (a lagoon); inc. 1876. Center of a rapidly urbanizing area, in a region settled by Spanish Franciscans in the 17th cent. , Fla. - Chip Ganassi Floyd "Chip" Ganassi (born May 24, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and educated at local Duquesne University) is a former American racecar driver and current racecar owner. has another winner. While his teams have struggled the past few years in NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. and the Indy Racing League The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. The League consists of two series, the premiere IndyCar Series , Ganassi's sports car team has been prospering. The IRL 1. (jargon, chat) IRL - In real life. Generally synonymous with f2f. 2. (language, robotics) IRL - Industrial Robot Language. team has not won a race since Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born July 22, 1980) is a New Zealand motor racing driver who won the Indy Racing League (IRL) championship in 2003 at his first attempt. Early years won in 2003 on the way to an IRL championship. The NASCAR team's last win was by Jamie McMurray near the end of the 2002 season. But Ganassi, whose team won an unprecedented four straight championships from 1997 to 2000 in the CART series, started his sports car team two years ago and gained quick success. Two years ago, Scott Pruett and Max Papis combined to win the Grand American Road Racing Daytona Prototype championship, grabbing four race wins. Last year, they won three times and finished second. And on Saturday and Sunday, Dixon and new teammate Dan Wheldon joined Ganassi NASCAR driver Casey Mears in co-driving a Lexus Riley to a hard-earned victory in the Rolex 24, America's most prestigious endurance race. ``Let's hope this is just the start of a lot of good things for this team,'' said Wheldon, the reigning IRL champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, who won in his first start since leaving Andretti Green Racing Andretti Green Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the IRL IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series. Early years in CART Founded in 1993 by Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe as Forsythe Green Racing . All three drivers contributed to the Daytona win, but it appeared Dixon and Wheldon took the lead and were particularly comfortable as teammates. ``We get on pretty good. But we've sort of been teammates for years,'' said Dixon, noting he was the CART driver for the PacWest team in 2001 while Wheldon drove for the PacWest's Indy Lights team. ``This race is so difficult, so hard to win,'' Dixon added. ``I can hardly believe we won it. But Chip gives us a great team and great equipment. Dan and I were also fast in the Phoenix (IRL) test earlier this week and I think there are going to be a lot more wins this year.'' The Finlay Motorsports team - Valencia's Bryan Herta, Michael Valiante, Rob Finlay and Buddy Rice - finished 11th. ``We had our share of problems but it's always satisfying to get to the end with a car still on the track,'' Herta said. ``I enjoyed this race and appreciate Rob Finlay and the team allowing me to do this with them, maybe I'll be able to do it again with them in the future.'' |
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