Photo Credit: David Yeazell
It was announced on October 7 that Chip Ganassi Racing Teams’ Verizon IndyCar Series entries will be powered by Honda starting in 2017 through a multi-year deal.
“We’ve had a long and successful relationship with Honda over the years and we look forward to getting it back on track,” Chip Ganassi, owner, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams quoted. “ I feel a little like I am going home after having previously spent 12 years with them. Much of our organization’s success has been with Honda power in our cars so we are all very excited.”
There is a long history between Honda Performance Development and Chip Ganassi Racing Teams going back as far as 1996 when CGRT won its first ever INDYCAR championship with driver Jimmy Vasser for HPD. Now the partnership is back together, they have hopes to adding to their IndyCar stats where combined they have nine of CGRT’s 11 championship titles as well as 77 of their 102 victories in a 12 year span.
“The Honda-Ganassi association is one of the most successful in the history of Honda’s North American racing programs,” Art St. Cyr, president, Honda Performance Development added. “The Ganassi organization was one of our partners when Honda won its first Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Manufacturers’ Championship in 1996; and a Ganassi driver, Jimmy Vasser, won our first CART drivers’ title that same year. The Honda-Ganassi partnership has produced 77 race victories and multiple series championships in both CART and INDYCAR, including all three of Dario Franchitti’s Indianapolis 500 wins and Scott Dixon’s championship season in 2013. We welcome the return of our partnership, and look forward to returning to Victory Circle together in 2017.”
