Allmendinger joins Tracy at Forsythe
June 14, 2006

From ChampCar.WS:

Forsythe Championship Racing is proud to announce that it has partnered with A.J. Allmendinger to drive the #7 INDECK Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone/Lola beginning at the G.I. Joe's Presents the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, the fifth round of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford, which takes place June 16 - 18 at the Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon.

The 24 year-old American driver will partner with Paul Tracy as the Forsythe duo continues the hunt for the 2006 Vanderbilt Cup. This will not be the first time that Tracy and Allmendinger join forces at the race track, Allmendinger kicked off his career when Tracy selected him to drive for his Go-Kart team in the year 2000, the team's performance in the inaugural Champ Car Stars of Tomorrow program in Las Vegas awarded Allmendinger his first opportunity to test a Champ Car. He continued to climb up the Champ Car ladder by securing the Barber Dodge Pro Series Championship in his rookie year in 2002 with six victories, four pole positions, and nine podium finishes. In 2003 he moved up to Champ Car Atlantic where he won the Championship and Rookie of the Year honors in dominating fashion by capturing nine poles and seven victories, becoming the second-youngest driver ever to capture the coveted title, behind Michael Andretti. Allmendinger made the leap up to the Champ Car World Series in 2004 with the first-year RuSPORT team and quickly went on to capture eleven top-ten starts and nine top-ten finishes that included two visits to the podium and his first laps led in the series. His aggressive debut earned him the 2004 Roshfrans Rookie of the Year title, as well as the AUTOSPORT Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the first American to do so. Allmendinger finished the season sixth overall, marking the highest finish for an American-born Champ Car rookie since Bobbie Rahal in 1982. He continued with his impressive development in 2005 when he earned his first pole and collected four second-place finishes and finished fifth in the Championship.

The Red Bull athlete contested the first four races of the 2006 Champ Car World Series season with the RuSPORT team and currently is tied for fourth in the Championship with 69 points. Catch all the action live through CBS Sports June 18 at 3:30pm Eastern Time as A.J. Allmendinger tries to capture his first career victory with his new team, Forsythe Championship Racing. You can also tune in to Race Director, available through the Champ Car website, for live coverage of the race and many practice and qualifying sessions with multiple channels of live video, audio, timing, telemetry and commentary. Visit http://www.champcar.ws and www.forsythe-racing.com for more information.

A.J. Allmendinger

#7 INDECK Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone/Lola

"I have to say I'm really looking forward to the next chapter in my racing career and more importantly, winning races. I think this opportunity with Forsythe Racing is going to give me a competitive chance to stay in the championship hunt and try and chase down Bourdais! So right now, I want to focus on the next couple of races and see if we can gel and get up to speed quickly. This series is so competitive, so that needs to be the immediate focus. I also just want to quickly thank Red Bull and everyone there for supporting me as I move forward."

Neil Micklewright, VP of Team Operations

"There have obviously been a lot of changes in the last few days but I am very happy with the way things turned out. It's never easy for a team to make drastic changes like this in the middle of the season, but we have some of the best engineers and mechanics in the business and I have no doubt that we'll have AJ up to speed straight away."

Jerry Forsythe, Team Owner

"A.J. has shown incredible talent, speed and potential over the last few years and I hope that we'll be able to nurture and further develop his skills. Both A.J. and Paul are passionate racers and strong characters; it's certainly going to be an interesting time for the team!"

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