Panther Pack - About Panther Racing

Over ten years ago the dream of starting a race team came true for a television producer, a politician, a radio veteran, a race mechanic, an automobile dealer and the starting quarterback of the local NFL team - whose jersey No. 4 was the numeral that would define the team's first racecar.

The Panther Racing team has been through a lot of changes since Scott Goodyear took the first IndyCar Series green flag at Walt Disney World Speedway in 1998, but ultimately, the past nine seasons have been defined by excellence, precision and the ability to over deliver in every facet of the racing business.

The commitment of veteran racer John Barnes and his fellow team owners, his drivers, crewmen, team sponsors and partners has never wavered. Whether it be winning the team's first race at Phoenix International Raceway with Goodyear in 1999, or hand-picking a young driver from Defiance, Ohio who would later win back-to-back championships and make Panther the winningest team in IndyCar Series history - the hard work, passion and the desire to be a positive influence on race fans, the sport of open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 has never faded.

The team's dedication away from the track has been the key to its stability throughout these years. Building on long-time partnerships with a sponsorship group that includes internationally-respected corporations has been the backbone that's kept Panther's cars at the front of open-wheel racing's top divisions for the better part of a decade.

The drivers who have piloted Panther Racing's cars over those seasons bear some of the most recognizable names in the sport's history - with Sam Hornish, Jr, Scott Goodyear, Buddy Lazier, Dan Wheldon, John Andretti, Vitor Meira, Tomas Scheckter, Billy Boat and Tomas Enge topping the list.

The team's diverse ownership group, that now includes sports legends like former two-time heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman and Pro Bowl NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh, is equally as impressive.

But, ultimately, it's performance on the racetrack that matters to Barnes, his drivers and fellow team owners. Barnes and fellow co-owner Mike Griffin have spent the past 30-plus years together in the motorsports business, and together they formed a bond that helped lead to the formation of the team in 1998, and has fueled its success on every lap since.

The team's trophy case is vast, littered with hardware from 2001 and 2002 IndyCar Series Championships, another league title from the 2003 Indy Pro Series Championships and trophies from each of the team's 24 race victories in those series. In 2007, team newcomer Hideki Mutoh dominated the first race of the Liberty Challenge at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, giving Panther's its coveted first victory at the world's greatest race course.

It's been over 10 years since the heart of Panther Racing was unveiled at former partner Gary Pedigo's automobile dealership, and 24 race wins and three championships later, the team remains one of the best in the sport and continues to epitomize its philosophy on all aspects of the racing business - always over deliver.

Did You Know?

• Five of the last eight IndyCar Series Championships were won by former Panther Racing drivers (Buddy Lazier, 2000; Dan Wheldon, 2005; Sam Hornish, Jr., 2001, 2002, 2006).
  
  
• Panther Racing is the winningest team in the history of Texas Motor Speedway, where it has collected a total of five race wins with Scott Goodyear, Sam Hornish Jr. and Tomas Scheckter.
  
  
• Panther Racing won the 1998 and 2000 Carburetion Day Pit Stop Challenge competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
  
  
• Current Panther driver Vitor Meira became the first Indy-car driver to complete a lap at Daytona International Speedway since 1959, when his No. 4 car was the first to cross the finish line at the popular high-banked track during the IndyCar Series compatibility test in September.
  
  
• The team's No. 4 car set the fastest lap of the 85th Indianapolis 500 when Sam Hornish Jr. circled the 2.5-mile oval at 219.830 mph on Lap 130 of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
  
  
• Panther Racing has won three of the four closest finishes in league history, including winning the closest one-two margin of victory (Sam Hornish Jr. over Al Unser Jr. by 0.0024 of a second at Chicagoland Speedway in 2002) and the closest 1-2-3 finish when Hornish nudged Scott Dixon and Bryan Herta by 0.0099 of a second at Chicagoland in 2003.
  
  
• Panther Racing co-owner, and current Head Football Coach at Stanford University, Jim Harbaugh believes the Indianapolis 500 is, "better than Christmas."
  
  
• Panther team owner John Barnes has worked with four members of the legendary Andretti family - as a mechanic for Mario (1973); a team manager for Jeff (1993); a team owner for Michael (2001) and a team owner for John (2007)
  
  
• Panther Racing qualified drivers Tomas Scheckter and Tomas Enge 1-2 for the 2005 race at Texas Motor Speedway, where Scheckter was victorious. But, it was Enge who set the fastest lap of the race at 216.184 mph after electrical problems eliminated him from contention for the victory.
  
  
• On two occasions in its history, Panther Racing won both the IndyCar Series and the Indy Pro Series races on the same weekend - at Chicagoland Speedway and California Speedway in 2003.