Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...

in the United States.

Team history

Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver

Paul Gentilozzi Paul Gentilozzi (born February 6, 1950, in Lansing, Michigan) is a race car driver and businessman. His non-racing business interests are real estate development, principally developing office buildings for institutions and government agencies. ...

to compete in the

Trans-Am The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of ...

series. It competed in Trans-Am until 2004, when the championship was cancelled, and achieved 57 outright wins in 20 years. It has also raced in the

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

sports car racing championship. Rocketsports joined

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing T ...

in 2003 with driver

Alex Tagliani Alexandre Tagliani (; born October 18, 1973), nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Canada Series, driving the No. 80 Chevrolet Camaro for Dumoulin Compétition. Tagliani has competed in a ...

, who scored the team's only victory at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

in 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the team fielded cars for

pay driver A pay driver is a driver for a professional auto racing team who, instead of being paid by the owner of their car, drives for free and brings with them either personal sponsorship or personal or family funding to finance the team's operations. Th ...

s and frequently changed drivers. In 2007, Tagliani returned full-time and the team shared technical information with RuSPORT. This alliance was dubbed RSPORTS, and took a race win with RuSPORT's Justin Wilson. However, the alliance ended at the end of the season. In 2008, following the unification of Champ Car and the IRL, Rocketsports announced that it would not transition to the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

. They did compete in the Champ Car finale at

Long Beach Grand Prix The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in Downtown Long Beach, downtown Long Beach, California. It was the premier race on the ...

, with drivers

Antônio Pizzonia Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born 11 September 1980) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. Born in Manaus, he started his car racing career in the Formula Vauxhall Junior ...

, who competed for Rocketsports at Long Beach in 2006, and Juho Annala. Since the demise of Champ Car, Rocketsports has competed in the revived Trans-Am Series with driver

Tomy Drissi Tomy Drissi ( ; born December 9, 1958) is an American professional stock car racing, stock and sports car racing, sports car racing driver, and an advertising executive in the movie industry. A long-time competitor in the Sports Car Club of Americ ...

, winning the 2009 championship.Trans-Am Wraps 2009 Season at Road America This Weekend
, Sports Car Club of America, September 19, 2009, Retrieved 2009-10-02 Gentilozzi went on to form RSR Racing in 2009.

Drivers that have competed for Rocketsports in Champ Car

* Juho Annala (2008) *

Mario Dominguez Mario (; ) is a character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. ...

(2006) *

Memo Gidley José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley (born September 29, 1970) is a Mexican and American racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1999 to 2004. He worked at the Jim Russell racing school as a mechanic to fund his career for some time, eventually get ...

(2004) *

Timo Glock Timo Glock (; born 18 March 1982) is a German racing driver, who competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Dörr Motorsport. Glock competed in Formula One between and . Glock raced in Formula One for Jordan, Toyota, Virgin and Marussi ...

(2005) *

Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is an American professional racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. He currently competes part-time in the IndyC ...

(2005) *

Tõnis Kasemets Tõnis Kasemets (born March 17, 1974) is an Estonian racing driver and a former competitor in the CART Champ Car World Series. He won the 2022 IMSA Prototype Challenge championship. Career Kasemets started racing karts in 1982, winning the Bal ...

(2006) * Michael McDowell (2005) *

Nicky Pastorelli Nicky Pastorelli (born 11 April 1983) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Motorsports career Euro Formula 3000 Born in The Hague, Pastorelli participated in Euro Formula 3000 for Scuderia Fama in 2003. He finished on the podium twice and pla ...

(2006) *

Nelson Philippe Nelson Philippe (born July 23, 1986 in Valence, Drôme) is a French race car driver. Career Early career Philippe raced go-karts from 1998-2002. In 2003, he raced in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, finishing the season with one podium, and four ...

(2004) *

(2006, 2008) * Guy Smith (2004) *

(2003–2004, 2007)

Racing results

Complete CART / Champ Car World Series results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) # Competed as RSPORTS at Rds. 1–10.

Complete IndyCar Series results

( key) # Run to

specifications. # Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

References

External links

{{Champ Car teams Grand American Road Racing Association teams Champ Car teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams American auto racing teams Companies based in Ingham County, Michigan Sports in Lansing, Michigan American Le Mans Series teams Auto racing teams established in 1985 1985 establishments in Michigan IndyCar Series teams Auto racing teams disestablished in 2009