Top Gun Racing was an American auto racing team that competed in 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 ...

entering the #75

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

UAK18-

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

Indy V6 on a part-time basis.

History

2020

Top Gun announced that they would start to compete in IndyCar in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, with R.C. Enerson driving the #99 Hagerty Dallara UAK18-Chevrolet Indy V6 at the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

. Following the announcement that the race would be held with a limited spectator crowd, due to the ongoing

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Top Gun announced that they would not compete at the 500, as their partners wanted a full capacity event to be involved with. However, the team did say that they and Enerson would compete at the IndyCar Harvest Grand Prix at

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

and the

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida. In most years since 2009, the race has served as the season opener (or at minimum, the first race held on U.S. soil). The race is held annually ...

on the

Streets of St. Petersburg Streets is the plural of street, a type of road. Streets or The Streets may also refer to: Music * Streets (band), a rock band fronted by Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh * ''Streets'' (punk album), a 1977 compilation album of various early UK punk ba ...

. Ultimately, they did not enter these races.

2021

For

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, Top Gun participated in a test at

World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway Motorsports Park (currently known as World Wide Technology Raceway for sponsorship reasons) is a motor racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a oval that hosts the NASCAR Cup ...

in May, with Enerson driving the #75 Dallara-Chevrolet, which had a throwback livery to the

Johnny Lightning Johnny Lightning is a brand of diecast model cars launched in 1969 by Topper Corporation (owner of the "Topper Toys" brand), similar to the hugely successful Mattel's Hot Wheels cars. They were notable at the time for being extremely fast compa ...

-sponsored cars that

Al Unser Alfred Unser (May 29, 1939 – December 9, 2021) was an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr. He was the second of four men ( A. J. Foyt, himself, Ri ...

and Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing used to win the Indianapolis 500 in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

. Following this, they officially entered the

. The team used two chassis' owned by the driver ( R. C. Enerson) and his father Neil Enerson. The deal struck between the Enerson's and the team included the loan of the two chassis' as well as the use of an Enerson-owned race transporter and other race equipment, with the agreement that all would be returned to the Enerson's at the end of the season. Entering qualifying, Enerson had completed only 83 laps (the second lowest was

Santino Ferrucci Santino Michael Ferrucci (born May 31, 1998) is an American racing driver. He competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No 14 Chevrolet for A. J. Foyt Enterprises. He has also previously raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and the NASCAR ...

with 144 laps). On the first qualifying day, Enerson posted a four lap average speed of 227.283 miles per hour, which was not fast enough to make the top 30 and guarantee a starting position. He later went out for another attempt, but waived off after the first lap speed was 227.410 miles per hour. Enerson then participated in the Last Row Shootout the following day, as one of five drivers who was not qualified in the top 30. He would post an average speed of 227.298 miles per hour, which was the 34th fastest speed, meaning he was too slow to qualify. The team made adjustments to the car, which was not approved under the penalty of having the speed (which was already not in the field) removed. Afterwards, Enerson made another attempt and had an average speed of 226.813 miles per hour, which was ultimately the 35th fastest speed, meaning that Top Gun failed to qualify. The team and Enerson would return at the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Additionally, they sought out applications for small sponsors on the car, which would go on brick decals (like the ones on the start/finish line at Indianapolis). Enerson would qualify in 25th place (out of 28 cars) for Top Gun's debut race. In the race itself, Enerson retired due to a throttle sensor issue after 12 laps, causing him to finish in last place. The team reneged on its agreement with the Enerson's to return the two chassis' and other equipment at the end of the season and legal proceedings were required to establish the ownership of the cars. The two chassis' and the rest of the equipment was returned to the Enersons in early May 2022.

Results summary

Complete IndyCar Series results

( key)

References

External links

Official website
{{IndyCar Series teams American auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 2020 Companies based in Indiana IndyCar Series teams Sports clubs and teams established in 2020