PPI Motorsports

 ( American Auto Racing Teams ) 

PPI Motorsports was an American racing team which competed in Champ Car, NASCAR and various off-road racing circuits. The team had one of the few remaining single car operations in NASCAR until 2006.

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Early years PPI, short for Precision Preparation, Inc., was a company founded by team owner Cal Wells in 1979 in Westminster, California.

At the time, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. needed to promote their tough, reliable technology driven line of trucks through participation in Off-Road Championships, the Score Desert Series, including the Baja 500 and Baja 1000, and the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Grand Prix (MTEG Stadium Series). Wells had already been successful in winning Off-Road races in the U.S. and Mexico and Toyota selected him to personally lead their foray into truck racing in the American market. With Off-Road legend Ivan "Ironman" Stewart, internationally successful brothers Steve and Rod Millen and Off Road, IndyCar and NASCAR winner Robby Gordon, PPI and Toyota won 88 races, 11 manufacturer championships including three Baja 1000s, 11 Baja 500s and five mint 400s.

The company provided parts for off-road racing teams. Over time, PPI eventually began its own off-road team, with help with Toyota Racing Development. PPI fielded off-road trucks for Mickey Thompson's SCORE series and then later fielded trucks which competed in outdoor events such as the Baja 1000. Notable drivers for PPI include Ivan Stewart and a young Robby Gordon (who also drove in CART for the team in 1998).

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CART years In 1995, Wells formed a Champ Car team with Frank Arciero, signing with Toyota in 1996. Their initial driver was Hiro Matsushita. Known as Arciero-Wells, the CART team lasted for 5 years but only a managed a best finish of 4th in 1999 with rookie Cristiano da Matta. In 1996, they began the CART season with Jeff Krosnoff driving, but he died in a tragic accident during the Toronto street race. All PPI cars subsequently carried a decal commemorating Krosnoff's memory.

After Arciero left in 2000, the team was rebranded as PPI Motorsports, and da Matta gave the team its first (and only) career victory in CART. During this time, the team also ran a program in the Toyota Atlantic series, and had success in 2000 with rookie of the year Dan Wheldon. Following the 2000 season, however, PPI shut down its open-wheel and off-road programs, ended its relationship with Toyota, and shifted its focus exclusively on NASCAR.

PPI also competed in Toyota Atlantic from 1998 to 2000, winning races with Anthony Lazzaro, Andrew Bordin, and Dan Wheldon. Lazzaro won the championship for the team in 1999.

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NASCAR years PPI Motorsports was notable in being the first NASCAR team to require pit crew members to wear helmets before the series mandated wearing helmets starting with the 2002 season.

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Car No. 32 history PPI Motorsports started its first Cup team during the 2000 season with open-wheel and Trans-Am Series standout Scott Pruett behind the wheel of the No.32 Tide-sponsored Ford. The team was hardly a success in its first year, finishing in 37th place and failing to qualify for six races. Pruett was released at the end of the season.

With the team focusing exclusively on NASCAR in 2001, PPI fielded a two-car Winston Cup effort, with Ricky Craven taking over in the 32. Craven had a number of strong races, which he capped giving the team its first career victory at Martinsville in October. He finished 21st in the points standings that year.

Craven ran strong in 2002 and, although he failed to win a race for the team, he managed to improve his point championship standing and finishing 15th overall. This was the team's last season in a Ford, as they switched to Pontiac the next season.

Craven started 2003 the same way, with a strong Top 5 at Rockingham and a famous victory at Darlington, in which he beat Kurt Busch to the finish by 0.002 seconds, which still stands today as one of the smallest margins of victory in NASCAR Cup Series history. It also turned out to be Pontiac's last win in the Winston Cup Series. However, a series of DNF's dropped Craven to 27th in points.

PPI showed clear signs of struggling in 2004 as Craven was unable to give the team a single Top 10 finish through the first 24 races. Wells and Craven parted ways due to lack of results and Busch Series driver Bobby Hamilton Jr. took Craven's place. Hamilton Jr. drove the car for the entire 2005 season. However, he failed to score a Top 10 during the year, and eventually finished 36th. Wells did have some success after replacing Hamilton with road course ringer Ron Fellows at Sonoma Raceway, with Fellows giving the team an eighth-place finish. Hamilton was replaced by Travis Kvapil, who drove the car for the 2006 season, only to have five DNQ's. Ron Fellows competed in the two road course races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. After originally finishing 10th at the Glen, Fellows was penalised for skipping a portion of the track and dropped to 32nd.

At the end of the 2006 season, Tide left NASCAR as a full-time sponsor. Unable to find a new sponsor, Wells shut down the team before the 2007 season and sold his owner points to Michael Waltrip Racing.

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Car No. 96 history Later in 2000, PPI started a second Cup Series team with backing from Ronald McDonald House Charities. Truck Series driver Andy Houston was to drive the #96 Ford for five races toward the end of the 2000 season, with the intent being for the team to run the full 2001 schedule.

Houston finished no better than 26th in his five starts, but the team still entered the 2001 season having picked up sponsorship from McDonald's, which had been sponsoring Bill Elliott for the previous several years in his owner-driver venture.

The #96 struggled to find its footing. After qualifying ninth for the Daytona 500, Houston fell two laps down before being collected in a massive wreck on lap 175. He then failed to qualify for the next two races at Rockingham and Las Vegas.

Houston would record his best finish at Martinsville in April, where he finished 17th and was the last car running on the lead lap. Two races later he recorded his second top twenty finish, a 19th place run at California Speedway.

After that, Houston's performance declined significantly. He failed to qualify for the races at Michigan, Pocono, and Sears Point in June, and the #96 was entered in neither the July New Hampshire or Pocono races nor the road course event at Watkins Glen. Houston also missed the Southern 500 at Darlington, having failed to qualify for either event there, and the fall race at Richmond.

In the races he did manage to qualify for, Houston also struggled to perform. Although he qualified well again at Daytona in July, he was again collected in a crash. He qualified in the top 15 at both Chicagoland and Indianapolis, but Houston's engine blew three laps into the former event and he crashed on the opening lap in the latter. In all three of these races, Houston finished 43rd and last. In fact, after his top 20 run at California, Houston finished 40th or worse seven times.

McDonald's eventually cooled to the idea of continuing to sponsor Houston because of his poor performances and during the week leading up to the race at Indianapolis, they announced that they would be dropping their full-time sponsorship of the #96 after the inaugural race at Kansas in the fall. Houston finished eighteenth in that race, failing to finish on the lead lap. He was released following the event as no sponsor signed on to replace McDonald's, resulting in the team being shut down.

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Driver history

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CART

• Hiro Matsushita (1995, 1997–1998)
• Jeff Krosnoff (1996)
• Max Papis (1996–1998)
• Robby Gordon (1998)
• Cristiano da Matta (1999–2000)
• Scott Pruett (1999)
• Oriol Servia (2000)

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NASCAR Winston/Nextel Cup Series

• Scott Pruett (2000)
• Andy Houston (2000–2001)
• Ricky Craven (2001–2004)
• Bobby Hamilton Jr. (2004–2005)
• Ron Fellows (2005–2006; road courses only)
• Travis Kvapil (2006)

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NASCAR Busch Series

• Anthony Lazzaro (2000)
• Scott Pruett (2000)
• Chad Little (2000; one-off race)

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Complete CART Results

Eagle 81	Chevrolet V8	Pete Halsmer (R)	66								24	19		24		43	2
Team Penske PC-10/82	Cosworth DFX	Pete Halsmer	66	4	DNQ	9	2	33	14	14	27	24	14	5	20	7		11th	48
		Johnny Parsons			22													50th	0
Team Penske PC-10/82	Cosworth DFX	Pete Halsmer	11	8	14	DNQ	DNQ												9		29th	9
March 84C								22	26		14		18	13	24	18	18	26
Lola Cars T900	Cosworth DFX	Bill Whittington	12	16		DNS	26	16	24							DNQ				21st	15
March 85C					14						24		5		17			8
Lola Cars T900		Randy Lanier															17			41st	0
			57	24	DNQ		22	22	20		14		20			13		15
March 86C	Cosworth DFX	Randy Lanier	12	11	13	10	20	9	6	9	21	19										20th	21
		Jeff MacPherson												22			15	13	DNQ			37th	0
		Steve Chassey														17						44th	0
		Eddie Cheever																		27		49th	0
March 87C	Cosworth DFX	Fabrizio Barbazza (R)	12	17	12	3	14	4	16	24	11	6	14	8	24	13				12th	42
		Ludwig Heimrath															23	DNQ			5
March 88C	Cosworth DFX	John Jones (R)	12	20	12	DNQ	14	8	7	7	7	8	8	7	13	11	11	16		11th	44
		Johnny Parsons				DNQ														NC	—
March 87C		Steve Bren	43														17			40th	0
Team Penske PC-17/88	Cosworth DFX	Didier Theys	12	20	23	20	17													21st	9
		Fabrizio Barbazza						20	21	26	24	8			20	12		21		24th	6
		Rich Vogler											28								5
Team Penske PC-17/88	Buick 3300 V6 turbocharger	Randy Lewis	12	21	22	14	14	12	16	21	22	17	12	16	17	28	21	20			28th	2
	Cosworth DFX																		22
	Buick 3300 V6 turbocharger	Rich Vogler				DNQ															NC	—
			8			DNQ
	Cosworth DFX	Steve Bren	24		25																42nd	0
	Buick 3300 V6 turbocharger	Buddy Lazier (R)											26									1
Team Penske PC-17/88	Buick 3300 V6 turbocharger	Mark Dismore (R)	12	20	21	15	DNQ															38th	0
		Jeff Wood							24	20												31st	0
		Pancho Carter						14															3
Lola Cars T89/00							21
		John Jones									21	19	10	8	11	15	21	21	13	21		18th	10
Lola Cars T90/00	Buick 3300 V6 turbocharger	Fabrizio Barbazza	30	12	20	21	DNQ																		35th	1
		Johnny Parsons					DNQ																		NC	—
Lola Cars T91/00		Jeff Wood	34				DNQ																		34th	1
			30					13	19	19	15	13	12
		Jacques Villeneuve, Sr.												22	22										52nd	0
		John Jones														12	23	22							36th	1
		Tero Palmroth																	28						58th	0
Team Penske 21/92	Chevrolet 265B	Mark Smith (R)	25	18	9	10	DNQ		27	29	15	23			24	22	19	12	17						22nd	8
Lola Cars T94/00	Ford XB V8Turbocharger	Marco Greco	25	DNQ	16	23	27	20	24	20	26	15	11	DNQ	16	16	21	17	24						29th	2
Reynard 94i	Ford XB	Hiro Matsushita	25	26	11	22	19	DNS	10	19	14	17	13	19	13	20	15	22	17	22					28th	5
Reynard 96i	Toyota	Jeff Krosnoff (R)	25	22	26	18	26	18	18	18	15	17	16	16											35th	0
		Max Papis														24	9		22						27th	4
Reynard 97i	Toyota	Hiro Matsushita	24	21	25	20	25	23	15	17	19	15	20	22	9	19	24	14	28	23					27th	4
		Max Papis	25	19	14	25	22	13	26	19	11	28	27	15	8	14	15	20	14	12					24th	8
Reynard 98i	Toyota	Hiro Matsushita	24	23	16	19		15																	30th	0
		Robby Gordon					7		13	20	14	23	23	13	27	11	12	23	13	13	16	9			23rd	13
		Max Papis	25	26	13	24	14	28	22	16	18	11	12	8	19	14	11	9	12	5	17	16			21st	25
Reynard 99i	Toyota	Scott Pruett	24	22	21	15	10	24	14	17	24	17	25	7	14	8	17	20	13	7	10	9	22		19th	28
		Cristiano da Matta (R)	25	14	25	20	4	21	17	11	11	20	21	24	17	19	9	14	5	22	11	13	23		18th	32
Reynard 2Ki	Toyota RVA	Oriol Servià (R)	96	19	6	25	24	9	19	3	8	23	11	8	15	10	10	11	17	5	9	9	20		15th	60
		Cristiano da Matta	97	12	25	4	4	13	14	23	5	3	4*	17	1	17	13	7	15	4	14	4	25		10th	112
Reynard 2Ki	Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8Turbocharger	Luiz Garcia Jr.	25	17	12	12	23	15	21	22	14	20	12	11	17	25	24	15	20	25	22	12	DNS		27th	6
Lola B2K/00	Ilmor	Max Wilson	25	28	21	C	17																		25th	12
	Ford XF V8Turbocharger								23	23	4	19	25			15	25	25	18	21	16	24
		Alex Barron																					13	9	29th	4

1. Jeff Krosnoff died in an accident at the Molson Indy Toronto.
2. Oriol Servià was penalized 4 points for rough driving in Surfers Paradise.
3. The Firestone Firehawk 600 was canceled after qualifying due to excessive on the drivers.

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IndyCar win

1 !2000	July 30	Champ Car	Chicago Motor Speedway	97	Cristiano da Matta	Reynard 2Ki	Toyota RVA	Firestone	5	51	1.690 sec

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Complete NASCAR Winston/Nextel Cup Results

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No. 32 Car

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No. 96 Car

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NASCAR Winston Cup wins

1 !2001	October 15	Martinsville Speedway	32	Ricky Craven	Ford	6	94	0.141 sec	report
2 !2003	March 16	Darlington Raceway	32	Ricky Craven	Pontiac	31	1	0.002 sec	report

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