Early Days
The team was founded in 1985 and participated part time in the CART series with largely outdated equipment and 3 different drivers. In 1986 the team bought new March Engineering chassis and participated full-time with Jacques Villeneuve and part-time with Scott Brayton, putting both in the field of the team's first Indianapolis 500. Arie Luyendyk replaced Villeneuve in 1987 and finished 7th in CART points. In 1988 Brayton raced full-time for the team while 3 other drivers competed in partial schedules. 1989 saw 7 different drivers behind the wheel of a Hemelgarn car as the team struggled to find consistency. Buddy Lazier joined the team in 1990 and competed in his first 6 CART races with the team, but failed to qualify for the Indy 500, however Billy Vukovich III did qualify his Hemelgarn car for the "500", finishing 24th in a 2 year-old Lola-Buick. Hemelgarn teamed up with Dale Coyne Racing to field a car at Road America and the Molson Indy Toronto for Lazier in 1991. However, that was the team's only races other than the Indy 500, where it fielded cars for Lazier, Indy legend Gordon Johncock, and Stan Fox. In 1992 the team only participated in the Indy 500 as costs to run the series rapidly increased. 1993 saw the team only field a car for pay driver Brian Bonner in a pair of road races. 1994 and 1995 again saw Hemegarn only run the Indy 500, fielding a pair of cars for Fox both years and Jeff Andretti in '94 and Jim Crawford in '95, although Crawford failed to make the field.
Read more about this topic: Hemelgarn Racing
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