2001 CART FedEx Championship Series

The 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series was the 23rd season of the FedEx Championship Series, the premier series sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), and encompassed the 90th season of American open-wheel car racing alongside the rivaling 2001 Indy Racing Northern Light Series. The season consisted of 21 races, beginning in Monterrey, Mexico on March 11 and ending in Fontana, California on November 4. The Drivers' Championship was won by Gil de Ferran, the Constructors' Cup by Reynard, and the Manufacturers' Cup by Honda. Off the track, the 2001 season was an unmitigated disaster for CART under the leadership of Joseph Heitzler. It included two race cancellations in Rio de Janeiro and Texas; a disastrous European tour that coincided with the September 11 attacks and witnessed a severe accident to former series champion Alex Zanardi in which he lost both of his legs; infighting amongst engine manufacturers that saw litigation and the announced future departure of Honda and Toyota; the loss of the series' television contract with ABC/ESPN; the departure of longtime tracks Michigan International Speedway and Nazareth Speedway; the loss of Firestone as the series' tire supplier and its replacement by parent company Bridgestone; and the defection of Team Penske to the rival Indy Racing League (IRL) at the conclusion of the season. Team Penske and Team Motorola joined Chip Ganassi Racing in having concurrent IRL teams to run in the 2001 Indianapolis 500, with Penske's Helio Castroneves winning the race. In an unusual move, CART "sanctioned" the participation of teams in the race; this was an attempt to allow Penske's primary sponsor, Marlboro, to appear on cars in the 500, as they were prohibited from being in more than one racing series by the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This legal maneuver was not successful, and Penske's cars ran without advertising. == Teams and drivers == The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series. All teams competed with tires supplied by Firestone. === Team changes === Chip Ganassi Racing's success with Toyota in the 2000 season increased demand for their RV8 engine, with Walker Motorsport, Newman/Haas Racing, PacWest Racing, and Patrick Racing switching to the engine for 2001. Because of the overwhelming engine production, Toyota ceased their support of two teams, Della Penna Motorsports and PPI Motorsports, forcing both to shut down their CART operations at the end of 2000; PPI Motorsports shifted their efforts to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. PacWest Racing was one of four teams that fielded cars powered by Mercedes-Benz engines in the previous season, but was forced to switch to a different engine supplier after DaimlerChrysler—Mercedes-Benz's parent company—announced their departure from the series at the season's end in order to exclusively focus on their Formula One program. Ilmor, the company responsible for building Mercedes-Benz's CART engines, chose to stay in the sport and supply their own engines, named the Phoenix, for Arciero-Brooke Racing, though the team resorted to Ford-Cosworth's XF engine starting from the Miller Lite 225. As for the other teams, Bettenhausen Racing also ran the XF engine, while Mo Nunn Racing used Honda's new HR-1 engine alongside four other teams, including the newly-formed Team Motorola and Fernández Racing, marking Honda's largest lineup in their history with CART. Only two constructors, Lola and Reynard, supplied chassis for 2001 after Swift left the series following an uncompetitive 2000 season with Dale Coyne Racing. Reynard had won the Constructors' Cup the previous season and introduced their new 01I chassis. == Schedule == The original calendar called for 22 races on five continents, by far the most ambitious calendar CART had ever attempted. With the race at Texas being canceled and the Rio 200 being dropped, the 2001 season ultimately had the same number of races as the previous year. For the first time, CART would race in the United Kingdom and Germany and also return to Mexico for the first time in almost twenty years. The original calendar released on August 5, 2000, had the first round of the season at Jacarepaguá in Brazil, but disagreements with the track owners several months later led to the event being dropped. The events at Homestead-Miami and Gateway were dropped after negotiations with the owners of the track; rival series Indy Racing League secured the contracts instead, and both tracks were featured in the 2001 Indy Racing League season. The removal of Gateway from the calendar meant that Memorial Day weekend would be empty, allowing several teams and drivers the opportunity to compete at the Indianapolis 500. The 2001 season was the final time Michigan Speedway appeared on the calendar. == Results == === Final driver standings === === Nations' Cup === Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup. === Chassis Constructors' Cup === === Engine Manufacturers' Cup === == References == Åberg, Andreas. "CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 2001". Driver Database. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2009. "2001 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2009. "CART Postpones Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented by Pioneer Due to Unprecedented Physical Demands on Drivers" (Press release). CART / PR Newswire. April 30, 2001. "Standings after Fontana". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2009. == Bibliography == Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2002). Autocourse Cart: Official Champ Car Yearbook 2001-2002. Richmond, Surrey: Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 978-1-903135-12-9. == See also == 2001 Toyota Atlantic Championship season 2001 Indianapolis 500 2001 Indy Racing League 2001 Indy Lights season