Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
The cast: Drivers – Ryan Briscoe and Charlie Kimball. Chief engineers – Eric Cowdin (Briscoe) and Brad Goldberg (Kimball)
Twitter: @Ryan_Briscoe, @racewithinsulin, @CGRTeams
The cars: Chevrolet-powered Nos. 8 (Briscoe) and 83 (Kimball)
Snapshot: Kimball, 29, enters his fourth season with the team and St. Petersburg will mark his 51st IndyCar Series start. Kimball, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2007, is a tireless herald that the metabolic disease doesn’t have to slow one’s pursuits. He’s partnered with Novo Nordisk, which produces insulin and a simple delivery system. … Kimball made his first IndyCar series start on March 27, 2011, at St. Petersburg, Fla. The 2014 season opener is March 30 on the streets of St. Pete. … Kimball was born in England while his father, Gordon, was working with McLaren in design of its Formula One race cars. … His father is managing partner of an avocado ranch in California. … Briscoe, 32, made his IndyCar Series debut with Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2005 (three top-10 finishes, one pole and 59 laps led in 14 starts). He also drove the No. 8 NTT Data car in the 2013 Indianapolis 500 for Chip Ganassi’s team. In the interim, he’s raced for Team Penske (2008-12), Panther Racing (seven races in 2013), Luczo Dragon Racing (’07 Indianapolis 500) and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (four races in 2006). He also competed full time in the American Le Mans Series in ’07 and 2013. … Briscoe’s wife, Nicole, is a studio host for ESPN. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, in December.
The stats: Kimball broke through with his initial IndyCar Series victory in 2013 at Mid-Ohio. He added two other top-five finishes (fourth at Barber, second at Pocono) and totaled 10 top 10s in the 19 races. The results and consistency (he was running at the finish in 17 races) led to a career-high ninth place in the championship standings. He led six races for a total of 80 laps (high of 46 at Mid-Ohio). Qualifying career-high fifth at Barber was matched at Mid-Ohio and in the finale on the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway oval. He had an average starting position of 12.8 and average finish of 10.9. Kimball led the field with 2,397 laps completed of a possible 2,433. … Briscoe joined the Ganassi team for the Indy 500 (advanced 11 positions to finish 12th) and moved to Panther Racing for six starts the remainder of the season. He suffered a fractured wrist at Toronto 1 in mid-July and returned for Sonoma in late August. … Briscoe, who has seven IndyCar Series victories, posted a best championship finish of third (one point out of second) in 2009 (three wins, 13 top-five finishes in 17 races).
The gist: All four Chip Ganassi Racing Teams cars (Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan at Target Chip Ganassi Racing) have switched from Honda to the Chevrolet 2.2-liter twin turbocharged V6 engine for 2014. … Briscoe will work with Cowdin (Kanaan’s longtime engineer) and will have Ricky Davis (Scott Dixon’s longtime crew chief) on the No. 8 side. Briscoe and Cowdin worked together at Team Penske. Mark Sampson is Kimball’s crew chief. … Briscoe, who co-drove a Corvette in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, returns to the car for the 12 Hours of Sebring this weekend.
Click it: Target Chip Ganassi Racing team preview
They said it: “It's like everything I wanted after I didn't get a full-time ride last year has sort of come true now,” Briscoe said. “It's really the perfect scenario. It's crazy. It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride to get here. (Racing sports cars) it was really hard to get that focus. In the series that's so competitive, you need that consistency to be competitive. Anyway, things have worked out. I'm really excited to have this opportunity. I'm working hard on being on top of my game and hopefully be competitive.”
Added Kimball: “All the way along Chip's advice has been to build the foundation for a long-term career, not one year flash in the pan. Try to build a one-way street, so when I take that next step I stay there. I think that's helped. Going away at the end of the season, having a little downtime, doing a lot of work with Novo Nordisk allowed me to reflect on that and know coming into this season we've prepared as a team and we know we can win because we've done it. That lays the groundwork to have a great year.
“Last year was good. Two wins would have made it great. We didn't get that opportunity at Fontana (started fourth, led 22 laps and finished 10 because of a mechanical issue). To get that opportunity coming into this year is what we're aiming at.”