| | COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Steve Horne said Tuesday he resigned as
president of the CART Forsythe Championship Racing team he founded
because he does not want to be involved in a long-term development
program at this stage of his career.
"My heart just wasn't in it and I came to the conclusion this weekend that I'd be better off walking away," said Horne, who sold the team, formerly known as Tasman Motorsports, to Gerald Forsythe in 1999.
The team, based in suburban Hilliard, has gone through a number
of changes since last season.
Driver Tony Kanaan switched to a new team run by Morris Nunn,
the chief engineer for the Chip Ganassi team that has won the last
three CART driver titles. Kanaan was replaced by Bryan Herta, who
won an Indy Lights championship in 1993 for Horne with Tasman.
In addition, Forsythe switched the team from a Reynard to a
Swift chassis -- the only Swift on the circuit. Two weeks ago,
McDonald's was replaced as its chief sponsor by Panasonic, which is
owned by the family of Swift owner and former CART driver Hiro
Matsushita.
The Swift struggled during preseason testing at Homestead, Fla.,
with lap times more than two seconds behind the fastest cars.
"I realized then that this year would be a bit of an uphill
struggle," Horne said. "In 1997, we had a tough time being a
developmental team with the Lola program and I didn't want to have
to go through the same thing again."
Team manager Steve Dickson will take Horne's role, with Horne
staying as an adviser through March 15.
"There isn't one guy on this team who didn't look up to Steve
Horne," Dickson told The Columbus Dispatch in a story published
Tuesday. "I think everybody in the racing community is probably a
little shocked by this because Steve is somebody who is extremely
well respected."
This isn't the first time Horne has left a team. He stepped down at Truesports midway through the 1992 season after 11 years because of a disagreement with owner Barbara Trueman. Horne was that team's chief engineer when Bobby Rahal won the 1986 Indianapolis 500 and the 1986 and 1987 driver championships.
Horne, 50, who grew up in New Zealand, started Tasman Motorsports the following year as an Indy Lights team with Herta as his driver. Tasman won four Lights titles (1993, 1994, 1997 and 1998) with four drivers.
In 1995, the team moved to the CART series and won four races
its first two years with drivers Andre Ribeiro and Adrian
Fernandez.
Then came 1997, when the Lola chassis didn't work. Ribeiro left
afterward. In 1998, Horne went with rookie driver Kanaan, but major
sponsor LCI withdrew at season's end, forcing him to sell to
Forsythe, who also owns another two-car team in Indianapolis.
Kanaan won his first victory last year in the U.S. 500 at Michigan.
Horne said putting major decisions in someone else's hands
wasn't easy after running his own team.
"Gerry left most everything to me, but he was making all the
big decisions and I had to do my best with the hand I was dealt,"
he said.
"I tried to make it work, and I have no regrets that I sold him
the team. It was the right thing to do, based on the facts in front
of me."
Horne said he expected to return to racing, but had no immediate plans.
"What I need to do is help the team get through this, then
Chris (his wife) and I will just kick back and see what comes up."
| |
 |
