---

IRL: Pennzoil Panther Racing Sports A New Look for 2000

12 December 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Indianapolis, IN--After two years of running with a significant amount of black paint on the Panther Racing Indy Car, the Scott Goodyear driven machine is changing, reviving a 20-year old theme from the history books of Pennzoil motorsports. For 2000, the famed Pennzoil solid yellow paint scheme is back.

"Pennzoil is steeped in tradition in open-wheel racing," said co-owner and team manager John Barnes. "The Pennzoil yellow car dominated open wheel racing in the 80's and to carry forth the tradition we're going back to full yellow on the car."

Pennzoil yellow cars have been driven by open wheel stars such as Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser Sr., John Andretti, Roberto Guerrero and Teo Fabi during the late 70's, 80's and 90s.

The Panther Racing team not only added a new paint scheme for 2000 but also changed from G-Force to the Dallara chassis. Andy Brown, the teams chief engineer, assisted in the choice to change to the Italian made chassis.

"After a thorough consideration of the options available, we felt Dallara had the right combination for the Pack. Dallara's state of the art design and testing facility really gives them an advantage over the competition and with everything under one roof, their development and turn around time is impressive. Look for Panther to be a serious challenger for the first championship of the new millennium."

The Pennzoil Panther Pack begins preparations for the 2000 season this weekend at the Walt Disney World open test in Orlando.

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.