Beck Motorsports was a team in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series owned by Greg Beck. At times in its history the team was partnered with Curb Agajanian Performance Group and 3G Racing owners Stanton Barrett and Steve Sudler.

CURB/Agajanian/Beck mechanics working on the #98 car in the garage during a practice session for the 2007 Indianapolis 500

IndyCar

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1995–2000

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Beck Motorsports first arrived in 1995 to field an entry for Japanese driver Hideshi Matsuda in the Indianapolis 500 and finished 15th. In 1996 with the split in major open-wheel racing, the team sided with the Indy Racing League and fielded a full-time entry for Robbie Buhl who finished 3rd in the series' first race at Walt Disney World Speedway and finished 3rd in points. They also fielded another Indy 500 entry for Matsuda who finished a career-best 8th. Buhl began the 1996 races of the 1996-1997 season but left for the powerhouse Team Menard in 1997, leaving Beck to only field an entry for Dennis Vitolo in the Indy 500. The team suffered from severely underpowered Infiniti engines and had to controversially rely on a guaranteed starting position from the "25 and 8 rule" based on their points from the 1996 season in order to make the race. Vitolo finished 15th. Beck Motorsports did not return for the 1998 season.

They returned for a one-off entry for the 1999 Indianapolis 500, again with Matsuda who qualified and finished 10th. Matsuda returned in 2000 but failed to qualify.

2001: First partnership with Curb Agajanian

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For the 2001 season, the team partnered with Curb Agajanian Performance Group and returned to full-time competition with veteran driver Billy Boat. Boat finished 2nd at Nashville Superspeedway and finished 4th in points.

2002–2003

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In 2002 Beck Motorsports fielded a car in 3 mid-season races for Robby McGehee. Beck fielded a car at Motegi and the Indy 500 for Japanese former F1 driver Shinji Nakano who finished 14th. He also fielded an entry for former F1 driver Johnny Herbert which failed to attempt to qualify during Pole Day on May 11th, when he failed to get his car in line when the gun went off at 6 pm. Due to a previous commitment, Herbert was replaced by Memo Gidley for the second weekend of qualifying, and was withdrawn.

2004–2009: Second partnership with Curb Agajanian

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In 2004 CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports came into being and P. J. Jones drove their entry in the Indy 500 to a 28th place DNF. In 2005, the team fielded a last-minute Indy 500 entry for rookie Arie Luyendyk Jr., however the car never handled properly and Luyendyk's best speed was easily bumped by Felipe Giaffone, leaving Luyendyk and the C/A/B team the only entry bumped from the field that year.

The team merged with Team Leader Motorsports to field 2 cars for the 2006 Indianapolis 500. The first team with driver P. J. Jones was Beck Motorsports owned by Greg Beck which was founded in 1995. The second team driven by Stephan Gregoire was owned by Kent Baker which was founded in 1988. Both Baker and Beck had many years experience working with their own and various other Indy Car teams. They were joined by Cary Agajanian and Mike Curb of Curb Agajanian Motorsports. The two teams ended their partnership for 2007 with P. J. Jones competing for Team Leader Motorsports.

The team made a surprise entry into the 2007 XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and participated in it, the Kansas Speedway race and the Indy 500. Alex Barron drove in all 3 races and finished 15th in the Indy 500, 1 lap down.

The team made its 2008 debut at Twin Ring Motegi with Roger Yasukawa at the controls. Yasukawa also attempted to qualify the Curb Records car in the Indianapolis 500 as well but was bumped from the field.

In 2009, the team fielded a full-time IndyCar Series entry, beginning the season with NASCAR driver Stanton Barrett behind the wheel. Barrett and sports marketer Steve Sudler both joined as partners of the team and the new name was CURB/Agajanian/3G Racing (3 Guys Racing).[1] Jaques Lazier was brought on to replace Barrett at Texas Motor Speedway after the team went home after a practice crash the previous week at the Milwaukee Mile. Lazier drove the next three oval races and Richard Antinucci was brought in to drive the remaining road and street course races of the schedule. Barrett drove at Twin Ring Motegi, where he had sponsorship, and Lazier drove on all other remaining ovals.

2010

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The team did not announce any plans for 2010, but Sudler indicated in an interview that they hoped to find sponsorship to run a full schedule for Antinucci and a part-time schedule for Barrett.[2] The team did not appear at any races in 2010.

Past drivers

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CART/IRL IndyCar Series

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Beck Motorsports

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CURB/Agajanian/Beck

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Team Leader Motorsports

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CURB/Agaganian/3G Racing

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Race Results

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CART FedEx Championship Results

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(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1995 MIA SFR PHX LBH NAZ INDY MIL DET POR ROA TOR CLE MCH MDO NHA VAN LAG
Lola T95/00 Ford XB   Hideshi Matsuda 54 15

Indy Racing League Results

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(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Beck Motorsports
1996 WDW PHX INDY
Lola T94
Reynard 94I[N 1]
Ford Cosworth   Hideshi Matsuda 52 8
  Robbie Buhl 54 3 13 9
1996–97 NHA LSV WDW PHX INDY TXS PPIR CLT NHA LSV
Lola T94 Ford Cosworth   Robbie Buhl 54 22 8
Dallara IR7 Infiniti   Dennis Vitolo 15
1999 WDW PHX INDY TXS PPIR ATL DOV PPIR LSV TXS
Dallara IR9 Infiniti   Hideshi Matsuda 54 10
Curb-Agajanian-Beck Motorsports
2001 PHX HMS ATL INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH KTY GAT CHI TXS
Dallara IR-01 Oldsmobile Aurora V8   Billy Boat 98 5 13 14 9 5 4 18 9 2 6 6 12 12
Beck Motorsports
2002 HMS PHX FON NAZ INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MCH KTY GAT CHI TXS
Dallara IR-02 Chevrolet Indy V8   Robby McGehee 54 17 9 13
2003 HMS PHX MOT INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MCH GAT KTY NAZ CHI FON TXS
Dallara IR-03 Honda Indy V8   Shinji Nakano 54 11 14
Curb-Agajanian Motorsports
2004 HMS PHX MOT INDY TXS RIR KAN NSH MIL MCH KTY PPIR NAZ CHI FON TXS
Dallara IR-04 Chevrolet Indy V8   P. J. Jones 98 28
2005 HMS PHX STP MOT INDY TXS RIR KAN NSH MIL MCH KTY PPIR SNM CHI WGL FON
Dallara IR-05 Chevrolet Indy V8   Arie Luyendyk Jr. (R) 98 DNQ
Team Leader Motorsports
2006 HMS STP MOT INDY WGL TXS RIR KAN NSH MIL MCH KTY SNM CHI
Panoz Honda HI6R V8   Stéphan Grégoire 97 29
  P. J. Jones 98 19
Curb-Agajanian-Beck Motorsports
2007 HMS STP MOT KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO MCH KTY SNM DET CHI
Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8   Alex Barron 98 19 16 15
2008 HMS STP MOT LBH KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF1
Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8   Roger Yasukawa 77 14
98 DNQ
CURB/Agaganian/3G Racing
2009 STP LBH KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL TOR EDM KTY MDO SNM CHI MOT HMS
Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8   Stanton Barrett (R) 98 12 17 17 DNQ DNS 19
  Jaques Lazier 18 13 20 23 19 23
  Richard Antinucci (R) 19 21 22 18 15
  1. ^ Used at Walt Disney World.

References

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  1. ^ Cavin, Curt. Meira joins Foyt's team, Indianapolis Star, September 26, 2008
  2. ^ "Q&A With Team 3G Co-Owner Steve Sudler". 16thandgeorgetown.blogspot.com. ID Media Inc. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2009-11-20.