North American Racing Team

North American Racing Team

Founded	1958
Founder(s)	Luigi Chinetti
Folded	1982
Team principal(s)	Luigi Chinetti
Former series	Formula One WSC Can-Am
Noted drivers	Pedro Rodríguez Ricardo Rodríguez Phil Hill Jochen Rindt Masten Gregory Mario Andretti Jean Guichet

The North American Racing Team (NART) was created by businessman Luigi Chinetti to promote the Ferrari marque in United States through success in endurance motorsport.

It was created in 1958 when Chinetti received backing from wealthy racers George Arents and Jan de Vroom. Ferrari already had a close relationship with Chinetti due to his success in selling the maker's road cars in the important American markets, and thus NART received a continuous line of Ferrari racers.

NART raced at only the world's premier races, such as the 24 Hours of Daytona in Florida and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans, France. Their first race was the 12 Hours of Sebring in March 1958, with a 250 GT.

Pedro Rodríguez won the second and the third editions of Daytona with NART team. In 1963 was a three hours race and in 1964 a 2,000 kilometers, both in a Ferrari 250 GTO (the 24 hours race would start until 1966).

A Ferrari 158 officially entered by NART sealed the win of the 1964 F1 World championship with John Surtees, as the factory team competed the last two races in cars painted white and blue. This was done as a protest concerning arguments between Ferrari and the Italian Racing Authorities regarding the homologation of a new mid-engined Ferrari race car.

The peak of NART's own racing success came in 1965, when a NART-entered 250 LM became the last Ferrari to win Le Mans outright with Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory.

Other NART results include a 3rd place in the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona with Pedro Rodríguez and Jean Guichet, backing up two works 330P4 in Ferrari's triple success, which was commemorated by the naming of the 365 GTB4 "Daytona". With this model, NART scored 2nd in the 1973 Daytona 24h, behind a Porsche 911.

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