Jeff Ward

[Dizz Fan]

Was watching an old Indy Car race tonight...what was the condition for Jeff Ward racing for Ganassi in '02. If I recall, he wasn't a full time driver (for Chip) that season.

Dizz Fan

[Powercat]

Yep, got a win at Texas that year. Wardy is back on two wheels racing SuperMoto in the X Games of all things.

[Kaaveh]

Was watching an old Indy Car race tonight...what was the condition for Jeff Ward racing for Ganassi in '02. If I recall, he wasn't a full time driver (for Chip) that season.

Dizz Fan

...but he was. You may recall the Miami Heat car to start the season, then full Target livery from Indy onward.

[damilt]

I'd like to see Jeff take another shot at Indy. He was always strong running in the IRL for Heritage with sevral poles if I recall, and strong top 10 finishes.

The people I miss the most in the league are Ward, Boat & Dismore.

[Kaaveh]

I'd like to see Jeff take another shot at Indy. He was always strong running in the IRL for Heritage with sevral poles if I recall, and strong top 10 finishes.

The people I miss the most in the league are Ward, Boat & Dismore.

After his 2005 run, I don't see him coming back...

[dirtfan]

A big mistake the IRL marketing made (one of hundreds ) was not promoting Jeff Ward as THE JEFF WARD OF MOTOCROSS FAME
it seemed to be something of a secret, I asked some 30-year-olds at the time, and they were unaware he was one and the same.

[Kaaveh]

A big mistake the IRL marketing made (one of hundreds ) was not promoting Jeff Ward as THE JEFF WARD OF MOTOCROSS FAME
it seemed to be something of a secret, I asked some 30-year-olds at the time, and they were unaware he was one and the same.

I don't see how that's a big blunder...

I feel his motocross success was promoted as much as it needed to be. They did it a little, and that's all that was necessary.

It's not like he won a Nextel Cup...

[logjammer]

You may recall the Miami Heat car to start the season, then full Target livery from Indy onward.

Wardy was a "test driver" for the up coming IRL program, the team was a "work in progress" with Jeff's old buddy Mitch overseeing the project to get the team up to speed for the coming transfer to the IRL.

The Miamai Heat deal came about the night before the race. Packy was busting his balls trying to get a logo good enough to put on the car. It was kinda crazy.

The Target livery afterwords was a gift from Chip to Target for all the money they spent for the CART program. Literally it was a seperate operation.

[Jamski]

Yep, got a win at Texas that year. Wardy is back on two wheels racing SuperMoto in the X Games of all things.

He runs the SuperMoto series full time. We run that series at the 'Plex and it's quite a show. He won last year and was second this year, ditto for the season championships.

I remember when he was first coming up in cars...he was huge in MC even then, but I'm sure I remember seeing him run the Russell Mazda cars back at Riverside in the early/mid 80s. The car was in Kawasaki green, as I recall...

[South Terrace]

Jeff Ward........... the last driver that I really followed. Now I just watch the racing and hope that the ICS improves to the point that it had achieved in 2002.

[Powercat]

He runs the SuperMoto series full time. We run that series at the 'Plex and it's quite a show. He won last year and was second this year, ditto for the season championships.

Very cool, I figured he did, but wasn't sure about it. SuperMoto is very entertaining. For those that haven't seen it it's worth checking out. They race what are essentially Motocross bikes with slick tires. The course combines elements of MX, Flat-Track, and Road Racing. That means they run on both pavement and dirt with slicks. There are plenty of jumps and berms like you would have in MX. I believe they also do pit stops. The X Games events have been pretty good, with some of the best on two wheels racing. Ben Bostrom won in 2004, and Doug Henry won this past summer. Some of the other racers have included Wardy, Jeremy McGrath, and Travis Pastrana.

[Kurt Cobain]

There's a guy in my opinion who should still be racing in the IRL...or Champ Car. Or somewhere with four wheels.

[irlricefan13]

Drivers like Jeff Ward are very rare in modern motorsport. Joe Leonard was a perfect example of such a driver as he won a lot of races on two wheels and also won the famous Daytona 200. Leonard went on to Indy cars and won 6 races, two national titles and an Indy 500 pole. Pretty impressive!
I always figured that Jeff Ward was pretty good. He had a lot of strong runs with Ganassi in 2002 but for some reason mechanical problems and bad luck always spoiled those runs. That's why he ended up 11th, I think in the final points. The 1997 Indy 500 run was very impressive as well.
I was surprised that Ward got the second Vision car at Indy last year but the team was so off the pace that Ward's run wasn't too hot. I'd like to see him at Indy again but with a team that can at least run mid pack because if he'll have to drive for someone like Vision again then he might as well decline and continue in Super Motor where he is doing very well.