Truesports

Truesports was an automobile racing team founded by Jim Trueman based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team is best known for winning the 1986 Indianapolis 500 and back-to-back CART championships in 1986 and 1987. The team won 19 points-paying Indy car races.

The word "Truesports" is a portmanteau of the surname "Trueman" and the word "sports" or perhaps the word "motorsports." The primary crew chief of the team was Steve Horne, who would later start Tasman Motorsports.

In 1993, the team was absorbed into what is now Rahal Letterman Racing.

Racing team

Early years

Jim Trueman himself started racing sports cars in 1962. In the 1970s, Trueman met up with Bobby Rahal, and they entered the Can-Am series. After several seasons in Can-Am, Trueman and Rahal began to look towards the CART series and the Indianapolis 500.

In 1981, Trueman sponsored the car of owner/driver Vern Schuppan in the Indianapolis 500 The car came home third. Starting in 1982, the Truesports CART team was founded with Rahal driving. Rahal won his first race midway through the season at Cleveland Grand Prix. He followed that up with another win at Michigan, a second-place finish in the season standings, and clinched the CART rookie of the year award.