PPI to Stay Another Year in Santa Margarita

Precision Preparation Inc., the Cal Wells III company that fields a two-car team in the CART Championship Series, will remain at its Rancho Santa Margarita location for another year.

PPI Motorsports, which also fields a NASCAR Winston Cup team out of its Hickory, N.C., racing shop, had announced July 19 that it was consolidating into one facility in North Carolina.

However, the 37,000-square-foot expansion project to accommodate the CART team won’t be completed until April, two months after the season begins Feb. 11. The current season ends Oct. 29 at Fontana.

PPI has about 90 employees, and at least 50 will remain in south Orange County with the champ car program. Race team members switching to the NASCAR side of the program--including those who worked on the discontinued Toyota Atlantic program--will move to Hickory, as will some office staff. Wells will spend most of his time in Hickory, where PPI will field a two-car Winston Cup team next season for drivers Scott Pruett and Andy Houston.

PPI will field at least one champ car next season, Cristiano da Matta’s Reynard-Toyota.