Dale Coyne Racing

Dale Coyne Racing is a motorsports team in the IndyCar Series owned by former driver Dale Coyne. It was founded in 1986 with Chicago Bears great Walter Payton as Payton/Coyne Racing. In 1990, Coyne stepped out of the cockpit and turned his talents to the tutelage of several up-and-coming drivers. Dale Coyne is known in the open-wheel community for his ability to recruit and coach young drivers. Later renamed as Dale Coyne Racing, the team earned its maiden victory in 25 years of trying at Watkins Glen International in July 2009 with Justin Wilson.

CART / Champ Car World Series

With Coyne's technical expertise, the team built their own chassis in its debut year (1986), which was known as the DC-1. 1988 saw Coyne's retirement as a driver to concentrate on managing the team with co-owner Walter Payton as well as tutoring newer, younger drivers. For most of the team's existence, it has utilized pay drivers, who finance their racing with Coyne with either personal funds or self-obtained sponsorship. Coyne has earned a reputation for quickly developing the skills of these drivers to a point where they can advance their careers.

Michel Jourdain, Jr. took over driving duties for the team and earned STP Most Improved Driver honors from his peers, in 1997.

Payton died in November 1999, and after that the team was known as Dale Coyne Racing. In 2000 they had four different drivers. Tarso Marques led with 17 starts, and was joined by Takuya Kurosawa (who had 8 starts). Alex Barron had 6 starts and Gualter Salles also had 6 starts. Marques and Barron both recorded career-best finishes when the season closed. Barron, had second place in Australia and Fontana, which highlighted his end to the season. He ran second, closing in on the leader, and eventually put in faster laps than the winners Adrian Fernandez and Christian Fittipaldi.

The 2004 Champ Car season was an improved season with new sponsors American Medical Response and Yoke TV. The 19 & 11 entries were piloted by Oriol Servia and Gastón Mazzacane. Servia had Dale Coyne Racing's best season ever by placing third at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and finishing 10th in the final standings.

In 2007, driver Bruno Junqueira recorded back-to-back-to-back podium finishes (Zolder, Belgium, Assen, Netherlands and Surfers Paradise, Australia) en route to a seventh place finish for the year.

Mario Moraes practicing for the 2008 GAINSCO Indy 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

IndyCar Series

In 2008, the team's first year in the Izod IndyCar Series, drivers Bruno Junqueira and Mario Moraes recorded five combined top-10 finishes and both drivers led several laps during the famed Indianapolis 500.

In the first race of the 2009 season, the 2009 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, driver Justin Wilson finished third, which was the first IRL podium finish for Dale Coyne Racing. On July 5, 2009 Wilson earned Dale Coyne Racing their first win by winning the 2009 Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen, at Watkins Glen International. The British driver dominated the race, leading 49 of the 60 laps. It was Coyne's 558th career start as an owner or as a driver.^[1]

On January 11 the team announced that Boy Scouts of America would be the primary sponsor of the number 19 car for 2010. He also stated that Z Line will likely return to sponsor the 18 car and that drivers would be announced at a later date.^[2] However, on February 4, it was announced that Z Line would follow Justin Wilson to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. On March 4, DCR announced Milka Duno would drive the number 18 Citgo car for the entire season.^[3] Duno's season brought her a best finish of 19th, though she failed to qualify for the Indy 500 and ended up 23rd in points while British driver Alex Lloyd in the #19 car won Rookie of the Year, finishing 16th in points with a best finish of fourth in the 2010 Indianapolis 500. Duno moved over to ARCA following the season. British rookie James Jakes stepped into the #18 car for 2011 and four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais was signed to drive the #19 respectively for road course races only due to conflicts with the Le Mans Series, where he also competes. Alex Lloyd was returned to the team to drive in the oval races. Lloyd qualified for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 and finished 19th but Jakes failed to make the field.

On 25 January 2012, Honda and its Honda Performance Development (HPD) announced it would power a two-car effort for Dale Coyne Racing in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series with their all new 2.2-liter turbocharged V6 IndyCar engine. Justin Wilson also returned to the team for the 2012 season. In addition to the signing of both Honda and Wilson, the team has also re-signed renowned engineer Bill Pappas, "putting the band back together" of the team that combined to score Dale Coyne Racing's first win in IndyCar racing, at Watkins Glen in 2009.^[4]

The team scored its second win and first-ever oval win with Justin Wilson at Texas Motor Speedway in 2012 and captured another win in 2013 with Mike Conway in his first start for the team in Detroit Indy Grand Prix race 1. In that race Justin Wilson finished third, putting two Coyne cars on the podium for the first time. Ana Beatriz had driven Conway's car for the first five races of the season.

Chicagoland Speedway

In 1998, Coyne designed and built Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL. This state-of-the-art drag racing facility drew the attention of Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George. George and Coyne, along with International Speedway Corporation, would go on to expand the facility by forming a partnership and building Chicagoland Speedway. Coyne served as president of the facility through its construction and opening season and along with George, served on its management committee until its eventual buyout by ISC in 2007.

Racing results

Complete CART results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1984	Eagle	Chevrolet		LBH	PHX	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	PHX	LAG	CPL
			Jim McElreath		DNQ
			Tom Bigelow				DNQ
			Dale Coyne					DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		14			DNQ	DNQ
1985	Lola T800	Chevrolet		LBH	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	LAG	PHX	MIA
			Dale Coyne	DNQ		DNS	DNQ	DNQ	DNS	24	23	27	28		DNS	27	DNQ	DNQ
1986	DC-1	Chevrolet		PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MCH	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	ROA	LAG	PHX	MIA
			Dale Coyne	DNQ	23			21	DNQ	12	DNQ	DNQ	26	23	12	DNQ	17	DNS	DNQ	25

Complete IndyCar results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
2008	Dallara	Honda		HMS	STP	MOT	LBH	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI
			Bruno Junqueira	23	24		12	15	20	18	15	DNS	23	6	15	13	14	14	17	7	20
			Mario Moraes	16	16		20	17	18	23	18	19	17	7	10	24	20	17	10	15	21
2009	Dallara	Honda		STP	LBH	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	TOR	EDM	KTY	MDO	SNM	CHI	MOT	HMS
			Justin Wilson	3*	22	14	23	15	15	18	14	1*	5	8	21	13	7	10	12	10
			Tomas Scheckter				12
2010	Dallara	Honda		SAO	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	CHI	KTY	MOT	HMS
			Alex Lloyd	18	23	23	19	19	4	8	13	25	23	18	13	10	21	13	21	12
			Milka Duno	21	24	24	25	26	DNQ	23	23	23	26	25	23	22	19	19	19	24
2011	Dallara	Honda		STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	TXS	TXS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHA	SNM	BAL	MOT	KTY	LSV1
			James Jakes	15	25	15	15	DNQ	25	28	15	25	18	18	23	18	19	27	13	21	C1
			Sébastien Bourdais	DNS	11	27	26						6	6	9		6	28	6
			Alex Lloyd					19	14	24	22	13				13				26	C1
2012	Dallara DW12	Honda		STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	BAL	FON
			Justin Wilson	10	19	10	22	7	22	1	23	10	21	9	18	11	17	23
			James Jakes	26	16	11	15	15	23	10	21	13	8	25	19	12	24	12
2013	Dallara DW12	Honda		STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	POC	TOR	TOR	MDO	SNM	BAL	HOU	HOU	FON
			Justin Wilson	9	8	3	20	5	3	22	15	9	11	7	11	8	8	2	4	3	4	18
			Ana Beatriz	22	24	14	25	15				19	22
			Mike Conway						1*	3*					7	7				16	9
			Pippa Mann					30			24			15								25
			James Davison														15	18
			Stefan Wilson																16

Past and Present Drivers

• Eric Bachelart (1992–1993, 1995)
• Mauro Baldi (1994)
• Fulvio Ballabio (1989–1990)
• Alex Barron (2000)
• Ana Beatriz (2013)
• Townsend Bell (2001)
• Ross Bentley (1991–1995)
• Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. (1989)
• Tom Bigelow (1984)
• Brian Bonner (1992–1993)
• Geoff Boss (2003)
• Sébastien Bourdais (2011)
• Ronnie Bremer (2005)
• Robbie Buhl (1993–1994)
• Juan Cáceres (2006)
• Joël Camathias (2003)
• Mike Conway (2013)
• Dale Coyne (1984–1989, 1991)
• Guido Daccò (1989)
• Ryan Dalziel (2005)
• Cristiano da Matta (2006)
• Christian Danner (1997)
• James Davison (2013)
• Dominic Dobson (1988)
• Mario Domínguez (2006)
• Milka Duno (2010)
• Cornelius Euser (1991)
• Franck Fréon (1995)
• Luiz Garcia, Jr. (1999, 2001)
• Memo Gidley (1999)
• Roberto González (2003)
• Michael Greenfield (1991)
• Dean Hall (1990)
• Scott Harrington (1989)
• Jan Heylen (2006)
• James Jakes (2011)
• Jaroslav Janiš (2004)
• Paul Jasper (1997)
• Ken Johnson (1989)
• Michel Jourdain, Jr. (1997–1999)
• Bruno Junqueira (2007–2008)
• Michael Krumm (2001)
• Takuya Kurosawa (2000)
• Buddy Lazier (1991, 1995)
• Katherine Legge (2007)
• Randy Lewis (1991)
• Alex Lloyd (2010–2011)
• André Lotterer (2002)
• Pippa Mann (2013)
• Tarso Marques (2000, 2004–2005)
• Hiro Matsushita (1996)
• Gastón Mazzacane (2004)
• Andrea Montermini (1994)
• Mario Moraes (2008)
• Roberto Moreno (1996–1997)
• Charlie Nearburg (1997)
• John Paul, Jr. (1989)
• Gualter Salles (1998–2000, 2003)
• Oriol Servià (2004–2005)
• Tomas Scheckter (2009)
• Alex Sperafico (2003)
• Ricardo Sperafico (2005)
• Brian Till (1994)
• Paul Tracy (1991)
• Johnny Unser (1993–1994)
• Michael Valiante (2005)
• Dennis Vitolo (1991–1993, 1997–1999)
• Andreas Wirth (2006)
• Justin Wilson (2009, 2012–2013)
• Stefan Wilson (2013)
• Jeff Wood (1991)
• Alex Yoong (2003)
• Alessandro Zampedri (1994–1995)

References

External links

• Dale Coyne Racing Website
• Dale Coyne Racing Facebook Page
• Dale Coyne Racing Twitter Page
• IZOD IndyCar Series Team Page