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. The team currently fields a car for Justin Wilson.

[edit] The team

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.

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

The Dale Coyne Racing team, competed in 2000 with 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 World Series 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.

Dale Coyne Racing earned its best-ever result with a second-place finish in the Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium on August 26, 2007, with Bruno Junqueira driving.

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

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.

Dale Coyne Racing fielded two cars for the 2008 IndyCar Series.

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]

[edit] Past drivers

• Eric Bachelart (1992-1993, 1995)
• Mauro Baldi (1994)
• Fulvio Ballabio (1989-1990)
• Alex Barron (2000)
• Townsend Bell (2001)
• Ross Bentley (1991-1995)
• Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. (1989)
• Tom Bigelow (1984)
• Brian Bonner (1992-1993)
• Geoff Boss (2003)
• Ronnie Bremer (2005)
• Robbie Buhl (1993-1994)
• Juan Cáceres (2006)
• Joël Camathias (2003)
• Dale Coyne (1984-1989, 1991)
• Guido Daccò (1989)
• Ryan Dalziel (2005)
• Cristiano Da Matta (2006)
• Christian Danner (1997)
• Dominic Dobson (1988)
• Mario Dominguez (2006)
• Cornelius Euser (1991)
• Franck Freon (1995)
• Luiz Garcia, Jr. (1999, 2001)
• Memo Gidley (1999)
• Roberto Gonzalez (2003)
• Michael Greenfield (1991)
• Dean Hall (1990)
• Scott Harrington (1989)
• Jan Heylen (2006)
• 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)
• André Lotterer (2002)
• 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 Servia (2004-2005)
• 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 - Present)
• Jeff Wood (1991)
• Alex Yoong (2003)
• Alessandro Zampedri (1994-1995)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dale Coyne Racing homepage