Dale Coyne

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Dale Coyne
Born (1954-07-08) July 8, 1954 (age 71)
Minooka, Illinois, U.S.
Retired1991
CART World Series
Years active1984–1989, 1991
Teams Dale Coyne Racing
Starts34
Wins0
Poles0
Best finish34th in 1986 & 1988

Dale Coyne (born July 8, 1954 in Minooka, Illinois) is an IndyCar Series team owner and former CART auto racing team owner and driver. [1]

Contents

Driving career

Coyne made his CART debut in 1984 at Portland, but failed to qualify. He attempted to make 5 other races that year, but only made the field in one of them, the race at Mid-Ohio where he finished 14th in his first race.

He returned in 1985 and again failed to qualify or had mechanical issues that prevented him from qualifying in the first five races he attempted. The first race that season that he made was his first oval start, at Michigan International Speedway and he was knocked out after 40 laps due to engine trouble. Coyne made four more starts that season and was sidelined in all of them by mechanical problems.

Coyne and his team built their new proprietary chassis, the DC-1, for 1986 but results did not substantially improve. The car missed the field in its first attempt at Phoenix and caught on fire in pit lane at Long Beach. It wasn't until September that the car managed to finish a race, with Coyne bringing home a 12th-place finish at Sanair Super Speedway. Coyne was earlier credited with 12th place at Cleveland even though he was taken out of the race by a broken half-shaft. The 2 points that he earned for these races would be the most he would earn in a season in his career and he was credited with 34th place in the championship standings.

The DC-1 was disposed of for 1987 and Coyne switched to the more reliable year-old March 86C chassis. However, Coyne again missed the first three races of the season and made his first start in June at Portland. He made 8 starts but only finished one race and did not earn any championship points.

Coyne returned with the same, now two-year-old, March chassis in 1988 and after failing to qualify for the Phoenix race, made his first attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, but failed to make that race as well. He made 9 starts in 14 attempts that year and finished two of them. He was credited with a single point and 12th place in the Miami race despite being knocked out by engine failure.

Coyne attempted to make the Indy 500 again in 1989 but missed the field. He also drove in the Pocono Raceway race but was knocked out after 4 laps by gearbox failure.

He returned to the cockpit in 1991 when he had no pay driver to fill his seat and made two starts in 3 attempts, but again suffered mechanical issues in both races.

Team ownership

Coyne largely retired from competition in 1989 to field other drivers and formed Payton Coyne Racing in 1998 with Walter Payton. In his early years of team ownership, Coyne launched some impressive careers, including that of Paul Tracy (1991) and Michel Jourdain Jr. (1997). The perennial hopeful never had substantial funding and scored a then-best finish of 3rd at the 1996 U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway with veteran Roberto Moreno. The result was matched in 2004 when Oriol Servia accomplished the feat at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Servia also scored the team's best finish in the points with 10th.

2007 was a breakout year for Dale Coyne Racing. With driver Bruno Junqueira behind the wheel, he posted three consecutive podium finishes (Zolder, Belgium; Assen, the Netherlands & Surfers Paradise, Australia) for the team and gave Dale Coyne Racing its highest finish ever with a second place in Zolder, Belgium in August.

With open-wheel unification prior to the 2008 season, Dale Coyne Racing made the transition to the IndyCar Series for 2008 with Junqueira joined by rookie Mario Moraes

In the 2009 season, Dale Coyne Racing entered one driver into the Indycar series, Justin Wilson in the #18. On July 5 Wilson won the Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen and gave Coyne his first championship-level victory as either driver or owner.

In 2018, Dale Coyne Racing fielded two cars. The #18 entry went under the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan banner, driven by Sebastian Bourdais. Bourdais picked up his second consecutive win on the streets of St. Petersburg. The #19 entry was shared between Brazilian driver Pietro Fittipaldi and Canadian Zachary Claman de Melo. In addition, Dale Coyne Racing fielded further entries for the 2018 Indianapolis 500 for Pippa Mann and Conor Daly.

For the 2020 season, Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan fielded an entry for Santino Ferrucci. The team also formed a partnership with Team Goh to run driver Álex Palou in its #55 Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh entry.

The team continued its partnership with Vasser-Sullivan in 2021 and welcomed back 2017 INDYCAR Rookie of the Year Ed Jones to pilot its #18 entry. It also created a new partnership with Rick Ware Racing to form Dale Coyne Racing with RWR and hired Formula 1 veteran Romain Grosjean to drive its #51 Honda. Grosjean had a great season, scoring three podium finishes and registering eight top seven starts, including one pole position.

For its 2022 campaign, the team chose Formula 1 and NTT Indycar Series veteran and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato to pilot its #51 Dale Coyne Racing with RWR entry, while 2021 Indy Lights vice-champion David Malukas took over driving duties of the newly formed Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports #18 Honda entry.

Malukas started in the top 10 seven times and picked up three top 10 finishes, including a second-place finish at WorldWide Technology Raceway.

In 2023, Malukas returned to the team for his sophomore season and picked up another podium finish at WorldWide Technology Raceway. Rookie Sting Ray Robb was behind the wheel of the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR entry.

2025 marked the team’s 42nd consecutive year of competition in American open-wheel racing. [1]

Racing record

American Open Wheel racing results

(key)

CART

YearTeamChassisEngine1234567891011121314151617RankPointsRef
1984 Dale Coyne Racing Eagle 81 Chevrolet V8 LBHPHX INDY MILPOR
DNQ		MEA
DNQ		CLE
DNQ		MIS
DNQ		ROA
DNQ		POCMOH
14		SANMIS2PHX2
DNQ		LS
DNQ		CEANC0 [2]
1985 Dale Coyne Racing Lola T900 Chevrolet V8 LBH
DNQ		 INDY MIL
DNS		POR
DNQ		MEA
DNQ		CLE
DNS		MIS
24		ROA
23		POC
27		MOH
28		SANMIS2
DNS		LS
27		PHX
DNQ		MIA
DNQ		NC0 [3]
1986 Dale Coyne Racing Coyne DC-1 Chevrolet V8 PHX
DNQ		LBH
23		 INDY MILPOR
21		MEA
DNQ		CLE
12		TOR
DNQ		MIS
DNQ		POC
26		MOH
23		SAN
12		MIS2
DNQ		ROA
17		LS
DNS		PHX2
DNQ		MIA
25		34th2 [4]
1987 Dale Coyne Racing March 86C Chevrolet V8 LBH
DNS		PHX
DNQ		 INDY MIL
DNQ		POR
17		MEA
15		CLE
25		TOR
18		MIS
DNS		POC
24		ROA
17		MOH
20		NAZ
DNQ		LS
21		MIA
DNQ		40th0 [5]
1988 Dale Coyne Racing March 86C Chevrolet V8 PHX
DNS		LBH INDY
DNQ		MIL
13		POR
24		CLE
25		TOR
16		MEA
22		MIS
27		POC
DNQ		MOH
24		ROA
DNS		NAZ
DNQ		LS
27		MIA
12		34th1 [6]
1989 Dale Coyne Racing Lola T88/00 Cosworth DFX V8 t PHXLBH INDY
DNQ		MILDETPORCLEMEATORMISPOC
27		MOHROANAZLS51st0 [7]
1991 Dale Coyne Racing Lola T90/00 Cosworth DFS V8 t SRF LBHPHX INDY MIL
21		DET
DNQ		POR
23		CLEMEATORMISDENVANMOHROANAZLS46th0 [8]

Indianapolis 500

YearChassisEngineStartFinishTeam
1988 March 86C Chevrolet 6.5L V8DNQ Dale Coyne Racing
1989 Lola T88/00 Ford Cosworth DFX DNQ Dale Coyne Racing

References

  1. 1 2 "Dale Coyne". Dale Coyne Racing. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
  2. ↑ "Dale Coyne – 1984 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Dale Coyne – 1985 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Dale Coyne – 1986 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Dale Coyne – 1987 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Dale Coyne – 1988 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Dale Coyne – 1989 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Dale Coyne – 1991 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
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