Born | Ballinteer, Dublin, Ireland | 11 March 1953
---|---|
Formula One World Championship career | |
Nationality | Irish |
Active years | 1978–1982 |
Teams | Hesketh, Ensign, Tyrrell, March, Theodore, Williams |
Entries | 64 (49 starts) |
Championships | 0 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Career points | 15 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
First entry | 1978 United States Grand Prix West |
Last entry | 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix |
Derek Patrick Daly (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former racing driver. He won the 1977 British Formula 3 Championship, and competed as a professional racing driver for 17 years participating in 64 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 2 April 1978. He scored a total of 15 championship points, making him Ireland's most successful F1 driver, and he also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races. After F1, Daly raced in CART and IMSA, where he achieved much success with Nissan.
After honing his skills in the Irish Formula Ford Championship, Daly had his first drive in the European Formula Two Championship in 1977. In 1978 and 1979, he competed in both Formula Two and Formula One, finishing third in the Formula Two championship in both seasons. From 1980 to 1982, he focussed on Formula One, his best year being 1980, when he scored two fourth-place finishes and finished 11th in the Drivers' Championship. His two most memorable moments in F1 both came in the Monaco Grand Prix. In 1980 he crashed spectacularly at the first corner after vaulting three other cars. In 1982 he suddenly found himself in contention for the win when the four cars ahead of him ran into problems with under two laps to go, but ended up on the sidelines himself when his gearbox seized moments later.
In 1982, Daly began driving in the CART series and continued through 1989. He started 66 CART races, including each Indianapolis 500 from 1983 to 1989, except for 1986. He finished in the top ten a total of 21 times, including one podium finish, 3rd position, at Milwaukee in 1987. In September 1984 he was nearly killed in a crash in the CART PPG Detroit News Grand Prix 200 at Michigan International Speedway. The front end of his car was sheared off and he suffered multiple injuries including a crushed left ankle, double compound fracture to the left tibia and fibula, fractured left hip socket, severely fractured pelvis, several broken left side ribs, broken left hand, 3rd degree burns to the left arm, dislocated right foot and ankle, deep abrasions and soft tissue to right heel, and internal bleeding.
Daly won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1990 and 1991 driving a Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo. In 1990, he had the unusual distinction of driving both the first and second-placed cars. [1] [2]
Daly is known in motor sports circles around the world as a driver, writer, broadcaster, racing advisor, and businessman. He runs a professional services company called MotorVation, and had been a commentator for American broadcasts of the Champ Car series, as well as a public speaker. One of the agencies that represents him is the National Speakers Bureau. [3]
In 2018, Daly was fired from a racing analyst position he had at WISH-TV when WISH-TV attributed a racial slur that was uttered by Indianapolis Colts announcer Bob Lamey in 1983 to him. While not disputing saying the slur, Daly contends that he did not use the offending language in the context Lamey alleged (Lamey claimed that Daly had once stated "... there aren't any (racial slur) in this race"), but instead used the word as part of a common Irish colloquialism during a 1983 radio interview. [4] Daly filed a $25M lawsuit as a result. [5] Later that year, U.S. district court judge Richard L. Young ruled in favor of WISH-TV and the station's former parent company, Nexstar Media Group, in all claims in Daly’s lawsuit and ordered him to pay Nexstar's legal costs. [6]
Daly became a US citizen[ when? ] and now resides in Carmel, Indiana. [7] He has three sons, Conor, Colin and Christian.
Daly's son Conor is also a racing driver. He made his debut in full-time open-wheel racing in 2012, driving for the Lotus GP team in GP3, [8] before moving GP2 in 2014 driving for Venezuela GP Lazarus. [9] Conor made his IndyCar Series debut in 2013 and was a full-time driver from 2016 to 2023. [10] He also competed in the Daytona 500 in 2023, finishing 29th.
Daly's niece, Nicola Daly, is an Ireland women's field hockey international and was a member of the squad that won the silver medal at the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup. She also works as a data engineer for Juncos Racing. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | Chevron Racing | Chevron/B40 | Hart | SIL | THR | HOC | NÜR | VAL | PAU | MUG | ROU | NOG | PER | MIS | EST 5 | DON | 18th | 2 |
1978 | Chevron Racing | Chevron/B42 | Hart | THR 6 | HOC 9 | NÜR Ret | PAU 9 | MUG 1 | VAL 1 | ROU 11 | DON Ret | NOG 3 | PER 3 | MIS 9 | HOC Ret | 3rd | 27 | |
1979 | Project Four Racing | March/792 | BMW | SIL 2 | HOC | THR 2 | NÜR | VAL | MUG Ret | PAU Ret | HOC 2 | ZAN 11 | PER 2 | MIS Ret | DON 1 | 3rd | 33 | |
1983 | McMahon Racing | March/822 | Hart | SIL | THR | HOC | NÜR | VAL | PAU | JAR | DON 9 | MIS | PER | ZOL | MUG | - | 0 |
(key)
Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Rank | Points | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | Wysard Racing | March 82C | Ford Cosworth DFX | PHX | ATL | MIL | CLE | MIS | MIL | POC | RIV | ROA | MIS2 | PHX2 25 | NC | 0 | [16] | ||||||
1983 | Wysard Racing | March 82C | Ford Cosworth DFX | ATL 22 | 27th | 4 | [17] | ||||||||||||||||
March 83C | INDY 19 | MIL | CLE | MIS | |||||||||||||||||||
Provimi Racing | March 82/83C | Ford Cosworth DFX | ROA 9 | POC | RIV | MDO 22 | MIS2 | LVG 18 | LS 23 | PHX 22 | |||||||||||||
1984 | Provimi Racing | March 84C | Ford Cosworth DFX | LBH 7 | PHX 15 | INDY 27 | MIL | POR 4 | MEA 19 | CLE 6 | MIS 17 | ROA 18 | POC | MDO 18 | SAN 21 | MIS2 21 | PHX2 | LS | LVG | 19th | 26 | [18] | |
1985 | Tom Hess Racing | Lola T900 | Ford Cosworth DFX | LBH | INDY 12 | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | MIS | ROA | POC | MDO | SAN | MIS2 | LS | PHX | MIA | 40th | 1 | [19] | ||
1986 | Team Menard | March 86C | Ford Cosworth DFX | PHX | LBH | INDY DNQ | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | TOR | MIS | POC | 23rd | 11 | [20] | |||||||
Curb Motorsports | MDO 6 | SAN 10 | MIS2 | ROA 13 | LS | PHX2 | MIA | ||||||||||||||||
1987 | Pace Racing | March 87C | Buick V6 (t/c) | LBH | PHX | INDY 15 | 15th | 27 | [21] | ||||||||||||||
Raynor Motorsports | Lola T87/00 | Ford Cosworth DFX | MIL 3 | POR 15 | MEA 9 | CLE 11 | TOR 16 | MIS 24 | POC 10 | ROA 26 | MDO 9 | NAZ 16 | LS 14 | MIA 22 | |||||||||
1988 | Raynor Motorsports | Lola T88/00 | Ford Cosworth DFX | PHX 13 | LBH 5 | INDY 29 | MIL 11 | POR 19 | CLE 6 | TOR 23 | MEA 24 | MIS 16 | POC 4 | MDO 9 | ROA 6 | NAZ 10 | LS 7 | MIA 23 | 9th | 53 | [22] | ||
1989 | Raynor Motorsports | Lola T89/00 | Judd AV | PHX 12 | LBH 9 | INDY 15 | MIL 21 | DET 25 | POR 11 | CLE 22 | MEA 25 | TOR 16 | MIS 5 | POC 24 | MDO 9 | ROA 27 | NAZ 9 | LS 18 | 12th | 25 | [23] |
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1988 | Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing | Kevin Cogan Larry Perkins | Jaguar XJR-9LM | C1 | 383 | 4th | 4th |
1989 | Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing | Davy Jones Jeff Kline | Jaguar XJR-9LM | C1 | 85 | DNF | DNF |
1990 | Nissan Performance Technology Inc. | Geoff Brabham Chip Robinson | Nissan R90CK | C1 | 251 | DNF | DNF |
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