Dale Coyne Racing
| Owner(s) | Dale Coyne |
|---|---|
| Base | Plainfield, Illinois, USA |
| Series | IndyCar Series |
| Race drivers | 18. Sébastien Bourdais 19. Ed Jones (racing driver) |
| Sponsors |
Mouser Electronics Boy Scouts of America Sonny's BBQ Geico |
| Manufacturer | Honda |
| Career | |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 5 |
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.
With Coyne's technical expertise, the team built their own chassis in its debut year (1986), which was known as the Coyne 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 earned a reputation for quickly developing the skills of these drivers to a point where they could advance their careers.
The team, however, also had a reputation as a backmarker, and usually had older chassis and was forced to use under-powered engines compared to the top teams. In the 1980s and through most of the 1990s, top ten finishes were rare if not non-existent. Despite the lack of results, the team was nevertheless a consistent full-time entrant year after year.
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 Adrián Fernández and Christian Fittipaldi.
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