Dale Coyne (born July 8, 1954 inMinooka,Illinois) is anIndyCar Series team owner and formerChamp Car auto racing team owner and driver.

Coyne made hisCART debut in 1984 atPortland and failed to qualify. He attempted to make 5 other races that year but only made the field in one of them, the race atMid-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, atMichigan 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.

Dale 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 atPhoenix and caught on fire in pit lane atLong Beach. It wasn't until September that the car managed to finish a race, with Coyne bringing home a 12th-place finish atSanair Super Speedway. Coyne was earlier credited with 12th place atCleveland 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-oldMarch 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 in 1988 and after failing to qualify for the Phoenix race, Coyne made his first attempt to qualify for theIndianapolis 500, in1988 but he 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 theMiami 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 thePocono Raceway race but was knocked out after 4 laps by gearbox failure.

He returned to the cockpit in 1991 when he had nopay driver to fill his seat and made two starts in 3 attempts but again suffered mechanical issues in both races.

Coyne largely retired from competition in 1989 to field other drivers and formedPayton Coyne Racing in 1998 withWalter Payton. In his early years of team ownership, Coyne launched some impressive careers, including that ofPaul Tracy (1991) andMichel Jourdain Jr. (1997). The perennial hopeful never had substantial funding and scored a then-best finish of 3rd at the1996U.S. 500 atMichigan International Speedway with veteranRoberto Moreno. The result was matched in2004 whenOriol Servia accomplished the feat atMazda 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 driverBruno Junqueira behind the wheel, he posted three consecutive podium finishes (Zolder, Belgium; Assen, the Netherlands & Surfer 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 the2008 season, Dale Coyne Racing made the transition to the IndyCar Series for 2008 with Junqueira joined by rookieMario Moraes

In 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 atWatkins Glen and gave Coyne his first championship-level victory as either driver or owner.

In 2018, Dale Coyne Racing fielded two cars. The number 18 entry went under the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan banner, driven bySebastian Bourdais. The number 19 entry was shared between Brazilian driverPietro Fittipaldi and CanadianZachary Claman de Melo. In addition, Dale Coyne Racing intends to field further entries for the 2018 Indianapolis 500 forPippa Mann andConor Daly.

(key)

• Dale Coyne Racing homepage
• Dale Coyne's driving stats at ChampCarStats.com

• 1954 births
• Auto racing crew chiefs
• Champ Car drivers
• IndyCar Series team owners
• Dale Coyne Racing
• Living people
• People from Minooka, Illinois
• Racing drivers from Illinois
• Dale Coyne Racing drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata