Dale Coyne

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

Driving career

Coyne made his CART debut in 1984 at Portland and 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.

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 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.