Walker Racing

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Walker Racing was a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. It last competed in the United SportsCar Championship under the name of Team Falken Tire until Falken Tire pulled out of not only the series but the team in general at the conclusion of the 2015 United SportsCar Championship season.

Contents

Early success

The team was founded by Walker, who purchased the left over assets of the former Porsche Indy team. In the first season, 1991, the team successfully qualified rookie Willy T. Ribbs at the Indy 500.

In 1992, the team fielded Scott Goodyear on a full-time basis who won at Michigan and nearly won the 1992 Indianapolis 500. He was joined beginning with the 1993 Indianapolis 500 by Willy T. Ribbs who raced with the team until the end of the 1994 season. The team ran a third full-time car in 1993 for Hiro Matsushita.

Goodyear was replaced at the beginning of the 1994 season by Robby Gordon who raced with the team with Valvoline sponsorship until 1996. Gordon raced alongside teammate Mark Smith who was a championship contender in Indy Lights and showed promise in his 1993 CART rookie season but had a difficult 1994 season with the Walker Racing team. Smith was replaced by rookie Christian Fittipaldi in 1995 who finished second in the Indy 500 and finished 15th in points.

As a results of the CART-IRL split in 1996, the Walker team elected to participate in both races with Gordon and Fredrik Ekblom driving in the U.S. 500 and Mike Groff racing in the 1996 Indianapolis 500.

In 1997, Gil de Ferran took over the Valvoline car and was the runner up in the championship that year, despite not scoring a victory. De Ferran stayed with the team until 1999, a year where he finally broke through and scored his first victory for the team, the team's first since Gordon's win at Detroit in 1995.

A series of pay drivers

With no driver or sponsorship for the 2000 season, the team was forced to take on pay driver Shinji Nakano who finished a disappointing 24th in points. Meanwhile, the team entered the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series in 2000 with rookie female driver Sarah Fisher who was inconsistent but fast in her two years with the team, scoring a career-best finish of 2nd place at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2001. Nakano was replaced in the team's CART entry in 2001 by countryman Tora Takagi who brought Pioneer Electronics sponsorship to the team. Takagi managed slightly improved results over Nakano scoring 10 top-10 finishes in his two seasons with the team. The team also attempted to field Oriol Servia in the 2002 Indianapolis 500 but he failed to qualify.

Takagi left to the IRL in 2003 and the void was filled by Mexican driver Rodolfo Lavin who brought Corona sponsorship. Walker ran Darren Manning full-time in a second car with a variety of different sponsors and he finished 9th in points while Lavin only managed 18th.

Both drivers were gone for 2004 as the series morphed into the Champ Car World Series. Brazilian Mario Haberfeld drove the team's only full-time car. Late in that season Australian businessman Craig Gore bought into the team and it became Team Australia.

Team Australia

In 2005 the team took an Australian turn due to its new sponsorship, with the addition of Aussie Vineyards sponsorship and Australian rookie driver Marcus Marshall joining Canadian veteran Alex Tagliani as the team returned to two full-time cars. Will Power made his debut in a third car at the 2005 Lexmark Indy 300 in Australia and replaced Marshall for the season finale in Mexico. The pair of Tagliani and Power continued with the team in 2006 and Tagliani was replaced by 2006 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion Simon Pagenaud in 2007. Power won two races in 2007 including the season opener in Las Vegas, the team's first victory since Gil De Ferran was with the team.

Walker initially indicated that he believed that the Champ Car World Series had run its last race and he was preparing to race in the IRL IndyCar Series in 2008. [1] However, on March 9 the team announced that it would not race in the IndyCar Series in 2008 as it was unable to find adequate funding to do so as sponsor Aussie Vineyards jumped ship to KV Racing. [2] Walker Racing did finally appear in the 2008 season in a joint effort with Vision Racing at Edmonton to run Paul Tracy.

Walker fielded Stefan Wilson for a partial season campaign in Indy Lights in 2009.

American Le Mans Series

In 2011, Derrick Walker joined forces with Team Falken Tire to run a Porsche 997 GT3-RSR in the upcoming American Le Mans Series season in the GT class. Falken's motorsports division made their ALMS début in 2009 racing certain events before entering a full 2010 season. The team took its maiden victory at the 2011 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge in which heavy rain towards the end of the race which favoured the team as the rain tires Falken developed were considerably better than those of Michelin and Dunlop. Wolf Henzler, one of the drivers in the race was in seventh when the rain started falling and went up to fifth before the safety car came out. In the restart, Henzler overtook the next four cars in a single lap to take the lead before the red flags came out around ten minutes before the end of the race. It was also the first win for a team running on Falken Tires and also the first wins for drivers Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers.

Ed Carpenter Racing

In 2012, Derrick Walker returned to the IndyCar Series as team manager for Ed Carpenter Racing, co-owned by Tony George and driver Ed Carpenter. The team is based in the Walker Racing facility and utilizes Walker Racing's equipment and personnel. [3]

Closure

On 20 November 2016 the team was put up for auction after a year of searching for a replacement sponsor for its IMSA team. On 6 December 2016 after the auction is complete the team will be officially listed as defunct. [4]

Drivers

CART/CCWS

IRL IndyCar Series

Racing results

Complete CART FedEx Championship Series results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearChassisEngineTyresDriversNo.123456789101112131415161718192021Pts PosPos
1991 SFR LBHPHX INDY MILDETPORCLEMEATORMCHDENVANMDOROANAZLAG
Lola T90/00 Cosworth DFS V8 t G Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Goodyear 1523721279810198715248119211113th42
Flag of the United States.svg Willy T. Ribbs 1011221062110171217th17
Buick 3300 V6 t 1732
1992 SFR PHXLBH INDY DETPORMILNHA TOR MCHCLEROAVANMDONAZLAG
Lola T91/00
Lola T92/00
Chevrolet 265A V8 t G Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Goodyear 15918522288361*10205164265th108
Lola T90/00 Cosworth DFS V8 t Flag of the United States.svg A. J. Foyt 172326th4
Flag of Finland.svg Tero Palmroth DNQ58th0
Lola T91/00 Chevrolet 265A V8 t Flag of the United States.svg Johnny Rutherford DNQNC
Flag of the United States.svg Mike Groff DNQDNS2425th5
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Jon Beekhuis 182148th0
Flag of the United States.svg Dennis Vitolo DNS42nd0
Flag of the United States.svg Willy T. Ribbs 2557th0
1993 SFR PHXLBH INDY MILDETPORCLETORMCHNHAROAVANMDONAZLAG
Lola T93/00 Ford XB V8 t G Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Goodyear 210201672310122095191043249th86
Flag of Japan.svg Hiro Matsushita 151110141813132112161413131213211926th7
Lola T92/00 Flag of the United States.svg Willy T. Ribbs 752111121627181015121611192820th9
1994 SFR PHXLBH INDY MILDETPORCLETORMCHMDONHAVANROANAZLAG
Lola T94/00 Ford XB V8 t G Flag of the United States.svg Robby Gordon 9237356341161341322523135th104
Flag of the United States.svg Mark Smith 1521Wth25DNQ241416223052012826121419th17
Lola T93/00 Flag of the United States.svg Willy T. Ribbs 24182818DNQ22nd12
Lola T94/00DNQ25162512217281025241811
1995 MIA SFR PHXLBHNAZ INDY MILDETPORROATORCLEMCHMDONHAVANLAG
Reynard 95i Ford XB V8 t G Flag of the United States.svg Robby Gordon 513141224551*82656DNS893155th121
Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi (R)1552510142027171289249258242415th54
1996 MIA RIO SFR LBH NAZ 500 MIL DET PORCLE TOR MCHMDOROAVANLAG
Reynard 96i Ford XD V8 t G Flag of the United States.svg Robby Gordon 53151613222017261018981817101518th29
Ford XB V8 t Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Goodyear 1512DNS1991825th5
Flag of the United States.svg Mike Groff 1434th0
Flag of Sweden.svg Fredrik Ekblom 2540th0
1997 MIA SFR LBHNAZRIOGATMILDETPORCLETORMCHMDOROA VAN LAG FON
Reynard 97i Honda HRR V8 t G Flag of Brazil.svg Gil de Ferran 522521411373*22*253633562nd162
1998 MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG HOU SFR FON
Reynard 98i Honda HRK V8 t G Flag of Brazil.svg Gil de Ferran 57320*42662232062716916131921141712th67
1999 MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL POR CLE ROA TOR MCH DET MDO CHI VAN LAGHOU SRF FON
Reynard 99i Honda HRS V8 t G Flag of Brazil.svg Gil de Ferran 562615102531*214192422613266172798th108
Flag of Japan.svg Naoki Hattori (R)15251619271422201935th0
Flag of the United States.svg Memo Gidley 1911261229th4
2000 MIALBHRIOMOTNAZMIL DET PORCLETOR MCH CHIMDOROA VAN LAGGATHOU SRF FON
Reynard 2Ki Honda HR-0 V8 t F Flag of Japan.svg Shinji Nakano (R)58142315111514201319221926218211624th12
Flag of the United States.svg Bryan Herta 52018th26
2001 MTY LBH TEX NAZ MOT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH CHI MDO ROA VAN LAU ROC HOU LAG SRF FON
Reynard 01i Toyota RV8F V8 t F Flag of Japan.svg Toranosuke Takagi (R)51020C 1 14202020181422131121227626413161521st12
2002 MTY LBH MOT MIL LAG POR CHI TOR CLE VAN MDO ROA MTL DEN ROC MIA SFR FON MXC
Reynard 02i Toyota RV8F V8 t B Flag of Japan.svg Toranosuke Takagi 514681416184871512151415615DNS18615th53
2003 STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL LAG POR CLE TOR VAN ROA MDO MTL DEN MIA MXC SFR
Reynard 02i Ford XFE V8 t B Flag of Mexico.svg Rodolfo Lavín (R)518151815914191114158191215191818818th17
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Darren Manning (R)151378106418610856810811929th103
Flag of Mexico.svg Luis Díaz (R)251927th0
2004 LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LSV SFR MXC
Reynard 02i Ford XFE V8 t B Flag of Brazil.svg Mario Haberfeld 5915109144911813714141513th157
Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Besnard (R)15720th18
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Michael Valiante (R)1423rd7
  1. ^ The Firestone Firehawk 600 was canceled after qualifying due to excessive g-forces on the drivers.

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

(key)

YearChassisEngineTyresDriversNo.12345678910111213141516171819Pts PosPos
1996 WDW PHX INDY
Reynard 95i Ford XB V8 t G Flag of the United States.svg Mike Groff 60206th228
1997 NHA LSV WDW PHX INDY TXS PPIR CLT NHA2 LSV2
Reynard 95i Ford XB V8 t G Flag of the United States.svg Robby Gordon 501437th27
2000 WDWPHXLSV INDY TXSPPIRATLKTYTXS
Riley & Scott Mk V Oldsmobile Aurora V8 F Flag of the United States.svg Sarah Fisher (R)15131718th124
Dallara IR-0031122514311
2001 PHXHMSATL INDY TXSPPIRRIRKANNSHKTYGATCHITXS
Dallara IR-01 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 F Flag of the United States.svg Sarah Fisher 15172113118101712191911242519th188
2008 HMS STP MOT LBH 1 KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF 2
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8 t B Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Alex Tagliani 15732nd56
Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8 F Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Paul Tracy 224 3 33rd51
  1. ^ Run to Champ Car specifications.
  2. ^ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.
  3. ^ Run in conjunction with Vision Racing.

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References

  1. Owner Walker making plans to compete in rival league, Associated Press, February 12, 2008
  2. Walker Racing won't be making switch from Champ Car to IndyCar Series, Associated Press, March 9, 2008
  3. "Notes: Carpenter's team hits ground running - IndyCar.com". Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
  4. "Walker Racing Auction in Indianapolis". 6 December 2016.