Walker Racing

Template:DMCA 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.

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. 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. 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.

Closure

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

Drivers

CART/CCWS

• Template:Flagicon Jon Beekhuis (1992)
• Template:Flagicon David Besnard (2004)
• Template:Flagicon Gil de Ferran (1997-1999)
• Template:Flagicon Luis Diaz (2003)
• Template:Flagicon Fredrik Ekblom (1996)
• Template:Flagicon Christian Fittipaldi (1995)
• Template:Flagicon A. J. Foyt (1992)
• Template:Flagicon Memo Gidley (1999)
• Template:Flagicon Scott Goodyear (1991-1993, 1996)
• Template:Flagicon Robby Gordon (1994-1996)
• Template:Flagicon Mike Groff (1992, 1996)
• Template:Flagicon Mario Haberfeld (2004)
• Template:Flagicon Naoki Hattori (1999)
• Template:Flagicon Bryan Herta (2000)
• Template:Flagicon Rodolfo Lavín (2003)
• Template:Flagicon Buddy Lazier (1991)
• Template:Flagicon Darren Manning (2003)
• Template:Flagicon Marcus Marshall (2005)
• Template:Flagicon Hiro Matsushita (1993)
• Template:Flagicon Shinji Nakano (2000)
• Template:Flagicon Simon Pagenaud (2007)
• Template:Flagicon Will Power (2005-2007)
• Template:Flagicon Willy T. Ribbs (1991-1994)
• Template:Flagicon Mark Smith (1994)
• Template:Flagicon Alex Tagliani (2005-2006, 2008)
• Template:Flagicon Tora Takagi (2001-2002)
• Template:Flagicon Michael Valiante (2004)
• Template:Flagicon Charles Zwolsman (2005)

IRL IndyCar Series

• Template:Flagicon Paul Tracy (2008)
• Template:Flagicon Sarah Fisher (2000-2001)
• Template:Flagicon Mike Groff (1996)

Racing results

Complete CART FedEx Championship Series results

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

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
1991						SFR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	INDY	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Lola T90/00	Cosworth DFS V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Scott Goodyear	15	23	7	21	27	9	8	10	19	8	7	15	24	8	11	9	21	11					13th	42
				Template:Flagicon Willy T. Ribbs	10						11		22	10			6	21		10	17	12					17th	17
		Buick 3300 V6 t			17				32
1992						SFR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	INDY	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	TOR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Lola T91/00 Lola T92/00	Chevrolet 265A V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Scott Goodyear	15	9	18	5	2	22	8	8	3	6	1*	10	20	5	16	4	26						5th	108
	Lola T90/00	Cosworth DFS V8 t		Template:Flagicon A. J. Foyt	17	23																					Template:Encodefirst	4
				Template:Flagicon Tero Palmroth			DNQ																				Template:Encodefirst	0
	Lola T91/00	Chevrolet 265A V8 t		Template:Flagicon Johnny Rutherford					DNQ																		NC	—
				Template:Flagicon Mike Groff					DNQ	DNS							24										Template:Encodefirst	5
				Template:Flagicon Jon Beekhuis											21												Template:Encodefirst	0
				Template:Flagicon Dennis Vitolo															DNS								Template:Encodefirst	0
				Template:Flagicon Willy T. Ribbs																	25						57th	0
1993						SFR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	INDY	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Lola T93/00	Ford XB V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Scott Goodyear	2	10	20	16	7	23	10	12	20	9	5	19	10	4	3	2	4						9th	86
				Template:Flagicon Hiro Matsushita	15	11	10	14	18	13	13	21	12	16	14	13	13	12	13	21	19						26th	7
	Lola T92/00			Template:Flagicon Willy T. Ribbs	75				21	11	12	16	27	18	10	15	12	16	11	19	28						20th	9
1994						SFR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	INDY	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Lola T94/00	Ford XB V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Robby Gordon	9	23	7	3	5	6	3	4	11	6	13	4	13	2	25	23	13						5th	104
				Template:Flagicon Mark Smith	15	21	Wth	25	DNQ	24	14	16	22	30	5	20	12	8	26	12	14						19th	17
	Lola T93/00			Template:Flagicon Willy T. Ribbs	24	18	28	18	DNQ																		22nd	12
	Lola T94/00								DNQ	25	16	25	12	21	7	28	10	25	24	18	11
1995						Template:Encodefirst	SFR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	INDY	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Robby Gordon	5	13	14	1	22	4	5	5	1*	8	26	5	6	DNS	8	9	3	15					5th	121
				Template:Flagicon Christian Fittipaldi (R)	15	5	25	10	14	20	2	7	17	12	8	9	24	9	25	8	24	24					15th	54
1996						MIA	RIO	SFR	LBH	NAZ	500	MIL	DET	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	TOR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Reynard 96i	Ford XD V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Robby Gordon	5	3	15	16	13	22	20	17	26	10	18	9	8	18	17	10	15						18th	29
		Ford XB V8 t		Template:Flagicon Scott Goodyear	15	12	DNS									19				9	18						25th	5
				Template:Flagicon Mike Groff						14																	34th	0
				Template:Flagicon Fredrik Ekblom							25																40th	0
1997						Template:Encodefirst	SFR	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	VAN	Template:Encodefirst	FON
	Reynard 97i	Honda HRR V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Gil de Ferran	5	22	5	21	4	11	3	7	3*	2	2*	25	3	6	3	3	5	6					2nd	162
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	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Gil de Ferran	5	7	3	20*	4	26	6	22	3	20	6	27	16	9	16	13	19	21	14	17			12th	67
1999						MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	POR	CLE	ROA	TOR	MCH	DET	MDO	Template:Encodefirst	VAN	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	SRF	FON
	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Gil de Ferran	5	6	2	6	15	10	25	3	1*	2	14	19	24	22	6	13	26	6	17	27	9		8th	108
				Template:Flagicon Naoki Hattori (R)	15	25												16	19		27	14	22	20	19		35th	0
				Template:Flagicon Memo Gidley									19	11	26	12											Template:Encodefirst	4
2000						Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	DET	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	MCH	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	VAN	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	SRF	Template:Encodefirst
	Reynard 2Ki	Honda HR-0 V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedF	Template:Flagicon Shinji Nakano (R)	5	8			14		23	15	11	15	14	20	13	19	22	19	26	21	8	21	16		24th	12
				Template:Flagicon Bryan Herta			5	20																			Template:Encodefirst	26
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	Template:Tfm/datedF	Template:Flagicon Toranosuke Takagi (R)	5	10	20	C1	14	20	20	20	18	14	22	13	11	21	22	7	6	26	4	13	16	15	21st	12
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	Template:Tfm/datedB	Template:Flagicon Toranosuke Takagi	5	14	6	8	14	16	18	4	8	7	15	12	15	14	15	6	15	DNS	18	6			15th	53
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	Template:Tfm/datedB	Template:Flagicon Rodolfo Lavín (R)	5	18	15	18	15	9	14	19	11	14	15	8	19	12	15	19	18	18	8				18th	17
				Template:Flagicon Darren Manning (R)	15	13	7	8	10	6	4	18	6	10	8	5	6	8	10	8	11	9	2				9th	103
				Template:Flagicon Luis Díaz (R)	25																	19					27th	0
2004						LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	DEN	MTL	LAG	LSV	SFR	MXC
	Reynard 02i	Ford XFE V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedB	Template:Flagicon Mario Haberfeld	5	9	15	10	9	14	4	9	11	8	13	7	14	14	15								13th	157
				Template:Flagicon David Besnard (R)	15													7									20th	18
				Template:Flagicon Michael Valiante (R)															14								23rd	7

1. ^ The Firestone Firehawk 600 was canceled after qualifying due to excessive g-forces on the drivers.

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
1996						WDW	PHX	INDY
	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Mike Groff	60			20																	Template:Encodefirst	228
1997						NHA	LSV	WDW	PHX	INDY	TXS	PPIR	CLT	NHA2	LSV2
	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedG	Template:Flagicon Robby Gordon	50		14																		Template:Encodefirst	27
2000						Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	INDY	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Riley & Scott Mk V	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	Template:Tfm/datedF	Template:Flagicon Sarah Fisher (R)	15		13	17																	18th	124
	Dallara IR-00								31	12	25	14	3	11
2001						Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	INDY	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst	Template:Encodefirst
	Dallara IR-01	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	Template:Tfm/datedF	Template:Flagicon Sarah Fisher	15	17	2	11	31	18	10	17	12	19	19	11	24	25							19th	188
2008						HMS	STP	MOT	LBH1	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF2
	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE V8 t	Template:Tfm/datedB	Template:Flagicon Alex Tagliani	15				7																Template:Encodefirst	56
	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	Template:Tfm/datedF	Template:Flagicon Paul Tracy	22														43						Template:Encodefirst	51

1. ^ Run to Champ Car specifications.
2. ^ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.
3. ^ Run in conjunction with Vision Racing.