Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS — Wally Dallenbach made 13 starts in the Indianapolis 500 and was a pioneer of many innovations to the sport that brought it into the 21st century.
Dallenbach passed away Monday evening. He was 87-years-old.
He won five races in 27 IndyCar Series starts between 1965 and 1979. 13 of those starts came in the Indianapolis 500. He nearly won the race in 1975 with Patrick Racing leading 96 laps, but a burnt piston kept him from victory lane.
Source: RacingOne / Getty
His most notable win came at Ontario Motor Speedway in the California 500 in 1973. Ontario was a “twin” of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a long time.
Dallenbach called it a career in 1979 but briefly came out of retirement in 1981 when he qualified Mario Andretti’s car for the “500” due to Andretti’s Formula One conflicts that year. Andretti nearly won the race that year but late controversy gave the win to Bobby Unser.
“Wally was as good a teammate as you could ever ask for,” said two-time Indy 500 winner Gordon Johncock. “He took racing seriously. I’ve never met anyone at the track as helpful as Wally. He loved the sport. He helped the veterans and rookies – everyone. I’ll miss him. He did a lot for the sport over the years.”
In retirement, Dallenbach was also the first chief steward and director of competition of what was then CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams), which governed the sport of Indy car racing from the 1980s into the 2000s. He served in that role until 2004.
During his tenure with CART Dallenbach was behind many safety innovations for Indy car racing such as the series’ traveling medical team.
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