Dale Coyne (born 1954 in Minooka, Illinois) is a Champ Car auto racing team owner and former driver. 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Minooka is a village located in Grundy County, Illinois. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 25th 149,998 km² 340 km 629 km 4. ... Champ Car, a shortened form of Championship Car, has been the name for a class of cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades. ...

Following four unsuccessful seasons as a Champ Car driver, he retired from competition to start Dale Coyne Racing in 1988. In his early years of team ownership, Coyne launched some impressive careers, including that of Paul Tracy (1991) and Michel Jourdain Jr. (1997). The perennial hopeful has never had great funding and scored a best finish of 3rd at the 1996 U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway with veteran Roberto Moreno. The result was matched in 2004 when Oriol Servia accomplished the feat at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Servia also scored the team's best finish in the points with 10th. Paul Tracy Tracy at Laguna Seca in 1993 Paul Tracy (born December 17, 1968 in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) is a professional automobile racer. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Michel Jourdain Jr. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The U.S. 500 was an automobile race sanctioned by CART between 1996 and 1999 at the Michigan International Speedway as an alternative to the Indianapolis 500. ... Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile (3. ... Roberto Moreno (born Roberto Pupo Moreno, February 11th, 1959 in Rio de Janeiro) is a former Formula One driver from Brazil. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Oriol Servia is a race car in the Champ Car World Series, originally from the Catalonia providence in Spain. ... Corkscrew at turn 8. ...

From 1996 until 1999 the team was known as Payton/Coyne Racing following Coyne's association with former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton. Payton died in 1999 and the team was renamed to its original status. City Chicago, Illinois Other nicknames Da Bears, The Monsters of the Midway Team colors Navy Blue, Orange and White Head Coach Lovie Smith Owner McCaskey Family General manager Jerry Angelo Fight song Bear Down, Chicago Bears Mascot Staley Da Bear Local radio Flagship stations: WBBM (780 AM) Announcers: Jeff Joniak... Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1954 - November 1, 1999) was an American football running back and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. ...

For all the successful careers that Coyne has launched, similar to the Minardi team in Formula One, there have been a fair amount of pay-drivers including a record six drivers in 1997 and 2005. Minardi was an automobile racing team founded in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

In an interview given to the racing website RFM Sports (www.rfmsports.com), Dale Coyne put forth his philosophy of racing thus:

“Any driver that comes here [to Dale Coyne Racing] has a certain skill level – the guy at the back of the field has to have a certain level of skill to be here. We’ve enjoyed trying to get the best out of those guys – whether it’s a guy at the beginning of his career and trying to climb the ladder, get more experience – he needs a vehicle to do that, and we can provide that. Or, whether it’s a guy at the end of his career and this has always been his goal, and he hasn’t touched it… this is a dream for people to do and, yes money can get you in to do it, but anybody in this field is a world class driver, because they’re tough cars…”

As an example of the later case, Coyne gives Charlie Nearburg, who in 1997, at the age of 47, and late in his racing career decided he wanted to experience his dream of racing Champcars.

“Charlie Nearburg is an example I love – he was a guy that was older, he was married, he had kids and always wanted to do these races. So he came with us, and did three races, and we pushed him a little bit, but the by the time he got to his third race, he was very respectable – and he’s got that to carry with him the rest of his life.”

Unlike those team owners who view a Racing team as an ego-booster, a tax write-off or a plaything, Dale Coyne views Dale Coyne Racing as a place for the dreamers of dreams. He may never be Jean Todt or Ron Dennis -- but he will always live in the affections of racing fans and of the many drivers to which he provided a chance to live, for however brief a shining moment, their dreams.