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.^[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

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	Pts Pos	Pos
1991						SFR	LBH	PHX	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MCH	DEN	VAN	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG
	Lola T90/00	Cosworth DFS V8t	G	Scott Goodyear	15	23	7	21	27	9	8	10	19	8	7	15	24	8	11	9	21	11					13th	42
				Willy T. Ribbs	10						11		22	10			6	21		10	17	12					17th	17
		Buick 3300 V6t			17				32
1992						SFR	PHX	LBH	INDY	DET	POR	MIL	NHA	TOR	MCH	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG
	Lola T91/00 Lola T92/00	Chevrolet 265A V8t	G	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 V8t		A. J. Foyt	17	23																					26th	4
				Tero Palmroth			DNQ																				58th	0
	Lola T91/00	Chevrolet 265A V8t		Johnny Rutherford					DNQ																		NC	—
				Mike Groff					DNQ	DNS								24									25th	5
				Jon Beekhuis										18	21												48th	0
				Dennis Vitolo															DNS								42nd	0
				Willy T. Ribbs																	25						57th	0
1993						SFR	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	NHA	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG
	Lola T93/00	Ford XB V8t	G	Scott Goodyear	2	10	20	16	7	23	10	12	20	9	5	19	10	4	3	2	4						9th	86
				Hiro Matsushita	15	11	10	14	18	13	13	21	12	16	14	13	13	12	13	21	19						26th	7
	Lola T92/00			Willy T. Ribbs	75				21	11	12	16	27	18	10	15	12	16	11	19	28						20th	9
1994						SFR	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	NHA	VAN	ROA	NAZ	LAG
	Lola T94/00	Ford XB V8t	G	Robby Gordon	9	23	7	3	5	6	3	4	11	6	13	4	13	2	25	23	13						5th	104
				Mark Smith	15	21	Wth	25	DNQ	24	14	16	22	30	5	20	12	8	26	12	14						19th	17
	Lola T93/00			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						MIA	SFR	PHX	LBH	NAZ	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	ROA	TOR	CLE	MCH	MDO	NHA	VAN	LAG
	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	G	Robby Gordon	5	13	14	1	22	4	5	5	1*	8	26	5	6	DNS	8	9	3	15					5th	121
				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	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG
	Reynard 96i	Ford XD V8t	G	Robby Gordon	5	3	15	16	13	22	20	17	26	10	18	9	8	18	17	10	15						18th	29
		Ford XB V8t		Scott Goodyear	15	12	DNS									19				9	18						25th	5
				Mike Groff						14																	34th	0
				Fredrik Ekblom							25																40th	0
1997						MIA	SFR	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	FON
	Reynard 97i	Honda HRR V8t	G	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 V8t	G	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	CHI	VAN	LAG	HOU	SRF	FON
	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS V8t	G	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
				Naoki Hattori (R)	15	25												16	19		27	14	22	20	19		35th	0
				Memo Gidley									19	11	26	12											29th	4
2000						MIA	LBH	RIO	MOT	NAZ	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	GAT	HOU	SRF	FON
	Reynard 2Ki	Honda HR-0 V8t	F	Shinji Nakano (R)	5	8			14		23	15	11	15	14	20	13	19	22	19	26	21	8	21	16		24th	12
				Bryan Herta			5	20																			18th	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 V8t	F	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 V8t	B	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 V8t	B	Rodolfo Lavín (R)	5	18	15	18	15	9	14	19	11	14	15	8	19	12	15	19	18	18	8				18th	17
				Darren Manning (R)	15	13	7	8	10	6	4	18	6	10	8	5	6	8	10	8	11	9	2				9th	103
				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 V8t	B	Mario Haberfeld	5	9	15	10	9	14	4	9	11	8	13	7	14	14	15								13th	157
				David Besnard (R)	15													7									20th	18
				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	Pts Pos	Pos
1996						WDW	PHX	INDY
	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	G	Mike Groff	60			20																	6th	228
1997						NHA	LSV	WDW	PHX	INDY	TXS	PPIR	CLT	NHA2	LSV2
	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	G	Robby Gordon	50		14																		37th	27
2000						WDW	PHX	LSV	INDY	TXS	PPIR	ATL	KTY	TXS
	Riley & Scott Mk V	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	F	Sarah Fisher (R)	15		13	17																	18th	124
	Dallara IR-00								31	12	25	14	3	11
2001						PHX	HMS	ATL	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	GAT	CHI	TXS
	Dallara IR-01	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	F	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 V8t	B	Alex Tagliani	15				7																32nd	56
	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	F	Paul Tracy	22														43						33rd	51

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

References