From IMS:
| INDIANAPOLIS (Sunday, June 14, 2026) – Team owner Dennis Reinbold, whose Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has fielded cars in the INDYCAR SERIES and Indianapolis 500 for more than 25 years, died peacefully June 13 while surrounded by family. He was 65. Reinbold, a longtime, successful Indianapolis automobile dealer, formed Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in 1999. The name paid tribute to his family’s legacy in racing, as Reinbold’s grandfather Floyd “Pop” Dreyer moved from being a factory motorcycle racer to serving as a crew member and chief mechanic on the famed Duesenberg driven by Benny Shoaff and Babe Stapp in the 1927 Indianapolis 500. Dreyer went on to build many Indy 500 cars in the 1930s and built championship-winning sprint cars, midgets and quarter-midgets. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing started competing in the INDYCAR SERIES full time in 2000 and achieved instant success, winning the season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway with Robbie Buhl behind the wheel. That remains the team’s only victory, but DRR earned two second-place finishes with driver Justin Wilson in 2010 and four third-place finishes between 2001 and 2012, its last full INDYCAR SERIES season. The Indianapolis-based team then ran a limited schedule of five races in 2013 before focusing solely on the Indianapolis 500 from 2014 through this year, except for a four-race effort for driver Sage Karam in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Indianapolis native Reinbold was very proud he employed a year-round, tight-knit crew to prepare his cars for the Month of May, which attracted such “500” standouts as 2012 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, JR Hildebrand, Townsend Bell and Conor Daly to multiple May starts with the team. DRR’s best Indy 500 finish is fourth by Oriol Servia in 2012. But the team was in excellent position to contend for victory in 2025 when Hunter-Reay ran out of fuel while leading with just 31 laps remaining. DRR drivers also led the “500” in four of the last six years .Another source of pride for Reinbold was that all 53 cars his team entered in the Indianapolis 500 qualified for the starting field. That success rate, meticulous preparation and Reinbold’s passion for the sport and “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” led a veritable who’s who of the sport to race for the small team. Besides Buhl, Hunter-Reay, Hildebrand, Daly and Wilson, drivers such as two-time Indy winner Al Unser Jr., 1996 “500” winner Buddy Lazier, 2004 “500” winner Buddy Rice, 2019 “500” winner Simon Pagenaud, INDYCAR SERIES champion Paul Tracy and Sarah Fisher drove for DRR. |
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 