Wally Dallenbach, Sr.

           

           One of the most popular of the early 1960s Modified drivers in the Northeast, Wally Dallenbach of East Brunswick, New Jersey, went from the short tracks of his home state to compete in the Indianapolis 500 13 times.  He also won five USAC National Championship events and then served the sport that he loved so well as the Chief Steward for Championship Auto Racing Teams and as a high-profile advocate for increased safety measures.

           Dallenbach (born December 12, 1936) first got involved with racing as a 15-year-old Modified stock-car owner.  Ed Farley drove the yellow No. 15 1938 Ford coupe and to get it to the old Hightstown (N.J.) Speedway or Philadelphia’s old Yellow Jacket Speedway his cousin Mike towed it behind his 1950 Plymouth.   

           After Dallenbach got his driver’s license, he drag raced Buick-powered cars; including a blown rear-engined Dragster that he built himself.  Then, when he became 21 and was now old enough to drive a Modified, he began his quest to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

           While driving his own white Buick-powered No. 35a 1936 Chevrolet coupe “Candy Cane Special,” Dallenbach showed his talents at the old asphalt half-mile Vineland and Old Bridge Speedways in New Jersey.  And those efforts got him rides in Don House’s pink and white fuel-injected Lincoln-powered No. XL-1 1937 Ford coupe (1961) and Dick Barney’s fuel-injected Oldsmobile-powered pink (1962) and red (1963-1964) No. 14 1936 Chevrolet coupes.

           A two-time (1963 & 1964) champion at Vineland where he won 26 features to hold third place on the track’s all-time victory list, Dallenbach also raced in Speedweeks Modified-Sportsman events at Daytona International Speedway.  And he won a major race in House’s No. 63 Lincoln-powered 1953 Studebaker at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1962. 

           Although primarily an asphalt Modified driver, “Wally D.” finished third in the 1963 Langhorne National Open on the old one-mile Pennsylvania dirt circle in Barney’s No. 14 coupe which had been converted to a dirt-track setup.  And he competed on an infrequent basis at such dirt-track Modified hot spots as the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York, and at the old Reading Fairgrounds and the old Nazareth Raceway in Pennsylvania.     

           Dallenbach left the Modifieds in the mid-1960s and raced ARDC Midgets and URC Sprint Cars for fellow EMPA Hall of Fame member Ken Brenn Sr. and he got his first USAC Championship Car ride in 1965 at Langhorne in an Offy Roadster owned by Mel Nelson that began his 180-race National Championship career (1965-1979).

           At Indianapolis, Dallenbach quickly showed his abilities and he was always fast there.  In 1974, he qualified in the middle of the front row (189.683 mph) with his red No. 40 Patrick Racing STP Oil Treatment entry.  And in 1975 he and fellow EMPA Hall of Famer A.J. Foyt dueled for the lead for many laps but his race ended on lap 162 when the turbo-charged 4-cylinder Drake-Goosen-Sparks engine in his red No. 40 Patrick Racing Sinmast Wildcat blew a piston after he paced the field for 96 circuits.

           In all, Dallenbach had three Top-5 finishes at Indianapolis (4th in 1976 & 1977; 5th in 1978) and led 108 laps at the Speedway.  And he triumphed in the 1973 Milwaukee 200, the 1973 Ontario 100, the 1973 Ontario 500, the 1975 Ontario 100 and the 1977 Trentonian 200.

           Dallenbach also competed in several major USAC and NASCAR Stock Car races and was sixth in the 1962 Daytona 500 while driving House’s 1961 Ford.

           Upon his retirement from driving, the long-time resident of Basalt, Colorado, joined Championship Auto Racing Teams as Competition Director in 1980.  In 1981 he became CART’s Chief Steward and held that post until he retired from it in 2004.