While walking through the paddock at a Champ Car event in 2004 I spotted Derrick Walker sitting next to Mario Haberfeld’s Reynard working on his cell phone. He wasn’t working as in fixing his cell phone; he was working as in running his team.
Walker got more accomplished in that one phone call then your average teenager can hope to accomplish with in a year of cellular service.
Walker is a racer whose business is racing, not a businessman who races.
Following the 2003 and 2004 season, which had Walker Racing owning and fielding the Reynard chassis on an extremely limited budget, they joined forces with Craig Gore and transformed the team into Team Australia.
In the years that followed, Walker commented on the challenges he faced after loosing sponsors that were tied to his drivers and backed by engine manufactures who left the Champ Car series.
Everything was looking good between 2005 and 2007 as the team not only found stability, but also regained their winning form.
Walker was one of the first Champ Car team owners to publicly embrace the IRL/Champ Car merger. The team has been hard at work preparing for the 2008 season, that was until Friday when he informed his team that the doors were closing on their IRL operation due to insufficient funding.
After the completion of the first day of Atlantic Spring Training, Walker Racing finished 7th and 8th out of 18 cars with Kevin Lacroix and Greg Mansell respectively.
Walker Racing is a pure open wheel organization. Unlike teams like Penske and Ganassi who have the financial ability to expand into sports cars and stock cars, or Fernandez Racing who has moved on to sports cars.
In a strange twist of fate, Walker Racing received a Dalarra chassis from Fernandez Racing in preparation for the 2008 IRL season.
With testing for the former Champ Car, now IRL teams around the corner and several drivers yet to be confirmed, it could be a bring a checkbook and you have ride operation.
The Atlantic Series and a possible Indy run may be the majority of race action Walker Racing sees this year.
Walker was Danny Sullivan’s crew chief in 1985 which included the now famous Spin and Win at Indy. In 1995, Robby Gordon was leading in the closing stages when he pitted for what he thought was a tire going down.
More recently, Walker filled the roll of engineer in 2004 setting up the car with then driver Alex Tagliani and has continued to be hands on owner.
A free chassis and engine deal along with the Leaders Circle Program of $1.2 million for each car a team fields is a great start, but without a primary sponsor or “Forsythe Deep Pockets” a team won’t make it through the 2008 season.
With Paul Tracy on the market and Walker Racing’s well seasoned crew and engineering experience, I wonder how serious Monster Energy Drink is about trying do dethone king Red Bull.
The open seat at Walker Racing is the opportunity for Monster to start a serious assault on the open wheel world, if they can see what the team has to offer.
