Dale Whittington

Dale Whittington
Dale Whittington
Born	Dale Lindsey Whittington; 23 September 1959; Farmington, New Mexico, United States
Died	14 June 2003 (aged 43); Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Nationality	American
Relatives	Don Whittington (brother); Bill Whittington (brother)
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1980 – 1981
Teams	Whittington Bros. Racing; Joest Racing
Best finish	37th (1980)
Class wins	0

Dale Lindsey Whittington (September 23, 1959 – June 14, 2003), was an American racing driver. Born in Farmington, New Mexico, he was the youngest of four sons born to 1950s race car owner Dick Whittington.^[1] Dale Whittington had 3 sons: R.D Whittington, Dale Lindsey Whittington Jr, Blake Whittington. Dale Whittington has one grandson Dale Whittington III. Whittington was not married at the time of his death.

Indy 500

Despite having little oval experience,^[1] Whittington entered the 1982 Indianapolis 500, joining his brothers Bill and Don to become the only trio of siblings to qualify for the same race at Indy. He qualified 23rd, on the eighth row.^[1]

On race day, he found himself caught up in the infamous Kevin Cogan crash. During the final pace lap, just before the green flag was to drop on the frontstretch, Kevin Cogan struck A. J. Foyt, and then Mario Andretti. As the field checked up to avoid the carnage, Whittington locked his brakes and spun into Roger Mears, a driver in the sixth row. All four drivers were eliminated from the race.^[1] Dale was out of the race having never taken the green flag, and never again managed to qualify at Indy.

Later years

Whittington was not involved with the 1980s IMSA Camel GT drug smuggling scandal which involved his brothers (Bill and Don) as well as Randy Lanier, John Paul Sr., and John Paul Jr. Both of his brothers received prison time.^{[citation needed]}

Whittington transitioned to endurance racing, competing in the ALMS series, as well as competing at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1999 and 2000. He competed in Grand-Am in 2001 often racing with his brother, Don.

Whittington was a developer responsible for developing Tampa Bay Golf and Tennis and later worked at World Jet owned by his brother Don at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE). He died on June 14, 2003.^[2] He was found dead by his oldest son.

Motorsports career results

American Open Wheel racing results

(key)

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pos	Points
1979		TEX1	IRP	MIL1	POC	TEX2 6	MIL2 12	MIN1 3	MIN2 21	14th	233

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Entrant
1982	March Engineering	Cosworth DFX	23	33	Whittington Bros. Racing

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

(key)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1980	Whittington Bros. Racing	Don Whittington Hurley Haywood	Porsche 935	IMSA	151	37th	11th
1981	Joest Racing	Reinhold Joest Klaus Niedzwiedz	Porsche 908	S+2.0	60	39th	10th

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d HistoricRacing.com: Dale Whittington profile
^ "Dale Whittington Obituary (2003) - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Sun-Sentinel". legacy.com. 18 June 2003. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.

External links

Dale Whittington driver statistics at Racing-Reference

This biographical article related to United States auto racing is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[histdale-1] HistoricRacing.com: Dale Whittington profile

[2] "Dale Whittington Obituary (2003) - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Sun-Sentinel". legacy.com. 18 June 2003. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.

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