Dennis Reinbold, whose racing team competed in IndyCar and the Indy 500 for 25 years, dies at 65

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Dennis Reinbold, whose Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team fielded cars in the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar for more than 25 years. has died. He was 65.

Reinbold died Saturday, surrounded by his family, his racing team and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway said in statements Sunday. No additional information was released.

The Indianapolis-based DRR team’s best finish in the Indy 500 was a fourth in 2012. The team was in contention with 31 laps remaining in 2025 before 2012 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay ran out of fuel. The team led the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in four of the last six races, and all 53 cars the team entered in the race had qualified in starting fields. Last month, the DRR's two entrants finished 12th and 22nd.

“We are heartbroken to share the news that our owner, leader, and friend, Dennis Reinbold, has passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family,” the DRR team said. “He built a successful family of automobile dealerships across the state, and he loved the community of Indianapolis that gave him so much in return. That same devotion fueled his passion for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — its history and the relentless pursuit of an Indy 500 win drove him every day. We can think of no better way to honor Dennis than to chase a victory in the 111th Running of the Indianapolis 500.”

Reinbold started DRR in 1999 and the team name was a nod to his family’s racing heritage. His grandfather, Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, was a motorcycle racer who went on to be a crew member and chief mechanic on the Duesenberg driven by Benny Shoaff and Babe Stapp at Indianapolis in 1927.

The Dreyer & Reinbold team started racing full time in the IndyCar series in 2000 and, with Robbie Buhl driving, won the season-opening race at Walt Disney World. That remains the team’s only victory in the series, along with two second-place finishes in 2010 and four thirds between 2001-2012, when it last ran full time in the series.

Dreyer & Reinbold ran just five series races in 2013 before focusing solely on the Indy 500 from 2014 to last month’s race. The team did run four IndyCar races in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Two-time Indy champion Al Unser Jr, and fellow Indianapolic 500 winners Buddy Lazier, (1996), Buddy Rice (2004), and Simon Pagenaud (2019) all raced for DRR, as well as JR Hildebrand, Townsend Bell, Conor Daly and IndyCar series champion Paul Tracy.

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