Dale Whittington

The Porsche 935 with Dale Whittington second overall at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1983 reached

Dale Whittington (born September 23, 1959 in Orlando , † June 14, 2003 in Fort Lauderdale ) was an American racing driver and the brother of Bill and Don Whittington .

Career

Dale Whittington was the youngest of the three Whittington brothers and, like these two, came into conflict with the law over and over again during his career over drug problems. He began his career in American sports car racing and made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1980 as a partner to his brother Don and fellow countryman Hurley Haywood . The trio retired early due to a defect in the power transmission of the Porsche 935 .

Without much monoposto experience and without ever having contested an oval race , he qualified in 1982 in 23rd place for the Indianapolis 500 mile race . Since his two brothers also competed in this race, the three Whittington brothers are the only sibling trio that has ever competed in an Indy race. There was already a collision between Kevin Cogan and Mario Andretti in the early stages of the race . While the entire field was trying to avoid the wreckage, Whittington tried to overtake Rick Mears and collided with the four-time Indy winner in the process.

Even then, rumors were circulating in the paddock that the Whittingtons would finance their racing activities through dark drug deals. After the race, there was an argument between Mario Andretti and the Whittingtons. Andretti wanted her drug deals - they also supplied marijuana drivers - to be blown if Dale continued to race Indy. He then withdrew from monoposto sport.

As early as 1980, the brothers were involved in a drug story - the IMSA drug scandal. However, Dale is the only one of the three brothers who was never sentenced to prison. He drove sports car races until the late 1990s and competed several times in the Sebring 12 Hours, the Daytona 24 Hours and the American Le Mans Series .

Dale Whittington, who was also involved in his brother Don's airline, died on June 14, 2003 at his Fort Lauderdale home. His son found him dead there. The autopsy revealed that he had died of a drug overdose.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1980	Whittington Brothers Racing	Porsche 935 K3	Don Whittington	Hurley Haywood	failure	Power transmission
1981	Joest Racing	Porsche 908/80	Reinhold Joest	Klaus Niedzwiedz	failure	accident

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1979	Whittington Bros. Racing	Porsche 934	Milt Minter	Don Whittington	failure	suspension
1980	Whittington Brothers Racing	Porsche 935K3	Bill Whittington	Don Whittington	Rank 3
1981	Whittington Brothers Racing	Porsche 935K3	Bill Whittington	Don Whittington	failure	Engine failure
1982	T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 935K3	Preston Henn	Randy Lanier	failure	Oil system
1983	Bob Akin Motor Racing	Porsche 935K3 / 80	Bob Akin	John O'Steen	Rank 2 and class win
1999	Whittington Brothers	Riley & Scott Mk III	Hurley Haywood	Don Whittington	failure	Ignition damage
2000	Intersport Racing	Lola B98 / 10	Jon Field	Don Whittington	Rank 21

Web links

Commons : Dale Whittington  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dale Whittington at Racing Sports Cars