Dan Drinan (born July 4, 1960) is an American

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

driver from

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

who failed on three separate attempts to qualify for the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

. His first attempt came in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, the first year that the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

sanctioned the race. Drinan crashed his 1991

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chassis, the oldest chassis entered as a potential qualifier, during practice although it is unlikely that his outdated chassis and

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

engine could have produced the speed necessary to make the field. Drinan bruised his lung and fractured his foot in the crash.1996 Indianapolis 500 Daily Trackside Report - Day 15
The Auto Channel, May 18, 1996 He returned in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and his Mann Motorsports

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created "D ...

again failed to find the necessary speed to make the field. His final attempt was in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, when he was given an outdated Dallara and a small crew by

Hemelgarn Racing Hemelgarn Racing is an American auto racing team owned by Ron Hemelgarn. The team debuted in 1985, and competed in the CART and Indy Racing League ranks until the team originally shut down in 2010. The team returned to competition in 2015, and cur ...

, but the car never handled properly and Drinan again crashed during practice, preventing him from qualifying. Drinan has continued to be a top level competitor in USAC sprint car and midget racing. After leaving the IWX team through force, he now is supporting his young son in his own racing program Danny Drinan Jr who has promising potential for the future to come. In 2013-2016, Drinan and his son competed in USAC & QMA quarter midget competition in a creation out of Drinan's shop called the "F1 Shark" and had great success, winning a number of races. His son then moved on to run 600CC micro sprints after that.

IRL IndyCar Series

References

1960 births Living people Racing drivers from Indianapolis USAC Silver Crown Series drivers {{US-autoracing-bio-stub