Donnie Beechler (born May 18, 1961), is a former driver in 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 ...

. He was born in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

. Beechler raced in the 1998–2001 seasons with 36 career starts, including 4

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 ...

showings. His best career finish was 3rd, achieved twice, at the 2000 IRL Phoenix 200 won by

Buddy Lazier Robert Buddy Lazier (born October 31, 1967) is an American auto racing driver, best known for winning the 1996 Indianapolis 500 and the 2000 Indy Racing League season championship. Lazier began his career in the 1980s by competing in such s ...

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

and the 2001 300-mile race won by Eddie Cheever, Jr. at

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...

. Beechler won the 9th Annual Chili Bowl Nationals in 1995. Since leaving IndyCars he has returned to the USAC Silver Crown Series on a part-time basis. Also was an avid roller skater competing in several Illinois State Speed Meets.

Racing record

American Open Wheel

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

IndyCar results

: ''¹ The 1999

VisionAire 500K The VisionAire 500K was an Indy Racing League race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1997 to 1999. During the 1999 event, three spectators were killed when debris from a crash on the track went into the grandstands. The race was stopped and c ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities.''

Indy 500 results

External links

Donnie Beechler
at ChampCarStats.com
Donnie Beechler bio
at Driver Database 1961 births Living people Indianapolis 500 drivers IndyCar Series drivers Sportspeople from Springfield, Illinois Racing drivers from Illinois USAC Silver Crown Series drivers {{US-autoracing-bio-stub A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers