Airton Daré (born 9 February 1978 in
Bauru
Bauru () is a Brazilian municipality in midwestern region of the state of São Paulo. It is the main city of the mesoregion and microregion of Bauru. The population is 379,297 (2020 est.) in an area of 667.68 km². Established in 189 ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
) is a Brazilian race car driver who has competed 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 o ...
. Daré began his racing career in
jet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...
racing in 1990. He won six Brazilian championships, one South American championship and came fourth in the world championship. In 1995, he switched to motorsports, participating in Brazilian Formula Fiat. In 1997, he competed in the
Indy Lights
Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progra ...
and during three years in this category, he managed one victory in Detroit in 1998 and one in
Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
in 1999, and his best championship result was a sixth place in 1998. He made his first IRL start in 2000 and was a long-time driver for
A. J. Foyt Enterprises. Airton has a single IRL race win which he captured for Foyt in 2002 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 20 ...
. He was also the 2000 IRL Rookie of the Year. Dare has five starts in 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 ...
with a best finish of 8th in
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...
.
His best IRL points finish is 9th in 2002. He drove in the
2006 Indianapolis 500 for
Sam Schmidt Motorsports
The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren (competing as Arrow McLaren due to sponsorship) is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. After a series of partnerships and name ch ...
, finishing in 18th position.
He also races
stock cars and motocross in his native Brazil.
Racing record
American open-wheel racing results
(
key)
IndyCar Series
Indianapolis 500 results
References
The Greatest 33 Profile
1978 births
Living people
People from Bauru
Brazilian racing drivers
IndyCar Series drivers
Brazilian IndyCar Series drivers
Indianapolis 500 drivers
Indy Lights drivers
Stock Car Brasil drivers
Sportspeople from São Paulo (state)
{{Brazil-autoracing-bio-stub
Arrow McLaren SP drivers
A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers