Doug Shierson Racing is a former racing team that competed in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed ...

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive event ...

Series from 1982 to 1990. The team was sponsored by

Domino's Pizza Domino's Pizza, Inc., trading as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware domiciled and headquartered at the Domino's Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor ...

for its entire run in CART. Shierson Racing's biggest victory came at the

1990 Indianapolis 500 The 74th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 27, 1990. Dutchman Arie Luyendyk took the lead with 32 laps to go, and earned his first-ever victory in championship-level competition. It ...

, with driver

Arie Luyendyk Arie Luijendijk (anglicised as Arie Luyendyk; born 21 September 1953), nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman," is a Dutch former auto racing driver, and winner of the 1990 and 1997 Indianapolis 500 races. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Sp ...

. The team finished runner-up in the

championship in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

with driver Al Unser Jr. losing the title by one point.

Early years

Shierson was instrumental in the development of the

Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club o ...

series in the late 1970s, winning the championship with

Howdy Holmes Howdy Holmes (born December 14, 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a former racing driver in the CART Championship Car series. He began racing in the early 1970s and was based in Stockbridge, Michigan, about southeast from downtown Lansing and n ...

in 1978 and Jacques Villeneuve the Elder in 1980 and 1981.

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal (born January 10, 1953) is an American former auto racing driver and team owner. As a driver he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. He also won the 2004 a ...

drove for the team in 1976 and suffered a season fraught with difficulties and he considered leaving the sport, on Shierson's urging Rahal decided to stay with the series in 1977 and eventually had a tremendously successful racing career.Mittman, Dick
1990 Indy 500-Winning Team Owner Shierson Dies At 62
, Indy500.com, May 28, 2004 The team was also active in

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars tha ...

CART years

1982-1983

Shierson racing moved up to CART with

in 1982. Holmes drove the team's car to 10th at 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 ...

and 13th in points. The best finish was a 4th place at

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. Holmes repeated his 13th-place points finish and finished 6th at Indy the following year.

1984

Danny Sullivan Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Champions ...

replaced Holmes in 1984 and brought the team its first three CART wins at

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

, the Pocono 500, and

Sanair Sanair Super Speedway is a motorsports park with a 0.826-mile (1.33 km) paved triangular oval race track, a quarter-mile dragstrip, a 1/3-mile oval, as well as a 0.12-mile mini-oval and 0.15-mile karting course. It also formerly had a -mile r ...

on his way to 4th place in points. The team experimented with its own DSR-1 chassis that was designed by Ian Reed of

March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better success in other categories ...

and built by laid off

Williams F1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Head ...

fabricators. It was abandoned by Indianapolis when it was clearly off the pace and the team returned to

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...

equipment. Sullivan was hired away by perennial superpower

Penske Racing Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organizati ...

following his successful 1984 season.

1985-1987

Initially, Shierson signed John Paul Jr.; however, Paul would be jailed for racketeering in a case involving his father. After attempting to hire Al Unser Sr., Shierson instead secured the services of Al Unser Jr., who would come into his own as a driver during his stint with the team. In 1985, Al Unser Jr. won back to back mid-season races at the Meadowlands and

. He was leading the race at

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Ch ...

, when it started to rain. But before he could get to the pits for rain tires, he spun out suffering a fractured ankle. He rebounded to score six top-four finishes over the last seven races, and put himself in position to win the championship. Al Jr. famously lost the championship title by only one point. He effectively lost the championship in the waning laps of the final race of the season ( Tamiami Park), when his father Al Unser Sr. finished just high enough to clinch enough points to mathematically secure the title. The team fared strongly again in 1986 with Unser finishing 4th in points and winning the final race of the season. In 1987 Unser improved to 3rd place in points but did not win any races. At year's end Unser elected to return to

Galles Racing Galles Racing is a former auto racing team owned by Rick Galles that competed in the CART series, Can-Am and the Indy Racing League. The team won the 1990 CART championship as well as the 1992 Indianapolis 500 with driver Al Unser Jr. The team ...

who had the new

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

Ilmor Ilmor is a British independent high-performance motor racing engineering company. It was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan in November 1983. With manufacturing based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, and maintenance offices in Plymouth, M ...

engine which would go on to dominate Indy cars over the next several seasons. Unser Jr. achieved top five finishes at the Indianapolis 500 for the team in 1986 (5th) and 1987 (4th).

1988-1989

Shierson replaced Unser with Raul Boesel. Boesel failed to win and only managed 8th and 11th in points in his two years with the team. The team was hampered by the use of the underpowered

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream Automotive industry, ...

and Judd engines. The highlight of the season, however, was a surprising third place at the 1989 Indianapolis 500.

1990

For 1990 the team put veteran journeyman

in the Domino's car for which it had secured Chevy-Ilmor power and expanded to a second car for Scott Goodyear running year-old equipment with Judd power. Luyendyk, who had never won a CART race before, shocked the establishment by winning the

from 3rd on the grid in what was the fastest "500" in history. Midway through the 1990 season, Shierson sold 50% of the stake in the team to businessman Bob Tezak, owner of International Games (makers of UNO). Longtime sponsor

was facing legal issues stemming from their " 30 minutes or it's free" delivery guarantee. During the history of the team sponsorship, the Shierson entries traditionally carried the number 30, as a gesture to the "30-minutes or free" delivery policy. Some delivery drivers were reportedly breaking traffic laws and

speeding Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

to fulfill the guarantee. Such an instance caused a fatal traffic accident, and company officials deemed sponsoring a race car inappropriate given the circumstances. Luyendyk rode a wave of positive attention and newfound popularity to an 8th-place finish in the 1990 CART points standings. However, he did not manage to win another race, and Indy was in fact the only top 3 result of the season. He had two 4th-place finishes, at the Meadowlands, and the exhibition Marlboro Challenge at

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 ...

End of team

Facing sponsorship uncertainty, and deciding that he had accomplished his goals in the sport, Shierson eventually sold the entire team outright to Tezak in January 1991. Tezak took over the team in a joint effort with Vince Granatelli (merging with Granatelli's team, Vince Granatelli Racing), and re-booted the team as UNO/Granatelli Racing. The car's livery was changed to the classic day-glow orange utilized by Granatelli entries over the years, and Luyendyk's services were retained for 1991. Granatelli assumed day-to-day operations with Tezak fulfilling sponsorship and funding. The UNO/Granatelli team suffered thoroughly from a lack of sponsorship money, which caused friction as the season endured.

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

sponsored the car at Indy, but for most of the other races, the car had blank sidepods. Driver

managed to win two races; Phoenix and

. He finished 3rd at the

Indy 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 Indianap ...

, and 2nd at the

Michigan 500 The Firestone Indy 400 was an IndyCar Series race held at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event was most recently held in 2007. From 1981 to 2001, the event was better-known as the Michigan 500, and was held in high pre ...

. A second team car at Indy for Al Unser Sr. was discussed, but ultimately the arrangement fell through. The team nearly folded in June/July when Tezak announced he was out of money, and pulled his support. In early August, Granatelli battled a restraining order from Tezak and Total Petroleum, which prevented them from taking to the track at the Michigan 500 for practice and qualifying. The order was lifted, and Luyendyk nearly won the race, finishing a close second to

Rick Mears Rick Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951) is a retired American race car driver. He is one of four men to win the Indianapolis 500 four times (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) and is the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six (197 ...

. Despite two wins and a 6th-place finish in points for 1991, the re-booted team closed its doors permanently at the conclusion of the 1991 season. Doug Shierson died May 26, 2004 of cancer.

Drivers in CART

Doug Shierson Racing

(1982-1983) *

(1984) * Al Unser Jr. (1985-1987) * Raul Boesel (1988-1989) *

(1990 - primary) * Scott Goodyear (1990 - secondary)

UNO/Grantelli Racing

(1991)

Race Results

CART IndyCar Series results

( key)

IndyCar wins

* Note: this does not include two wins achieved in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

as UNO/Granatelli Racing

References

{{Champ Car teams 1990 disestablishments in the United States American auto racing teams Champ Car teams 1982 establishments in the United States Atlantic Championship teams