Coyne says small teams can still thrive

Justin Wilson's win on Sunday was the first for Dale Coyne Racing in 25 years of Champ Car and IndyCar competition, and was the first time since Wilson's victory for Newman/Haas/Lanigan in Detroit last September that a team other than Penske or Ganassi had won a race.

The dominance of a small number of big teams - despite the fact that the whole field uses the same Dallara-Honda package - in recent years has been seen as a weak point for the IndyCar Series. But Coyne said Watkins Glen showed that Penske and Ganassi can be beaten even by low-budget teams.

"That's what's good about the sport is that a team with our resources and our budget can win a race," he said. "Everybody thinks that the top two teams are going to win every race. But I think it shows for this series to be strong we need more teams here.

"We need not to have to subsidise teams and we need all those things to happen in this economy to make this series work and grow.

"I think us winning a race and any other team that can win a race helps to show that. A lot of teams from Grand Am, wherever they might be from, I think they can come here, get the pieces they need, the drivers they need and do the job. And I think that's very good for the sport."

Coyne's outfit has long been an underdog operation and had to cut down to a handful of Champ Car appearances per season when it ran low on funding in the early 2000s. But it returned to being a full season regular in 2003 and was challenging for wins and podiums with Bruno Junqueira in Champ Car's final season.

This year Coyne scaled back to a single car, recruited Wilson after the Briton lost his Newman/Haas/Lanigan drive, and added respected ex-Ganassi engineer Bill Pappas to his line-up.

"You have a passion for this and you love it, and you keep fighting and going forward," Coyne said. "When we have lean years or bad years and don't have a sponsor, it just makes you try harder, and I think that's paid off. The last few years we've tried to do a better job with what we've put together.

"This year, Justin became available. Some higher-quality engineering staff became available. And the wife and I talked about it. It was a financial commitment to do it, but we did it and said we're going to make this thing work. So we worked hard to pull all the pieces together, but that's because we have a passion for the sport."

While Wilson has been a frontrunner on every road and street course this year, the team has yet to show similar form on ovals. But Wilson believes it is only a matter of time before he can win on any track.

"The only thing that's going to taste sweeter than this win is our first win on an oval," he said. "And that's what we'll work towards and we'll get there."