Chuck Dingley

Birmingham, Alabama, USA

**Chuck Dingley** is an American racing driver, motorsport commentator and pundit. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time, Dingley has the most Drivers' World Championships (6) in Formula One history, and holds the third highest number of Grand Prix victories. Due to his dominance across racing, he has self-styled himself as "The King of Racing."

Following his sixth championship in the 1988 Formula One Season, Dingley left F1 and returned to America to compete in CART and attempted to complete the infamous Triple Crown, completing the feat after winning the 1999 Indianapolis 500. He created his own Formula One team and owned the Dingley GP team in until it was bought over and became Porsche for 2006. Dingley continued to compete in motorsport, albeit on a part-time NASCAR schedule, until 2010, when he announced his retirement from racing to pursue other projects. He is a regular commentator and pundit for Fox Sports for their racing coverage.

Despite his widespread success in the motorsports world, his overall legacy is controversial. He has been widely criticised due to his abrasive personality, aggressive style of racing, promotion of conspiracy theories, and his support of right-wing political groups in the USA.

Dingley was inducted into the 1991 Class of the Motorsports Hall of Fame, alongside Maria Parker.

## Early Life

Chuck Dingley was born on 27th April 1952 to Joe and Barbara Dingley in the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. A majority of Dingley's childhood was spent working on the family farm, along with his 4 older brothers. Dingley developed an interest in cars at a young age, often working with his father on the family's 1960 Ford F-100.

At the age of 18, Dingley left the family farm and moved into an apartment with his childhood friend Bud Johnson. The two shared a love for cars, and ended up working together to tune Dingley's street car to partake in local dirt track races across Alabama.

Dingley struggled on dirt after only ever taking part in local street races, but a breakthrough win at the North Alabama Speedway meant that Dingley was able to save enough money to afford a seat for the 1972 Alabama 500. Dingley's Ford Torino was underpowered compared to the dominant Pontiacs and Dodges, but thanks to attrition he was able to finish in seventh place, while the next closest Torino barely finished within the top 20.

The result caught the attention of Parnelli Jones, who was attending the race with his wife Judy. Jones owned a USAC team, Parnelli Jones Racing, and their star driver Ed Young had just announced that he was retiring at the end of the season. Eager to secure a replacement for Young, Jones offered the young Dingley a private test in one of their USAC cars at Michigan International Speedway. Dingley was able to get up to speed quickly, almost matching the times that Young had set in qualifying for the USAC race earlier that year. This impressed Jones enough that he offered Chuck a contract to drive in the USAC Championship for Parnelli Jones Racing in 1973 shortly after the test.

## Early Racing Career

Dingley found early success in USAC, winning at Michigan and Pocono in his debut season. Dingley often found himself near the front of the field but multiple mistakes throughout the season meant that he was only able to finish in the top 10 in 5 of the season's 11 races. Even though he had an extremely inconsistent season, Dingley's two wins was enough for him to earn Rookie of the Year honors and finish 6th in the standings. Looking to build off of his rookie campaign, Dingley struggled throughout the 1974 season. Unreliability for his Parnelli Jones car meant he was only able to finish 6 of the 14 races and took 13th in the standings with no victories, while Penske's Aaron Brooks took the championship.

Dingley saw an upturn in fortunes for the 1975 season, finishing 12 of the 14 races and scoring 3 victories, which was enough to finish 2nd in the standings. Following his runner up result, Dingley's contract with Parnelli Jones Racing was extended for a further two seasons.

Dingley built off of his 1975 successes and won back-to-back USAC championships in 1976 and 1977, winning 15 of the 28 races ran, many of which were on road courses. Dingley's USAC success was enough to send him into the international spotlight, and the Tyrrell Formula One team decided to give him a test in their 1977-spec 007. Dingley impressed team owner Ken Tyrrell in the test, and shortly after signed a single race contract with the team for the 1978 South African GP after the team were only able to run a single car at the previous round in Buenos Aires.

## Formula One

### **Tyrrell (1978 - 1979)**

#### **1978**

After signing a single race deal to drive for Tyrrell at Kyalami, Dingley managed to qualify in second position behind four-time champion Stefan Van Damme. Being unexperienced with the Tyrrell 008 however lead to a collision with Gervais Trémaux at the end of the first lap, misjudging his blind spot and cutting off the Wolf reserve. After the incident, Dingley was mired in traffic and ended up crashing out at the end of lap 10. Ken Tyrrell, however, was impressed enough by Dingley's pace compared to teammate Dale Ballweg to offer him a contract for the remainder of the 1978 season. After getting more accustomed to the car following a private test at Watkins Glen, Dingley managed his first podium on home soil at Long Beach, and went on to win the following race at Monaco, leading every lap en-route to his first Formula One victory. Dingley won the next race in San Marino, achieving the first Grand Slam of his career in the process.

For unknown reasons, Dingley missed the following round in France, and after breaking two ribs in an incident at Brands Hatch and finishing 3rd, it was questioned if Dingley would be able to maintain the pressure on title favourite Stefan Van Damme. Dingley pushed through the pain from his injuries and went on to win at Hockenheim over Van Damme thanks to an alternate tyre strategy.

After Dingley's ribs had time to fully heal, he went on to win at Austria and Monza, with title rival Van Damme finishing outside of the points on both occasions, crashing out of 2nd at Monza attempting to chase down Dingley's Tyrrell. Dingley would be arrested after the Austrian Grand Prix after punching a police officer in an event that would later become known as "The Vienna Incident."

Entering the penultimate race at Watkins Glen with a six point lead due to Van Damme's run of poor results, Dingley could clinch the 1978 Drivers' Championship if he won and Van Damme finished no higher than 5th. Dingley started on pole and had a fierce battle with Vivaldo Margheriti and Van Damme for the first four laps of the race until he broke away as the Williams and Lotus driver started battling one another. On lap 11 Margheriti and Van Damme came together, spinning and damaging Van Damme which forced him to pit and put him outside of the points. Van Damme was never able to recover and only managed 7th while Dingley won for a fourth consecutive race, securing the title for the American in his rookie season.

Dingley went on to win the final round of the championship, the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix, which secured the Constructors' title for Tyrrell, and made Dingley the second driver to score seven wins in a single season, with the only other driver able to do so being Stefan Van Damme in 1975.

#### **1979**

Dingley entered the 1979 season on a high, expecting to continue his winning ways after winning the last five races in 1978, but was disappointed to see that Tyrrell had brought the same 008 Dingley had ran last season to the first race in Argentina. Dingley struggled to find pace throughout practice and qualifying and was only able to manage 9th. Massive setup changes in-between qualifying and the race helped Dingley as he recovered throughout the race to finish second to Nino Tempestini.

Tyrrell brought their updated 009 to the second round in South Africa, but were only able to make a single chassis due to the team's lack of funds. The chassis immediately proved to be a successful evolution of the 008, as Dingley qualified 3rd, six places higher than his effort in Argentina. Dingley shadowed polesitter Tempestini throughout the race until Tempestini made a small mistake out of the final corner on lap 15, which allowed Dingley to power past into the lead. Dingley maintained the lead until the checkered flag, and claimed his first victory of the season. The next race in Long Beach saw Dingley qualify 3rd again, but he was unable to challenge Vivaldo Margheriti's Williams throughout the race, finishing 2nd to him after jumping Vivaldo's teammate Stanley Robson during the pit-stops.

At Monaco Dingley qualified on pole position after an amazing lap, and was able to fend off the quicker Vivaldo throughout the race to win Formula One's crown jewel race for the second year in a row. The next race in San Marino was a step back for Dingley, as he had a quiet race and only managed 5th place. Dingley rebounded in Dijon, scoring his first grand slam of the season, winning by a margin of over ten seconds to Tempestini behind.

After drop weeks were applied, Dingley held a nine point advantage over Tempestini heading into the second half of the season, with Vivaldo Margheriti a further three points behind.

Dingley qualified 2nd in the next race at Silverstone, but was caught out by near monsoon conditions in the race, aquaplaning off the track at Stowe. Dingley wasn't able to recover the lost time and positions from the off, and ended up finishing outside of the points in 8th, which was his first time outside of the points since the first race of his career, the 1978 South African Grand Prix. Dingley rebounded to finish 2nd in the following race at Hockenheim, after Wolf driver Skylar West took a shock victory following a well timed switch to wet tyres in a dry to wet race.

Dingley saw his championship lead disappear in the following two rounds at Austria and Monza, as his main championship rival Tempestini scored back-to-back victories due in part to the new car Brabham introduced, which was nicknamed the "fan car." Dingley's team protested the cars legality prior to the race in Austria, but FIA officials deemed the design legal, and it wasn't until multiple other teams protested the legality post-race at Monza that Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone opted to revert to the BT48 for the final two races in order to maintain the stability of FOCA.

Due to Tempestini's back to back wins, Dingley entered the penultimate round of the championship at the Île Notre-Dame Circuit trailing Tempestini by a single point. Tempestini scored another pole position, this time in the BT48, while Dingley qualified 2nd. Both of their races would be short lived however, as Richard Jockey had an excellent start and sent his Ferrari down the inside of Tempestini into the Casino chicane, misjudging the braking zone and running wide into Tempestini, who was pushed into Dingley. All three were forced to retire due to terminal damage, meaning the championship would go to the final round of the season at Watkins Glen in front of Dingley's home crowd.

Both Dingley and Tempestini struggled for raw pace at Watkins Glen, but Dingley was able to qualify three positions higher than Tempestini, starting 4th compared to the Brabham driver's 7th. Neither driver would make much progress in the early stages of the race, but Dingley made an aggressive move on Vivaldo Margheriti on lap seven, forcing the Williams driver into the grass and promoting himself back into 4th after Vivaldo had passed him on the initial start. Meanwhile, Tyrrell teammate Jeremy Spocinklass was acting as a rear gunner for Dingley, aggressively defending against Tempestini. Eventually Tempestini found a way past, but by then it was too late for him to catch Dingley. Dingley crossed the line in 3rd while Tempestini finished 5th, both being promoted a position in the latter stages of the race due to Fabiano Margheriti struggling with his gearbox. With his 3rd place finish, Dingley secured the championship over Tempestini by a single point, becoming the first double World Champion from the United States.

### **McLaren (1980 - 1987)**

#### **1980**

Expectations were low for Dingley after switching to McLaren for 1980, as the team had failed to finish higher than 6th in the Constructors since fellow countryman Jesse Masters won the championship in 1974. Unbeknownst to the rest of the paddock, the McLaren team had installed a weight jacker from their 1979 IndyCar deep inside the spine of Dingley's M30, after the team discovered that the weight jacker significantly improved tyre wear over a race.

After a solid result at the opening round in Argentina, Dingley managed to win the following race in South Africa much to the shock of the rest of the grid. Dingley was stuck in 5th for the majority of the race, but at the end was much quicker than anyone else thanks to the weight jacker, carving his way through the field to win. Dingley disappointed at his home race in Long Beach, struggling with his M30's setup all weekend and finishing outside of the points in 11th.

At Monaco, Dingley took pole and romped off to win his third consecutive race at the Principality, tying the record set by Alexander Wilson for the most consecutive wins at Monaco. A first lap incident at San Marino with Stefan Van Damme saw Dingley finish outside of the points once again, but a run of three consecutive podiums while rivals Tempestini and Fabiano Margheriti floundered saw Chuck take a commanding lead in the championship.

Prior to the Austrian Grand Prix, Ferrari lodged a protest against McLaren, claiming that Dingley's M30 had an illegal suspension which was giving the team abnormally low tyre wear. While Ferrari were battling McLaren over the legality of their car off the track, Chuck was battling Fabiano on the track. On the penultimate lap, Dingley lunged up the inside of Fabiano at turn one and made contact with the Italian, breaking the Ferrari's rear suspension and heavily damaging his own front suspension. Dingley was able to limp to the finish in second, after Jurg Scheller overtook Dingley's limping McLaren on the final lap. Ferrari protested Dingley's podium shortly after the race, claiming that he should be disqualified for his incident with Fabiano.

Before the Italian Grand Prix, FIA officials announced that they had found nothing illegal in Dingley's McLaren after thoroughly investigating the aerodynamics and chassis dimensions, and also announced that Dingley's second place finish in the previous round was upheld. The race in Italy was a disaster for Dingley, after a poor qualifying left him 8th on the grid. Dingley slowly recovered to 5th, but an engine failure resulted in his first non-score since San Marino.

Dingley bounced back in Canada and claimed pole position, going on to win and locking up his third consecutive Drivers Championship after Fabiano's engine failed on lap 7 of the race.

#### **1981**

While the FIA were unable to find anything illegal on Dingley's McLaren during the 1980 season, a joint protest was lodged by Ferrari, Brabham, and Lotus shortly after the season-ending 1980 United States Grand Prix East, leading to another extensive teardown of Dingley's M30. FIA officials were able to find a weight jacker buried deep inside the spine of the M30's chassis and subsequently banned the device for the upcoming 1981 season, but didn't disqualify Dingley or McLaren from the 1980 championship as there was no rule banning the device at the time.

While McLaren were unable to run with the weight jacker on the brand new MP4/1, Dingley was able to take victory in two of the first three races of the season. The MP4/1 had been in development ever since Ron Dennis took over the team at the conclusion of the 1979 season, and was the first car in Formula One history to have a fully carbon fibre monocoque. While this made the MP4/1 significantly lighter than the rest of the competition, it also drastically improved the safety of the car in the result of a high speed crash. The grid quickly scrambled to copy McLaren's design, with a majority of the grid having carbon fibre monocoques of their own by the fifth round of the season in Monaco.

Dingley struggled to match the pace of Stefan Van Damme at the following two rounds in Detroit and Montreal, but gearbox failures at both races allowed Dingley to take a two point lead over Van Damme in the championship heading into the eighth round of the championship in Donington. Dingley struggled for grip in the wet conditions, and eventually retired after making contact with former teammate Jeremy Spocinklass while the two were battling for 6th late in the race. A podium next time out in Dijon served as a solid rebound, but Dingley was unable to challenge either of the Lotus cars in the race, settling for third over twenty seconds behind championship rival Van Damme, who won the race.

Dingley struggled at Germany and was only able to finish 5th while Van Damme took a fourth consecutive podium, extending his lead to 13 points heading into Austria, which meant that Dingley had to beat Van Damme in order to keep his championship hopes alive. Dingley qualified second behind Van Damme, but both drivers struggled with tyre wear on their softs and were forced to pit early, with Dingley opting to take hards to the end while Van Damme fitted another set of softs and planned an aggressive two-stop strategy. Dingley was unable to get temperature into his hard tyres and was only fourth at the checkered flag, while Van Damme finished second and locked up the championship. Another disappointing race followed in the season-ending Italian Grand Prix, as both McLarens floundered outside of the points before finishing 8th and 13th respectively.

#### **1982**

After finishing second to Stefan Van Damme in 1981, McLaren brought a heavily revised MP4/1, dubbed the MP4B to the opening round of 1982 in South Africa. The car immediately proved to be much quicker than it's predecessor, with Dingley qualifying on pole by almost half a second over Vivaldo Margheriti's Williams.

Dingley had the pace over Margheriti for the entirety of the race, growing a lead as large as 15 seconds, although differing strategies meant that in the closing laps, it was Vivaldo who lead over Dingley. Dingley caught Vivaldo on lap 32 and overtook him after a tense battle, going on to win his 16th Grand Prix. Dingley continued his strong start to the season in the second round of the season at Watkins Glen, scoring pole and beating Vivaldo by 16 seconds in the race.

Vivaldo fought back in San Marino, taking his first pole position of the season in front of what was effectively his home crowd. Dingley quickly challenged Vivaldo for his lead at the start, with the two going wheel-to-wheel from the main straight to the Acque Minerale chicane, where Dingley gained the advantage and overtook Vivaldo. The two swapped the lead almost every lap throughout the first stint, using the powerful slipstream on one another down the main straight. On lap 16, Dingley was held up by the lapped Tyrrell of Jurg Scheller, costing him over 3 seconds to race leader Vivaldo. Dingley turned up his turbo boost pressure to catch Vivaldo, and was able to catch and overtake the Williams at the start of lap 19, going on to win his third consecutive race and establish himself as a championship favourite.

Chuck was beaten to pole again by Vivaldo in Belgium, and on the first lap of the race outbroke himself into Les Combes, shuffling him behind the Ferrari duo of Stefan Van Damme and Fabiano Margheriti. On the following lap, Vivaldo and Van Damme collided in Blanchimont, sending Vivaldo off the track and into the tyre barriers, where his car immediately burst into flames. The incident promoted Dingley back to third, and following a battle with the Ferraris for the remainder of the first stint, Dingley found himself back in his starting position of second by the start of the pit cycle. Dingley appeared to be quicker than Van Damme after the stops, and on the start of lap 16 was able to overtake him into Les Combes around the outside. Van Damme attempted to re-overtake Dingley into Les Combes on the following lap, but ended up pushing Dingley off the track and into a spin. Van Damme went on to win, and following a protest from McLaren was given a 10 second penalty, which wasn't enough to drop him behind second-placed Dingley.

An uncharacteristic mistake at Monaco saw Dingley crash from the lead, and another mistake in Canada almost cost him another win, until Sid Donnelly ran out of fuel and gifted Dingley the win.

Dingley appeared to be back on form in Road America, taking pole by over a second and dominating the early stages of the race. A refueling issue at the pit-stop meant that Dingley was underfueled for the remainder of the race, and was forced to turn down his turbo and let Van Damme by in order to make it to the end of the race. After saving enough fuel to make it to the end of the race, Dingley quickly closed the gap to Van Damme and on the final lap attempted to pass the Belgian around the outside of turn two, where he was forced off the track and span again in an incident much like the duo's collision in Belgium. The spin dropped Dingley off the podium to 4th, while Van Damme went on to win despite picking up a penalty for the incident.

McLaren struggled for pace at the following round in Britain, but Dingley was gifted the lead after longtime race leader Fabiano had his gearbox temporarily seize on lap 13. Dingley attempted to hold off both of the Ferrari's in the closing laps of the race, but a severe vibration from an earlier lockup hindered his pace. Another lockup at the chicane on the final lap allowed title rival Van Damme past, with Fabiano also sneaking past the American in the final corner. The three finished within half a second at the line, one of the closest finishes in Formula One history.

Contact in the first corner with Alfa Romeo's Danilo Koren at Dijon saw Dingley tumble from 3rd on the grid to 21st on the first lap, but a sensational comeback drive to 2nd coupled with a Van Damme retirement thanks to contact with a slow car allowed Dingley to extend his points lead back to eight.

Dingley had a race long battle with championship longshot Fabiano Margheriti the following round in Germany, and entering the second Bremsschikane Fabiano went straight on after being squeezed to the grass by Dingley, losing multiple seconds and allowing Dingley to take his 5th victory of the season. Stewards ruled post-race ruled that Dingley left enough room, and no penalty was given out.

Entering the penultimate round of the season in Austria, Dingley entered with a 10 point lead over Van Damme after drop rounds were applied, meaning that in order to clinch the championship all the American had to do was finish ahead of the Belgian.

The two rivals qualified third and fourth respectively and were evenly matched throughout the first stint of the race, with Van Damme taking 3rd from Dingley when the American dipped a wheel into the grass going into the first chicane. An excellent pit-stop from Dingley's mechanics during the pit cycle vaulted him ahead of Van Damme, and the American's pace looked to be too much for Van Damme as he closed in on race leader Vivaldo Margheriti. Dingley made a decisive move on the Italian into the Bosch Kurve on lap 20, while Van Damme frantically attempted to overtake the Williams to no avail over the remainder of the race. Dingley won the race and clinched his fourth Drivers' Championship in five seasons.

During Friday practice for the season finale in Monza, the media announced that Dingley had signed a two year extension with McLaren, which would keep him racing for the team through 1984.

#### **1983**

Coming off of his fourth championship in 1982, Dingley endured his most difficult season to date, as an underpowered and unreliable TAG-Porsche engine coupled with an overweight MP4/1E resulted in five DNFs throughout the season and only two points scores in the first nine races of the season. An engine upgrade at Porsche's home race in Germany allowed Dingley to finish a close second to Danilo Koren, after an aggressive no stop strategy for both Koren and Dingley allowed them to jump long time race leader Skylar West.

Another podium the following race at Austria proved that Porsche had made a solid step with their engine, but a fiery engine failure from fourth at Monza showed that Porsche still needed to work on reliability. Dingley ended the season a disappointing 8th place in the Drivers', his worst result to date, and was winless in a season for the first time in his career.

#### **1984**

Dingley was much more competitive with his MP4/2 in 1984, but still lacked the pace to consistently challenge for wins and podiums. The MP4/2 was notoriously hard to set up, but when the team were able to get the car comfortable for their drivers, Dingley and teammate Santiago Reyes proved the car had the potential to be second quickest on the grid, only behind the dominant Renault.

Dingley showed the potential of the MP4/2 early, taking second place at the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix behind the Renault powered Lotus of Bruce Kerrigan after both Renaults hit issues in the race, with West retiring due to an engine failure and Weathers losing half a minute thanks to a botched pit-stop. Neither McLaren driver was able to get comfortable at the following race in South Africa and both finished outside of the points, with Dingley in 8th and Reyes a lowly 13th. A dry to wet race next time out in Belgium resulted in another podium for Dingley, as he went from fifth to second in the rain thanks to spins from Weathers and Fabiano Margheriti, as well as a daring overtake around the outside of Eau Rouge on the Tyrrell of Jurg Scheller.

While the two podiums in the opening three races left Dingley second in the championship behind Kerrigan, the best result for the American over the following eight races was sixth place, a result which he achieved four times over that span. At the season-ending Australian Grand Prix, Dingley appeared to have renewed confidence and was able to qualify second behind Brabham's Mick Ashcroft. An excellent start allowed Dingley to rocket past Ashcroft, and while Fabiano Margheriti challenged Dingley late, he was able to hold on for his first victory since the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix, ending a winless drought of over two years.

The win vaulted Dingley into a three-way tie for second in the championship with Ashcroft and Stefan Van Damme, but shortly after the race McLaren, Brabham, and Ferrari all protested the legality of the dominant Renault in the hopes that one of their drivers could inherit the championship. A month-long FIA investigation discovered that the team were hiding an auxiliary 15 litre fuel tank, which McLaren, Brabham, and Ferrari all argued was being used by Renault to subvert the 540kg minimum weight requirement. Renault were subsequently disqualified from the championship, and the points their drivers accrued through the season removed. After the points were re-allocated, Mick Ashcroft won the championship a point ahead of teammate Sid Donnelly, while Dingley lost out and was demoted to 3rd in the championship.

Shortly after the end of the season, it was confirmed that Dingley had signed another contract extension with McLaren through the 1988 season, making him the highest paid driver in Formula One history in the process. The contract was rumoured to be worth a staggering £5.2 million a season, which was more than he had earned from the 1983 and 1984 season combined.

#### **1985**

A reinvigorated Dingley entered the 1985 season hopeful to challenge for a record-equaling fifth Drivers Championship after a promising shakedown of his McLaren MP4/2B at Donington with new teammate Stefan Wolff solidified claims from Porsche that they had once again made a massive step with their 1.5L V6 turbo engine. After practice for the season-opening race in Brazil it was clear that Williams had also made a massive step with their engine partner Honda, as Dingley and Vivaldo Margheriti traded fastest laps. A crash in qualifying for Margheriti allowed to take pole position ahead of the younger Margheriti brother, Fabiano, but a slow start saw him drop to 3rd behind Fabiano and teammate Wolff. An early stop for Wolff on lap 10 dragged in Margheriti a lap later, while Dingley continued for a further five laps on his hard tyres, pitting at the end of lap 16 for a fresh set of mediums. Thanks to the tyre advantage from his later stop, Dingley was able to make a decisive move on Fabiano in the closing laps and go on to win, while the Margheriti brothers completed the podium.

A messy qualifying for the second round of the season in San Marino saw Dingley line up in fifth, but an excellent opening lap saw the American in third behind the Margheriti brothers at the end of lap two. Chuck methodically chased the brothers down, capitalising on a mistake from Vivaldo on lap 8 to take second, and then taking the lead away from Fabiano on lap 12. Fabiano retook the lead after overcutting Dingley by a lap and coming out of the pits directly behind the American, passing him with ease into *Tosa*. The two remained closely matched, until Chuck attempted to make a move on Fabiano into the first *Rivazza* on lap 24. Dingley misjudged where the younger Margheriti brother had placed his car, expecting him to stay right, and was forced to swerve onto the grass to avoid contact with the Italian. Dingley was able to slow down to around 80kph but still collided with Fabiano, forcing both of them to retire. Vivaldo Margheriti benefited from the incident, overtaking both en-route to victory. Dingley was critical of Margheriti after he race, insinuating that Fabiano had been swerving the entire race.

A dominant win on the streets of Monte Carlo followed by second in Canada brought Dingley back to the top of the championship, but all of that hard work was undone after a misjudged strategy at Dingley's home race in Road America relegated him to 7th, while Vivaldo went on to win, extending his championship lead to 10 points. The championship was flipped on it's head at Donington, when Vivaldo clipped the inside wall while entering the pit lane from second place, breaking his front left suspension and forcing him to retire. Dingley went on to win the race from Fabiano, who had led the majority of the race but opted for a two stop strategy in comparison to Dingley's one stop. Following the race, the top five drivers in the championship were separated by less than a race win, with anything to play for in the second half of the season. At Porsche's home race in Germany, Dingley finished second to Vivaldo after a scary crash in the opening stages of qualifying meant that he had to start from the back of the grid, while Wilson, Fabiano, and Wolff (3rd-5th in the standings) all retired from the race, essentially making it a two horse race between Dingley and the elder Margheriti brother.

Back-to-back podiums in Austria and Italy extended Dingley's advantage over Vivaldo to 11 points, but a lap one retirement in Belgium erased the lead Dingley had accrued, while victory for Vivaldo gave the Williams driver a four point lead with two races remaining. Dingley took a lights-to-flag victory in the penultimate race of the season at Kyalami over Vivaldo, leaving the two title protagonists separated by a single point heading into the final race of the season before the application of drop rounds at the Adelaide Street Circuit.

With the drop rounds calculated, Dingley held a five point lead over Margheriti, which meant that Dingley had to finish third or higher to take the championship if Vivaldo won the race. It was impossible to separate the two during qualifying, who spent the entire Saturday session trading fastest laps, until Dingley took pole position in the closing minutes by less than a tenth of a second. The two fought with one another tooth and nail throughout the opening stages of Sunday's Grand Prix, until a safety car was deployed for Dingley's teammate Stefan Wolff on lap 7, who crashed heavily at Brewery Corner and had to be airlifted to local hospital.

Following the safety car restart, Dingley was able to grow a lead over Vivaldo, after he was able to get his tires into a working window much quicker than the Williams. Pit-stops followed shortly after as the race reached it's halfway point, with Dingley maintaining his lead over Vivaldo, who was forced to fit the unpreferred hard tyres after his only set of mediums had been punctured in Friday's practice session. While Vivaldo fell even further back on the hard tyres, Dingley continued to extend his lead at the front and had one hand on the championship trophy barring a mechanical failure.

Tragedy struck though on lap 21, when Vivaldo lost control of his Williams at Brewery and had a heavy crash into the outside wall, passing away from his injuries en-route to the hospital. The red flag was displayed almost immediately in order to extract Vivaldo from the car and repair the barriers. After a short five minute red flag, the barrier had been hastily repaired and the race was restarted, with Dingley leading from Fabiano and the Brabham of Santiago Reyes. Dingley maintained the lead until his pace dropped suddenly in the closing laps due to an issue with his turbocharger, which allowed Fabiano to overtake him, while Dingley was still able to limp home and take second place and his fifth championship.

Dingley was not made aware of Vivaldo's passing until the Monday after the race, when the Margheriti family released a statement announcing his passing. Chuck was in shock at the passing of one of his closest rivals to this point of his career and made a vow to help improve the safety of the sport, after having previously publicly stated on multiple occasions that safety was a non-issue to him and that those who were concerned should "find another sport to participate in." Dingley was also in attendance at Vivaldo's funeral, as were much of the Formula One grid.

#### **1986**

McLaren and Dingley entered the 1986 season on the back foot due to the intense development race with Williams in 1985 in order to secure the Drivers and Constructors championships, which meant that McLaren were unable to make any major modifications to Dingley's championship-winning MP4/2B from the previous season, with the only upgrade to the car being a slightly improved TAG-Porsche engine. Dingley lacked the pace in his McLaren to challenge for race wins, but regularly finished on the rostrum throughout the season, taking seven podium finishes throughout the season, as well as a win in the season-ending Mexican Grand Prix, where Dingley held off the Williams-Honda of Danilo Koren in the closing laps.

#### **1987**

Both Williams and McLaren were expected to return to the front of the grid after their surges in performance at the end of 1986, and hopes were especially high for McLaren thanks to the return of Stefan Wolff, who had suffered severe leg injuries at the end of the 1985 season, at the same race that Vivaldo tragically passed away. The performance for McLaren, though, was a false dawn, as the team struggled in the early portions of the season, before scoring a double podium at Monaco. Dingley managed a home win in the United States two rounds later, but struggled to consistently extract the pace of the MP4/3, finishing in the lower realms of the points while teammate Wolff won back-to-back rounds in France and Germany. Dingley would only score one further podium after his win in America, a third place finish in the Italian Grand Prix, after failing to convert from pole position in a wet race. Ultimately Dingley finished fourth in the Drivers Championship, a single point ahead of his teammate.

The relationship between Dingley and team boss Ron Dennis, which had been souring over the last few seasons, hit rock bottom. Dingley had become agitated over the lack of performance shown by his McLaren team over the last two years, and with no upturn in results seen on the horizon, began seeking a way out of his McLaren contract, which ran through the conclusion of the 1988 season. Little did Dingley know, team boss Ron Dennis was also looking for a replacement for Chuck, having been in contact with 1986 champion Fabiano Margheriti. Ultimately this worked out for both drivers, with Dingley striking a deal for a single-year at the Scuderia, albeit at a much lower salary than his record-breaking McLaren deal, and Fabiano being announced for McLaren a mere few days later.

## Reformation

Dingley struggled with the media in the early stages of his career, most notably telling a reporter that he was looking forwards to *"more action"* with his cousin shortly after winning the 1978 San Marino Grand Prix. Later that same season, Dingley openly threatened fellow driver Jeremy Spocinklass during an interview at the 1978 British Grand Prix, after the two made contact late in the race. While the two were spotted drinking together at a bar after the Austrian Grand Prix, the damage was already done, with French oil company Elf and First National City Bank both announcing their intentions to end their sponsorships with Tyrrell after the conclusion of the 1978 season.

The loss of sponsorship money forced the team to postpone the development of the 1979 car for over 2 months, until Italian appliance maker Candy were announced as the primary sponsor for the 1979 season, albeit for a much lower price than Elf had been paying in previous seasons.

Dingley's relationship with team owner Ken Tyrrell deteriorated due to Dingley's media incidents in 1978, and after the conclusion of the 1979 season, the two mutually decided to split, even though Dingley had just won his second championship with the team. Rumours suggested that primary sponsor Candy had requested that Dingley be released, as they were worried about another potential media incident with Dingley harming their reputation.

Following his split from Tyrrell, Dingley was approached by McLaren and their new team principal Ron Dennis. While the McLaren team had struggled since last winning the championship in 1974, Dingley saw promise in the team after testing their 1979 car at Donington, and shortly after the test agreed to a 3 year contract, with a stipulation that required Dingley to attend and pass personal etiquette and speech classes in order to prevent any further media incidents. Dennis also threatened that if Dingley had any more media run-ins, his contract would immediately be voided.

Upon leaving McLaren, Dingley reverted to his old ways and said that his persona at McLaren was "a work of fiction."

## Personal Life

Dingley resides in his birth town of Birmingham, Alabama, but also owns property in Monaco and Florida.

Outside of racing, Dingley is an avid football fan, being raised as a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide. He often attends games, and was present when the team won the 1979 National Championship over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.

After winning his fourth Formula One title in 1982 at the Austrian Grand Prix, Dingley was invited to the White House by President Ronald Reagan. Dingley is a Conservative and continues to be a vocal supporter of the Republican Party. He has made several financial donations to Republican politicians, with the first in 1980. He gave his support for Ronald Reagan during his 1980 campaign and continued his support for him again in 1984.

Dingley married his wife Bertha in 1979. As of 2011, Dingley has at least 29 confirmed children, with reports that he has many more unconfirmed children. Chuck's 5th son, Buck, enlisted into the US military after 9/11, but was killed in action during the Battle of Ramadi in 2006.

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991, but missed the event due to the birth of his 15th child.

Dingley's first son, Chuck Jr., would make his Formula One debut in 2002 for Dingley GP. He failed to score any points and would depart the team at the end of 2003. Chuck publicly insulted his son, calling him a "failure" and a "disgrace to the Dingley dynasty."

### Family

The following is a list of Chuck Dingley's known children:

* Chuck Jr. (M, born 1979)
* Chuck Jr. II (M, born 1980)
* Ronald (M, born 1982)
* Chuck Jr. III (M, born 1983)
* Buck (M, born 1984, died 2006)
* Marlboro (F, born 1985, later legally changed name to Sarah)
* William "Bill" (M, born 1986)
* Wade (M, born 1987)
* Smith (M, born 1988, twin of Wesson)
* Wesson (M, born 1988, twin of Smith)
* Winston (M, born 1989)
* Genghis (M, born 1990, later legally changed name to George)
* Remington (M, born 1992)
* George (M, born 1993)
* Nascaria (F, born 1995)
* Walt (M, born 1996)
* Robert "Bob" (M, born 1998)
* Macdonald "Mac" (M, born 1999)
* Chuck Jr. IV (M, born 2000)
* Patton (M, born 2002)
* Wyatt (M, born 2003)
* George (M, born 2004, twin of Dick)
* Dick (M, born 2004, twin of George)
* Ford (M, born 2006)
* Dwayne (M, born 2008)
* Chuck Jr. V (M, born 2009)
* America (F, born 2011, triplets with Daytona and Ronald)
* Daytona (M, born 2011, triplets with America and Ronald)
* Ronald II (M, born 2011, triplets with America and Daytona)

## Controversies

### Personality

Dingley has been accused of intimidation and bullying throughout his racing career, often against his own teammates. Jack Wilson revealed in his 2004 biography that he was the subject of Dingley's bullying when Chuck moved to Ferrari in 1988 and they became teammates.

### Assault by feral hogs

Dingley's family compound was attacked by a band of feral hogs in 1992 and Chuck was forced to use several high-calibre fully automatic rifles to defend his family from the animals. When police arrived at the scene, the carcasses of the hogs were stacked in front of the Dingley home. Animal rights and gun control groups would later criticise Dingley for using "excessive force" to cull the animals, which Dingley denied doing. The police would come under pressure to investigate Dingley's extensive arsenal for any illegal weaponry. They would go on to confiscate three rifles from Dingley and issued him with a fine, which he happily paid. Chuck would go on to call the event "the greatest barbecue we ever had."

## Racing Record

#### **Complete Formula One World Championship Results**

* Parenthesis denote total points before the application of drop rounds.