Leading American rallycross Lites team Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is looking to expand its operations into Supercars.
The IndyCar stalwart has competed in the second tier of US rallycross full-time since 2015, having previously experimented with partial top-level programs in conjunction with other teams.
“We started in 2013 and did kind of an experimental run at the X Games [in Brazil] with Scott Speed and then later decided to buy some Lites cars to give us something to do after the Indy 500,” team boss Dennis Reinbold told DirtFish.
“So that’s been our program for the most part but we’re expanding at this point and looking to do my IndyCar races as well as rallycross.
“We grew up to four Lites cars, we’re looking at some Supercars as well this year or Lites this year, whenever the schedule allows it. That’s so far our approach.”
The confirmation of DRR’s planned Supercars graduation comes after several years of rumors regarding a step up for the team, and Reinbold said, with a laugh, that the team had been working on it for “quite a bit”.
“We did Supercar in 2013 at the X Games with Scott Speed, then Sully [James Sullivan] and [Jimmy] Vasser and I teamed up to do it for a few years as well and then they stopped being involved and I did too at that time,” Reinbold said, referring to the ‘Star Car’ entry at X Games Brazil in 2013 that it ran with Olsbergs, and the SH Racing Rallycross operation which competed from 2014-16.
Dreyer & Reinbold was involved with the championship-challenging SH Rallycross operation which took Nelson Piquet to victory in Washington DC in 2015 (pictured)
Photo: Larry Chen/Red Bull Content Pool
“We’ve been looking for probably the last three or four years to try to figure out how to try and get back into it, because it makes sense. We’ve had a lot of our drivers graduate, so to speak, into Supercars like Travis Pecoy, our champion Cabot Bigham, they’re both Supercars drivers now and it just makes sense.”
While the identities of any potential drivers are being kept quiet, Reinbold did say that he would prefer to keep on developing young talent.
“We’ll probably bring people through,” he said.
“It’s really a fun thing to be involved with, the Lites, to develop these drivers where they can make that step up, and it’s not guaranteed or anything like that but it’s preparation and that’s the fun part.
“We have all IndyCar personnel on our team, and to be able to talk to these young drivers in the Lites series and bring them along and see the progress throughout the season, it’s fulfilling. It’s just a fun thing and it gives you good pride in what you can do for these kids.”
