By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Usually, you see brothers play sports together growing up. But as they grow older, they go their separate ways and play for separate teams.
And if they are lucky enough to make it professionally, they are usually on separate teams. However, at Dale Coyne Racing, they have two brothers as their drivers.
Justin Wilson has been a full-time driver this season for Dale Coyne Racing. His younger brother, Stefan Wilson, raced once this season in the other Dale Coyne Racing IndyCar, which came at the Grand Prix of Baltimore.
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“It’s great actually,” said the younger Wilson. “We’re in sync together, and I’m very thankful for that.”
Justin is 35 years old and has been racing in IndyCar since the 2008 season. He first started with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing before moving on to Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, and now is presently with Dale Coyne Racing.
In 92 starts, he has 3 wins. And has a best finish of 9th in the 2009 points standing, which he has already surpassed this season.
He is presently in 4th in the points standings with 460 points. He trails Simon Pagenaud, who is third with 491 points, and Helio Castroneves, who is second with 521 points.
Scott Dixon leads the points standings with one race left this upcoming weekend. He has 546 points and a 25-point lead on Castroneves.
“It’s weird actually,” Stefan of his brother’s success this season said. “I’ve been around the sport for the past few years, and when you race against Dixon, [Will] Power, [Dario] Franchitti, Castroneves, [Tony] Kanaan, it makes you take a step back. But at the same time, he [Justin] has had the best season of his career this year.”
While Justin has been in an IndyCar for six years, Stefan has only been in the car for one weekend. In fact, he was only in his car for three days.
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He qualified for the Grand Prix of Baltimore on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, then he would start in the car in the field. On race day Sunday, he would end up finishing in 16th place in his lone race this year.
“Those were my first three days in the car,” Stefan said. “It was a huge learning curve for me. I feel like I’m learning all the time that I’m in the car.”
When the brothers raced together in Baltimore, they became the first brothers to race for the same team in nearly 30 years. Gary Bettenhausen and Tony Bettenhausen Jr. drove for their family team in 1983.
“It all started with my father, Keith Wilson,” Stefan said. “He raced back in the 60’s and 70’s. He took Justin and myself to the race track with him. Plus, being that Justin is 11 years older than me, I grew up around the race track following his career. I was also driving a car and it was our goal to drive for the same team.”
While Justin will be back in the IndyCar in six days at Fontana, California, as IndyCar looks to clinch their 2013 Champion, Stefan Wilson will not appear in an IndyCar until 2014 at the earliest. The MAVTV 500 will be live on NBC Sports Network on Saturday night at 8:50 pm Eastern.
“The Baltimore race was my first and only race of this year,” Stefan said. “I hope to return to the car a lot more next year as I get more seat time in the off-season.”
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