David Empringham Explained

David Empringham (born December 28, 1963) is a Canadian auto racing driver. He is a two-time Toyota Atlantic, one-time Indy Lights and two-time Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge champion. Most recently, Empringham won the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS class driver's title with co-driver John Farano.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Empringham began his racing career in 1987, competing in the Spenard/David Formula 2000 series. He then competed regularly in the GM Motorsport series (teammate of Canadian racing legend Richard Spenard) for several years, drove a handful of races in the IMSA Firestone Firehawk series, the Porsche Turbo Cup and Formula Toyota Atlantic.

In 1992, Empringham began competing full-time in the Toyota Atlantic Championship, where he won back-to-back championships in 1993 and 1994. In 1993, David won the Championship with "underdog" CANASKA racing and Canadian Tire sponsorship, based out of Toronto, Ontario. 1994 saw Empringham move to the BDJS racing team, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, taking the Canadian Tire sponsorship with him. 1995 saw Empringham narrowly miss winning a third championship, being beat out by Richie Hearn for the title.

1996 saw Empringham make the move to Indy Lights, replacing Greg Moore, who had moved up to the team's CART operation, in the Player's/Forsythe racing Lola. 1996 saw many wins including a thrilling victory in the fastest Indy Lights race ever run on the high banks of Michigan International Speedway during the Inaugural US 500 weekend in May, and ultimately another Championship for "Emp's" mantle, taking the 1996 Indy Lights Title. 1997 saw some successes, but no championship.

In 2001, after several years out of the spotlight, David began competing Part-time in Grand-Am Cup and Grand-Am Motorola series races. During the 2005 season, he managed 2 victories and 8 top-ten finishes on his way to the GS series title with co-driver Scott Maxwell driving for Multimatic Motorsports.

Since then, Empringham has competed in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution in Time Attack events for the Sierra Enterprises (USA) team. Empringham is a two-time runner-up at the World Time Attack Challenge in Sydney, Australia (2010, 2011), both times losing out to Tarzan Yamada, who drives for the Japanese Cyber Evo team in a similar Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

In 2012 Empringham returned to full-time racing in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with co-driver John Farano in the #83 BGB Motorsports Porsche Carrera. After a consistent season of points finished (however no wins), Empringham and John won the 2012 driver's title. In 2013, Dave returned to Multimatic Motorsports with Farano to compete in the CTSCC series in the #15 Aston Martin Vantage V8 Grand-Am race car.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate the fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship

YearTeam123456789101112131415RankPoints
1991Canaska RacingLBHPHXLIMMTL
WGLDMOTOR
TRR
VAN
MDONAZLAG1LAG229th15
1992Canaska RacingMIAPHXLBHLIMMTL
WGLTOR
TRR
VAN
MDO
MOS
NAZLAG1
LAG2
5th96
1993Canaska RacingPHX
LBH
ATL
MIL
MTL
MOS
HAL
TOR
NHA
TRR
VAN
MDO
NAZ
LAG1
LAG2
1st195
1994BDJS RacingPHX
LBH
MOS
MIL
MTL
TOR
TRR
MDO
VAN
NAZ
LAG
1st162
1995BDJS RacingMIA
PHX
LBH
NAZ
MIL
MTL
TOR
TRR1
TRR2
MDO
VAN
LAG
2nd197

Indy Lights

YearTeam12345678910111213RankPointsRef
1996Forsythe RacingHMS
LBH
NAZ
MIS
MIL
DET
POR
CLE
TOR
TRO
VAN
LAG
1st148[1]
1997Forsythe RacingHMS
LBH
NAZ
SAV
STL
MIL
DET
POR
TOR
TRO
VAN
LAG
FON
4th107[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dave Empringham – 1996 Firestone / Dayton Indy Lights Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 7, 2024.
  2. Web site: Dave Empringham – 1997 Firestone / Dayton Indy Lights Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 7, 2024.