1981 Photo of Neil Bonnett testing Warner Hodgdon Indy 
Car at Phoenix International Raceway. Dennis McCormack, Chief Mechanic

Dennis McCormack began his racing career in 1968 with Ray Caldwell’s Autodynamics out of Marblehead, Massachusetts. There he turned wrenches on the SCCA Dodge Challenger and Formula 5000 Eagle of Sam Posey and Ronnie Bucknum.

During the 70’s McCormack worked on the F5000 Surtees TS8 and TS11 for car owners Fred Carrillo and Doug Champlin. During that time he was privileged to work with John Surtees himself. He did the F5000 Rothman and Tasman Series with Graham McRae, running the McRae cars; the GM1 and GM2. In 1974, he prepared cars for Jon Woodner, Warwick Brown and Chris Amon. Working for Ted Field’s Interscope Racing, he prepared the Lola T332, T400 and Talon chassis for Danny Ongais and Jon Woodner. During this time, he worked with Carroll Smith, learning a great deal from the renowned engineer and author of “Prepare to Win”and “Tune to Win”

In 1976 McCormack began his Indy Car career, a career that ran 25 years. He had the good fortune early in this experience to work with such racing legends as Lloyd Ruby, Roger McCluskey and Jimmy McElreath.

Working for car owner Warner Hodgdon brought him into the world of NASCAR. Neil Bonnett, who drove the team’s NASCAR entry, was the test driver for the McCormack prepared Indy car. He is pictured above in a rare photo in the Indy car with McCormack.

In 1982, McCormack was reunited with Roger Mears, who drove Super Vee and Indy Car for Hodgdon in 1978. They worked together for the Machinists Union Racing Team in the CART series, running outdated equipment in a series dominated by huge cash outlays. They were so determined to keep that equipment running that they were honored at the series awards banquet with several tributes including “Most Persistent Team”, “Most Improved Driver and Chief Mechanic” and they finished in the top ten in the points. No small feat with the competition they were up against.

During McCormack’s Indy Car tenure he worked with many drivers and owners, but his longest and most rewarding association was with car owner Frank Arciero. During his tenure as manager of Arciero Racing their team held the distinction of having two Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors with Fabrizio Barbazza and Randy Lanier and two CART Rookie of the Year awards with Fabrizio Barbazza and John Jones. In 1990 Frank Arciero chose to retire from Indy Car racing and offered McCormack the opportunity to start his own team, an offer that led McCormack to the fulfillment of his lifelong dream.

McCormack Motorsports came to be and campaigned the CART series for the next five years, which included running the Indianapolis 500. In 1996 the Indy Racing League began and McCormack made the decision to race in that series based its prestigious Indianapolis 500 event. Through the McCormack Motorsports years, McCormack gave many drivers the opportunity to race in the Indy Car series.