Dallara debuted as a chassis builder and supplier at the
IndyCar Series in 1997, and has been the single chassis builder and supplier since 2007. The manufacturer has won seventeen of the twenty
Indianapolis 500s they have contested. In 2013, Dallara reached its milestone 200th
Indy car victory at
Barber.
First generation (IR-7) Dallara was one of the original three chassis constructors when the
Indy Racing League debuted its own chassis formula during the
1997 season. The IRL's design plan was to utilize chassis for three seasons. Various mandatory or optional update kits would become available for the chassis each year. The first model year (1997) was named the IR-7. The cars were most notably differentiated from the competing
G-Force chassis by the
ovoid shape of the
air intake inlet, while the G-Force's were triangular and molded around the roll bar. The IR-8 (1998) and IR-9 (1999) were essentially 1997 model year chassis with various update kits.
Jim Guthrie won Dallara's
first Indy car race at
Phoenix on 23 March 1997.
Eddie Cheever won Dallara's first Indianapolis 500 in
1998, in his
Oldsmobile-powered IR-7 chassis. Dallara won the Indy Racing League championship in both 1998 and 1999.
Second generation (IR-00) A new model chassis was introduced for the
2000 season; named the IR-00. Once again, chassis would be raced for a three-season span and the previous generation of cars (IR-7 through IR-9) were not permitted. When updated for 2001 the chassis was designated as the IR-01 and for 2002 it was referred to as the IR-02. Dallara won the Indianapolis 500 in both 2001 and 2002, and was driven by the Indy Racing League champion in all three seasons (2000–2002). {{Gallery
Third generation (IR-03/IR-04/IR-05) For the
2003 season, Dallara rolled out the new IR-03 chassis. This chassis would later become the
de facto "
spec-car" in the series. An aerodynamic update kit was released for
2004, which changed its designation to IR-04 and later in
2007, which changed its designation to IR-05. In addition,
paddle-shifters began seeing use in 2008, further developing and evolving this generation of Dallaras. Chassis bearing both the IR-03 and the IR-05 designations saw use through the end of the 2011 season. For the
2006 season, over 80% of the field began the season with a Dallara, a possible symptom of
Panoz's (manufacturer of the G-Force chassis) perceived lack of interest. This was around the time Panoz began delivering the
DP01 chassis to the rival
Champ Car series. From 2007 to 2011 all IndyCar teams used the IR-05 chassis, although a few teams entered a Panoz/G-Force chassis into the
2007 Indianapolis 500 singly. Some smaller teams continued to utilize the slightly older IR-03 designated chassis, particularly at Indianapolis, with update kits installed to bring it up to equally competitive ground with the newer-assembled IR-05 due to cheaper costs.
Dan Wheldon famously won the
2011 Indy 500 driving a nine year old IR-03. IndyCar implemented a general chassis and engine development freeze from the start of the
2009 season. The series began focusing on a new chassis/engine package to be rolled out for 2012. By this time, the Dallara IR-03/05 was exclusively paired with the
Honda Indy V8, as other engine manufactures had departed.
Fourth generation (IR-12/DW-12) Starting in
2012, Dallara began providing the common
monocoque and suspension parts for the new IndyCar formulae – known as the IndyCar Safety Cell – with the intent that the bodywork and aero parts can and will be provided by other manufacturers. The cars will be branded by the make who provides the "Aero Kit." Dallara rolled out the chassis with its own optional spec aero kit. The aero kit concept was temporarily shelved due to cost concerns, making the Dallara kit the universal spec for 2012–2014. Unique aero kits (manufactured by Chevrolet and Honda, respectively) were introduced for 2015–2017, and Dallara ceased to support and produce their own. In 2018, the third generation of aero kits was introduced for the DW-12, again returning to a universal spec kit for all entries known as UAK18 and will be used through
2026. On 18 October 2011, Dallara confirmed that the 2012 series car would be named after the late IndyCar driver
Dan Wheldon (DW-12) in honor of his work testing the car before his
death two days prior at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with the new bumper/nerf bar section being featured, it was designed to prevent many similar single-seater crashes such as the one that killed Wheldon. ==Other formulas==