Derek Daly
Daly at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix
Born	Derek Patrick Daly (1953-03-11) 11 March 1953 (age 71) Ballinteer, Dublin, Ireland
Children	3, including Conor
Relatives	Nicola Daly (niece)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Irish
Active years	1978–1982
Teams	Hesketh, Ensign, Tyrrell, March, Theodore, Williams
Entries	64 (49 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	15
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1978 United States Grand Prix West
Last entry	1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix
Champ Car career
67 races run over 8 years
Years active	1982–1989
Team(s)	Wysard, Provimi, Hess, Menard, Curb, Pace, Raynor
Best finish	9th (1988)
First race	1982 Miller High Life 150 (Phoenix)
Last race	1989 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey (Laguna Seca)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 1 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1988–1990
Teams	Jaguar, Nissan
Best finish	4th (1988)
Class wins	0

Derek Patrick Daly (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former racing driver, businessman and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from 1978 to 1982.

Born and raised in Dublin, Daly won the British Formula Three Championship in 1977, before participating in 64 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting at the 1978 United States Grand Prix West. His 15 championship points made him the first Irish driver to score in Formula One, and remains the highest scoring; he also participated in several non-championship races. After Formula One, Daly moved to the United States to compete in CART and IMSA, where he led Nissan to the IMSA GTP Championship in 1990.

After honing his skills in the Irish Formula Ford Championship, Daly had his first drive in the European Formula Two Championship in 1977. In 1978 and 1979, he competed in both Formula Two and Formula One, finishing third in the Formula Two championship in both seasons. From 1980 to 1982, he focussed on Formula One, his best year being 1980, when he scored two fourth-place finishes and finished 11th in the Drivers' Championship. His two most memorable moments in F1 both came in the Monaco Grand Prix. In 1980 he crashed spectacularly at the first corner after vaulting three other cars. In 1982 he suddenly found himself in contention for the win when the four cars ahead of him ran into problems with under two laps to go, but ended up on the sidelines himself when his gearbox seized moments later.

In 1982, Daly began driving in the CART series and continued through 1989. He started 66 CART races, including each Indianapolis 500 from 1983 to 1989, except for 1986. He finished in the top ten a total of 21 times, including one podium finish, 3rd position, at Milwaukee in 1987. In September 1984 he was nearly killed in a crash in the CART PPG Detroit News Grand Prix 200 at Michigan International Speedway. The front end of his car was sheared off and he suffered multiple injuries including a crushed left ankle, double compound fracture to the left tibia and fibula, fractured left hip socket, severely fractured pelvis, several broken left side ribs, broken left hand, 3rd degree burns to the left arm, dislocated right foot and ankle, deep abrasions and soft tissue to right heel, and internal bleeding.

Daly won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1990 and 1991 driving a Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo. In 1990, he had the unusual distinction of driving both the first and second-placed cars.^[1][2]

Daly is known in motor sports circles around the world as a driver, writer, broadcaster, racing advisor, and businessman. He runs a professional services company called MotorVation, and had been a commentator for American broadcasts of the Champ Car series, as well as a public speaker. One of the agencies that represents him is the National Speakers Bureau.^[3]

In 2018, Daly was fired from a racing analyst position he had at WISH-TV when WISH-TV attributed a racial slur that was uttered by Indianapolis Colts announcer Bob Lamey in 1983 to him. While not disputing saying the slur, Daly contends that he did not use the offending language in the context Lamey alleged (Lamey claimed that Daly had once stated "... there aren't any (racial slur) in this race"), but instead used the word as part of a common Irish colloquialism during a 1983 radio interview.^[4] Daly filed a $25M lawsuit as a result.^[5] Later that year, U.S. district court judge Richard L. Young ruled in favor of WISH-TV and the station's former parent company, Nexstar Media Group, in all claims in Daly's lawsuit and ordered him to pay Nexstar's legal costs.^[6]

Daly became a US citizen^[when?] and now resides in Carmel, Indiana.^[7] He has three sons, Conor, Colin and Christian.

Daly's son Conor is also a racing driver. He made his debut in full-time open-wheel racing in 2012, driving for the Lotus GP team in GP3,^[8] before moving GP2 in 2014 driving for Venezuela GP Lazarus.^[9] Conor made his IndyCar Series debut in 2013 and was a full-time driver from 2016 to 2023.^[10] He also competed in the Daytona 500 in 2023, finishing 29th.

Daly's niece, Nicola Daly, is an Ireland women's field hockey international and was a member of the squad that won the silver medal at the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup. She also works as a data engineer for Juncos Racing.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

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

(key)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1988	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Kevin Cogan Larry Perkins	Jaguar XJR-9LM	C1	383	4th	4th
1989	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Davy Jones Jeff Kline	Jaguar XJR-9LM	C1	85	DNF	DNF
1990	Nissan Performance Technology Inc.	Geoff Brabham Chip Robinson	Nissan R90CK	C1	251	DNF	DNF

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Derek Daly.

• Official website
• Derek Daly Designs (course design business)
• Profile at grandprix.com