Bill Tempero (born January 16, 1944) is an American former racing driver from

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. He raced in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive event ...

series from 1980 to 1984 competing in full seasons his first two years and partial schedules thereafter. He failed to qualify for both the races he attempted in 1984, so he was not credited with a race start that season. Tempero finished 20th in CART points in 1980 with two top-10 finishes including his series-best result of 6th place at the

Milwaukee Mile The Milwaukee Mile is a oval race track in the central United States, located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Its grandstand and bleachers seats approximately 37,000 spectator ...

while driving for Hopkins Racing. He fielded his own car in 1981 and 32nd in points without a single top-ten. He attempted to qualify for the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of India ...

in 1980, 1981, and 1983 but failed to make the field in 1980 and 1983 and crashed while attempting to qualify in 1981. After a decline in his performance in CART as costs and talent levels rose throughout the 1980s, Tempero went to the declining

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (''Can'') and four races in the United ...

series in 1984 and finished 4th and 2nd in championship points in his two seasons in the series, the series' final two years of operation in 1985 and 1986. After the short stint, Can-Am finally folded, and Tempero led an effort to create a new series, the

American Indycar Series The American Indycar Series (AIS) was an American open wheel racing series founded in 1988 by Bill Tempero. It utilized used chassis and engines from the CART series and the Indy Racing League. CART and IRL drivers Buddy Lazier, Jaques Lazier, R ...

in 1988. Tempero dominated the second-tier series, which featured year-old (and older) chassis from

competition. Tempero attempted to return to top-level open wheel racing in the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsor (commercial), sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American American open-wheel car racing, open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United S ...

's first race at the

Walt Disney World Speedway Walt Disney World Speedway was a racing facility located on the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It was built in 1995 by IMS Events, Inc., a subsidiary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

. His four-year-old Lola/

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

V6 failed to make the field, but the team continued to enter IRL races throughout 1996 for other drivers. Following his retirement from racing, Tempero pursued his interest in history, and currently serves as the president of the United States Cavalry Association.

Motorsport results

CART

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IRL IndyCar

(

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

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

References

External links

Bill Tempero at ChampCarStats.com
1944 births Champ Car drivers IndyCar Series team owners Living people Racing drivers from Milwaukee Sportspeople from Milwaukee Racing drivers from Wisconsin SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants {{US-autoracing-bio-stub