With over 40 years of racing experience and seventeen of them as a Champ Car team owner, Derrick Walker has had a storied career.  USA Today called him "a man who has built an admirable racing career based on the precepts of patience and diligence."  Walker has worked his way up through the ranks of racing from mechanic to owner of a multi-million dollar race team.
 
The legend's success not only comes from his racing experience, but from his sheer ability in creating lasting business relationships, which have gotten him to this point today.  With the success of running a well oiled organization, Walker has developed a knack for creating business partnerships and fusing the motor-sports experience with marketing knowledge.  The success is proven by the programs previously and currently run.  By developing business to business relationships, Walker has seen many success stories like his long time relationship with Valvoline and Cummins to his current program he runs with Team Australia.
 
Developing the love for racing early on, the Levin, Scotland native moved with his family to Western Australia at the age of five.  It was at this time when the Scotsman got hooked to "motor-sports" after he had attended a street race.  Walker moved back to Scotland as a young teen where he then went on to complete a five year mechanics apprenticeship with Scotland's largest bus company at the age of sixteen.  In that time, the Scotsman had a beneficial meeting with a fellow employee, Swiss born engineer and designer of Lotus and McLaren F1 cars, Joe Marquart, who helped him arrange his next move.  On Walker's 21st birthday, he moved to London to take up a position with an engineering company, Cortune Engineering Ltd., dealing mostly with preparing customer sport racing cars.
 
With each step Walker took, he got closer to a different goal that he would set for himself as he continued along his path in motor-sports.  He went to go work for Trojan Ltd., a company that designed and built McLaren machinery.  In 1970, a great opportunity came his way when he was hired as a second mechanic with Ron Tauranac on the Motor Racing Development LLC., better known as Brabham Formula One, remaining with Brabham until it was purchased in 1971 by now Formula One head, Bernie Ecclestone.  Walker would stay on board with the Ecclestone operation for five more seasons as a chief mechanic.
 
Seeking more responsibility, Walker moved in 1976 to Penske Cars Ltd. where he began his 13-year association with Roger Penske, serving first as a chief mechanic for the Penske Grand Prix team.  When Penske discontinued that effort at the end of the season, Walker was named general manager of the Penske Car manufacturing facility in Poole, England and then moved to the United States in late 1980 to become Penske's vice president of racing, with Rick Mears as his first winning driver.  Walker's drivers during this period included Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, and Al and Bobby Unser.  During Walker's tenure at Penske the team won five PPG cups, five Indy 500's and 28 Indy Car wins.
 
Walker's interest would switch gears in 1988 when he accepted the general manager position for the factory Porsche Indy team with Al Hobert, three-time LeMans winning driver and director of Porsche Motorsports North America.  Sadly, Holbert died in a plane crash before the partnership could begin.  In 1989, Teo Fabi finished fourth in the PPG Cup standings, and, at Mid-Ohio scored Porsche's only Champ Car victory.  When the German automaker decided to withdraw from the series at the end of 1990, Walker was able to purchase the assets and formed his own team, Walker Motorsports.
 
In November of 1990, Walker Racing opened its doors, but it wasn't until 1991 that Willy T. Ribbs, with the help from entertainer Bill Cosby, made history.  Ribbs was the first African-American to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.  Throughout Walker's seventeen years as an owner he has completed 390 race starts, earned 13 poles and five wins, running the likes of Robby Gordon, Gil de Ferran, Scott Goodyear, Hiro Matushira, Christian Fittipaldi, Naoki Hattori, Memo Gidley, Shinji Nakano, Sarah Fisher, Tora Takagi, Darren Manning, Rodolfo Lavin, Alex Tagliani, and most recently will Power and Simon Pagenaud.
 
As 2004 rolled around Walker created the new program partnership when he formed a business relationship with Australian businessman Craig Gore in a racing program called "Team Australia".  The two came together in 2004 to create a one-off entry for David Besnard at the 2004 Surfer's Paradise race.  In 2005, Walker proposed creating Team Australia as a marketing platform for Gore to involve Australian drivers in racing, funded by Australian companies, with the additional goal to win the Australian Cham Car event.  Walker Racing provides all the racing services for Team Australia.
 
The 2006 season brought a number of milestones and new ventures for Walker.  Walker Racing executed its first year as a complete open-wheel development program.  The venture grew into a unique in-house ladder system with programs in the Champ Car World Series, Champ Car Atlantic and Formula BMW USA.
 
Continuing to set his sights high, Walker enters his seventeenth year of Champ Car competition, still combining his passion for sports along with his business savvy to create partnerships. For the 2007 season Walker Racing is bringing back the ladder system, but this time with programs in Champ Car and Atlantic, headquartering all operations out of Indianapolis.
 
Never losing sight of whatever goal he has set for himself along the way, Walker continues to love the sport of racing.  Always intrigued on how the business of racing has changed, his determination and passion is what keeps him looking for new challenges in the business of racing.