Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is investing roughly $1.2 million to expand its Carmel headquarters by 12,000 square feet, the company says.

The addition to the existing 30,000-square-foot facility on West 99th Street near Michigan Road will house a new machine shop outfitted with high-tech milling machines manufactured by Hurco Cos.  

Indianapolis-based Hurco is expected to sign on as one of the team’s sponsors for the 2011 IndyCar racing season that begins March 27 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Sixteen races are on the schedule, including the flagship Indianapolis 500 on May 29.

Construction on the addition is set to start as soon as remaining building permits are approved and should be finished before the race on the Memorial Day weekend.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which typically fields two cars in the Indianapolis-based open-wheel IndyCar series, is co-owned by local auto dealer Dennis Reinbold and former driver Robbie Buhl.

“We’re a growing team, and we want to keep growing and expanding and getting better,” said Reinbold, who founded the team in 1999.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is not requesting tax incentives from Carmel to help offset its investment, nor is it expecting to add to its work force of 40.

Houston-based Rigid Building Systems, one of the team’s sponsors, will supply the steel and siding for the addition, and another sponsor, Minneapolis-based Valspar Corp., will provide interior paint.

Reinbold owns the entire complex, which houses one other company that is not racing-related.

The addition also will feature a two-bedroom apartment above the new machine shop to provide Buhl, who does not reside in Indianapolis, and representatives of out-of-state sponsors a place to stay while visiting.

Larry Curry, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s general manager since mid-2008, said the expansion is part of a continuing effort to make the race team more competitive.

“We accomplished a lot of things last year; we just never got into the winner’s circle,” he said. “We need to complete the deal.”

The team fielded four cars in last year’s Indianapolis 500 driven by Ana Beatriz, Mike Conway, Justin Wilson and Tomas Scheckter. The three men each led at least one lap in the race, and Wilson finished a team-best seventh place.

Wilson also finished second in races at Long Beach and St. Petersburg last year. He returns in 2011 as one of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s two full-time drivers.   

Conway, the team’s other full-time driver last year, announced on Feb. 1 that he signed a deal to drive for Andretti Autosport. Race fans might recall Conway’s horrific crash on the final lap of last year’s Indianapolis 500, in which he suffered season-ending injuries.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is expected to name a new driver “relatively soon” to replace Conway, Reinbold said.

Reinbold is an Indianapolis native who operates BMW, Infiniti, Maserati, Suburu and Volkswagon dealerships in Carmel and Greenwood. His grandfather, Floyd "Pop" Dreyer, was a top motorcycle racer in the early 1900s who went on to become a leading builder of midget race cars.