Giampaolo Dallara brought deep pedigree to his venture, having previously worked at Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, and De Tomaso. He co-founded the Autodromo Riccardo Paletti in Varano before launching his own chassis company. The company began by building cars for sports car racing and hillclimbing, and Dallara designed his first Formula Three car for Walter Wolf Racing in 1978.
The first car to carry the Dallara name in Formula Three appeared in 1981, and the marque quickly became the dominant force in Italy. From 1985 onward, Dallara-powered drivers have won the Italian Formula Three Championship every year except 1990. The company extended its reach into the German and French championships through the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning the German title in 1987 and the French title in both 1987 and 1992.
Dallara entered the British Formula Three Championship in 1993 with its new F393 model, which featured revised aerodynamics and a monodamper front suspension layout. The car won every race in the Italian, French, and German championships that year, and numerous British teams switched from Reynard and Ralt to remain competitive. From 1993 onward Dallara swept the Macau Grand Prix, cementing a position of dominance across all major Formula Three markets.
In 1988 Dallara became a Formula One constructor when it was hired by BMS Scuderia Italia. The partnership lasted through 1992, with the best results being third-place finishes: Andrea de Cesaris at the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix and JJ Lehto at the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix. The team placed as high as eighth in the Constructors' Championship.
Dallara later built the chassis for Hispania Racing's 2010 season entry, though that relationship ended acrimoniously due to payment disputes and concerns over the quality of the F110 chassis. A more enduring partnership began in 2016 when Dallara became the design and build partner for Gene Haas's new Formula One team, a collaboration that has continued through the 2026 season.
Dallara entered IndyCar as a chassis builder and supplier in 1997 when the Indy Racing League launched its own formula. Jim Guthrie drove a Dallara to the company's first IndyCar victory at Phoenix on March 23, 1997. Eddie Cheever took Dallara's first Indianapolis 500 win in 1998. By 2007 Dallara was the sole chassis supplier to the entire field.
The fourth-generation DW-12 chassis, introduced in 2012, was named in honor of Dan Wheldon, who died two days before the naming announcement after testing the car. The universal aero kit designation UAK18 was introduced for the 2018 season and remained in use through 2026. By the time of the DW-12's introduction, Dallara had won seventeen of the twenty Indianapolis 500 races it had contested.
In 2012 Dallara opened an engineering center in Speedway, Indiana, adjacent to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where IndyCar chassis are produced and assembled. The facility also includes a public entertainment center explaining racing car manufacture.
In the early 1980s Dallara built the Lancia LC1 and LC2 prototypes in partnership with Abarth. Dallara returned to endurance racing in 1993 as the constructor of the Ferrari 333 SP for IMSA competition. The company subsequently built chassis for Toyota (GT-One), Audi (various R8 variants), and Chrysler, with the Audi R8 in particular becoming one of the most dominant endurance racing chassis of the modern era.
For the LMDh era beginning in 2022, Dallara was selected as one of four approved chassis suppliers, providing platforms for BMW and Cadillac. Dallara also produces the chassis for the Ferrari 499P, though that car operates under different hypercar regulations.
Dallara has provided engineering services for Renault, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Maserati, and Lamborghini on various road and competition cars. In 2007 the company partnered with KTM to produce the KTM X-Bow sports car, unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. In 2017, on the occasion of Giampaolo Dallara's 81st birthday, the company revealed the Stradale, its first road car sold under its own name.
Dallara also produced handbikes through its Z-Bike subsidiary, including a custom design for Alex Zanardi that contributed to his winning four gold and two silver medals at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games.
Few manufacturers have shaped the structure of contemporary motorsport feeder series to the degree Dallara has. By holding exclusive chassis contracts across the IndyCar Series, FIA Formula 2, FIA Formula 3, and Super Formula simultaneously, Dallara occupies a position without precedent in the history of single-seater racing. Founded as a small Italian engineering shop, the company grew into an internationally recognized constructor whose chassis have carried drivers to hundreds of major victories, including more than one hundred Indianapolis 500 practice laps and championship-winning results across four continents.