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Pro SportsCar Organization Expands

27 August 1997

Three positions in the IMSG and Pro SportsCar (PSR) organizations have been filled. Peter Lyon has joined IMSG as Vice-President, Legal and Risk Management. He will over-see all insurance programs for IMSG. Lyon comes to IMSG after five years as General Counsel/Insurance Manager for the SCCA.

This announcement comes as a bit of ironic twist in that SCCA and IMSG are involved in litigation over the use of the name "SportsCar." SCCA holds the trademark and has asked IMSG to refrain from utilizing the name. Lyon no doubt comes to IMSG with some insider knowledge of the trademark dispute. Should the dispute wind up in open-court his testimony will be interesting.

In other announcements, veteran USAC official Keith Ward has been named Vice-President of Competition. Ward will begin his job at this week-end's race at Mosport, Canada. Ward will be responsible for all on track activity and the enforcement of all technical and competition rules. With 29 years of experience in the motorsports field, Ward is recognized as one of the leaders in the motorsports competition and technical arean.

Ward most recently was the USAC's Chief Steward and Operations Director for the IRL events in 1996. This year the IRL, after some scoring glitches, opted to remove USAC as the over-seer of technical and scoring responsibilities.

In another move, officials from SportsCar announced that John McLoughlin will join as Technical Director. McLoughlin comes to SportsCar with 17 years of motorsports experience in Formula One, Group C, Super Touring and FIA GT racing. With a background in both European and North American racing McLoughlin will be striving to find a basis for equal and fair competition.

McLoughlin's appointment as SportsCar Technical Director has been given positive reviews by most teams. His knowledge is respected by many. With the announcement of the North American GT Championship to be coupled with the European Championship a platform of rule equality will be tantamount. The two upcoming races in October (Sebring and Laguna Seca) will be a test to determine the equality of technical regulations.

David Treffer -- The AutoChannel