ATLANTICS: In the moment of victory, tighten your helmet strap
22 September 1999
Fast Facts: Lynx Racing in the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Support Race At The
Texaco Grand Prix of Houston, September 25 - 26
1. Texas native Jackie Doty and her partner, Peggy Haas, are the founders
of Lynx Racing, the only championship-winning racing team and driver
development program in auto racing today owned by women. Lynx competes in
the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship, the Triple-A baseball of auto
racing.
2. Lynx drivers who've graduated to the CART FedEx series include Patrick
Carpentier (Player's/Forsythe), Alex Barron (Marlboro Penske) and Memo
Gidley (Herdez/Payton-Coyne).
3. Lynx Racing's latest CART hot prospect is Buddy Rice, currently fourth
in the championship points battle. His Lynx teammate, Mike Conte, is a
former Microsoft software developer involved in the creation of such
popular programs as Windows 95 and Microsoft Explorer.
4. Lynx Racing had a most unusual race at the Houston Grand Prix last year:
driver Buddy Rice had to have his appendix out on Thursday, and team
manager/driving coach Steve Cameron drove Rice's car in the race, finishing
8th. Rice's 1998 teammate, Memo Gidley, finished 5th.
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Texas native and Lynx Racing co-owner Jackie Doty, along with
partner Peggy Haas, will be looking for their unique, championship-winning
racing team -- the only such team owned by women in auto racing today -- to
finish out the year with a victory in the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic support race
at the Texaco Grand Prix, September 25 - 26.
And it's quite a likely scenario, since Lynx Racing's latest CART
FedEx hot prospect, Buddy Rice, and his teammate, Mike Conte have combined
to score 16 top-10 finishes, 7 top-5s and four trips to the podium in the
11 KOOL/Toyota Atlantic races so far this season. The duo finished second
and 8th, respectively, at the most recent event, the Grand Prix of Monterey
at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Northern California.
"Peggy and I have spent the last nine years building Lynx into a
brand name driver development program where CART teams automatically look
for the newest crop of hot, young drivers," says Doty. "Buddy and Mike
have been knocking on the door of victory all season long, and they and the
team are hungry to finish out the season with a win in Houston."
Rice, though he drove for Lynx last season, did not compete in the
Houston race, so this will be his first race on the downtown street
circuit. He had to have his appendix out on the Thursday before the race,
so Lynx Racing Team Manager and Driving Coach Steve Cameron took over
Rice's car and finished 8th in a race that was ended early by a downpour --
a drive that netted him both the "Kool Move of the Race" and the "Yokohama
Now You've Got Control" awards.
Rice's 1998 teammate, Memo Gidley, who graduated to CART this year and will
be driving the #71 Herdez/Payton-Coyne car in the Texaco Grand Prix this
weekend, finished fifth. The race was won by Anthony Lazarro.
"Not having raced the course before shouldn't really hurt our
chances of winning," says Rice. "It generally only takes me eight to ten
laps to learn the track, and from then on we'll be working on the race
setup. We've been so close to a win so many times this year that I really
feel like it's all going to come together here. The team has worked so
hard for me all year that they deserve a win, and I'm planning on giving it
to them."
Mike Conte, who drove for another team at Houston last year, had a
problem-plagued weekend that saw him qualify 16th and crash out of the race
on lap 7 to finish 23rd.
"Houston really made a tremendous effort to give us a good
racetrack, and for the most part they succeeded," says Conte. "My car on
the other hand, was a disaster. I had to stand on my Friday practice time
because the team forgot to put fuel in for qualifying, then in the race, I
was actually up to 12th and dicing with Steve Cameron when my brakes failed
and I went straight into the tires at 120 mph. Not my best weekend. The
track itself is surprisingly wide and fairly smooth, but somehow there
seems to be relatively little passing, so where you qualify is very
important. With the Lynx team giving me good cars all season, I'm
confident of better results this time around."
Conte, in addition to his Atlantic racing, also competes in the
American Le Mans Series with a GT-class Porsche where he scored a podium
finish in the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year and finished 5th in
last weekend's 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
Lynx Racing, owned by Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty and now in its
ninth year of operation, is both a championship-winning racing team and a
unique driver development program. The team's mission is to seek out young
drivers with championship potential and provide them with the training,
resources and opportunity to realize that potential and make the jump to
auto racing's 'major leagues.'
In addition to Buddy Rice and Mike Conte in the KOOL/Toyota
Atlantic series, Lynx also sponsors a car for the team's first female
driver, Sara Senske, 21, of Kennewick, Washington. Senske competes in the
Star Mazda Championship, driving a car fielded by Kent Stacy's
championship-winning S3 Racing, and in the innovative new Women's Global GT
series where she won the Portland round from the pole.
Event Schedule:
Friday, September 24
9:35 a.m. - 10:05 a.m. Atlantic practice
4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Atlantic preliminary qualifying
Saturday, September 25
11:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. Atlantic final qualifying
2:00 p.m. Driver's meeting
Sunday, September 26
10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Atlantic warm-up
12:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Atlantic race / 45 laps
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