Dale White Named Finalist in American Le Mans "From The Fans" Voting

Dale White Named Finalist in American Le Mans “From the Fans” Voting

“Most Popular Driver” Voting Opens for Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long 

 

LAS VEGAS, Nev., September 18, 2006 – Voting for two of the most esteemed
awards in the American Le Mans Series have opened and Petersen
Motorsports/White Lightning Racing is well represented. The most exciting
news coming from the American Le Mans Series relating to these two awards is
that Petersen/White Lightning Team Manager and Entrant Dale White (Bozeman,
MT) has been nominated as one of the five finalists for the prestigious
“From The Fans” award. Only the five people who have been deemed by the fans
as having the greatest impact on the Series this season are eligible for
final voting for the “From The Fans” award. White was chosen in two weeks of
nominations and now moves into final voting which ends October 1 at
www.AmericanLeMans.com <http://www.americanlemans.com/> . 

 

The “Most Popular Driver” award is open to every driver who competes
regularly in the American Le Mans Series. Petersen/White Lightning drivers
Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld, Germany) and Patrick Long (Las Vegas) are both
eligible for the award. Bergmeister, the only non-factory driver to win the
GT2 title since 1999, and Long, the first American to win the title since
’99, have combined for two victories thus far in ’06 (Lime Rock and Road
America), four podiums and two pole positions. Bergmeister is currently
ranked second in the driver standings while Long is third, having missed the
season-opening race in the No. 31 MMPIE/PAWS/Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to
drive the Porsche RS Spyder in LMP2 class. 

 

White, who is the owner of White Lightning Racing, is in his seventh year of
American Le Mans Series competition with partner Michael Petersen (Las
Vegas, Nev.). Petersen/White Lightning became the first privately entered
GT2 class team to win the American Le Mans Series title in 2005 taking the
Team, Driver and IMSA Cup Championships. The two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans
class winners (2003 with Alex Job Racing and 2004) won five races including
the 12 Hours of Sebring on their way to the championship bettering the
full-factory efforts. Overall, the team has eight American Le Mans Series
GT2 race victories since 2003. Thus far in 2006, White has led the team to
two victories, the most of any Porsche team, and two pole positions. They
are currently ranked second in the GT2 team championship with the Petit Le
Mans and Monterey Sports Car Championships, both of which they won in 2005,
remaining. The team is also entered in the Klein Tools Pit Crew Challenge
Finals at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca after dominating the Road America round
of the pit stop contest. This is the first year that any member of
Petersen/White Lightning has been nominated for this most prestigious of all
American Le Mans Series awards. Past recipients include Dr. Don Panoz, Dave
Maraj and Doug Fehan.

 

Both awards highlight not only on-track results but off-track performance as
well with overall positive impact on the Series a major part of the voting
decision. Petersen/White Lightning and its drivers are heavily involved in
major American Le Mans Series initiatives including the Salvation Army Grid
Kids charity, the Porscheplatz and supply the two-seater “Media Car” at each
event for media and VIP rides as well as any number of individual
promotional efforts. 

 

Voting is limited to one selection per category and can be done in the Forum
section of www.AmericanLeMans.com <http://www.americanlemans.com/> .  Voters
must be registered as Forum members but registration is free and immediate.
Voting for both awards runs through the Petit Le Mans weekend, closing on
Sunday, Oct. 1. The winners will be announced at the American Le Mans Series
Night of Champions Awards Banquet on October 22nd in Monterey, Calif. 

 

More on Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing can be found at
www.PetersenMotorsports.com <http://www.petersenmotorsports.com/> . 

Please visit www.Porsche.com <http://www.porsche.com/>  for more on the
Porsche’s line of products.

For more on the ALMS please visit www.AmericanLeMans.com
<http://www.americanlemans.com/> . 

 

 

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Digital images and complete team and driver bios available upon request.

A .PDF version of this release has been attached for your convenience.

Editors, please do not publish any contact information other than web sites.
Thank you.

 

Contact: Tom Moore, Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing, 

615-778-1614 (office), 615-509-5000 (cell), tom@darkhorsecom.com