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Indy Lights: Owners Dorricott And Lucas Elected To American Racing Series, Inc. Board Of Directors

1 July 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

DETROIT - Dayton Indy Lights Championship team owners Bob Dorricott Sr. (Dorricott Racing) and Chris Lucas (Lucas Motorsports Ltd.) have been elected to the American Racing Series, Inc. (ARS) Board of Directors following unanimous support of a resolution to expand the Board during a regularly scheduled meeting this past weekend in Portland, Ore.

Dorricott and Lucas, who will immediately undertake their new responsibilities, will become the sixth and seventh members of the ARS Board. They join ARS Board members Steve Horne, Bill Hildick, U.E. "Pat" Patrick and President and CEO Roger Bailey in addition to Bobby Rahal who was added to the ARS Board in conjunction with his appointment as interim CART President, June 16.

"The Board considers representation from active team owners as very important," Bailey said. "Over the last few years, we have seen the Dayton Indy Lights Championship and our competing teams evolve into year-round business organizations that have the same needs and professional concerns as any other company. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the ARS Board to provide a team of leaders that is well versed in every aspect of the modern-day motorsports industry. Adding Bob Dorricott and Chris Lucas to the Board provides valuable input from a pair of owners representative of the various teams currently racing in the Dayton Indy Lights Championship."

Dorricott, 63, has fielded entries under the Dorricott Racing banner in Indy Lights since 1990. His 11 years in Indy Lights ranks second only to Brian Stewart Racing principal Brian Stewart among active owners. Lucas, who turned 26 last month, has been CART's youngest team owner since he entered the sport with his Lucas Motorsports Ltd. team in 1997.

"Bob Dorricott has been with the series through three distinct growth periods, while Chris Lucas is a good example of the young team owners who are the future of CART and the Dayton Indy Lights Championship," Bailey said.

Dorricott is the defending Dayton Indy Lights Championship-winning team owner who scored an unprecedented sweep of the top-three spots in last year's points race with champion Oriol Servia, Casey Mears and Philipp Peter, respectively. Previously championship-winning Pro Sports 2000 competitors, Dorricott first entered Indy Lights in 1990 with his son, Bob Dorricott Jr., behind the wheel. The younger Dorricott joins former team driver Jeff Ward as the only drivers in series history who have driven each of the three generations of chassis used in Indy Lights - March 85B, Lola T93/20 and the current Lola T97/20.

Dorricott Jr. earned the team's first pole at Nazareth in 1994 and was joined the following season by 1992 Indy Lights champion Robbie Buhl for Dorricott Racing's first multi-car effort.

The expanded team became an immediate force in 1995 and Dorricott Jr. won the Nazareth pole for the second straight year to kick-off a streak of three consecutive top qualifying efforts for the team. Buhl won the pole in the next two races at Milwaukee and Detroit (In addition to New Hampshire later in the year) and earned the team's first win in Motown.

Dorricott continued with two-driver efforts over the next couple of seasons with the highlight being Ward's poles at Toronto and Vancouver in 1996. Dorricott Jr. retired after 50 career starts at the end of the 1997 season, and Peter and Servia joined the team in 1998. After strong rookie seasons, Peter and Servia were joined by Mears last year and became the dominant trio in the series. Servia won a series-leading three poles and the championship while Peter won three races. Mears, who earned a pair of second-place finishes in 1999, is back with the team this year along with rookies Jason Bright and Townsend Bell. Bright won Dorricott Racing's fifth career race this past weekend in Portland where Bell earned the team's 11th pole.

A California native, Dorricott is President and CEO of Sunnyvale Valve and Fitting Co., Inc., a distributor of high quality fluid-control components. He and his wife Phyllis, who is extremely active in Dorricott Racing, reside in Los Altos Hills, Calif., and are also actively involved in several children's-based charities. In addition to Bob Dorricott Jr., the Dorricotts have two other adult children, Jeff and Pam, and six grandchildren.

Lucas entered professional motorsports as a teenager with Horne's Tasman Motorsports Group and was a crew member on the teams that won Indy Lights championships with Bryan Herta (1993) and Steve Robertson (1994). He moved up to Champ Car competition with Tasman in 1995 and was part of the crew that helped Andre Ribeiro win the team's first race at New Hampshire that season. After three more wins with Ribeiro and Adrian Fernandez in 1996, Lucas left Tasman to start his own team in Indy Lights. Shigeaki Hattori, David DeSilva and Brian Cunningham drove for Lucas in the team's first year, but the team made its first mark the following season with Geoff Boss who finished second in his just second start with the team at Long Beach. Boss was also behind the wheel when Lucas won its first pole and led every lap for the team's first victory at Toronto last year. Boss in his third year with Lucas in 2000 and teams with his younger brother Andy Boss for the second straight season.

A native of Delphos, Ohio, Lucas is single and currently resides in Dublin, Ohio nearby the team's race shop.

Established in 1986, the Dayton Indy Lights Championship is the final rung in the CART "Ladder System" of driver development. Six Indy Lights graduates are regular competitors in the 2000 FedEx Championship Series, including former series champions Paul Tracy (1990), Herta (1993), Tony Kanaan (1997), Cristiano da Matta (1998) and Servia (1999). In total, seven different Indy Lights graduates have combined to win 34 CART Champ Car races. Tracy scored the first win for an Indy Lights grad at Long Beach in 1993 while Helio Castroneves captured the most recent victory in Detroit earlier this month.

Round Five of the 2000 Dayton Indy Lights Championship is The Detroit News 100 which will be held during the Michigan 500 Presented by Toyota weekend at Michigan Speedway, July 20 - 23.

Text provided by Adam Saal

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