GT: Lynx Racing News, Sears Point
23 July 1999
A WEEKEND OF CHALK AND CHEESE
Lynx Racing Drivers Sara Senske and Mike Conte, Already Eating Up The
Competition On Their Way Up To The CART FedEx Series, Will Devour Something
Different This Weekend
____________________________________
1. Sonoma, California-based Lynx Racing is the most unique and successful
driver development program in auto racing today - and two Lynx drivers will
be racing in three different events over the weekend.
2. Lynx driver Sara Senske is one of today's top female drivers, and will
be racing in both the Star Mazda Series race on Saturday and the Women's
Global GT Series race on Sunday.
3. Lynx driver Mike Conte, a software developer who helped create several
of Microsoft's most popular products, will be racing a Porsche in the GT
class of the of the Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sunday. Conte and co-driver
Bruno Lambert scored a podium finish at the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring
earlier this year.
4. Two Northern California women, Peggy Haas (San Francisco) and Jackie
Doty (Monterey), own Lynx Racing, now in its 9th year of operation. The
team's mission is to seek out young drivers with championship potential and
provide them with the funding, equipment and training to make it to the top
levels of auto racing.
5. Lynx alumni include CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier (Player's/
Forsythe), Alex Barron (Marlboro Penske) and Memo Gidley (Alpine/ Walker).
____________________________
To the average spectator, a race car is a race car - but to the
finely-tuned senses of a top driver, a competition-prepared sports car and
an open-wheel, single-seat 'formula car' are as different (as the old
saying goes) as chalk and cheese.
And that pretty much describes what's happening July 23 - 25 at
Sears Point International Raceway in Northern California, a weekend of
chalk and cheese called The American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Sonoma
Presented By Toshiba Copiers and Fax. Eight classes of cars will compete
in five separate races.
Two of the high-speed gourmets participating in this gas-tronomic
spectacle are Lynx Racing drivers Sara Senske and Mike Conte. Each is
already a hot property well on their way to racing's ultimate food fight,
the CART Fed Ex Series. This weekend, however, they'll be devouring a
different dish.
Senske, a front-running star in the ultra-competitive steppingstone
Star Formula Mazda series, will run her #19 Lynx Racing/S3 Racing
open-wheel car in the 45-minute Star Mazda race that starts at 5:00 p.m.
Saturday afternoon. She'll then switch from formula to fenders and run in
the second round of the innovative new Women's Global GT Series at 3:55
p.m. on Sunday. Drivers in the event are the fastest female racers from
around the world, competing in specially built Panoz sports cars.
"Racing two completely different kinds of cars on the same weekend
is a real challenge," says Senske. "The real world equivalent would be
like riding a motorcycle then driving a sport utility vehicle. The Formula
Mazda is nimble and fast around the corners, while the Panoz is heavy and
accelerates like a rocket. They're both rungs on the ladder I'm climbing
on my way up to Champ Cars."
Conte, who drives for the championship-winning Lynx Racing team in
the ultra-competitive steppingstone KOOL/Toyota Atlantic series, will drive
a GT class Porsche - the same car with which he and co-driver Bruno Lambert
scored a podium finish in the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year - in
the 2 hour and 45 minute American Le Mans event that takes the green flag
at Noon on Sunday.
"An Atlantic car and a Porsche are as different as chalk and
cheese," says Conte. "And the driving techniques are completely different.
An Atlantic event is 45 minutes of flat-out, on-the-edge racing, while
this weekend in the Porsche is in an endurance contest where you have to
pace yourself over a period of hours. Both offer their own challenges and
rewards, and I'm happy to be following in the footsteps of racing legends
like Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt who successfully raced both sports cars and
formula cars."
Lynx Racing, owned by Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty and now entering
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.'
Lynx alumni include CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier
(Player's/ Forsythe), Alex Barron (racing this weekend in the U.S. 500 for
the Marlboro Penske team) and Memo Gidley (Alpine/ Walker).
Contact:
For further information, presskits, photos, videotape, interviews with
drivers or team owners, etc. - please call Peter Frey at (818) 909-0985.
Event Schedule:
Friday, July 23
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Star Mazda Practice
10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. GT Practice
12:45 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. Star Mazda Practice
1:30 p.m. - 1:50 p.m. Women's GT Qualifying #1
2:50 p.m. - 3:10 p.m. Women's GT Qualifying #2
3:25 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. GT Qualifying
4:35 p.m. - 5:05 p.m. Star Mazda Practice
Saturday, July 24
9:20 a.m. - 10:05 a.m. Star Mazda Qualifying
10:20 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. GT Practice
11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Driver Autograph Session
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Women's GT Qualifying Heat Race
2:25 p.m. - 2:55 p.m. Women's GT Qualifying Heat Race
3:10 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. GT Qualifying
5:00 p.m. Star Mazda Race / 45 min.
Sunday, July 25
9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Women's GT Warm-Up
12 Noon American Le Mans Grand Prix of
Sonoma / 2 hrs. 45 min.
3:55 p.m. Women's Global GT Race / 45 min.
Note: Schedule presented here is only for races in which Lynx drivers are
participating. There are several other races during the weekend,
and cars will be on track throughout both days.
Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.