ATLANTICS: The million-horsepower circus
17 September 1999
Fast Facts: Lynx Racing drivers in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta
September 15 - 19
1. Lynx Racing's latest graduate, Memo Gidley, currently driving for the
Herdez/Payton-Coyne team in the CART FedEx Championship will be making his
sports car debut in a Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S Prototype with fellow drivers
Jan Magnussen (also a CART driver) and Johnny O'Connell.
2. Lynx Racing driver Sara Senske will be competing in the fourth round of
the Women's Global GT Series, one of the weekend's support races. Senske
started from the pole in the Portland round, led every lap, set the fastest
lap of the race and won by a margin of 27-seconds over the 2nd place car.
3. Lynx Racing driver Mike Conte will be competing in the GT class of the
Petit Le Mans in the #17 Porsche fielded under his own Contemporary
Motorsports banner -- the same car in which he finished third at Sebring.
Conte is a former MicroSoft software developer who was involved in creating
Windows 95 and Internet Explorer.
4. Lynx Racing is the only championship winning racing team / driver
development program in motorsports today owned by women, Peggy Haas and
Jackie Doty. Lynx graduates include CART Fed Ex drivers Patrick
Carpentier, Alex Barron and Memo Gidley.
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Auto racing's equivalent of the Barnum & Bailey Ringling Bros.
Circus -- a million horsepower circus -- is happening at the Road Atlanta
Motor Sports Center this weekend, and a trio of Lynx Racing drivers find
themselves in starring roles.
Memo Gidley is the latest graduate of the unique and remarkably successful
Lynx Racing driver development program, and he'll be making his sports car
debut in the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S Prototype regularly driven by Jan
Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell.
Gidley is a driver much in demand these days. After distinguishing
himself in a four race stint in the Walker-Alpine Reynard Honda, filling in
for the injured Naoki Hattori, Gidley has been signed to run the #71
Herdez-sponsored car for Payton-Coyne for the remaining road courses and
street circuits in the 1999 season.
He tested the Panoz, at the invitation of Don Panoz, at Road
Atlanta on August 24, and came away mightily impressed.
"It's like driving the Batmobile in the way that it challenges you to
muscle it around, which is a pretty interesting change from driving open
wheel cars that demand you be really delicate," says Gidley. "I ran two
sessions, just 5-6 laps in the first one to find my way around the track
and get used to the car. In the second session, I was pretty much in the
ballpark with the other drivers who were in the test, including Johnny
O'Connell and David Brabham. Because of my experiences with stock cars and
Can-Am cars, I was able to adjust to it fairly quickly, and it was good to
meet Don Panoz because it's clear that he has big plans for the future."
And it's apparent from his comments, and the fact that he invited
Gidley to drive, that Don Panoz was also impressed, "Memo Gidley caught
our eye some time ago as he's young, ambitious and very fast around the
track. I think he'll fit in extremely well with the rest of my guys, which
is going to be important for this race as they are up against some tough
competition."
Also running during the Petit Le Mans weekend is Lynx Racing driver
Sara Senske, the hottest female driver in auto racing today. She'll be
competing in the fourth round of the innovative new Women's Global GT
Series, created by Indy 500 driver Lyn St. James and Road Atlanta / Panoz
Motorsports owner Don Panoz.
This support race features the fastest women drivers from around
the world competing in identically-prepared Panoz Esperante sports cars.
Senske won the third round of the WGGTS, at Portland International Raceway.
She qualified on the pole, led every lap, set the fastest lap, and won by
a margin of 27 seconds over the 2nd-place finisher.
"Road Atlanta was where the tryouts for the WGGTS were held, so I'm
familiar with the track, and the fact that I was fastest in the first
practice sessions on Wednesday gives me some confidence going into the
weekend," says Senske, who is currently third in the WGGTS points battle.
"This is an extremely competitive series full of some of the top drivers in
the world, and to do well is a real accomplishment. My goal is to be the
first woman to win the Indy 500, and gaining experience in a variety of
cars and situations is important to achieving that goal."
The third Lynx driver participating in the Petit Le Mans is Mike
Conte, who drives for the team in the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship as
a teammate to CART FedEx hot prospect Buddy Rice. Conte will be
campaigning a Porsche 911 entered under his own Contemporary Motorsport
banner in the GT class -- the same car with which he finished third at the
12 hours of Sebring earlier this year.
"I'm particularly partial to natural road courses, and Road Atlanta
is one of the best in the world," says Conte. "This race is an interesting
one in that the ten-hour length is enough to qualify it as an 'endurance'
race, but short enough that everyone will be driving at very nearly top
speed the entire time. Mechanical reliability will be a big part of how
things turn out, but so will car setup and the physical fitness of the
drivers. There are a lot more factors in a race like this than just who is
the fastest, and I think we've got a pretty good balance."
Lynx Racing, owned by Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty, is a unique
driver development program now in its ninth year of operation. The team's
mission is to seek out young drivers with championship potential and
provide them with the funding, resources and training to realize that
potential. Lynx Racing alumni include CART Fed Ex drivers Patrick
Carpentier, Alex Barron and Memo Gidley.
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