Paul Gentilozzi (born February 6, 1950 in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

) is a race car driver and businessman. His non-racing business interests are

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parcels ...

, principally developing office buildings for institutions and Government Agencies. Prior to his involvement in motor racing, he received his Business Degree from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. In 1985 he founded the successful

Rocketsports Racing Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States. Team history Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 200 ...

team that has competed in the

Trans-Am series The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includ ...

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...

World Series and The International Motorsports Association. As a driver he has won five drivers championships and nine manufacturers championships while holding the Trans Am record for wins, poles, top three finishes and prize monies won. With 31 Trans Am wins, the most in series history, eclipsing the record held by

Mark Donohue Mark Neary Donohue Jr. (March 18, 1937 – August 19, 1975), nicknamed "Captain Nice," and later "Dark Monohue," was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. D ...

and 11 IMSA wins. He has run a number of different manufacturers including Oldsmobile, Ferrari, Ford, Nissan, Chevrolet, and most recently Jaguar. Previous to this he was involved in NHRA Drag Racing, successfully driving many Plymouth and Dodge vehicles. In 2009 he formed

RSR Racing RSR Racing was an American sports car racing team formed from the defunct Rocketsports Racing. In the spring of 2009, Paul Gentilozzi and his sons, Tony and John, founded RSR in partnership with Jaguar Cars Ltd. to build and race the Jaguar XKR in ...

with his sons Anthony and John Gentilozzi. He teamed up with three other drivers to win the 1994

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

, his biggest win as a driver. He and Scott Pruett won the GTS class at the 2002 Daytona 24 hour event. He has fielded Champ Cars for rookie of the year

Timo Glock Timo Glock (born 18 March 1982) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He raced in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers' Championship in both ...

, Alex Tagliani, Mario Dominguez, Antonio Pizzonia and 2004

Star Mazda The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the Road to Indy l ...

series champion Michael McDowell, while running three Trans-Am cars for himself,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

advertising executive/racer Tomy Drissi and that year's series champion

Klaus Graf Klaus Graf (born 21 July 1969) is a German professional racing driver. He is the son of rally driver Peter Graf. He lives in the United States while competing in the American Le Mans Series. He resulted LMP1 class champion in 2012, and runner-up ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Television star Craig T. Nelson. Gentilozzi and fellow Champ Car owners

Gerald Forsythe Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

and

Kevin Kalkhoven Kevin Oscar Newton Kalkhoven (1944 – 4 January 2022) was an Australian venture capitalist and auto racing magnate based in California. He served as CEO of JDS Uniphase and was an investor in Cosworth Group Holdings Limited, an automotive tech ...

purchased the assets of Champ Car following a financially difficult 2003 season. Judge Frank Otte ruled in favor of the trio, known as Open Wheel Racing Series LLC, over rival bidder

Tony George Anton Hulman "Tony" George (born December 30, 1959) is the former Chairman, President, and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Company, serving from 1989 to 2009. He was also formerly on the Board of Directors of both entities. ...

, the chairman/CEO of the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United State ...

and the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

. In 2008, the series was merged with the Indy Racing League.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

References

1950 births Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Trans-Am Series drivers Michigan State University alumni Living people Racing drivers from Michigan Sportspeople from Lansing, Michigan 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers American Le Mans Series drivers {{US-autoracing-bio-stub Rocketsports Racing drivers