Category Archives: RRDC

RRDC Votes in New Members for 2012

RRDC VOTES IN 42 NEW MEMBERS FOR 2012
 
HILLIARD, Ohio (Oct. 24, 2012) – Thirty race-car drivers have been voted into the Road Racing Drivers Club as Regular members for 2012. The group has won a collective 66 season championships and more than 700 races, including an incredible 32overall victories at Le Mans. Also, 12 Associate and Honorary members were voted in, six in each category, raising the membership of the RRDC to 407. Voting was held among all current RRDC members.
 
“This is truly a stellar group of talented race-car drivers and contributors to the sport,” said RRDC president Bobby Rahal. “We are honored that each of them has enthusiastically accepted membership in the RRDC. We look forward to working with them as the RRDC continues to pursue its goals of lending its expertise to up-and-coming drivers through a variety of programs.” 
 
While Regular RRDC members are race-car drivers who have competed at the championship level, the criteria for Associate membership includes drivers who have participated successfully in major professional events or in lesser and/or historic events, as well as drivers who have significant ties to racing, such as corporate, sponsorship, mentoring, patronage and promotion.
 
Honorary members are distinguished senior international motorsports champions, team owners and others who have demonstrated a life-long commitment in support of racing through active volunteerism, officiating and/or promotion of the sport generally.

For additional information and driver head shots, go to www.rrdc.org.
 
In alphabetical order, here are the 30 new Regular members:
 
MARCOS AMBROSE: Won four Tasmanian junior karting titles, plus the Australian championship in ’95. European FF champion in ’99. Australian Supercar Series Rookie of the Year in ’01, champion in ’03 and ’04. Gambled all on NASCAR, running in the Craftsman Truck and Nationwide Series, before landing a Sprint Cup seat in ’08. Has four road course victories – two Cup, one Nationwide at Watkins Glen, plus a Nationwide win at Montreal.
 
PETER ARGETSINGER: ’74 German FF Rookie of the Year, ’78 British Driver of the Year, British FF and European FF Champion in ’80. Moved to sports cars in ’85 with much success. Lead instructor for Brands Hatch, BMW, Audi and Skip Barber schools; private coach to Damon Hill, Juan Pablo Montoya and other noted pro drivers.
 
FRANK BIELA: Touring Car champ ’91. French Touring Car champ in ‘93. British Touring Car champ and Autosport National Racing Driver of the Year in ’96. Drove for Audi at 24 Hours of Le Mans every year from ’99 to ’08, winning in ’00, ’01, ’02, ’06 and ’07 (with Kristensen, Pirro and Werner).
 
RINALDO “DINDO” CAPELLO: Veteran Audi team driver. ’85 thru ‘88 Italian F3 champ. ’90, ’92, ’93, ’96 Italian Touring Car champ, Group A. ‘96 Italian Super Touring Car champ. ’00, ’02, ’06, ’07, ‘08 Petit Le Mans winner. ’01, ’02, ’06, 07, ’09, ‘12 Sebring winner (record, tied with Kristensen). ’03, ’04, ‘08 Le Mans 24 winner. ’00, ’06, ‘07 ALMS LMP champ.
 
EDDIE CHEEVER, JR.: Started in karts in Italy and raced for almost 30 years in F1, sports cars,CART and IRL. Won the Italian and European karting championships at age 15.Raced in both F3 and F2. Started 132 F1 races, more than any other American(’78-’89). Scored nine podiums and 70 championship points. Was CART Rookie of the Year at Indy in ’90. Formed his own IRL team in ’97, and won the ’98 Indy 500 as both owner and driver.
 
RYAN DALZIEL: Top rookie and Ecurie Ecosse Trophy winner in ’99 British Formula Vauxhall Championship. 2nd overall and top rookie in ’00 Formula Renault. British F3 in ’01, followed by 2nd in U.S. Formula Atlantic in both ’03 and ’04. ChampCar, GRAND-AM and ALMS since. Six top-10 ChampCar finishes in ’07. Rolex 24 at Daytona overall winner, ’10.
 
ANDREW DAVIS: SCCA South Atlantic Champion in ’97, ’98 and ’99. Multiple top-five finishes in Formula Ford in ’00. ALMS competitor in ’01 thru ’03, and GRAND-AM Rolex Series in ’03 to present in GT class, overall champion in ’11. AARWBA All-America Team, SPEED TV Top-Ten GRAND-AM Driver and Porsche Sport Driving School.
 
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Began in motocross at age 8. Ran 24 Hours of Mexico at age 18. Mexican F3 Champion ’91. Indy Lights Rookie of the Year ’92. 194 career starts in CART, IndyCar and ChampCar ’93-’04 with 11 wins and 25 podiums. 2nd in points in ’00. ALMS LMP2 champion ’09.
 
OLIVER GAVIN: Started as British club racer. McLaren BRDC Award in ’91. Autosport BritishClub Driver of the Year in ’92. British F3 champion in ’95. Later became Corvette factory team driver. Ran at Le Mans every year from ’01 (Saleen) and ‘02 to ’12 (Corvette). Four-time class winner and 4th overall in ’06. 2012 ALMS GT Champion.
 
DICK GULDSTRAND: A career Corvette specialist, drove to consecutive Pacific Coast titles, ’63-’65, plus Daytona 24 GT Class win in ’66. Set GT track record at Le Mans in ’67.Developed, raced and won with Camaros in the Trans-Am Series and with Lola in Can-Am for James Garner. First inductee into Corvette Hall of Fame. Engineers and produces performance equipment and special-edition Corvettes.
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Started in karting, then finished 3rd in the Bridgestone Academy F2000 Series in ’02. Rookie of the Year in Formula BMW USA with four poles and three wins. Moved to Star Mazda then Firestone Indy Lights, finishing second with threewins in ’10. Rookie of the Year in IZOD IndyCar Series with Newman-Haas Racing in ’11.
 
JACKY ICKX: At one time led all drivers in Le Mans 24 overall victories with six. Won numerous other premier sports car races including Monza 1000, Nurburgring 1000 and Kayalami 9-Hour. Scored eight victories and 17 other podiums in 116 Formula 1 starts over 13 seasons – ’67-’79. Co-drove over the years with RRDC members Brian Redman and Derek Bell with whom he shared three of his Le Mans victories. Ickx was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in ‘02.
 
MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR.: Raced from age 12 in Mexican Formula Junior, Formula 2 and Sports Prototypes from ’88-‘95, then transitioned to IRL and CART beginning in ’96. Drove for Team Scandia/Simon, Herdez/Bettenhausen and Team Rahal, among others, including Indy 500. Finished 3rd in CART Championship in ’03. Many starts in NASCAR Nationwide Series in ’05-’08.
 
LEHMAN “LEH” KEEN: GRAND-AM Rolex GT Champion in ’09 with Farnbacher Loles and ’11 with Brumos Racing. Winner ’10 Sebring 12-Hour GT3 class with Alex Job Racing. In ’10, was second in GT2 (12th o/a) at Le Mans, then won Nurburgring in a Farnbacher Loles Ferrari 430. 2012 ALMS GTC class runner-up.
 
TOM KRISTENSEN: Winningest driver in Le Mans 24-Hour history with eight victories, including six in a row – ‘2000-’05. Also has claimed (with Capello) a record six Sebring 12-Hour victories – ’99, ’00, ’05, ’06, ’09, ’12. ALMS champion, ’02. The most successful endurance racer ever, he as been an Audi factory driver since 2000. Has raced the R8, R10 TDI, R15 TDI and now the R18 sports cars, as well as six versions of the A4 DTM.