Paul Gentilozzi

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Paul Gentilozzi (born February 6, 1950) is a race car driver and businessman born in Lansing, Michigan.

Prior to catching the racing bug, he received his MBA from Michigan State University. In 1985 he founded the successful Rocketsports Racing team that has run in the Trans-Am series and Champ Car World Series. As a driver he has won a number of championships and 30 races, the most in series history which eclipsed the record held by the late Mark Donohue. He has run a number of different manufacturers, Chevy, Ford and more recently Jaguar among them. He teamed with 3 other drivers to win the 1994 24 Hours of Daytona, his biggest win as a driver. In 2005 he fielded Champ Cars for rookie of the year Timo Glock and 2004 Star Mazda series champion Michael McDowell while running three Trans-Am cars for himself, Hollywood advertising executive/racer Tomy Drissi and that year's series champion Klaus Graf of Germany.

He made his mark as an entrepreneur assembling with fellow Champ Car owners Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven to purchase the assets of Champ Car following a financially-difficult 2003 season. Judge Frank Otte ruled in favor of these trio, known as Open Wheel Racing Series LLC, over rival bidder Tony George, the chairman/CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League.