Timothy A. Mayer II (born February 19, 1966) is an active motorsports organizer and official, having been SVP of CART / ChampCar; COO of IMSA and the American Le Mans Series; organizer of races worldwide and a steward for the FIA's World Championships, including Formula One.
The son of American motor racing identity Teddy Mayer and Sarah Mayer (née Bryant, now Dean), Mayer was named after his uncle, racing driver Timmy Mayer. Mayer was educated at Wellington College in the UK and Lehigh University in Pennsylvania (BS Management). Mayer enlisted in the US Army from 1986 to 1990, receiving a commission in the Infantry in 1991, before transferring to the US Army Reserve (Civil Affairs).
Mayer worked with two time World Formula One Champion Emerson Fittipaldi from 1992-1994, and in 1995 established G3 Communications. Between 1995 and 1998, he served as Executive Producer for all Brazilian telecasts of IndyCar, Indy 500 and CART (IndyCar) races. He helped to found, build and operate the Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix (Rio 400). He provided logistics for the Australian Grand Prix and also produced many other international telecasts.
In 1998, Mayer went to work for CART as Senior Vice President of Racing Operations. He subsequently held positions as SVP Promoter Relations, and Special Assistant to the Chairman. He operated CART's worldwide operations, logistics and television - running races across the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, the UK and Germany. [1] [2]
In 2003, Mayer left CART to work directly on UK and German races for CART. [3]
In 2004, he was hired as the Chief Operating Officer of International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). [4] In 2006, he also added the title of Chief Operating Officer of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) [5] [6] and in 2008 added the title of Race Director for ALMS. During Mayer's tenure as COO, IMSA and the American Le Mans Series have risen significantly in prominence, becoming the world's pre-eminent sportscar racing series, and with IMSA re-gaining its role as an eminent sanctioning body.[ citation needed ]
Mayer left IMSA and the ALMS at the end of 2009, [7] returning to consulting for a variety of companies, through his company G3 Communications. He was elected as an Independent Director of the ACCUS (Automobile Competition Committee of the United States) and is the Alternate Delegate to the FIA.
Mayer is a FIA International Steward and officiates the World Endurance Championship; the World Touring Car Championship; the World GT1 Championship; and the FIA Formula One World Championship, as well as several junior formulas. Mayer is one of four FIA Chairmen of the Stewards for Formula One. [8]
In 2012 he was also appointed as the General Manager of the Grand Prix of Baltimore. [9] [10] [11]
Mayer has continued to organize and officiate races around the world. Since 2012 Mayer has been President of US Race Management, the subsidiary of the ACCUS responsible for the sporting organization of the FIA World Championship races in the United States, including the WEC, Formula E and all the Formula One races. Mayer is also a partner in AERO Marketing.
Mayer was married in 2000 and divorced in 2014. He lives with his two sons Matthew (born 2002) and Tyler (born 2003) near Atlanta, Georgia. In 2020 Mayer married Katie Kennedy Guest.
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built sports prototypes which are the highest level in sports car racing or grand tourers based on road-going models and therefore, in general, not as fast as sports prototypes. Sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel racing, touring car racing and stock car racing. Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over particularly long distances or large amounts of time, resulting in a larger emphasis on the reliability and efficiency of the car and its drivers as opposed to outright car performance or driver skills. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of one of the best known sports car racing series.
Laguna Seca Raceway is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and Monterey, California, United States.
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing in the GTP category. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships in the Open-Wheel Racing Series-sanctioned Champ Car World Series from 2004 to 2007. Later he competed at the IndyCar Series from 2011 to 2021. He also entered 27 races in Formula One for the Toro Rosso team during 2008 and the start of 2009.
Michael Mario Andretti is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART championship, and amassed 42 race victories, the most in the CART era and fifth-most all time. Since his retirement, Andretti has owned Andretti Autosport, which has won four IndyCar Series championships and five Indianapolis 500 races. He is the son of Mario Andretti, a multi-time champion, and is the father of IndyCar Series driver Marco Andretti.
Mika Juhani Salo is a Finnish former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from 1994 to 2002.
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive director of SCCA, and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France Sr. of NASCAR. Beginning in 2014, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series resulting from the merger of Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series. IMSA is owned by NASCAR, as a division of the company.
Daniel John Sullivan III, better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Championship, and placed third in points in 1986. Sullivan also scored a victory in IROC. He competed in the 1983 Formula One season with Tyrrell, scoring 2 championship points.
Desiré Wilson (née Randall), born 26 November 1953, is a former racing driver from South Africa and one of only five women to have competed in Formula One. Born in Brakpan, she entered one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in 1980 with a non-works RAM Racing-prepared Williams FW07, but failed to qualify. She also raced in the 1981 non-world championship South African Grand Prix in a one off deal with Tyrrell Racing. This race was not part of the 1981 World Championship due, in part, to the FISA–FOCA war. She qualified 16th and, after the car stalled during the start of the race, she moved up through the field in wet conditions; as conditions dried, she fell back and damaged the car when it touched a wall while she was letting the race leader through.
Ryan John Briscoe is an Australian–American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America.
Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club of America GT World Challenge America and Trans-Am Series and the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar, IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, along with other club events such has SCCA and National Auto Sport Association.
Ryan Dalziel is a Scottish professional racing driver. Dalziel has seen the most success in his career in the United States, racing in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class and the Champ Car World Series, and winning the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona.
Guy James Mutlow Smith is a British professional racing driver, who has competed in various levels of motorsport, most notably the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he won in 2003, and the American Le Mans Series, which he won in 2011.
Jan Heylen is a championship-winning Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida.
John Lee Paul Jr. was an American racing driver. He competed in CART and the Indy Racing League competitions, but primarily in IMSA GT Championship, winning the title in 1982.
Didier Maurice Theys is a Belgian sports car driver. He is a two-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona ; a winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring (1998); the Sports Racing Prototype driver champion of the Grand-American Road Racing Association (2002) and the winner of the 24 Hours of Spa. He was also the polesitter (1996) and a podium finisher at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The podium finish in 1999 was a third overall in the factory Audi R8R with co-drivers Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela. Theys' first appearance at Le Mans was in 1982, while his last start in the world's most famous endurance sports car race came 20 years later in 2002.
ESPN SpeedWorld is a former television series broadcast on ESPN from 1979 to 2006. The program that was based primarily based around NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Formula One, NHRA, and IHRA. The theme music is based on the piano interlude from "18th Avenue " by Cat Stevens.
A street circuit is a motorsport racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor races. Airport runways and taxiways are also sometimes part of street circuits. Facilities such as the paddock, pit boxes, fences and grandstands are usually installed temporarily and removed soon after the race is over but in modern times the pits, garages, race control and main grandstands are sometimes permanently constructed in the area. Since the track surface is originally planned for normal speeds, race drivers often find street circuits bumpy and lacking grip. Run-off areas may be non-existent, which makes driving mistakes more expensive than in purpose-built circuits with wider run-off areas. Racing on a street circuit is also called "legal street racing".
The Chevrolet Grand Prix is an annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race held every July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The race originated in 1975 and is currently a two hour and forty minute race in order to fit the event into a television-friendly package. Previous editions of the Grand Prix were part of the World Sportscar Championship, the American Le Mans Series and the IMSA GT Championship.
Motor sports are widely popular in the United States, but Americans generally ignore major international series, such as Formula One and MotoGP, in favor of home-grown racing series.