Lynx Racing '96 Season Patrick Carpentier (19) & Jeret Schroeder (96)

History

Years of the Cat
"In today already walks tomorrow."
   - Freidrich von Schiller

Lynx Racing began in 1990 on the Turn 2 hillside at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. Jackie Doty, then herself a driver in the Jim Russell series, was watching an Atlantic race with some racing buddies and had the idea to found a team that would give young drivers with no money or family connections a way to get their 'big break' in racing. Friends Bev Carr and Jeff Barker, who was to become Lynx Racing's first driver, were the first ones with whom she discussed the idea. Paul Cava, then head of the Atlantic series, gave her the names of some teams who owned cars for rent, and she put together a plan and budget for a testing program and season of racing. She then contacted Peggy Haas, who was at the time married to David Jones, also a driver in the Russell series. Haas was immediately taken with the idea and came on board as a co-founder.

Lynx Racing Timeline

1991 - Lynx runs its first race, at Lime Rock, with Jeff Barker driving a Swift DB-4 rented from Joe Tabor. 1992 - Barker returns driving a Reynard rented from Joe Tabor. First Lynx-specific paint scheme created by graphic artist Dan Gilbert.

1993 - Lynx moves its program to Della Penna Motorsports with Jeff Barker driving a Ralt RT-40. He takes the pole at Phoenix, finishes on the podium at Trois Rivieres and is third in the series championship. First year for the now traditional Lynx #19.

1994 - Barker and founding member Bev Carr leave Lynx Team. Lynx signs Richie Hearn. Della Penna also runs car for Clint Mears (son of 4-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears). Hearn wins four races and is series Rookie of the Year.

1995 - Hearn and Della Penna split of from Lynx to run their own Atlantic program and Hearn wins the championship. They move up to CART and IRL in 1996. Lynx moves to Cameron-McGee Motorsports and signs Canadian Patrick Carpentier, who wins races at Miami and Nazareth.

1996 - Carpentier returns with new teammate, American Jeret Schroeder. Carpentier wins nine of 12 races, eight of them in a row from the pole (a record that still stands as of 2004), wins the series championship and is signed by the Bettenhausen/Alumax CART team.

1997 - Lynx signs two rookie drivers, Memo Gidley and Alex Barron, both graduates of F2000 and the Lynx 'junior team', DSTP Motorsports. Gidley wins two races; Barron wins five, along with Atlantic Rookie of the Year and the series championship. He signs with Dan Gurney's All-American CART team for 1998. Lynx signs its first female driver, Sara Senske, who runs the final six races of the Star Formula Mazda season. Lynx graduate Carpentier is CART's 1997 'Rookie of the Year.'

1998 - Gidley returns for a second season, and Buddy Rice moves up from the DSTP F2000 team to the Lynx Atlantic team. Rice takes the pole for his first-ever Atlantic race, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach -- a race Gidley wins. Rice wins his second race with the team, on the oval at Nazareth. In total, the duo wins the first four races in a row before the Atlantic series forces the team to change over form the team's highly-developed and successful Ralt RT-41 to the new 'spec'Swift 008.a Atlantic car, which Gidley puts on the pole at Cleveland. Sara Senske runs a full season of Star Mazda, scoring two pole positions and two
podium finishes. Carpentier realizes the dream of every Canadian driver and signs with the Player's/Forsythe team.

1999 - Rice returns to the Lynx Atlantic team with new teammate Mike Conte. Rice leads several races and scores several podium finishes. Conte finishes second in a Porsche at 12 Hours of Sebring. Senske wins Women's Global GT race from the pole at Portland. Part way through the season, Gidley becomes the third Lynx driver in CART when he runs four races for Walker Racing and finishes out the season at Payton-Coyne. He also drives in the Petit LeMans race for Panoz factory team. Barron leaves All-American Racers and drives two 500-mile races for Marlboro Team
Penske.

2000 - Mike Conte returns, with Canadian David Rutledge as the new Lynx driver. Both are in their third year of Atlantic, having driven for other teams previously. Rutledge scores three podium finishes, wins from the pole at Montreal and finishes sixth in the Atlantic championship. Conte scores eight top-10 finishes. Senske moves up to the Barber Dodge Pro Series and scores one top-10 finish. Gidley runs 24 Hours of Daytona with Johanssen-Matthews, runs three CART races for Player's/Forsythe in place of the injured Patrick Carpentier and finishes the 2000 CART season with Della Penna Motorsports. Barron drives the last half of the CART season for Dale Coyne Racing. Lynx Engineer Jim Griffith, driver Buddy Rice and former Lynx junior team DSTP Motorsports split with Lynx, form their own Atlantic team and win the championship.

2001 - Rutledge returns for his second season as a Lynx driver, wins three races from the pole, scored three podiums and finishes second in the championship. He also wins the Gilles Villeneuve Award, the Worldcom Fast Pace Award and is selected for the CART All-Star team. Canadian Michael Valiante drives five Atlantic races with Lynx, finishing on the podium twice and finishing 9th in the championship. Sara Senske completes her sixth year with the team and her second in the Barber Dodge Pro Series. She becomes the first woman to score a podium finish in a CART-sanctioned event when she starts from the front row and finishes second in the BDPS race at the Target Grand Prix of Chicago. Senske also competes in the Toyota Pro-Celebrity race at Long Beach. Gidley runs last half of CART season with Target Chip Ganassi and scores three podium finishes. Barron runs final two CART races with Arciero-Blair. Carpentier re-signs with Player's/Forsythe.

2002 – Michael Valiante becomes the new Lynx driver,replacing the
graduating David Rutledge. Team also fields car for Grant Ryley, sponsored by Northwest Speedwerx. Valiante win three races, finishes on the podium three times and scores one pole. He finishes every lap of every race and leads the championship until midway through the final race of the season. He finishes second in the championship and is awarded the Michael Rosen trophy as the fastest-rising star in the Atlantic series. Senske tests with Dodge NASCAR Craftsman Truck team. Gidley loses Target Chip Ganassi ride. Barron signs to do full-season with Blair Racing in IRL, finishes 4th in Indy 500 and wins at Kentucky before team folds. Carpentier wins two Champ Car races and finishes third in Championship, re-signs with Player's/Forsythe. Buddy Rice signs to partner Tomas Sheckter at Red Bull Cheever Racing and finishes second in his first-ever IRL race.

2003 – Michael Valiante returns for his second full year as the Lynx Racing driver; on his way to third place in the series championship, he scores three wins, three podium finishes and four top-5 finishes. He is set to make his Champ Car debut with Walker Racing in the season finale at Fontana, however the race is cancelled due to disastrous wildfires in the area. Bryan Sellers, the 2002 Formula Ford Zetec champion, drives four Atlantic races with the team, and Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, the 2003 Canadian Formula Ford 1600 champion drives two of the Canadian races, Trois Rivieres and Montreal. Carpentier wins two Champ Car races with Player's/Forsythe. Blair Racing folds and Alex Barron becomes the IRL's 'super sub', winning the Michigan 500 with Mo Nunn Racing and then replaces Lynx graduate Buddy Rice at Red Bull Team Cheever for the final four races of the season. Rice runs final NASCAR Craftsman Truck race of the season with Thorsport Racing, finishing 20th.

2004 - Bryan Sellers is announced as the new Lynx Racing driver for the 2004 Toyota Atlantic season. He will be teamed Australian teenager Josh Hunt, who will run with the Lynx team for the season then make his debut in a Champ Car at his home race, the Surfer's Paradise Lexmark Indy 300. Patrick Carpentier returns to the Forsythe Racing team for his 8th year as a Champ Car driver. Alex Barron signs a full-season deal to drive for Red Bull Cheever Racing in the IRL. Team Rahal signs Buddy Rice to substitute for Kenny Brack, who is still recovering from severe injuries suffered in a horrifying crash at the 2003 IRL season finale. Memo Gidley signs to race a Ford Focus (sponsored by the Air Force Reserve) in the Grand American Touring Car Series.