Butch Leitzinger

Robert Franklin "Butch" Leitzinger (born February 28, 1969 ) is an American professional racing driver. He is best known as an ALMS driver with Dyson Racing, but he has also driven for a variety of other teams and race series. He won the IMSA Pro WSC Championship driver's titles in both 1997 and 1998 while driving for Dyson Racing. Leitzinger is also a three time winner of the Daytona 24 Hours race, having won in 1994, 1997 and 1999.

Racing career Sports car racing

Leitzinger in the No. 52 PC at the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring. Leitzinger has driven for the Bentley factory team at Le Mans in 2001 and 2002, for the Cadillac team at Le Mans in 2000 and for Panoz at Le Mans in 1999. Leitzinger has also driven in the GT classification for Risi Competizione at Le Mans in 2003. Leitzinger was also named 2002 Rookie of the Year in the Trans-Am Series. He drove the Alex Job Racing (AJR) No. 81 Porsche GT3 car in the first four events in the American Le Mans Series GTC class for the 2010 season, with Juan Gonzales earning victories at the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring as well as at Long Beach and a podium finish at Laguna Seca, resulting in the duo achieving a healthy lead in the points standings before unfortunate circumstances forced Alex Job Racing to downsize to a single-car effort with the No. 23 car for the remainder of the season.

Leitzinger spent the 2011 season as a substitute driver when needed and as a third driver during endurance races. As a substitute, Leitzinger ran a total of two ALMS races, one of which was the Lime Rock race in which he and Bill Sweedler finished third in class in the AJR GTC Porsche. The other race was the Road America race in which he drove the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports LMPC car with Rudy Junco and on his first time ever driving an LMPC car and the first time with the team Leitzinger qualified on pole in class and along with Junco, won the race in class. As a third driver in endurance races, Leitzinger drove along with Humaid Al Masaood and Steven Kane in the No. 20 Oryx Dyson Racing car at Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta. At Laguna Seca, the No. 20 car led much of the race and finished in third. In the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta the car was sidelined early with a throttle position sensor problem. Shortly after returning to the track something in the left rear of the car broke as Leitzinger rounded turn 1 at about which sent him off the track and hard into the tires ending the day for the 20 car.

It was later announced that Leitzinger would drive the full 2012 season in the ALMS in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports LMPC car. The 2012 season would reunite the successful combination from Road America 2011 of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Leitzinger, and Junco, who were co-drivers for the majority of the 2012 season.

Leitzinger shared the 1999 United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) championship with teammate Elliott Forbes-Robinson and won the famed Rolex 24 at Daytona: twice with Dyson Racing (1997 & 1999), and once in a Nissan 300ZX (1994) co-driven with Scott Pruett, Steve Millen and Paul Gentilozzi.

At the beginning of their involvement in ALMS, Leitzinger and the Dyson team fielded Ford-powered Riley & Scott cars but switched to the newer MG-Lola EX257 midway through the 2002 season. Dyson Racing achieved its first ALMS victory in the car when Leitzinger and James Weaver scored an overall win at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. This also marked the first time that an LMP675 (now called LMP2) class car scored an overall win in an ALMS race.

NASCAR

Leitzinger competed in NASCAR races as a road course ringer. He ran in three Winston Cup Series races at Watkins Glen with a best finish of twelfth in 1995. On June 24, 2007, Leitzinger ran the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway in the Bill Davis Racing-owned No. 23 Caterpillar Toyota and finished 28th. Leitzinger's nearest-miss in NASCAR racing was the Busch Series race at Watkins Glen in 2000 when he drove the No. 30 car for Innovative Motorsports; he led thirteen laps, and finished second behind fellow ringer Ron Fellows.

Personal life

Leitzinger lives in State College, Pennsylvania with his wife, Kirsten, and their daughter and son. He earned a Bachelor of Science in business management from Penn State University in 1991. He is the son of IMSA driver, Bob Leitzinger, and artist Sandra Leitzinger.

Motorsports career results

24 Hours of Le Mans Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps David Price Racing Andy Wallace James Weaver Panoz Esperante GTR-1 GT1 236 DNF DNF Panoz Motorsports David Brabham Éric Bernard Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Élan LMP 336 7th 6th Team Cadillac Franck Lagorce Andy Wallace Cadillac Northstar LMP LMP900 291 21st 11th Team Bentley Andy Wallace Eric van de Poele Bentley EXP Speed 8 LMGTP 306 3rd 1st Team Bentley Andy Wallace Eric van de Poele Bentley EXP Speed 8 LMGTP 362 4th 1st Risi Competizione Shane Lewis Johnny Mowlem Ferrari 360 Modena GT GT 138 DNF DNF

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

Nextel Cup Series NASCAR Nextel Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Pts Ref 1994 Butch Leitzinger Racing 03 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL 72nd 70 1995 Dick Brooks Racing 40 Pontiac DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL 54th 127 1996 Diamond Ridge Motorsports 29 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL 58th 103 2007 Bill Davis Racing 23 Toyota DAY CAL LVS ATL BRI MAR TEX PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV POC MCH SON NHA DAY CHI IND POC GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH NHA DOV KAN TAL CLT MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 66th 79

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts Ref 1994 Butch Leitzinger Racing 91 Ford DAY CAR RCH ATL MAR DAR HCY BRI ROU NHA NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW SBO TAL HCY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT MAR CAR 113th 01 1995 American Equipment Racing 95 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL NSV DAR BRI HCY NHA NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW TAL SBO IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR HOM 86th 115 1996 Butch Leitzinger Racing 91 Ford DAY CAR RCH ATL NSV DAR BRI HCY NZH CLT DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NHA TAL IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR HOM 78th 118 2000 Innovative Motorsports 30 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX NSV TAL CAL RCH NHA CLT DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NZH PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO HOM 87th 175 2006 NDS Motorsports 79 Dodge DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI TEX NSH PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA MAR GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM 116th 91

Leitzinger's team was a post-entry for the race and thus did not receive points.

Busch North Series NASCAR Busch North Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Pts Ref 1993 Butch Leitzinger Racing 91 Ford LEE NHA MND NZH HOL GLN JEN STA GLN NHA WIS NHA NHA RPS TMP WMM LEE EPP LRP N/A 0 1994 NHA NHA MND NZH SPE HOL GLN JEN EPP GLN NHA WIS STA TMP MND WMM RPS LEE NHA LRP 39th 442 1995 DAY NHA LEE JEN NHA NZH HOL BEE TMP GLN NHA TIO MND GLN EPP RPS LEE STA BEE NHA TMP LRP 38th 587 1996 DAY LEE JEN NZH HOL NHA TIO BEE TMP NZH NHA STA GLN EPP RPS LEE NHA NHA BEE TMP LRP 69th 184