Butch Leitzinger

Robert Franklin "Butch" Leitzinger (born February 28, 1969) is a 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.

Racing career

Sports car racing

Leitzinger in the #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. Butch drove the Alex Job Racing (AJR) # 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 down size to a single car effort with the #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 # 20 Oryx Dyson Racing car at Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta. At Laguna Seca the 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 150 MPH 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 will 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 12th in 1995. On June 24, 2007, Leitzinger ran the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway in the Bill Davis Racing-owned #23 Caterpillar Toyota and finished 28th.

Personal life

Leitzinger lives on a working 1840's farm in Rebersburg, Pennsylvania with his wife, Kirsten, and their daughter. He earned a Bachelor of Science in business management from Penn State University in 1991. He is the son of IMSA driver, Bob Leitzinger.

Motorsports career results

24 Hours of Le Mans

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1997	David Price Racing	Andy Wallace James Weaver	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	GT1	236	DNF	DNF
1999	Panoz Motorsports	David Brabham Éric Bernard	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Élan	LMP	336	7th	6th
2000	Team Cadillac	Franck Lagorce Andy Wallace	Cadillac Northstar LMP	LMP900	291	21st	11th
2001	Team Bentley	Andy Wallace Eric van de Poele	Bentley EXP Speed 8	LMGTP	306	3rd	1st
2002	Team Bentley	Andy Wallace Eric van de Poele	Bentley EXP Speed 8	LMGTP	362	4th	1st
2003	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	NNCC	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 31	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL						72nd	70	^[1]
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 12	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL						54th	127	^[2]
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 20	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL						58th	103	^[3]
2007	Bill Davis Racing	23	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON 28	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	66th	79	^[4]

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	NBSC	Pts	Ref
1994	Butch Leitzinger Racing	91	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR	DAR	HCY	BRI	ROU	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN 27	MLW	SBO	TAL	HCY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	MAR	CAR								113th	0¹	^[5]
1995	American Equipment Racing	95	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN 16	MLW	TAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM										86th	115	^[6]
1996	Butch Leitzinger Racing	91	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN 15	MLW	NHA	TAL	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM										78th	118	^[7]
2000	Innovative Motorsports	30	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSV	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN 2	MLW	NZH	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	MEM	PHO	HOM				87th	175	^[8]
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 21	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	116th	91	^[9]

¹ Leitzinger's team was a post-entry for the race and thus did not receive points.

References

↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 1994 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 1995 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 1996 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 2000 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
↑ "Butch Leitzinger – 2006 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.

External links

Butch Leitzinger driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Butch Leitzinger Biography, Dyson Racing
Butch Leitzinger is the Class of American Racing, Speed Channel editorial July 8, 2005
Butch Leitzinger enjoys racing's family atmosphere, motorsport.com, April 1, 2004
The Complete Driver: Butch Leitzinger of Dyson Racing, RaceFamily Motorsports

Winners of the Daytona Sports Car Classic

run as the Daytona 3 Hour Continental (1962–63) Daytona 2000 (1964–65) 6 Hours of Daytona (1972) 24 Hours of Daytona (1966–71 / 1973 / 1975–present)

Five-time	Hurley Haywood Scott Pruett

Four-time	Peter Gregg Pedro Rodríguez Rolf Stommelen Bob Wollek

Three-time	Derek Bell Butch Leitzinger Juan Pablo Montoya Brian Redman Memo Rojas Andy Wallace

Two-time	Mauro Baldi João Barbosa Terry Borcheller Scott Dixon Christian Fittipaldi Elliott Forbes-Robinson A. J. Foyt Al Holbert Jan Lammers Ken Miles John Paul Jr. Lloyd Ruby Scott Sharp Wayne Taylor Didier Theys Al Unser Jr.

One-time	Allmendinger Amon J. Andretti Ma. Andretti Angelelli Ballot-Léna Bandini Barber Beretta Bergmeister Bernhard Boesel Bouchut Bourdais Boutsen Brown Brundle Buckler Collard Dalziel Derani Dismore D. Donohue M. Donohue Dupuy Durán Duxbury Dyson Elford Fellows Field Fitzpatrick Franchitti Fréon García Garretson Gentilozzi Graves Gurney Hand Hasemi Helmick Henn Herrmann Hezemans Hill Hoshino Ickx Jelinski Joest D. Jones P. J. Jones Kanaan Kimball Kinnunen Kneifel Krages Larson Lässig Lavaggi Law Lienhard Luyendyk Martin McMurray Mears Merl Millen Moran Moretti Neerpasch Negri Nielsen O'Connell Oliver Ongais Pace Papis C. Parsons Paul, Sr. Pescarolo Pew Pilgrim B. Rahal G. Rahal Rice Robinson Rockenfeller Schneider Schrom Siffert Suzuki Unser, Sr. Van der Merwe Van Overbeek Weaver Wendlinger Werner Wheldon Wilson

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 09, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.