Under the Checkered Flag: Stories from the World of Car Racing

For a sport that can trace its roots to outrunning federal revenue agents, car racing has come a long way in the 100 years that drivers have been chasing each other around an oval track, fueled by high-octane gasoline and seemingly unlimited adrenaline.

Lansing-area residents have the chance to sit down and hear professional drivers talk about their careers 7 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 30) at R.E. Olds Transportation Museum. The panelists include Michigan-based racers Paul Gentilozzi, Marc Miller, Katie Hettinger and Christine Kirbitz. They will be joined by David Ferguson, a local racing safety and training expert and associate professor of kinesiology at Michigan State University.

Gentilozzi, also a local real estate developer, is closing in on nearly 50 years of racing. He founded the now-defunct Rocketsports Racing team in 1985, which competed in the Trans-Am Series, the Champ Car World Series and beyond. He has won five drivers’ championships and nine manufacturers’ championships, and he holds the Trans-Am Series record for most wins, poles, top three finishes and prize money won. He has 31 Trans-Am wins under his belt, the most in the series’ history.

Miller, from Holland, Michigan, has been racing since he was 11 and has won numerous sportscar championships. Hollinger, from Dryden, despite being only 16, is a full-bodied stock-car racer who is competing at the highest level. Kirbitz, from Grand Blanc, is an engineer for General Motors but likes to push motor cars to 170 miles per hour on dragways. 

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, visit reoldsmuseum.org/events.