Por sche Mot or spor t Royalt y: FSR'S Mar k Leuzinger As told to Bob Weber by Mark Leuzinger Mark, a 50 year PCA member, is motorsports royalty to our FSR community. He will always downplay his racing accomplishments, but in the final analysis, Mark competed in some very serious hardware in road race series that captivated our younger imaginations. And if 4 wheeled competition vehicles were not enough, there was that foray with the 2-wheeled kind...requiring yet another set of very specialized skills. Let me allow Mark to share with you his motorsports story:
I began racing go karts in 1963 with an X (novice) on the back of my helmet and a good luck wish from the local track owner. Go kart racing was great fun and turned me into a street fighter. I eventually learned what it took to win races but ground through a lot of
decided to turn professional. The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving helped me fine tune my driving skills. In 1974 I also received sanctioning from the American Speed Association (ASA) and drove a Mustang on several local speedways. In 1975 I started my career as a professional driver. I joined the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and earned my Federation of International Automobile (FIA) license. At that time there were only about 500 drivers worldwide with an FIA license. I concentrated on endurance racing (12 Hours of Sebring, Road America 500 km, etc.) in a position of team manager, car owner, and driver. I built my own engines, did the chassis set up, and worked out all of the logistics for the team. The crew varied in size from six to over a dozen depending on the length of the race. In July 1975 I attended the Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC) Advanced Drivers Clinic & Seminar headed by Mark Donohue. My instructors were Mark Donohue and Bob Tullius from Group 44 fame, what an honor. I raced professionally with IMSA through 1983. The cars (Porsche and Pantera) were built to FIA Group IV
helmets on the way! In 1970 I bought my first Porsche and attended several excellent Porsche Club of America (PCA) driving schools over the next few years. The schools were held at some of the best tracks in the country (Brainerd, Road America, Mid Ohio, Blackhawk, Indianapolis, Lime Rock) by some very competent drivers. I later had the opportunity to be an instructor for PCA at some of those same tracks. I joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in 1973 and landed my first full sponsored ride for the newly formed Showroom Stock series. I attended the requisite two driver schools, broke two track records, won several races, and received the Rookie Driver of the Year award for the SCCA Mid West Division. The cars (Opel and Porsche) with sponsor decals appeared in two auto shows, several mall displays, newspaper ads, and articles.I earned my SCCA National license, drove several different cars including a Porsche 914, and
specifications and were always immaculately prepared. I did several radio, television, and newspaper interviews including two half hour television talk shows featuring car, driver, and sponsors. In addition, pictures of the car and team appeared in several newspapers and race programs. Rising costs and declining sponsorship finally reached the point that I decided I could no longer afford to race. I have consequently taught dozens of people to drive fast, safely through my association with PCA, BMW Owners of America, and various other clubs and affiliations.
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Since I had been riding motorcycles for over twenty
