Track owner, official, promoter

Some have compared his role in American sports car racing to Bill France in stock cars. MIT-grad Alexander Edward Ulmann became one of the SCCA’s earliest members in 1944 and won its first race the same year. But it was as a track owner and promoter that he carved his legend. After attending the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ulmann decided to bring international endurance competition to Sebring International Raceway. Expanding from six to 12 hours in ‘52, Ulmann’s skills as a track owner and promoter made it part of the world championship by 1953 and America’s most popular and enduring sports car event thereafter. In the process, he brought the world's top drivers to America, including Fangio, who achieved his only wins on our soil by capturing the Sebring 12 Hours twice. In 1959, Ulmann brought F1 to the U.S. at Sebring, moving it to Riverside in 1960 before finding a more permanent home at Watkins Glen. The father of American professional sports car racing died in 1986.