Guest of Honour Saint Saturnin Classic British Welcome 2010
Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing Programme Manager
A racing odyssey that began more than 50 years ago in Buffalo, New York, has taken Doug Fehan to victory celebrations at the world's greatest race tracks. Fehan has travelled a long and winding road from career beginnings at dusty Midwestern “bullrings” to the top step of the podium at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona. While Fehan's official title is GM Racing programme manager for the American Le Mans Series, he is, in fact, the heart and soul of Corvette Racing.
"My grandfather, father and my uncles were in the auto business, and they were absolute race fans," Fehan recalls. "They took me to my first jalopy race in Buffalo. There was a burgundy car, driven by Larry Marx. At age of three, I became Larry Marx's youngest and greatest fan."
Now Fehan manages racing programmes that turn drivers into champions. He's guided Corvette Racing to eight consecutive ALMS GT1 manufacturers and team championships in 2001-08, and seven drivers championships with Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta winning titles.
As a young man Fehan spent his weekends running a homebuilt Chevrolet Chevelle stock car on the USAC circuit. But his keen perception motorsport’s marketing power led him to a hugely successful role managing a major sponsorship programme for Mac Tools from 1985 to 1987.
In the late 1990s Fehan took a hiatus from motorsports, pursuing his second passion of golf, before a chance encounter with GM Racing director Herb Fishel at the Detroit Auto Show launched his career on a new trajectory.
First came the Oldsmobile's IMSA World Sports Car programme with victories for the Aurora V-8 at the Daytona 24-hour and Sebring 12-hour endurance races, an appearance at Le Mans, and the 1996 WSC drivers and manufacturers championship. In 1997, Fehan went to work on the blueprint for GM's first factory-backed Corvette racing programme. Corvette Racing broke cover with the C5-R in 1999, the C6.R following in 2005. At the end of 2009 Corvette Racing had scored 78 victories, including an overall win in the 2001 Daytona 24-hour race, six GT1 class wins at Le Mans and seven class wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Corvette Racing opened a new chapter with the debut of the next-generation Corvette C6.R in the GT2 category in August 2009. In anticipation of a single GT class in 2010, Corvette Racing developed the new ZR1-based GT2 Corvette C6.R to compete against rivals representing Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Viper, Panoz, and Ford.
"This team has played an important part in Corvette history," Fehan reflects. "Each time we go to the race track we're writing another page. Years from now, people will look back on this era and be proud of what we've done."
Fehan is an unabashed advocate for the Corvette cause and an icon for legions of faithful Corvette fans. He received the ALMS "From the Fans" award in 2004 and 2008.
"It's hard for me to control my passion for Corvette," he admits. "I've tried to develop Corvette Racing as a giant tree, and the farther we can spread its roots, the stronger the tree will be. I enjoy being a one-man band playing the Corvette tune in a variety of places, from the Corvette Museum and Corvette club meetings to the GM boardroom. The future looks good for Corvette Racing, and I think we'll continue to be a force in motorsports for many years to come."