Council Members

Chairman – John R. Saunders: is the former president of the International Speedway Corp. and Watkins Glen International. He was one of the originators of the concept of the International Motor Racing Research Center.

Vice Chairman – Bill Branson: is a retired director of AG Edwards and former officer of Royal Bank of Canada (US) Wealth Management. He has been president of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad since 2008, and is a returning member of the Governing Council. He has a collection of European road and race cars and has been involved with SCCA and SVRA for many years, driving several of his cars at many east coast tracks.

Vice Chairman – Laurence Kessler: is the owner of a restaurant and real estate development firm and former owner of numerous Burger King Restaurants in central and western New York. A former IMSA team competitor and sponsor, he is active in SVRA and other vintage racing events and is a member of the Road Racing Drivers Club. See Kessler making a pass at the 2014 SVRA Brickyard Invitational.

Treasurer – Scott Welliver: is the owner of the construction management company Welliver. He is a vintage racer and former NASCAR team co-owner and is heavily involved in his community, including as a co-owner of a winery.

Secretary – Beren Argetsinger: is a partner at Keyes & Fox, LLP. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development in West Virginia where he focused on climate change and clean energy transition strategies to expand economic opportunities in the state. During his law and graduate school tenure, he was a legal intern with the New York City Law Department, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and a federal judicial intern in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Dawn Burlew: has worked at Corning Incorporated for more than 35 years. She is the director of government affairs & business development, leading New York State, local and regional government affairs and business development initiatives. Burlew also serves as supervisor for the Town of Erin. She is a member of several not-for-profit boards including Chemung County Industrial Development Agency, Southern Tier Economic Growth (STEG), Incubator Works, Project Seneca Steering Committee, I-86 Steering Committee, Chemung County Property Development Corp., Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council Loan Fund, Corning’s Gaffer District, Chemung County Chamber of Commerce and Bethany Village. She also serves as vice-chair and member of the Executive & Finance Committee of the Guthrie Corning Hospital Board, board chair for the Regional Economic Development and Energy Corporation (REDEC), and board member of Five Star Bank.

Nicholas Craw: was the president of the Senate before becoming the deputy president of the FIA. He was formerly the ACCUS president, SCCA president and CEO, and director of the Peace Corps. He is also an RRDC member and in the SCCA Hall of Fame. Craw started racing in 1967 with a Formula B Brabham BT-21 and won the 1969 Washington D.C. Region’s Norair Trophy. He is a two-time IMSA Goodrich Radial Challenge champion, and American Road Race of Champions winner, and a two-time winner of Nelson Ledges 24-Hour race.

Phyllisa A. DeSarno: is a native of Watkins Glen, a graduate of Elmira College, and attended Syracuse University’s School of International Studies in Florence, Italy. After a few years of teaching English, she moved into Community and Economic Development. DeSarno was employed by Corning Inc. and Corning Community College and retired as the City of Ithaca’s Director of Economic Development. She has been a member of many community organizations throughout her long career, including: Tompkins Chamber of Commerce, Corning Chamber of Commerce, Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Ithaca Alliance, Corning Intown Promotions, and she currently sits on the Schuyler Health Foundation Board. DeSarno lives in Watkins Glen with her husband, Peter, and dog, Phoebe. She enjoys nature, healthy foods, kayaking, walking, yoga, spending time with close friends and family, and vintage racing!

Chris Dyson: serves as the vice president and sporting director for Dyson Racing. As a driver, he is a two-time IMSA American LeMans Series Champion and a two-time Trans Am Series Champion. Since 2018, Dyson’s own CD Racing-branded organization has won 22 Trans Am road races in North America, and CD Racing has also claimed victories at major USAC events and partnered in claiming the 2022 USAC Silver Crown Championship. In 2010, he was elected to the Road Racing Drivers Club, and in 2012 he was named to the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association’s All-American Team. Dyson is also the executive vice president of The Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation and treasurer of the Dyson Foundation.

Evan Earle: is the Cornell University archivist, a lifelong motorsports enthusiast and devoted “car guy.” Earle assisted the Research Center for several years as its consulting archivist. Read about Earle’s work at Cornell.

John C. Gorsline: is the president and founder of Gorsline Company. He has insured top drivers from Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, Trans-Am and World Challenge. Gorsline has provided the Gorsline Company Scholarship since 1994 to young, talented drivers including Bryan Herta, Danica Patrick and Rick Stenhouse. He is a member of SCCA, RRDC, International Council of Motorsport Scientists, Landmark Society of Western New York and many more.

Phil Henderson: is a retired electrical engineer who lives in Western New York. He has been a starter at Watkins Glen for over 50 years at professional and amateur events, including Formula One. Phil represented Area 10 on the SCCA National Board of Directors and raced in SCCA Showroom Stock and Sport Renault, winning NYSRRC overall in 1978 and 1979. Familiar faces at the IMRRC, Phil and his wife Marion have been strong supporters of the IMRRC since its inception.

Michael Kanaley: is Managing Director, Client Partnership at Global Prairie. He has more than 25 years of marketing and communications experience and has led teams and provided strategic counsel to companies and organizations in a variety of highly regulated sectors. Kanaley also serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and is a member of the Kansas City Area Development Council, the Kansas City Symphony Business Council, and the ‘Reviving Baseball in the Inner City’ Board of Directors. Kanaley is originally from Rochester, NY, and spends his summers in the Watkins Glen area.

Rob Roessel: is the director of corporate sales for the NASCAR North Region, which includes Watkins Glen International and Michigan International Speedway. He has been with the organization since 2012 and is based in Watkins Glen. In his spare time, he competes in amateur endurance road racing across the east coast.

Dinah Gueldenpfennig Weisberg: is CEO and president of REDCOM Laboratories Inc. She served in multiple roles in the company over 40 years before becoming president in 2017 and held senior management positions in the engineering department. She was promoted to Vice President of Planning and Government Program Administration in 2004, where she led the group responsible for government and military engagement, and Executive Vice President in 2012. Weisberg is also an accomplished professional racecar driver and instructor.

Chip Wile: is senior vice president and chief track properties officer at NASCAR. Previously, he was president of Daytona International. He also served as president of Darlington Raceway from 2013-2016; director of business development at Motor Racing Network; team public relations and marketing for various NASCAR race teams, most notably Penske Racing, Bill David Racing, and Turner Scott Motorsports. Wile’s recent awards include 2017 Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 (2017) and University of Georgia Alumni Association’s 40 Under 40 (2018).

Daryl Q. Wolfe: is the executive vice president and chief revenue officer at NASCAR. Previously, he served as executive vice president and chief operations and sales officer of NASCAR. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and chief sales and partnership officer of NASCAR and executive vice president and chief marketing officer of International Speedway Corporation (ISC). Serving the company for 27 years, Wolfe advanced through several leadership positions with increasing responsibility including director of publicity and media promotions at Daytona International Speedway, managing director of marketing partnerships, ISC, where he was a member of the core team to negotiate and develop ISC’s new properties at Kansas Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway and senior vice president sales and media and chief marketing officer, ISC.

Don Capps, member of the board of directors of the Society of Automotive Historians and chair of its International Motor Sports History Section. He is a former assistant professor at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina and faculty member of the Department of Defense Model and Simulation University. He was founder of The Nostalgia Forum and former columnist, Rear View Mirror, on Atlas F1 (now Autosport.com).

William Edgar, who has been associated with motorsport activities for more than 50 years. His father, John Edgar, was a pioneering force in post-World War II sports car racing in America and a professional photographer. William Edgar is a photographer, author and documentary filmmaker. With Michael Lynch and Ron Parravano he co-authored “American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s,” which won the 1998 Dean Batchelor Award from the Motor Press Guild. His website is edgarmotorsport.com.

Karl Ludvigsen, who in addition to his motor industry activities as an executive (with GM, Fiat and Ford) and head of a consulting company, has been active for more than 50 years as an author and historian. As an author, co-author or editor he has some four dozen books about cars and the motor industry to his credit. Watch a video Interview with Karl Ludvigsen on “Porsche: Origin of the Species.”

Doug Nye, journalist, historian and author of some 70 books with more than 50 years’ experience in motorsports. A friend of the Center, Nye is a consultant to the Collier Collection and REVS Institute in Naples, FL, and is on the Advisory Council of the British National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. He is Goodwood Motorsport’s founding historian and consultant and also was a founding consultant to the former SpeedVision TV network. Nye is a regular columnist for Motor Sport magazine. Watch Nye describe the engine layout of the iconic Ferrari 250 GTO.

Peter Sachs, whose racing career spanned more than four decades in SCCA, IMSA, USRRC and vintage racing. Today he manages the Klemantaski Collection, one of the world’s largest archives of motorsports photography. He was the recipient of the 2013 Bob Akin Award from the Road Racing Drivers Club.

János Wimpffen, a motorsports historian and author, who specializes in sports car racing. He is best known for his 1999 book “Time and Two Seats,” which won multiple awards. Wimpffen spoke at the Racing Research Center on April 21, 2012.

Bill Green, IMRRC historian serving as liaison to the Historians Council. Green is internationally recognized for his exhaustive knowledge about racing at Watkins Glen and elsewhere and also for his personal collection of racing materials that was launched at the first Watkins Glen race in 1948.

Mario Andretti, 1978 Formula One World Champion, winner of the 1972 Six Hours at Watkins Glen, 1967 Daytona 500 winner, 1969 Indy 500 winner and four-time USAC-CART Champion. He was inducted into the National Motor Press Association’s Hall of Fame in January 2014. View RRDC’s Evening with Mario.

David Donohue, who has spent time in the Touring Cars, Prototypes, NASCAR Stock Car and Craftsman Truck Series. He was an integral part of the Brumos Racing family, driving a Brumos Racing Daytona Prototype in every Rolex Sports Car series race from 2003 through 2010. In 2009 he co-drove to victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Donohue shares his thoughts in a Grand Am “In Your Own Words” video.

Chris Dyson, a two-time ALMS champion, having taken the LMP675 Drivers title in 2003 and earning the LMP1 Championship in 2011. He is the Vice President and Sporting Director of Dyson Racing. He has overseen the ongoing growth of the team, most recently with the signing of the multi-year partnership with Bentley.

Hurley Haywood, endurance driving champion, five-time winner of the Rolex 24 in Daytona and three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He is the winningest driver in Watkins Glen’s history. Listen to motorsports journalist Rick Hughey interview Hurley in a production for the IMRRC.

Scott Pruett, multi-series champion who has raced in NASCAR, Grand American, CART, USAC, ALMS, IMSA GTO/GTU/GTP, SCCA Trans Am, IROC and the Professional Karting Association. He holds the record for Rolex 24 at Daytona victories with seven and was Rolex Grand Am champion four times. He is a member of the World Karting Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Judy, have written and published children’s books about racing. Pruett shares his thoughts in a Grand Am “In Your Own Words” video.

Brian Redman, a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona and US F5000 championships, the 12 Hours of Sebring and numerous other events in the U.S and Europe. He is a former president of the Road Racing Drivers Club and was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002. See Roads & Rides’ interview with Brian.

Lyn St. James, drove to many victories, including two 24 Hours of Daytona class wins and one class victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. She is the only woman to win an IMSA GT race driving solo, which was for the 1985 Serengeti 500 at Watkins Glen International. She has earned many honors, including Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1992, Sports Illustrated Top 100 Women Athletes of the Century and the 2010 Automotive News Top 100 Women in the Automotive Industry. She is a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. St. James shares her thoughts in a Ford Motor Co. “In Their Own Words” video.

Rusty Wallace, when he retired at the end of the 2005 season, had a career that included 55 NASCAR championship event victories, the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup championship, the 1991 IROC Championship and the 1983 American Speed Association Championship. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in February 2013. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on Aug. 6, 2014. View Dateline NBC’s Feature on Rusty Wallace.