RRDC President and Indy-500 champion Bobby Rahal will head a panel of leading motorsports experts at the SAFE is FAST symposium in Orlando.

Joining Bobby will be:

Townsend Bell, Sponsorship Coaching
Topic: SPONSORSHIP/BRANDING

Accomplished racer Townsend Bell has been winning in the business of sponsorship for over a decade. Raising over $10 million in the world of professional motorsports, his proven track record includes sponsor relationships with companies such as Rock and Republic, Toshiba, Toyota, Maxim, Herbalife and Intel. Bell has is now helping young drivers working their way up the racing ladder to maximize their personal sponsorship portfolio. From a humble beginning with nothing more than ambition and a stack of business cards, Bell has climbed the U.S. racing ladder and finished fourth in this year’s Indianapolis 500. He was the 2001 Indy Lights champion and has competed in the FIA F3000 series, Champ Car and the IndyCar Series as well as previous Formula 1 testing with BAR Honda and Jaguar.

Jacques Dallaire, Ph.D., Founder and President, Performance Prime
Topic:  MENTAL PREPARATION

Over the past 30 years, Jacques Dallaire, Ph.D. has helped thousands of individuals in all walks of life to improve their mental skills and achieve their performance goals. More than 650 high-performance motor racing drivers from 40 countries – including Helio Castroneves, Ron Fellows, Patrick Long, Brad Frisselle and Andy Pilgrim – have benefited from Dr. Dallaire’s Performance Enhancement process that helps to develop a broad set of mental skills to perform in challenging situations and underlies championship performance. Performance Prime, based in Concord, North Carolina, is an evolution of Human Performance International (HPI), which was founded in 1983 by Dr. Dallaire and the late Dr. Dan Marisi.


Jim Leo, C.S.C.S., President, PitFit Training, Inc.
Topic:  PHYSICAL FITNESS

Jim Leo is renowned as one of auto racing’s premier fitness trainers. With a client list that includes an array of motorsports’ best including Scott Dixon, Kasey Kahne, Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr., and rising stars such as J.R. Hildebrand and Wade Cunningham, PitFit Training has grown into a worldwide operation. Leo debuted on the motorsports scene in 1993, designing a training program and cutting-edge fitness center for Penske Racing. He founded PitFit Training in 1997, offering driver training, pit crew performance training and sports nutrition to clients at its headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind., and throughout the world via the e-PitFit Online Training Program. Leo is a sought-after writer (Formula Car, Men’s Health, SportsCar and USAC) and speaker.


Stephen Olvey, MD, Associate Professor/Vice Chairman for Clinical Affairs
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami School of Medicine
Topic:  SAFETY

Dr. Stephen Olvey has been a pioneer in improving driver safety and safety measures for over 30 years. He was the Medical Director and Director of Medical Affairs for IndyCar/CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) from 1978 to 2003, after previously serving as the Medical Director for USAC (United States Auto Club). For over a decade, Dr. Olvey has been co-director (alongside Emerson Fittipaldi) of the International Motorsports and Vehicular Injury Research Center (IMVIRC). He is a Founding Fellow of the FIA Institute for Motorsports Safety and former Chairman and Founding Member of the International Council of Motorsports Sciences (ICMS). In addition to numerous medical publications, Dr. Olvey is the author of Rapid Response: My inside story as a motor racing life saver which chronicles Alex Zanardi’s horrifying 2001 crash in Germany and the evolution of motorsports safety.

Michael Zimicki, President, Sliderule Motorsport Inc.
Topic:  INTEGRATED DRIVING

Michael Zimicki has been bringing the tools for success on and off the race track to young drivers for over 25 years, combining driver coaching, data analysis and engineering to maximize a driver and team’s success. His roster of protégés includes Graham Rahal, Danica Patrick, Jon Fogarty, Ryan Hunter-Reay and 2009 Cooper Tires Atlantic Series champion John Edwards. In addition to his expertise in driver coaching and development, Zimicki is well-known for his success in integrating a driver and team. He is an accomplished racer in his own right claiming 1981 Skip Barber Formula Ford championship honors, and for over a decade was both a lead instructor and head test driver at the Skip Barber Racing School. Zimicki is also a former nationally ranked master ski racer and mountain bike racer.

Symposium moderator Bobby Rahal