Quintanilla, 20, Finds Own Way to Make Racing Career Work

Rolando Quintanilla of Calabasas, 20, who is on track to graduate early from Pepperdine in April with a double-major in international business and political science, won’t receive college credit for his latest venture, although he might have a good subject for his senior thesis.

Quintanilla, who was the youngest driver in history to compete in Championship Auto Racing Teams’ Dayton Indy Lights support series last year, has become the youngest team owner in the series.

He will field a two-car entry--consisting of himself and Jimmy Morales of Mexico City--in the Indy Lights series and a four-car team in the Formula 2000 series.

The sponsorship deal with Telemex, Tecate beer and Quaker State motor oil--companies that sponsor Mexico City native Adrian Fernandez in the CART series--is a three-year deal for the Indy Lights cars and two of his Formula 2000 cars.

It could allow Quintanilla to enter the Indianapolis 500 or the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but he said he will not enter either if it detracts from his efforts in Indy Lights.

Quintanilla’s sponsorship is part of Telemex’s development program. Fernandez, who finished second to Gil de Ferran in the 2000 CART points standings, started a two-car CART team this year with backing from the three companies after a three-year stint with Pat Patrick’s team.

“A lot of [the deal] has been put together with the help of Adrian,” Quintanilla said. “He’s always been helping us out. My dad was one of the first people to help him out here in the states.”

According to Quintanilla, the sponsorship deal was made with the intention of eventually moving to the CART series, whether he drives or not. He said that if running the team interferes with his driving, he will turn over operation of the team to somebody else.

“We want the best person driving, and so far I’ve been the fastest in testing,” Quintanilla said. “I am willing to just be an owner, but there’s really not any limits. I’m not anywhere near the end of my career.”

Quintanilla’s team just opened a 17,000-square-foot shop at Gasoline Alley on the grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Quintanilla will field a three-driver go-kart team, based out of Palm Springs, featuring eight-year old Sergio “Checo” Garibay of Mexico City.

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Marcel Tiemann of Hamburg, Germany, was formally introduced as teammate to Bryan Herta of Valencia on Thursday during CART’s Sneak Preview at California Speedway. They will race for Zakspeed Forsythe.