Tag: San Jose

As you probably know, Bill Lester is one of our favorite Northern California race car drivers here at NorCal Car Culture. He grew up mostly in San Jose and lived for many years in Oakland. He was back home on Saturday, racing in the Grand-Am series at Laguna Seca Raceway. Bill did not have the race he was hoping for, finishing 10th and dropping to 2nd in the points standings. But, the good news is, that Bill got to come back home and see a lot of old friends and secondly, there are four more races to get back in the win column. There was a great article about Bill and his very interesting path to racing in the Silicone Valley Mercury News last Thursday by Daniel Bohm. Here is a short excerpt and link to the entire article.

Grand-Am GT driver Bill Lester comes home a winner
By Daniel Bohm

San Jose, CA (July 7, 2011) – After steering his way through many racing series for the past few decades, Bay Area-native Bill Lester finds that his passion for driving is starting to pay dividends.

Lester raced part time since the 1980s and ’90s, but 13 years ago he left his corporate job at Hewlett-Packard to drive full time. This season, Lester has found a home racing the Autohaus Motorsports No. 88 Camaro in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.

Lester, 50, and co-driver Jordan Taylor lead the GT class points standings with five races left in the season, including Saturday’s event at the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

“The high-tech industry provides a great occupation for those who are cut out for it,” said Lester, who graduated from Cal in 1984 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. “But it wasn’t my calling. Racing was my calling.” Read More Here