Jochen Neerpasch
Jochen Neerpasch is a German former racecar driver and motorsports manager.
Career
His racing career began in the 1960s, first on Borgward touring car, then with the 1964 [24 Hours of Le Mans] as a first major event. Racing a Porsche 907, he won the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona. After his third-place finish in Le Mans the same year, he retired from racing.In the 1970s, he became a successful manager in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft and the European Touring Car Championship. First he managed Ford, then he took the 1972 champion Hans-Joachim Stuck with him to BMW, to found the successful BMW M team and company.
In BMW, he also led the development of the mid-engined BMW M1, which he designed to take on Porsche in Group 5 racing. While the required 400 homologation cars were being assembled, to gain racing experience for the cars, he contacted March Engineering's head Max Mosley, who was a member of Formula One Constructors' Association, and together they created a one-make racing series BMW M1 Procar Championship, that ran in 1979 and 1980. Neerpasch himself later raced in a 2008 one-time revival of the Procar Championship, driving a M1 Procar designed by Andy Warhol.
In the 1980s, Neerpasch was in charge of Sauber-Mercedes sports car racing team, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1989. He also discovered and taught talents like Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.