Chris Ward Named Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) President
Veteran motorsports executive Chris Ward (pictured above) has been named President of Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), taking over the top leadership position of the IMSA-owned vintage and historic sports car racing sanctioning body from David Hinton. The management announcements were made today by IMSA President John Doonan as the organization prepares for this month’s season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 25 – 29, and HSR makes plans for its first event of the year, the Spring Fling at Sebring International Raceway, March 8 – 10.
“We look forward to welcoming Chris Ward, who is already a familiar and close colleague in the paddock, to the IMSA team as HSR President and at the same time couldn’t be happier that David Hinton will continue as an advisor and a member of the HSR Board of Directors,” Doonan said. “The timing of and people involved in this positive change couldn’t be better. David first approached us last year to discuss a succession plan to take place in 2024 for the HSR President position at the same time Chris became available. It all fell into place perfectly as we set the foundation for the next phase of HSR’s growth. It is our intent to continue to focus on the core values that HSR was founded on, which are to grow vintage and historic racing in North America.”
Ward most recently served as Head of Motorsport for Lamborghini North America from 2014 to 2023 where among his vast managerial responsibilities was the oversight of all day-to-day operations of the IMSA-sanctioned Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Series, including sanctioning body coordination, team and customer liaison and acquisition, parts supply chain management and logistics and hospitality operations.
Under Ward’s management and direction, the Super Trofeo series reached unprecedented growth, particularly in recent years. Record fields and capacity grids have been commonplace and new car orders for pending seasons of competition have frequently been early sell outs.
Prior to his tenure at Lamborghini Ward co-founded a successful experiential marketing agency based in Detroit. Its primary focus was marketing, PR and events for luxury brands such as Audi, Bombardier, Bentley Motors, and Breitling.
“It is a huge honor to be asked to steer HSR going forward in this new role,” Ward said. “I’d like to thank Ed Bennett and John Doonan for this tremendous opportunity and of course David Hinton for agreeing to remain as an advisor, guaranteeing a seamless transition for our customer teams and drivers. HSR is on a terrific growth trajectory and I’m so looking forward to being a part of its exciting future.”
