The Story of LEE Race Technology, Inc.
Buddy Lindblom – Founder and CEO
Buddy has been involved in professional auto racing for over 35 years, having initially cut his racing teeth as a mechanic and fabricator for Ray Mummery’s Miami Auto Racing. Interestingly, Dr. Mummery, was also Buddy’s family doctor when he was growing up in Miami. Ray’s office walls were adorned with many pictures of the cars he had driven. Dr. Mummery drove a variety of sports cars in SCCA and IMSA, including D-Sports racers, Porsche 911, and others. At the time Ray was mentoring Buddy, Miami Auto Racing was a small IMSA team running a Mazda RX-7 GTU car, co-owned by the late Jim Fowells, at 8-10 IMSA races per year.
After a number of years working on IMSA sports car teams, Buddy joined the Porsche IndyCar team in 1988, launching his career in open-wheel racing. He started as a mechanic and soon progressed to lead mechanic, then in 1990 was named the Chief Mechanic for John Andretti. From there, team management roles were the norm, working for Walker Racing, Treadway Racing, Players/Forsythe Racing, Patrick Racing, Panther Racing and Cheever Racing in that capacity.
Buddy has been to the pinnacle of North American auto racing and everywhere in between. One of the highest moments , came as the team manager of the 1997 Indianapolis 500 winner, Arie Luyendyk. It was indeed an extraordinary day as Arie’s teammate, Scott Goodyear, finished second in the storied race, adding a rare one-two finish at the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” to his resume as a team manager.
Having worked at just about every position on a racing team, from floor sweeper to team manager, Buddy is unafraid of new challenges. Recently, he challenged himself with a career shift, and enrolled in the motorsports engineering program at IUPUI in Indianapolis, studying in the program part-time for nearly three years.
This willingness to accept new challenges, comes from an unquenchable entrepreneurial spirit that has been with him since he was a young boy growing up in Miami, Florida.
His first company, Lindblom Engineering Enterprises, was started when he was 19 years old. The company name came from the acronym LEE. Believe it or not, the origins of this came from ordering pizza! Buddy’s dad, Pete, would use the name LEE whenever ordering pizza from the local pizza parlor in Miami. (nobody ever got the name Lindblom right on the orders!) The name LEE became the impetus for Lindblom Engineering Enterprises, a company name Buddy originally penned when he was 16 years old.
The acronym of his original company lives on today in LEE Race Technology, Inc., a culmination of 35 years of professional racing experience now focused squarely on the multi-faceted motorsports enterprise that he dreamt of as a young man