Beginnings After graduating from high school, Paul Jr. started working for his father's team, JLP Racing, learning the ins and outs of what a racing organization was. He became some kind of jack-of-all-trades within the team. As Paul Jr. started to learn about engines, his father decided his son needed to go to a racing school. He was enrolled at the
Skip Barber Racing School, but Paul Jr. was deemed to be hopeless. Despite this setback, Paul Sr. bought his son a new Van Diemen
Formula Ford. In 1979, he took part in SCCA National Formula Ford races, and made the
SCCA National Championship Runoffs.
1980s Pauls career really launched in 1980, when he became part of JLP Racing's driver line-up. His first race was at Coca-Cola 400 at
Lime Rock. Co-driving alongside his father in a
Porsche 935, they won the second heat, and subsequently the race overall. Junior had won the first IMSA race he entered. He repeated this feat by winning the
Road America Pabst 500 three months later. With three second places, he would finish fourth in the final IMSA GTP standings. During the 1981 season, the Porsche team faced a new challenge from the
Lola T600. The Chevrolet-powered prototype with its better handling, driven by Englishman
Brian Redman, quickly dominated the IMSA Championship. During the season, it became clear that only Junior could challenge for race victories, so Senior became JLP Racing's team manager, while Junior did the driving. Senior then only co-drove in the endurance races. Despite having the Lola, the Pauls won a rain-shortened race at
Pocono in their Porsche 935 JLP-3. Using the same 935, Junior would go on to win the Daytona finale. champion in 1982. The Pauls started the 1982 season with back-to-back wins in the US classic endurance races, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. For the Daytona race, they were partnered by the 1977 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft Champion,
Rolf Stommelen. At Sebring, they overcame a gearbox failure in their 935 to win over the
March 82G, led by the hard charging
Bobby Rahal. The Pauls' second team car was also on the podium. More importantly, Paul's win at
Road Atlanta attracted
Miller Brewing Company sponsorship for the remainder of the season. He then switched to the Lola to win at
Laguna Seca. He teamed up again with his father in the 935 JLP-3 to win the Charlotte 500 km. Outpowered by championship rival,
John Fitzpatrick in Porsche 935K4, Paul drove a new Porsche 935 JLP-4 to a debut victory at
Brainerd. He scored another win at
Portland, before swapping back to the older Porsche for the endurance races. He drove the JLP-3 with his father to win the
Mosport 6 Hours. For the next endurance race, Paul was partnered with
Mauricio de Narváez, and the pair finished second in
Road America, behind the English pairing of Fitzpatrick and
David Hobbs. He was re-united with his father at
Road Atlanta for the 500 km event. Their last race together resulted in a second place in Pocono. Paul Jr. had clinched the IMSA GT Championship at the age of 22, becoming IMSA's youngest ever GTP champion. In 1984, Paul finished second in the
1984 24 Hours of Le Mans with
Jean Rondeau in a Preston Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop
Porsche 956. He also finished second in the
Six Hours of Watkins Glen, this time driving with
Bruce Leven in his Bayside Disposal Racing
Porsche 962. After this race, he was offered a seat alongside
John Morton, by Conte Racing. Apart from an 8th place in
Road America, Paul and Morton did not finish any races aboard the March-Chevrolet 84G. The CART scene did not fare much better. Although he entered nine of the sixteen races, this was for four different teams. The best result was a third-place in the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, for Provimi Veal Racing, in their March-Cosworth 84C. Paul Sr. was finally indicted, tried, and convicted, in 1985. Paul Jr. started the season with Conte Racing, who had switched to
Buick engines, but these proved to be unreliable. In total, he had 11 DNFs in 11 IMSA starts. After wrecking his AMI Racing March-Cosworth 85C in
Indianapolis 500, he would finish only one race, the
Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix in 17th. Early in 1986, Paul broke his string of seventeen IMSA DNFs by finishing second at Road Atlanta alongside
Whitney Ganz for RC Buick Hawk, in their March-Buick 85G. A full-time return to sportscar racing was possible in 1990, when he was offered a ride by Jim Busby, who had entered a
Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo. In only his second race for the team, Paul and
Kevin Cogan were on the podium after taking second place in the
Grand Prix of Miami. Following a fifth place in Sebring, the Nissan was maintained by Seabrooke Racing. He ended the season with two second places in the World Challenge of Tampa and Grand Prix of Greater San Diego (Del Mar). His reward was eighth in the overall standings, but as he found, a lot of things had changed in these four seasons he missed. Full factory supported teams like
Tom Walkinshaw Racing (Jaguar), Electramotive (Nissan) and
All American Racers (Toyota) were now the ones to beat. During the 1992 season, Paul experienced his first ever
GTU class win in Leitzinger Racing's
Nissan 240SX, which he shared with
Butch Leitzinger and
David Loring, the
12 Hours of Sebring. He accepted an offer from
Giampiero Moretti to race at
Watkins Glen, where the pair finished sixth in a
Joest Racing Porsche 962. Another outing for Hotchkiss Racing resulted in 8th in Laguna Seca in their Spice-Pontiac. This was followed by three more races with Moretti, but Paul ended the season by trying yet another car, the
Intrepid RM-1, but this resulted in another DNF. In 1997, Paul competed with a contemporary IndyCar for the first time since 1985, and promptly finished 15th in the points. He also competed in the WSC with Dyson Racing. He continued where he left off in 1996 by winning at Daytona. His victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona came as part of seven driver crew. This was followed by two victories, partnering Leitzinger in the
Sportscar Grand Prix and
VISA Sports Car Championship. In his seven Indy 500 starts, Paul had a best finish of seventh in 1998. He made his last IRL start the following season. In 1999, Paul again competed at Daytona in the 24 Hour race, this time with Corvette Racing in the debut race for the Corvette C5-R. He shared the #2 C5-R with
Ron Fellows and
Chris Kneifel to a third-place finish in the GT2 Class. He also competed at Sebring in 1999 with Corvette Racing in the #3 Corvette C5-R, again with Fellows and Kneifel.
2000s The new millennium saw Paul return to his roots, sports car racing. He teamed up with Dyson Racing once again, and recorded four top three finishes, the best being a second in the U.S. Road Racing Classic, a 250-mile race at
Mid-Ohio. ==Drug trafficking==