Seth Neiman

Seth Neiman
Nationality American
BornJune 27, 1954 (1954-06-27) (age 71)
Racing licence FIA Silver (until 2013)[1]
FIA Bronze (2014–)[2]
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years20052012, 2014
TeamsFlying Lizard Motorsports
Best finish13th (3rd in class)(2005)
Class wins0

Seth Neiman (born June 27, 1954) is an American computer industry businessperson and venture capitalist in California, and a professional racing driver.

Neiman is the team principal of Flying Lizard Motorsports, which participates in the United SportsCar Championship. He currently resides in San Francisco, California.[3]

Youth

Neiman was born in East Liverpool, Ohio and grew up in Dayton, Ohio. His mother was Judith Klapper Neiman and father was Ralph Bernard Neiman.[4] The second child of four, he had two sisters and a younger brother.

Neiman graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor's degree in philosophy and did graduate work in computer science.[5]

Business career

Neiman was a system architect at Maxitron Corporation in Marin County during the mid-1980s,[6][7] and then Vice President of Product Development at Dahlgren Control Systems in San Francisco.[6][8] In 1988, he became Vice President of Product Development for the TOPS Division of Sun Microsystems, that was developing the TOPS network file server system.[6]

In 1994, Neiman joined the venture capital firm Crosspoint Venture Partners, and becoming a general partner before departing.[6] In 1995, he founded Brocade Communications Systems.[5][6] Neiman served as a lead investor and board member of various broadband computer networking companies, including Foundry Networks, Avanex, iPass, Shoreline, Juniper Networks, and NexPrise.[9]

Neiman has been Chairman of the Board of eSilicon Corporation since 2011, and a Director at AlephCloud Systems Inc. since 2013.[6] He is also a Director at the facial expression recognition system company Emotient, Inc.[6][10]

Racing career

Neiman formed Flying Lizard Motorsports team in 2003. In 2005, he competed in the ALMS GT2 class for the Porsche team as well as finishing third in GT2 class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He finished fourth at Le Mans the following year and finished 9th in ALMS GT2 points for the same team in 2006. He also drove in four SCCA World Challenge races in the Touring Car class.

In 2007, Neiman finished tenth in ALMS and the car failed to finish at Le Mans. In 2008, he captured a career best fifth place in ALMS GT2 points and finished sixth at Le Mans. In 2009, he again failed to finish at Le Mans and finished seventh in ALMS points.[11]

Neiman returned to the Flying Lizards team he owns in 2010, and competed in his first 24 Hours of Daytona, finishing ninth overall and second in GT.[12]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2005 Flying Lizard Motorsports Johannes van Overbeek
Lonnie Pechnik
Porsche 911 GT3-RSR GT2 323 13th 3rd
2006 Flying Lizard Motorsports Johannes van Overbeek
Patrick Long
Porsche 911 GT3-RSR GT2 309 18th 4th
2007 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister
Johannes van Overbeek
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR GT2 124 DNF DNF
2008 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister
Johannes van Overbeek
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR GT2 289 32nd 6th
2009 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister
Darren Law
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR GT2 194 DNF DNF
2010 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister
Darren Law
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR GT2 61 DNF DNF
2011 Flying Lizard Motorsports Darren Law
Spencer Pumpelly
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR GTE
Am
211 DNF DNF
2012 Flying Lizard Motorsports Patrick Pilet
Spencer Pumpelly
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR GTE
Am
313 27th 4th
2014 JMW Motorsport Abdulaziz Al-Faisal
Spencer Pumpelly
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTE
Am
327 27th 7th
Sources:[13][14]

IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year Team Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points
2014 Flying Lizard Motorsports GTD Audi R8 LMS ultra Audi 5.2L V10 DAY
5
SEB
5
LAG
5
DET
13
WGI
7
MOS
14
IND ELK VIR COA
13
ROA
12
22nd 167
Source:[14]

References

  1. ^ "2013 FIA WEC - Liste des catégorisations des pilotes" (PDF). nextgen-auto.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
  2. ^ Dagys, John (6 November 2013). "Revised Driver Ratings, Categorizations Revealed". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  3. ^ "Porsche Motorsport News: "All Three Porsche 911 GT3 RSRS Dnf in Start Incident at Baltimore; Dion Von Moltke/Seth Neiman Score First ALMS Gtc Win for #44 Flying Lizard Porsche"". Archived from the original on 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  4. ^ "Judith Klapper Neiman obituary". Dayton Daily News. January 2, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Seth Neiman Managing Partner". Web site bio. Crosspoint Venture Partners. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Bloomberg Businessweek.com: Seth D. Neiman, Executive Profile & Biography
  7. ^ Google Books; Computerworld – Sep 1, 1986 – Page 51. (Maxitron Corp.)
  8. ^ "Suregrave Inc. history, 1994 Dahlgren Control Systems acquisition". Archived from the original on 2015-08-07. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  9. ^ "Seth Neiman". Web page bio. Venture Beat. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  10. ^ San Francisco Business Times: Emotient Announces Series B Financing of $6M"; 6 March 2014.
  11. ^ Seth Neiman, Driver Database, Retrieved 2010-07-22
  12. ^ Sulka, Mike. 2010 Daytona 24: Grand Am Final Race Results – Porche, Action Express Racing Win! Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, PaddockTalk, January 21, 2010, Retrieved 2010-07-22
  13. ^ "Seth Neiman". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Seth Neiman Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved July 21, 2023.