Motorsports Legend, series owner, and pharmaceuticals magnate Don Panoz has died at the age of 83.

Panoz got his start by founding a company that would develop and patent the transdermal patch. Best known as the nicotine patch. His start in the automotive business came in 1989 when he funded his son’s company Panoz Auto Development.

That’s the company that would go on to develop the Ford Mustang-based Panoz Esperante and the Prowler-like Panoz AIV Roadster.

Panoz created the American Le Mans Series in 1999. It was intended to bring top-level sports car racing to the US, and did so until merging with Grand-Am in 2014. The series used 24 Hours of Le Mans rules and a top performance earned an invite to the big race. Cars wearing the Panoz name have won multiple sports car races, the 24 Hours of LeMans, as well as three runnings of the Indianapolis 500.

The Panoz group owned the Road Atlanta circuit as well as holding the lease to operate Sebring International Raceway. The group was sold to NASCAR in 2012.

Panoz invested in radical racing technologies with companies like Multimatic and Nissan, and was instrumental in taking the DeltaWing LMP1 racer to Le Mans.

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