According to recent paleontological studies, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was not a fast creature, with a maximum running speed potentially as slow as 10 m.p.h. Rexy, the current points leader in IMSA’s GTD Pro field, is much much quicker.
Rexy, bright green, with a toothy grill for a mouth and teensy arms on the door panels, is a Porsche 911 GT3 R—or, as he’s affectionately called, a 911 GT3 Rawr. He’s joined by a Barbie-fied twin sister named Roxy and a purple dragon LMP2 car that goes by Spike — and all three standout liveries together make up the AO Racing team. For obvious reasons, the reptilian trio has made an indelible impression on the paddock and its fans over the past two years. And their story begins with a cartoonish helmet design and some friendly competition with a unicorn named Sparklefarts.
AO Racing is a relatively new name in the sportscar paddock, born towards the end of 2022 when co-founders PJ Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette wanted to compete in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship season. For the first races in January—the 2023 Roar Before the 24 and the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona—AO Racing ran a Porsche Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 R with a livery that was rather near and dear to both owners’ hearts: their No. 80 car wore same livery a the Porsche 935 that took the win at the 1983 Rolex 24. A car that, not so coincidentally, Hyett now owns. Jeannette, who’s also Team Principal of the AO Racing Porsche, also had a personal connection, with his father having worked on that winning 935. But the team really wanted a livery of its own for the rest of the 2023 season.
Inspiration came in the form of the custom helmet that Hyett wore to race in Rolex, which had been designed to keep his kids close to him on track. One side featured a prehistoric dinosaur scene for his dino-obsessed son; the other had a “fantasy unicorn” for his daughter. The team was pushing for a livery that kids and Porsche fans would love — but the Flying Lizard’s Super Trofeo Lamborghini had run the 2022 season dressed as a pink unicorn playfully dubbed “Sparklefarts.” So AO pivoted to the dinosaur theme; specifically, a T-Rex.
With the help of designer TJ Harley, a friend of the team’s, Rexy the bright green No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 Rawr debuted at the 2023 Sebring race. Harley’s design utilized the GT3’s uniquely curvy body lines to accentuate Rexy’s dino features: its flared rear fenders were haunches, his little T-Rex arms flanked the door handles, and the front end was a cartoonishly flattened dino face with green-tinted headlights as eyes the low-set grille fitting perfectly into Rexy’s toothy grin. This was not a car you would miss on the track throughout practice, qualifying, and the 12 hours of racing on the unforgiving bumps of Sebring International Raceway. I was there in the crowd that weekend, and I remember smiling every time it went by.
Rexy arrived at the paddock accompanied by a uniquely adorable cartoon mascot, stickers for everyone, and a team member in a matching green inflatable dinosaur costume giving “high”-fives (insofar as a T-rex can).
Roxy arrived later in the year. As a partner of the Project 1 team in the WEC, AO needed two Porsche GT3s running at once. Instead of duping Rexy, they cooked up his sister, with Hyett’s daughter choosing the hot pink color plus Roxy’s blue and purple claws. She debuted at the 2023 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR (Virginia International Raceway), and The Battle of the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — timed almost perfectly to Hyett’s daughter’s birthday — subbing for Rexy who was running with the Project 1 team in Fuji and at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
AO prehistoric family grew to three for the 2024 season when the team expanded to a second full-time car in IMSA’s LMP2 class. The problem was finding a creature that, as Kelly Brouillet, the team’s public relations representative explained, “fit the complicated body of the LMP2, and also wouldn’t be intimidating to kids.” It took several iterations of color combinations, wings, tails, and teeth before a perfectly purple Spike the Dragon debuted at Daytona in January for the team’s one-year IMSA anniversary.
2024 also came with a “promotion” for Rexy: AO moved up to the GTD Pro class for the season — at the same time that saw the Canadian plaid Pfaff Porsche racer leave the class in an unrelated move. The step up has worked for Rexy and team: AO’s bright green T-Rex owns the lead in class points, with wins this season in Laguna Seca and Detroit. Rexy earned a gold tooth for each victory — a quirky addition inspired by comments from fans on the team’s social media.
“For many years, the unofficial ‘most popular team’ in the IMSA paddock, based on lines during the autograph session has been Corvette Racing – and they still draw a great crowd,” says Nate Siebens, Director of Communications at IMSA. “But Rexy and Spike (and Roxy when she shows up) have definitely made an impression in the paddock.”
And they’ve certainly made an impression at Porsche. Volker Holzmeyer, President and CEO of Porsche Motorsport North America, said AO Racing created something special — an identity that has energized fan interest, catching the eyes of the youngest fans, while backing it up with an on-track performance that’s turned Roxy, Rexy, and Spike into adult favorites, too.
Wander a track on an IMSA race weekend and it’s impossible to miss the impact of the AO Racing’s technicolor Jurassic presence: mascot-covered merch is everywhere while fans wave bright white AO Racing flags or plush toy versions of their favorite character. Some fans now show up wearing inflatable dino suits. Rexy and Roxy are getting Hot Wheels diecast versions that go on sale — the results of a deal that started coming together during the Rexy’s first IMSA season in 2023.
You won’t see Rexy at VIR this weekend for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, but Roxy will be tearing up the track in the GTD Pro class for her brother, in all her hot pink dino glory. With three races to go, it’s entirely possible that at the end of the IMSA season, we see a return to the top of the food chain for the Tyrannosaurus Rex as AO Racing homes in on a potential title finish in the championship
