Georgia Tech graduates and professors have made a significant impact on the field of transportation design and engineering during the school’s history.  The Georgia Tech Auto Show will promote the public's knowledge of this contribution through the guest speakers at the show and through this web site.  Here is a list of a few members of the Georgia Tech community that are noteworthy in this regard.

Roy Evans    Born in Bartow, Georgia and a student at Georgia Tech in the 1920's, he became the owner of the American Bantam Car Company in Butler, Pennsylvania where he lead a team in the design of the Jeep military vehicle just before WWII.  (Willy's was contracted to the build the vehicle only after it was designed by those working under the direction of Roy Evans)

Mel Beardsley   Co-inventor of the "hovercraft" and Georgia Tech graduate.

“Sneaky” Pete Robinson  The “Georgia Tech Auto Club” was very active in the 1950's and worked with Hoyt Grimes to design and build the first rail-frame dragster in the southeast.  An Atlanta native named Pete Robinson that was involved with this club while at Georgia Tech went on to graduate in mechanical engineering.  After graduation he stunned the drag racing scene by winning the 1961 NHRA Nationals from out of nowhere thus giving him the name “Sneaky”.  He continued to be very successful during his entire racing career and was voted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in that organization's second year (1992).

Carroll Shelby  The famous Carroll Shelby applied to Georgia Tech and was accepted in the aerospace engineering department. He intended to begin classes as a freshman in the fall of 1941 at Georgia Tech, far away from where he graduated from high school in Dallas, Texas. He picked Georgia Tech to study enginering because of its reputation and because he had cousins living in the Atlanta area. The outbreak of World War II in Europe brought different priorities. Carroll Shelby changed his plans and joined the Army Air Corps to do his part in defending the USA. When he was discharged four years later, he was already married with a growing family. The necessity to support his family kept him from returning to his former plans to enter Georgia Tech's AE program. He ventured into chicken farming instead, and was soon successful enough to start racing cars in his spare time. More>

Jim Downing    Fraternity brother of Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough and legend of endurance prototype motor racing since the 1960's.  He has won all the prestigious endurance races including the 24 hours of Le Mans in a car that he designed and built in his personal shop with other Georgia Tech graduates such as Sam Garrett, Dave Lynn, and Wayne Yawn.  Along with his brother-in-law, he developed the HANS device that has been such a significant improvement in racing driver safety.  Jim is currently the owner of Downing Atlanta, a company that builds, restores, and races vehicles in various sports car and formula car racing classes.

Franco Cimatti   Graduate of mechanical engineering at Tech in 1981 and now "concept engineering manager" at Ferrari Auto, SpA in Maranello, Italy.  He is in charge of all new car platform design in the road car division of Ferrari: as he says in his words, “the blank sheet of paper part of the process”.  Franco was the guest speaker for the 2006 Georgia Tech Auto Show. 360 Modena

Huibert Mees   Returned to graduate school at Georgia Tech to pursue his love of mechanical engineering in 1990.  After graduating, he re-started his career at Ford Motor Company.   While at Ford's Jaguar division in England, he developed the independent rear suspension for the chassis of the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln LS, and Jaguar S-type.  After that assignment, he was chosen to be on Ford's "Design Dream Team" and lead the chassis, brakes, steering, and suspension design of the Ford GT.  He is currently a chassis architectures technical expert  and the Supervisor of Basic Design Systems Integration for Ford Motor Company.   Huibert was the guest speaker for the 2nd Annual Georgia Tech Auto Show in the Spring of 2005

Norman Garrett    Graduate of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech in the early 1980's, he went to work at Mazda and was the concept engineer of the Mazda Miata. The Mazda Miata is currently the best selling sports car in history.  Norman Garrett now lives in Atlanta and has taught the internal combustion engines class in the school of mechanical engineering.  Norman was the guest speaker at the first annual Georgia Tech Auto Show in the spring of 2004.

Bryan Nesbitt   Was a student at Georgia Tech for his freshman year in the Program of Industrial Design in the College of Architecture.  He later transferred to Art Center College of Design in California before being hired by Daimler-Chrysler.  He designed the PT Cruiser there.  Bryan presently works for General Motors as the Executive Director of GM Design Europe overseeing the new shapes of car brands such as SAAB and Opel.

Dave Lynn  After receiving a degree in transportation design from Art Center College of Design in California, he began working for Georgia Tech graduate Jim Downing and designing Le Mans-style prototype race cars in the early 1990’s.  By 1996 one of his designs, called the Kudzu DLM, had been driven by Jim Downing to a LMP2 class victory at the 24 hours of Le Mans in France.  Other cars of his design have won the 24 hours of Daytona and helped confirm Jim Downing as a world class endurance racer.  He was the aesthetic designer of the street car that was constructed by Evans Automobiles, a company founded by John Evans, a Georgia Tech graduate.  This car was displayed at the 2004 and 2005 Georgia Tech Auto Shows.  Dave now teaches studios and classes in the Program of Industrial Design in the College of Architecture at Georgia Tech and is a part owner of Laughing Dog Design Studios, LLC here in Atlanta. More>

George McCowan   Graduated in 1998 from Georgia Tech's Program of Industrial Design in the College of Architecture and now works for ASC, American Specialty Cars as an automotive designer.  He recently designed the wheels for the C6 and C6 Z06 Corvette while working as sole designer for Speedline N.A. McCowan has been a featured artist at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, MI and also produces art for the United States Air Force. <More>

John Evans   Founder of Evans Automobiles and designer of hand-built ultra high performance street cars.   John graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in physics.

Micky Bly    Now the head of General Motors' hybrid technology group.   He is a graduate of Georgia Tech in with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Joe Foster   Driver of Porsche racing cars in the ALMS and Grand Am series.  Foster graduated with a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech. More>

John Leverett   Chief Engineer of Panoz Auto and designer of the Panoz Esperante under Danny Panoz in Hoschton, Georgia.  He started at Georgia Tech in mechanical engineering but later transferred to Southern Tech before graduating. More>

Joey Clanton   NASCAR Busch series driver. Clanton graduated in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1999. More>

Wayne Yawn  Graduate of mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and designer of the Kudzu DLY Le Mans prototype racing car that won the 2001 SRP-1 title at the 24 Hours of Daytona.  The car was driven by Jim Downing in that race.  Both Wayne and Jim Downing attended the 2004 Georgia Tech Auto Show with the Kudzu DLY on display. More>