Rolex, a name that conjures feelings of intense drive, unrelenting ambition, perfection and trust has been sponsoring sporting events that aim to develop talent and enable individuals to attain the greatest of human triumphs. The Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Rolex is the resurrection of the fading United States Road racing Championship. Rolex took over as the title sponsor back in 2002 and has from then on constantly supported this racing event. The Rolex Sports Car Series has grown both in popularity as well as scope and has a large number of celebrities taking part in the racing tournament. The exponential growth in appeal has led to increase in media coverage and the number of spectators.

Patrick Dempsey the American born actor who rose to fame as a guest actor in the ‘Will and Grace’ series will be participating in the 2009 edition of the Rolex Sports Car Series. Patrick Dempsey who took over the American sitcom industry with his portrayal of Dr. Derek Shepherd in the immensely popular drama series called ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ has a penchant for racing cars around the circuit. Popularly referred to as ‘McDreamy’ because of his tremendous sex appeal and reach, Patrick Dempsey was chosen by the many brands like Versace and Mazda among others to represent them. Racing cars in his spare time Patrick Dempsey has already competed in the Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Daytona as well as the Baja 1000 Off-road race. An avid competitor, Patrick Dempsey is a co-owner of his own IndyCar series team known as Vision racing. Last year he competed in 5 out of the total of 12 races of the Rolex Sports Car Series races. According to reports from the track Patrick Dempsey will be co-driving the No. 40 Mazda RX- 8 along with Joe Foster in the Rolex Sports Car Series. Last year Patrick Dempsey and his team had finished off at the 36^th place in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen event. Patrick Dempsey along with his racing team will return to the Watkins Glen International circuit on Saturday the 6^th of June to take part in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.

An autograph signing event is going to be held from 12 in the afternoon to 12:45on Saturday. Fans who come to witness the event will be able to meet all the drivers of the Rolex Sports Car Series like the 3 time runner-up of the Champ Car World Series Bruno Junqueira, Scott Pruett along with Patrick Dempsey. Tickets for the Rolex Sports Car Series that is to be held on the 5^th as well as 6^th of June are priced at 35 dollars that is inclusive of the autograph signing event.

The anticipated Rolex Sports Car Series draws a tremendous number of spectators and has become a premier racing event that witnesses a competition between a numerous skilled race car drivers. Rolex has played an active part in endorsing and promoting this event while simultaneously increasing the awareness and popularity of this racing tournament.

Come this Saturday and fans of circuit racing as well as ‘Dr. McDreamy’ will have the opportunity of seeing their favorite actor playing the role of a sports car racer as he competes in the adrenalin pumping race of the Rolex Sports Car Series.

In 2008, racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart celebrated his 40th anniversary as a brand ambassador for Rolex. Few commercial relationships last more than a few years, but Stewart’s has endured for four decades. As Sir Jackie Stewart says himself, he has been married to the same woman for 46 years and to Rolex only four years less. Stewart is hugely proud of his relationship with Rolex. It all started in May 1966 when Stewart bought his first Rolex in Texas on his way home from the Indianapolis 500. He bought it with his Indianapolis winnings and it was one of the first signs that he was starting to make it as a racing driver. He remembers: “It was a gold Day Date with a President bracelet which was pretty fancy for me to buy in those days. But the Rolex was a symbol of me thinking that I have got enough money to buy something this exclusive.” The first years of his racing career had been spent virtually penniless, clawing his way to the top, and he could not even afford to run a road car. The purchase of the Rolex marked the fact that those days were finally over: Jackie Stewart felt like he had arrived. By 1968, he had emerged as Britain’s top driver and one of the top five in the world.

To Jackie Stewart’s great surprise, Rolex’s Andre Heiniger approached him. He remembers: “He wanted to see if I would consider allowing them to use my photograph and likeness.” Stewart is not even sure how they knew he was a Rolex wearer. Rolex believed that Stewart, along with Arnold Palmer and Jean-Claude Killy, represented the cream of the crop: Sportsmen of that era who would endure.  At the time, Stewart was 18 months away from his first world championship, and there were no guarantees he would win one at all. He says: “It has often baffled me that they chose me that early in my career.” However, Andre Heiniger was no ordinary chief executive and he became a legend in the watch business. Still, it is a market phenomenon that Rolex considered a 28-year-old Jackie Stewart at the start of his winning period in 1968 an asset, and still does at the age of 68 when he has been there and done everything. Stewart says appropriately: “They see it as timeless. Timing is everything in life.” But the longevity of the relationship is still a mystery. When Stewart bought his first Rolex, he was a young man buying a high value product and then a young endorser of the product. Now he is an older man who connects with an older audience.

Jackie Stewart explains why the relationship continues to work to this very day: “Rolex has not changed. You can give me all sorts of excuses for wearing another watch, but if you wear a Rolex, whether it is a stainless steel GMT Master, which I wear a lot of, or whether you wear a platinum Day Date, it is a watch that everyone looks at and thinks it is a quality statement.” Stewart believes that the longevity goes even deeper than that: “With Rolex it is not just a question of winning, it is being successful because a winner can always be beaten. But if you are successful you rise above winning or losing.” Stewart says that Rolex’s long-term thinking is highly compatible to his own thought processes. That’s why his relationship with Rolex has lasted over 40 years.