Don Panoz's vision extended well beyond building sports cars. From the mid-1990s onward he assembled a motorsport empire that encompassed circuit ownership, race car construction, driver training, and series organisation. The Panoz family's involvement in professional racing was unusual among American sports car manufacturers in that they designed and built their own chassis rather than relying on established constructors.
The most consequential element of Panoz's motorsport legacy was the creation of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 1999. Don Panoz founded the series, which he modelled on the regulations used by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, allowing teams to compete under compatible rules on both sides of the Atlantic. Panoz also owned the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), the sanctioning body for the ALMS.
The Panoz group owned Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, and operated Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida. Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada was also owned by the group before being sold separately to a Canadian consortium led by Ron Fellows and Carlo Fidani in 2011.
In 2012 the entire Panoz Motor Sports Group — including the ALMS, Road Atlanta, and Sebring — was sold to NASCAR. Two years later the ALMS merged with the Rolex Sports Car Series to form United SportsCar Racing, the predecessor to the modern IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The racing car construction arm of the Panoz group was Élan Motorsport Technologies, based in Braselton, Georgia. Élan designed and built race cars from top-level professional machinery to amateur club racers, and acquired a number of other constructors including Van Diemen (the storied Formula Ford manufacturer) and G-Force Technologies (an Indy Racing League constructor).
Élan-built cars competed in the Indy Racing League, Champ Car World Series, American Le Mans Series, and the Le Mans Series. The company's most prominent product was the Panoz DP01, the spec chassis developed for the 2007 Champ Car World Series season. Élan also produced the Panoz DP09, the sole spec chassis for the Superleague Formula series that ran from 2008 to 2011.
Panoz provided IndyCar with chassis including the G-Force GF05 and GF09.
Team Panoz Racing ran factory-backed road cars in endurance competition throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. A Panoz Esperante GTLM won the GT2 class at the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans and took victory at the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2018, Team Panoz Racing won the Manufacturer's Championship in the Pirelli GTS class with the Panoz Avezzano.
The Panoz Racing School operated at Road Atlanta and Sebring International Raceway, offering instruction to students using purpose-built Panoz GT-RA cars. Graduates were eligible for an SCCA regional racing licence. The school also ran the Panoz Racing Series, a one-make championship designed as a low-cost competitive entry point for amateur drivers.
Panoz's influence on American motorsport is substantial. The ALMS elevated sportscar racing in North America to an internationally credible standard during the 2000s, directly fostering the growth of what became the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Esperante GTR-1 and its hybrid variant "Sparky" demonstrated an early commitment to technological experimentation, including hybrid drive systems, more than a decade before such technology became routine in top-level endurance racing.