Felix Sabates

Sabates' grandfather grew sugar until a fire destroyed the business in the 1930s.

Sabates' family then founded a jewelry store in 1936.

The family would later found several successful business including import and export, Jewelry, Optical stores, Insurance sales, Sugar, cattle, Service stations and Pharmacies, many of which bore the family name.

Sabates attended military school as a teenager, first in Havana, and later in Camagüey.

According to Sabates, he was a bunkmate with one of the sons of Fidel Castro.

Following the Cuban Revolution, the newly established communist government headed by Fidel Castro proceeded to nationalize many businesses and strip citizens of individual wealth.

This included the assets of Sabates' family.

Feliciano Sergio "Félix" Sabates Jr. (born September 9, 1945) is a retired Cuban-born entrepreneur and philanthropist living in the United States.

He is currently a partner in Chip Ganassi Racing teams, which formerly fielded teams in the NASCAR Cup Series (as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates), and currently fields IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, World Endurance Championship and IndyCar Series teams.

After joining anti-Castro forces, in June 1960, at the age of 15, Felix was put on a flight to Miami by his parents.

He was the first member of the family to enter the United States of America.

Five of his six brothers and sisters would later arrive in the U.S. under Operation Peter Pan, sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico and placed in foster care.

Sabates' mother and youngest brother Art fled in 1963, while his father arrived in 1966 after being restricted by the Castro administration.

Sabates initially settled in Boston, Massachusetts with his aunt and uncle, before moving to Columbia, Missouri.

In between, Sabates lived in motels and worked several odd jobs, including washing pots and pans at a hospital.

Eventually, the family would reconvene in Lexington, North Carolina (where his mother originally settled), in a resettlement site for Cuban refugees established by an American-based Catholic charity.

In Lexington, Sabates began working 12-hour shifts in a furniture factory.

One year later in 1964, after an encounter with the Ku Klux Klan, his family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and he began working at National Car Rental as a parking lot attendant and washing cars at the Charlotte Airport.

Later, Sabates began working at the City Chevrolet car dealership in Downtown Charlotte (later purchased by fellow NASCAR owner Rick Hendrick), offering to work for free on the condition that if he outsells the other salesman within a month, that he would be compensated and offered a permanent sales position.

Sabates was successful with record car sales.

When a local newspaper article had recounted this story about the top salesman, it caught the eye of a local businessman who proceeded to offer him a different sales position with potential growth as a manufacturer's representative.

In 1969 at the age of 25, Sabates accepted a position as a salesman for Top Sales Company, Inc. (TSC) which distributed retail products.

Sabates would purchase the company in 1974.

Early products distributed by TSC included Atari game consoles and Teddy Ruxpin teddy bears.

At its peak, TSC became the largest, most successful manufacturer's representative company in the United States with over $12 billion in sales.

In 1987, Sabates became a NASCAR team owner with the purchase of a Hendrick Motorsports research and development team from Charlotte businessman Rick Hendrick, who also owns Chevrolet dealerships.

The team would be known as SABCO Racing.

In 1988, Sabates purchased a Hatteras Yacht dealership in Stuart, Fla. and within two years Sabates had turned it into the largest Hatteras dealership in the world.

Sabates' first driver in 1989 was third-generation racer Kyle Petty (Sabates was a huge fan of his father, Richard Petty).

In 1992, Sabates' team branched out into the Busch Series.

Petty found his groove in the Winston Cup circuit, finishing in the top-five in the final point standings for the season.

Sabates previously owned his own NASCAR team, SABCO Racing, until the end of the 2000 season when Chip Ganassi and Sabates became partners.

Felix Sabates was born in Camagüey, Cuba, living there until the age of 15.

Sabates is the oldest of seven children — three boys (Feliciano "Felix" Jr., Jose, Arturo "Art") and four girls (Silvia, Yoyi, Manty, Rosita) — of Dr. Feliciano Sabates and Maria Tavio.

In 2000, Sabates sold TSC to his employees at what was considered a well below market rate to "reward the people that helped him build the business."

Sabates, along with his partner John Dane, followed that up with the purchase of superyacht builder Trinity Yachts in 2000.

He also owns IYC, one of the largest yacht management, charter, brokerage and new construction yachts companies in the world, with offices in Monaco, the Bahamas, Saint Martin and the U.S. He is also the president and CEO of FSS Holdings, Inc., a North Carolina-based holding company with holdings in several U.S. and international companies.

Sabates owns and operates a Mercedes Benz dealership that is a four-time recipient of the Best Award given to only the top 10 percent of dealers nationwide.

He also operates the largest volume Infiniti dealership in North Carolina as well as Hyundai, Ford, Lincoln Mazda, Sprinter and Smart Car auto dealerships.

A Sabates owned Bentley dealership closed in 2015.