Global macro manager Peter Thiel likes badass cars and contrarian bets. The 36-year-old California native and founder of Clarium Capital Management has just found a way to combine both by fueling American Thunder, a start-up monthly magazine for Nascar fans. The investment is purely personal: Thiel, a former securities lawyer and Credit Suisse Financial Products derivatives trader, has shown a predilection for venture projects ever since he co-founded online payments service PayPal with his friend Max Levchin in 1998.
