Gurney and Fogarty Claim Victory At Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, CA – There was a wispy fog that morning and I could hear the piercing sounds of Ferrari V-12s running on the track. I could occasionally see the red cars through the fog as they came around turn 5. The low hills covered in dry grass surrounded by vineyards and cypress trees could easily have been in Tuscany, but this was my first time at Laguna Seca. It is a magical place.


The magic continued this past weekend with the Grand Am Rolex and Continental Tire Sports Car races. For 108 laps over the fabled track, the Daytona Prototype (DP) and GT sports cars battled for victory. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty claimed victory in their Chevrolet-powered Riley. The win was clinched when Gurney capitalized on an error by the DP championship point’s leader, Scott Pruett, during the final round of pit stops on lap 80. Pruett came into the pits hot and overshot his pit requiring the team to push him back. Leaving the pits in front of the pack, Gurney was able to hold off Pruett to win by a mere 0.431 seconds. With the win, Gurney and Fogarty broke a 10-race winless streak.


After the race, an elated Alex Gurney said “We were struggling earlier this season, and this is a great culmination of our work. Our car came in really good at the end of the race. I spent most of my race trying to chase down Scott. Then we had our stop and they had their problem. I was really hooked up at the end of the race, and I had clear sailing at the end. This is a great place for us to win. Both being California boys, this is as good as it gets." This was also Scott Pruett’s 100th DP start, "I couldn't get it ‘whoaed' up in time.” Pruett quipped, “I was on and off the brakes again and again, but it just wouldn't stop in time. Both Alex and I were giving it 110 percent at the end. We were both running strong. It was one of those races that we both wanted to win."


Round 9 of the 2011 Rolex Series will be the American Red Cross 250 on Sunday, July 23, at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, N.Y. Gurney/Fogarty and Pruett/Rojas will undoubtedly be battling hard.

DG-Spec Scion tC Remains Bulletproof

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Typically when you debut an untested turbo setup in 100-degree weather, and then attempt to race continuously for 240 miles, you anticipate that “issues” will crop up. This past weekend, at the fourth round of the WERC endurance series, the DG-Spec team proved that solid engineering and the right partners can produce winning results, even the first time out.

After three hours and 78 laps, and with no problems, the team captured the win in the competitive E1 class. Drivers Scott Webb and Dan Gardner kept the car (mostly) out of trouble, as they brought it home not much worse for the wear. Finishing a whopping two laps behind was a Porsche Boxster, followed by a winged BMW.



Just two E0 and three ES cars finished ahead of the Scion, as DG-Spec claimed a heady sixth place in the overall standings. In fact, second place overall was just a lap ahead of the turbo tC. The win gives the team 380 total points in the WERC series, a good 55 points ahead of second-place, with four races left to go.

“On Friday during testing we saw ambient temps get as high as 103 degrees, and we knew it was going to be brutal on our new turbo setup,” said team owner and driver Dan Gardner. “The water and oil got hot, as did everything in the engine bay, but this Scion just kept going and going. I can’t say enough about our partners at Dezod, Garrett, Burns, Goodridge, and AEM. They all provided great pieces and tech support to give us the best chance of an issue-free setup right out of the gates. As it turns out, it wasn’t just issue-free, it also carried us to the winner’s circle.”

The race started promptly at 6:15 p.m. As the green flew, Webb got into a good clear pocket, as others jockeyed for position. He passed a couple cars before turn one, and glued the front of the Scion to the back bumper of faster-class E0 BMW. In back was another E0 BMW, and Webb would battle for a first half of the race, as he kept the Scion out in front.



Early on, Webb managed to rip off fast lap of the weekend with a 2:09.xx, which helped the Scion build up a gap over the E1 Acura, which had started one position behind the tC.

Just a few laps into the race, the radio kit in Webb’s helmet would fail. He could hear the crew on the radio, but couldn’t respond back. The team put their contingency communications plan into place, which involved flashing the lights to signal affirmative responses.

The biggest issue involved trying to calculate when it was time for a fuel stop. When the car first bobbled Webb flashed his lights and zig-zagged down the front straight to indicate that he had switched the other two pumps on. The team now had a general idea about when the car would need to come in for fuel. Without two-way radio communications, however, the pit crew needed to be ready on a moment’s notice if Webb pulled into the pits without warning.


The crew consisted of David Fredrickson, Aidan Spraic, Shawn Meze, John McNulty, and Alec Johnston, so Webb, Gardner and the turbo Scion were in good hands. Crew Chief and team anchor Sean Morris couldn’t make the event as he was saying “I do” to his now wife, automotive engineer, swimmer, and all-around great gal, Merritt Johnson.

“Sean’s how I met Dan and this team, and his role as the main fueler during stops is critical,” said crewman Spraic. “I had some big shoes to fill, taking his spot in the pits, but he prepared me well before he left. I think Dave and I got into a rhythm during fueling practice, and the stops went pretty flawless I’m proud to say.”

Just before the race’s halfway mark, Webb came in for fuel and a driver change. The crew sprung into action, as Gardner jumped into the car. The first few laps were rough as he tried to find his groove, but things improved as the race wore on.

Early on, Webb came on the radio to let Gardner know he had been hit twice on the left side by an out-of-class BMW. The hits came on the last lap before Webb pitted, so no one really knew the extent of the damage.

Fortunately the team would regain two-way radio communications, and driver and crew would have a running dialogue throughout the remainder of the race. During the first part of Gardner’s shift, the low, fiery sun would be blinding in a couple of turns, with cars driving off the track regularly. Gardner too found himself in the dirt in off-ramp, but drove on without incident.

As darkness approached the team radioed that the main HID driving lights were not on. Gardner hit the switch repeatedly, but the lights would not turn back on. During testing and qualifying the team had kept the lights on to test this very issue, and the lights performed flawlessly.

With the two supplemental HIDs still functioning, Gardner started to feel out how to drive with limited vision. Fortunately, reflectors on the track really helped the driver when it became pitch black.

Fuel would become an issue as the team hadn’t made it quite halfway through on the first tank. Rather than wait until later in the race, the team decided to have Gardner come in early to take on a splash, as the Scion was two laps ahead of second place. The idea was to run a conservative race from this point on, as it was pointless to take unnecessary chances with a two-lap lead.

The crew banged off another great stop, and Gardner would take off again, carefully watching his dash, as radar guns were constantly monitoring pit lane speed. As the Scion took to the track again, the team checked Timing and Scoring and still saw they were up a lap. Gardner extended the lead, as he managed the darkness by relying on the reflectors, which were well-placed by series officials.

One benefit of the night was that water and oil temps came back down, and the bright green temp warning light would extinguish, giving the driver more confidence that risk of a failure was low.

With just a few laps to go, Gardner kept the car pointed ahead though he took evasive action once at the bus stop, when a car slowed considerably and the closing rate was too fast to bleed with brakes. As the checkered flew, the Scion took home the win, and barely missed a top five finish overall, impressive for a limited-class E1 car.

The fifth and sixth rounds of the WERC endurance series will take place at Thunderhill Raceway on August 13-14.

Press Release by Dan Gardner, DG-Spec

"Never Give Up"

LE MANS, FRANCE – For Louis Chevrolet, the founder of Chevrolet, “Never Give Up” was more than a motto, it was a testimony to his faith in God. His testimony was evident this past weekend as the men and women of Corvette Racing pushed hard to win the GT-E class victory at the 24 Heures du Mans. In the sixteenth hour of the race, the dominant #74 C6R piloted by Magnussen/Gavin/Westbrook was retired due to an accident while running in first place. The mood was gloomy in the garage following the news of the retirement of their best chance for a win. But the effort of the team was quickly focused on the #73 Corvette driven by Beretta/Garcia/Milner. By hour 21, the Corvette was solidly in the lead. "That was the hardest drive of my life," Milner said. "It would have been a lot easier if it wasn't sprinkling, raining, not raining, and then wet - all that plus the pressure of the situation. I'd been super comfortable in the car all day long, but I was not comfortable right then. I was just trying to drive the car to what the track would allow. Every lap it changed, every corner it changed."


The motto was also evident in the effort of the mighty Audi R18TDIs as they battled against the 4 Peugeot diesel 908s. Though the Audis have won ten of the last 12 Le Mans races (and one of those they missed was to the Bentley 8 in 2003 with Team Joest’s assistance), the past few years have been tough as the Peugeot diesels have brought a formidable challenge. With three works entries and a fourth by Oreca/Matmut, Peugeot came intending to win the race on the native soil of France.


Within the first hour of the race, the lights seemed to dim on Team Joest. As Alan McNish tried weaving the #3 Audi through some slower traffic, he made contact with a Ferrari and was thrust uncontrollably into a tire barrier. The resultant accident (video) was terrifying as the Audi flipped several times causing debris to rain upon the photographers and corner workers behind the barrier, landing upside down on the grass. By the grace of God, McNish was pulled from the car unhurt and the debris missed the hitting the bystanders.


Five hours later, the #1 defending race winning Audi piloted by Rockenfeller slammed into a wall at the Mulsanne kink while overtaking a Ferrari. Again, by God’s grace, Rockenfeller avoided serious injury in the spectacular crash. With 2 of the 3 Audis on the sidelines, it appeared that the Peugeots would certainly out survive the lone #2 Audi of Treluyer/Lotterer/Fassier.


To win, Audi needed to execute a clean, error free race, yet to take chances when necessary. The strategy paid-off as the Audi completed the race 13-seconds ahead of the #9 Peugeot. "We did five stints on one set of tires," said Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport. “The strength was in our strategy, and it helped us go against Peugeot. The tires were strong but we questioned how they could do the stints. At the end, the drivers did five stints and it was not too difficult to drive the car... We had to take every risk, we did so, and we won. We have a big team that worked the strategy and made the right choices." Peugeot finished strong claiming 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th (Oreca) place finishes.


To cap off the celebration of Chevrolet’s 100th and the 10th anniversary of Corvette Racing’s first win at Le Mans, the C6R Corvette Larbre Competition claimed the GTE-Am class win ahead of the team’s GT3 RSR. And another honorable mention goes to Burns customers David and Andrea Robertson who celebrated their wedding anniversary on the podium piloting their Robertson Racing Ford GT to a well-deserved third-place result in class. It marked the first ever husband-and-wife duo to finish on the podium at Le Mans.

“Yeah, Maybe I Should Have Lifted.”

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – It was a good weekend for Spencer Massey as he beat Alan Johnson in the Top Fuel finals at the Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ. A baby-faced Massey garnered his second consecutive win on the holeshot running a 3.821-second run at 319.07 mph against a 3.815-second run at 322.19 by Worsham. “It’s awesome to beat the Alan Johnson/Al-Anabi/Del Worsham car in the final,” said Massey. “The Al-Anabi car has been on a roll and running killer numbers, so we knew we had to be on our 'A' game, that the car had to run well, and I had to be on my game.”


Though taking unnecessary chances, Mike Neff took top-honors in Funny Car paired up against Cruz Pedregon in the final round. Neff’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang went 4.071 at 314.09 mph which was more than enough as Cruz red-lighted. “I knew he red-lighted,” said Neff. “I was sitting there waiting for the Tree to come down, and I heard him leave and knew he red-lighted because the Tree hadn’t come down yet. I looked over and saw that his bulb was red, then I looked up and saw our win light on. By that time, I had already hit the gas and was taking off and saw our win light on. I wanted to see what it would run, then I was saying ‘Don’t drive over the centerline or something.' Wouldn’t you lose if you did that? Yeah, maybe I should have lifted.” It appears that Mike lives by the motto “never-lift.” We know why Neff get’s along with John Force so well!


As usual, Pro Stock was especially competitive. So competitive in fact that legend Warren Johnson failed to qualify! Last week’s winner Shane Gray qualified second, but was taken out by Greg Stanfield in the first round. Shane was a little late at the light and was never able to catch Greg though he ran a blistering 211.03 mph top speed run. Stanfield made it to Round 3 before losing to Allen Johnson by a mere 4 feet! The Nitrofish GXP ran a 6.559-second 210.87 mph run against Johnson’s-6.555 second 210.70 mph. Dang it was close!


In the Final round it was all Dodges with rookie Vincent Nobile going against Allen Johnson. Though Nobile ran 6.618 second e.t. against Johnson’s 6.689 seconds, the rookie was a little too quick at the line posting a red light. Johnson was not a bit dismayed at being slower than the rookie since he supplies Nobile with engines. “I’m very proud of our engine guys and Mark [Ingersoll, crew chief], who makes the tuning calls. Vincent is a fierce competitor, and I’m sure we’re going to tangle a few more times before this is over.” No one can accuse Johnson at holding back the good engines.


Pro Mod seemed to have the “prettiest” pits with Melanie Troxel and rookie Leah Pruett-Leduc. After several successful test runs in the RoadRage.com Camaro, Pruett-Leduc, made her Pro Mod Series debut. "Pro Mod is the most difficult car I've ever driven," said Pruett-LeDuc, the reigning Nostalgia Funny Car champion. Though top qualifier and new National record-holder, Troxel’s ’53 Corvette was taken out early in the first round by Dennis Radford. Unfortunately, Radford car came across Troxel’s lane hitting the left wall. The crew was able to get Radford’s car to the start of Round 3. Pruett-Leduc made it to the second round before losing to Mike Castelana. The show was won by Danny Rowe in his ’68 Camaro.

Alas, Where Better To Gamble Than Monte Carlo?

MONTE CARLO, MONACO – With such a remarkable weekend in racing including the Indy 500, the Charlotte 600 and the Monaco Formula One race, how does one choose which to blog? I choose the Monaco GP of course! Though the history and pageantry of this GP is without compare, the race is often boring – but not this year! The Red Bull driver, Sebastien Vettel, ended up at the finish line first in an action packed race which saw several drivers retired. Alonso followed in second place in his Ferrari while Jenson Button claimed the final podium finish for McLaren. Vettel’s win can be attributed to a gamble late in the race choosing to stay on his same set of soft tires. Alonso and Button fought hard and were catching the Red Bull driver during those final few laps, and I am sure making the German think twice about his choice.
But alas, where better to gamble than in Monte Carlo!


Lap 68 was the most exciting lap of the race. As the three leaders made their way through traffic the STR-Ferrari of Alguersuari made contact with a blue Renault sending it hard into the barrier. For a few moments it was unclear whether Vettel had been taken out. After the traffic had cleared, it turned out that Renault driver Vasily Petrov, running in 4th at the time, had hit the wall and that Vettel had maintained his lead. The subsequent red flag stopped the race allowing the Red Bull team to change out the German’s car and almost assuring the Red Bull driver the win. Vettel said. "The roulette button must have stopped last night and kept on spinning."


Petrov’s Renault contacted the wall quite hard and the Russian needed to be assisted out of the car. Complaining at first that he had lost sensation in his legs, team boss Jean Alesi happily reported that Petrov was “fine” following a complete check up at Princess Grace Hospital. “It was quite a big impact,” Petrov recounted, “and I could not feel my legs very well after the crash. I thought it was best for the medical team to assist with removing me from the car as it was difficult for me to move and my legs were trapped in the cockpit.”


Vettel, the defending champion, has had a remarkable season winning 5 of the 6 Grand Prix races this year. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was the only other driver to win this year in China. Vettel increased his championship lead to 58 points ahead of Hamilton. Mark Webber follows 6 points behind with Button and Alonso rounding the top 5.


The year is turning out to be a tough one for Ferrari with Alonso’s second place finish at Monaco the best of the year. If not for Petrov’s late crash, it could have been a win for the prancing horse, but that was not to be. “Immediately after the race, I said the fight for the title was getting ever more difficult, not to say impossible,” Alonso said in his Ferrari website blog. “Sure, if Vettel ends up winning a race in which we felt there was a chance of victory, then you get a feeling of disappointment, but that does not mean we will not continue working hard at the track and back home on developing the car. Clearly the gap in the championship is widening all the time. We can do the maths, but neither myself nor the team are used to throwing in the towel.

Hope Jack Was Ok With That…

CHARLOTTE, NC – After wining Saturday night’s SPRINT All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Carl Edward’s decided to take a victory slide on the infield grass. Unfortunately, the stunt did not go as planned. After leaving the pavement, the car’s splitter hit something in the grass, possibly a man-hole cover, lifting the car and destroying the front end. "As soon as I turned to the grass...it just dug in the splitter.” Carl continued, “ I didn't expect that," The 99 car’s crew chief, Bob Osborne was not amused and said “the 99 program does not have disposable cars.” But Carl still found it humorous. “Bob has been doing a really good job of keeping the splitter down," Edwards said. "It helps on the racetrack, but it doesn't help on the grass." I guess it is hard to get upsetting after winning a $1.2 million purse. I also assume that Mr. Roush was ok with it – a win is a win. Edwards exited the car with one of his infamous back-flips.


Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch looked to have the strongest cars all evening. After a competition 10-minute break, and then a mandatory pit stop for tires, Edwards and Busch were fighting for position on the restart. The Edwards pit crew did a valiant job getting Carl out first. Busch really is one of the best drag-racers out there, but Edwards was able to pull it off and gain the top position with Busch hard on his tail. “I’ve been practicing that little part there,” Edwards said. “There are so many parts of this sport that you have to be good at. Kyle is so good at that. I was really nervous about that last run.” David Reutiman finished third with Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle rounding out the top-5.



The victory for Carl Edwards is further evidence of the domination of Roush-Fenway, particularly on the 1.5 mi ovals. The victory makes it 4-in-a-row for the Roush-Fenway contingent with Edwards win at the 2010 season finale at Homestead and this year’s Las Vegas race combined with Kenseth’s victory at Texas. When Jack Roush was asked if they had found the trick, he was adamant to say there are no tricks. “It's not a matter of finding a trick,” Roush said. “With all the inspectors they have today, they won't let you have a trick. It's a matter of doing the complete job better than everybody else.”


Edwards said the Ford engines are key. “I feel like Jack and Doug [Yates] have got the engines to a point where we can run with and beat most of the guys on the race track, go down the straightaways,” Edwards said. He also added that Bob Osborne and the crew are doing a great job making “the cars good.” At Burns we’d like to believe that the Burns exhaust technology has something to do with it.
So, with the next two races at Charlotte and Kansas being at 1.5 mi tracks, can Roush Fenway keep it up? Stay tuned to find out. The Coca Cola 600 next weekend is the longest race of the season and will definitely put the Roush equipment to the test.


In drag racing news, Burns customer Shane Gray of Gray Motorsports went up against Burns customer Greg Stanfield at the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka Kansas in the Pro Stock finals. Before Sunday, Stanfield was 3-0 against Gray but had never gone against each other in a final round. The Nitrofish GXP of Stanfield put up a valiant effort posting a 0.040s light against Shane’s 0.047s. Stanfield kept the starting line advantage to almost half track when the Gray Motorsports power came on beating Stanfield’s et of 6.693s run by a mere 2 feet, posting a 6.679s blast! Shane’s top speed was 206.95mph vs 206.29s for Stanfield. This is Shane’s second Pro Stock victory. “We’ve struggled pretty much since the year started, had car issues, engine issues, we just went back to the shop, regrouped, dissected the motor, dissected people, made probably 100 test runs, came here, and the car ran really well,” Gray said. “This win goes to [crew chiefs] Ian [Landies] and Craig [Hankinson] and the entire Service Central team.” What made the victory sweeter for Gray was that he had to eliminate BOTH KB cars in the elimination rounds. Not an easy feat!

Pratt and Miller Camaros Win At Bosch 250

DANVILLE, VA – Though much of the race was run in torrential rain behind the pace car, the GRAND AM Sports Car Series race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) was an exciting History making event. Bill Lester claimed the victory in the GT-class co-piloting his #88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to victory with Jordan Taylor. The victory makes Lester the first African-American driver to win a GRAND-AM Rolex event. The 07 Cool-TV Chevrolet Camaro of Schaldach /Gavin placed second followed by the #94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 of Dalla Lana/Auberlen.The Autohaus Camaro prepared by Pratt and Miller runs Burns merge collectors. Burns Stainless worked closely with the engine supplier, Katech, to develop the winning header design. Lester and Jordan move to 3rd in points following this momentous win.


The other exciting race was the Daytona Prototype (DP) class where the Gannassi six-race winning streak was brought to an end by the #9 Action Express Porsche/Riley of Barbosa/France /Borcheller. Barbosa claimed the checkered flag a mere 0.27 seconds ahead of Scott Pruett, who along with co-diver Memo Rojas have won 12 of the last 15 races. So unbeatable had Team Ganassi become, that GRAND AM posted a $25,000 bounty to the team that could end the Gannassi winning streak. "Chip Ganassi and his entire organization have done an amazing job fashioning one of the most remarkable streaks in the annals of American sports car racing," said GRAND-AM Director of Competition Mark Raffauf. "This reward gives their competition another incentive to step up and beat them to the checkered flag."


The winners took home a purse of over $83,000 – better than a poke in the eye I’d say! Joao Barbosa commented after the race, "Everything clicked today. We were able to get the track position at the right time and then I tried to do the best I could at the end. With Scott (Pruett) behind, it's never easy, but I pushed as hard as I could and tried to gain a safe margin just in case. You never know what can come from those guys. It worked out really perfect.


Also of note is that the #30 iMoto Racing MazdaSpeed3 driven by Chip Herr and Team owner Glenn Bocchino was equipped with an undercar exhaust built by Burns Stainless incorporating a Burns Ultralight muffler. The VIR 250 was a shakedown race for the brand new car. We are expecting great things from the Continental Cup ST class entry in races to come.