Zach Lutz's Adventures in Racing

Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio, PHEW!

2010-06-23T20:08:00.000-04:00

We've had a heck of a run the past few race weekends! I've been so busy with my racing endeavors and helping with other driver's endeavors that I've been slacking on my blogging… Sorry! I'll make it up to you guys and gals today with a package deal! THREE BLOGS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

First of all, let me explain what I've been up to for the past few weeks. I was able to form a great relationship with another driver at our event at Barber not too long ago and it's grown into a pretty cool deal! Marv Weidner drove one of the Compass 360 Civics with us that weekend and I was able to help Marv get comfortable in the Civic and lower his lap times fairly consistently. Throughout the weekend Marv and I had several conversations about my past and my future goals in motorsports, as well as his past and future goals. From these conversations we were able to put together a great deal where Marv has been driving the Lutz Motorsports Industries/Compass360 Mustang in the Mustang Challenge series. We did some testing the weekend before his first Challenge race at Roebling Road in Savannah, Georgia and it went fantastic! Not only did Marv pick up his times to a very competitive level fairly quickly, but we had a blast working together. The whole team really got along great, which is super important in this scenario. Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio have been great learning experiences for Marv and everyone was really pleased with his progress, including himself. I'm really looking forward to what the rest of the season will bring for Marv and where we end up next year!

This brings us to the Continental race at Lime Rock. They call it the "bull-ring" and I'd say that's a pretty accurate description. It's fast, short, wild and dangerous. The weekend was without a test day so our track time was limited, but I was able to pick up the track relatively quickly and put down some quick laps in the practice sessions. After a qualifying session cut short by a car oiling down the track we found ourselves in a P9 starting position. Not bad considering I was only able to throw down a few clean laps. Rain was on the forecast for race day and I was ok with that. We ended up starting the race in the drizzling rain which wasn't a problem for us! I capitalized on the fact that my competitors were going to be very cautious during the first turn and was able to pick up a few positions by diving in to turn 1. I moved from ninth to fourth by the first corner and worked on chasing down the few cars in front of me. The competition was stiff and we all settled in to line and kept pushing forward. The wet track was beginning to dry and the lap times were coming down. Ryan got in the car about halfway through the race and began pushing his way forward as well. A few great timed pit-stops had us running in the front of the pack at then end of the race. We were running second behind our sister car, the #74, when the #81 Bimmerworld car came on strong and passed both us and the #74 to take the win. Taking a podium at Lime Rock was a feat we weren't sure we were going to be able to do… but having made it felt pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Onward to Watkins Glen! Back to back weekends of racing brought us to the Glen quickly after Lime Rock. This time around we had lots of track time during the test day and although we had to deal with some issues with the brakes on our car we were able to sort it out and put some quick laps down in practice. Qualifying brought another challenge for us. A miscalculation in fuel levels had us going out on track with a very low fuel load that only allowed me to get in one and a half laps in before running out. DOH! I put down a 'decent' lap that had us in P4 and was coming around to go for a flyer that may have put us on the front row but ended shortly after the bus-stop with sputtering that eventually led to the car coming to a stop in turn 9. Fortunately the qualifying session was short and I didn't have to sit in the car for too long. The race had a few exciting turn-of-events for us which kept this one interesting. Starting close to front makes my job fairly easy as my main goal is to keep the car up front and clean for when Ryan steps in. David, in the #74 car, and I just took it to the front of the pack and held our positions until we got the call from Ray to come in for our pit stops. Once again Ryan did a fantastic job of keep the car in the front of the pack and being there right at the end. We were running in P4 with a few laps to go when the two cars in P2 and P3 made contact, allowing Ryan to put the car into P2 for the last lap of the race!

For our final destination of the bloggage, we'll re-live the splendor that was Mid-Ohio. This was another good weekend for us, despite receiving a competition adjustment from Grand-Am. The powers that be decided we needed to get slowed down a little. We showed up for test day on Thursday and had a few good sessions before realizing there was an issue with the transmission. In went a new transmission for Fridays practice sessions and we were good to go! After a small practice session on Friday morning we were ready to qualify later that day. We had a bit of another rough qualifying session as I was only able to put the car in P9. The times were all very close and just a little bit more would have had us up front. All was ok with it though, I knew I would just fight my way to the front of the pack during the race and hand off a good car to Ryan. So… That's what I did. After a few laps of green flag racing on Saturday and I had the car in the top 5. This was all I needed to do so I held position and waited for the call to come in to do our pit stop. The call was made, I handed it over to Ryan and let him do his thing! After all the pit strategy was done Ryan was sitting right up front ready to start battling. Unfortunately, the #74 car had gotten taken out by another competitor and was having to fight back to the front so we didn't see another 2 car podium. What we did see was Ryan getting the car on the podium even with our competition adjustment! P3!!!

What a fantastic run we've been having! That was our fifth podium in a row. Ryan and I were talking the other day and we realized that no matter how the final three races go we will have been on the podium no less that 50% of the races this season! It's amazing! I can't thank everyone enough. Ryan, Ray, Karl, My Dad, all the C360R crew, Marv... you guys all make this happen!

VIR 200 Report

2010-05-04T19:10:00.001-04:00

WE ARE WINNERS!!!

Virginia International Raceway is one of those "driver's tracks" as they say… A statement I will have to agree with. It takes some fortitude to be able to hold the throttle down through the uphill eases for just that little extra bit and throw the car down into the 'roller-coaster' to get quick lap times and stay up front. Having only been to one other event at VIR prior to this weekend I knew it was going to take some work to get quick. Luckily, it didn't take too much. Within a few practice sessions and some minor changes we had the car dialed in perfectly and laying down top 3 lap times. It is such a pleasure to drive a car that is sorted so well!

We were consistently quick in practice and definitely shooting for a front row starting position during qualifying. I had to deal with some initial traffic during the session but was able to put together a really clean lap that put us on the outside pole! That's two outside poles now… I'm searching for that pole now! The Minis really have qualifying down to an art, I'm beginning to think they just don't want me on pole!

Rain was in the forecast for race day. A look at the doppler radar and you'd have been a fool to say it wasn't going to rain, thus we began planning the race day around rain. We decided on a pit strategy that was going to require an earlier pit stop than usual to get it out of the way and then hope for rain to help us with fuel conservation. I had a few great battles with the RSR Mini and the Freedom Autosport MX-5 before eventually taking the lead and holding on to it for around 50 minutes or so before coming in for our first and final pit stop. Ryan hopped in the car and took the lead back from our sister car, #74, after a few laps and put his head down to set the pace and hold the lead for the next hour and a half. We kept looking at the doppler in the pits thinking and hoping that the rain was coming soon. It never came. We had Ryan go into fuel conservation mode, short shifting the car and driving very smoothly. Looking at our fuel tables had us all standing around wondering if we were going to make it. Since the rain never came, we were hoping for the next best thing, a caution. It never came. The timer was winding down and the checkered flag was quickly approaching when I heard a call come through that the #74 was stumbling and was going to have to come in for a quick splash and go. I started getting worried at this point wondering if we were going to make it. What shouldn't have happened did though… We made it to the checkered flag with zero fuel to spare! Ryan and I won!!!!

Standing at the top of the podium holding that trophy was the most exhilarating feeling I think I have ever felt. It will have to go down in my books as one of the most fun and rewarding tracks I've driven in my career. VIR will always have a little extra sentiment attached to it, given that it brought me my first professional racing career victory.

Of course without the help of JC Concrete, the Compass360 crew, Karl Thomson, Ray Lee, Ryan Eversley and my Dad none of this would have been possible. A big thanks goes out to these guys!

Barber 200 Report

2010-04-15T16:07:00.002-04:00

WE DID IT! We put the #75 Honda Civic Si on the podium!

Once again, a great example of the highs and lows of racing. When you come off of a weekend where you have an engine failure like we had at Homestead you almost want to walk away from the sport. But… When you come off of a weekend where you qualify P5 and finish P3, you can't wait until the next time you get on track. Fortunately, VIR is coming fast and we only have to wait a few more days.

Barber Motorsports Park is hands down the the nicest motorsports facility that I have ever had the pleasure of racing at. Every single aspect of the place is done right. George Barber, the man responsible for Barber Motorsports Park came up to us for an autograph during our meet and greet session and asked us, as drivers, what we thought could be done to improve the facility and safety of the track.

While the race weekend started off with a little trouble that kept us from going out for testing on Wednesday, we were able to get on track for practice on Thursday. Transmission trouble put us off the pace on Thursday quite a bit, but it was nothing the Compass360 crew couldn't handle. A few new parts, some transmission rebuilding and we were ready to go for qualifying on Friday. Luckily we had one more session of practice Friday morning before the qualifying session which put us back in the top of the time sheets once again. Qualifying was great, I went out and threw everything I had at the car and was able to get it into P5. Our qualifying session was over at 10:30 AM and we had to wait until 4:00PM on Saturday to race! Talk about anticipation!

Here's that qualifying lap:

Sticking with our plan of Ryan closing the race out, I hopped in the car for the first stint of the race. I settled in at P4 for the majority of the race and dealt with the cautions as they came, which was quite frequently. I tried to get in to a rhythm and save the car for the second stint in case Ryan were to have to battle with someone for position. Around an hour and 15 minutes in we had a perfectly timed full-course caution that allowed the field of ST cars to come in for fuel, tires and driver changes. I flew into the pits as fast as I could, hopped out, helped Ryan get in and jumped over the wall. This is when I started pacing. Back and forth for the next hour and 15 minutes. Karl, the team owner said I was about to have a kitten. Ryan went out in P3. He drove a great stint holding P3. We had nothing for the Cobalt and MX-5 ahead of us, they were just too fast. The race ended under caution after a big incident on the back side of the track and just like that… We had our first podium!

I was so excited that we had a podium finish, it's exactly what we needed to recover from the engine failure at Homestead-Miami. I'm proud to say that Ryan and I helped give Compass360 their best finish to date at Barber Motorsports Park! I could not be happier with our result, it's got me itching with anticipation to inch our way up that podium to the top spot at VIR!

I'll throw out the thanks, yet again, because they are so deserved to JC Concrete, the Compass360 crew, Karl Thomson, Ray Lee, Ryan Eversley and my Dad.

LUTZ AND EVERSLEY REACH THE PODIUM, THILENIUS AND ASCHENBACH FOURTH

2010-04-15T10:10:00.001-04:00

(Leeds, AL) -- Compass360 Racing team-mates Zach Lutz and Ryan Eversley bounced back from disappointment at Miami in March with a strong result at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. The pair built on Lutz's fifth-place qualifying and stayed close to the leaders throughout the race, bringing the #75 JC Concrete Honda Civic Si home in third place, just ahead of the team's #74 Skunk2/Honda HPD car in fourth. The result marks the pair's best result in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

"I'm so happy. It's just unbelievable," enthused Lutz. "The team gave us a great car and we had an amazing pit stop. (Technical Director) Ray called the strategy perfectly. After the blow-up in Florida, this is amazing and just what we needed. Now we're back in the championship hunt!"

Meanwhile, current championship leaders David Thilenius and Lawson Aschenbach managed to extend their lead by two points, to ten ahead of the #80 Bimmerworld BMW. "This is about the best we could hope for," explained Aschenbach. "We just didn't have the pace of the little Mazda today, and it seemed like the 75 was working a bit better at the end of the race, so we'll take fourth and hope to be back on the box at VIR."

Jesse Combs and Greg Liefooghe brought their #77 Coolgas/Exclusive Management Civic across the line in 14th, keeping that car in the top-five in points. Marv Weidner, making his series debut with the team, was in a good position to hand his #76 Honda to team-mate and fellow rookie Alex Kirby when he was tagged from behind by a lapped car. Thankfully unhurt, Weidner was nonetheless disappointed. "The guys were just great and helped me get up to speed quickly. The car was so much fun to drive and I know Alex would have done a great job. It's tough when someone who is a bunch of laps down wrecks your race, but I'll be back in an orange Honda soon!"

The team's returned to its Toronto base to repair and set the cars up for the next race on April 24th at Virginia International Raceway. "There's not a lot of time between these races, so I know we'll be busy repairing the damage and making some new improvements," reflected Team Principal Karl Thomson. "But as always, we'll be ready."

The Barber race will be broadcast on April 17th at 3:00pm on SPEED.

Photo: Curtis Creager. Reproduction rights granted.

Homestead-Miami Report

2010-03-23T10:52:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been two weeks since the Continental Challenge race and the Mustang Challenge race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and I suppose I'll fill everyone in on what went down.

Racing has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows… that is without question and I think every driver, crew member, team owner and fans alike have felt this way at some point. This past event gave me a chance to feel both the highest and the lowest in one fell swoop.

We decided to run the Mustang Challenge car to support the Continental series and get some extra track time. This was my first time running the NASCAR 3 & 4 layout rather than the slightly different layout which Mustang Challenge utilized last year. This provided me with a great advantage as I was able to get gobs of track time which translated to excellent lap times in both the Mustang and the Civic.

I'll focus on the Continental side of things for a moment and then hop on over to the Mustang. Compass 360 always brings the best for us and this weekend was no different. Every practice session the car felt great and neither Ryan nor I had any trouble getting it in the top 3. I ended up qualifying outside pole (P2) next to Sarah Cattaneo in the Mini Cooper. Hey, I'll take an outside pole! I was pumped to be starting in the front row and wasn't going to hold anything back in trying to get to the front and set the pace for the ST field. I got a great call on the green dropping from our crew-chief Ray and was able to pull Cattaneo to turn 1 and hopped in the lead. I led the race for the first hour and 15 minutes picking up a 6-8 second lead twice, once before the first full course yellow and then once again following that. We had our second full course caution and decided it was time to bring the car in to the pitbox to do our tires, fuel and driver change. The pitstop went super great and Ryan pulled out on track right in the front of the pack. Unfortunately this is where things went sour… Ryan was ready to take the green flag when an engine failure caused us to have to park the car for the remainder of the race.

This is where the highest of highs meets the lowest of lows. Qualifying outside pole = High. Leading the race for 35 laps = High. Getting out of the car to the cheering of the crew hoping for a win = High. Having to park the car = Lowest of low. It's funny how all those highs don't add up to overpower the low. Even with the highs of doing well, our number one goal is to be in the front when the checkered flag falls and when this doesn't happen it really puts a damper on things. At this point all I can do is look forward to the next event at Barber Motorsports Park and hope we can repeat the excellence that was apparent during the majority of the Homestead weekend.

I'll chime in on the Mustang Challenge event briefly before wrapping up here. Running in both series had me super busy all weekend. I had almost zero time to sit back and relax… but what would a race weekend be if not hectic? The new reformulated 2010 BF Goodrich R1 tire is awesome with loads of grip, so it was fun to get out on track with the new tire and throw down some quick lap times. I ended up qualifying P7 which isn't quite what we were hoping but all hope wasn't lost. The car felt like it had some fuel pick up issues in NASCAR 3 & 4 during qualifying so afterwards John jumped in and put in a new fuel pump which cured the issue. It ended up being a great race and I diced with Dan Aweida for P3 quite a bit but ended up finishing P4. Gaining those spots earned us the BF Goodrich Take Control award for most positions gained which got us two free tires!

Even with the lows experienced, racing is something that I live and breath and I'm not going to let this weekend bring me down. We'll just keeps our heads up and keep pushing for that elusive win we're chasing! I'd like to thank the whole Compass 360 Racing team, Ryan, Dad, John, and Stephen for all the hard work they put in.

Fresh From Florida 200

2010-02-04T12:09:00.001-05:00

I have to confess, writing about the Fresh From Florida 200 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race just won’t do it justice! It was what I would consider the highlight of my racing career without a doubt in my mind. Driving in a televised professional race at Daytona International Speedway is something that I never thought I would have the opportunity to do so trying to put into words the way that the weekend went may me a little difficult.

Driving under the tunnel in to the track and seeing the utter “huge-ness” of the place almost leaves you breathless. Having done the test days earlier in the month I wasn’t too worried about having to get used to the car or learn the track so I could focus on my race-craft and fine tuning the car with Ryan. Two rounds of practice on Thursday before qualifying gave us a good amount of seat time but unfortunately some issues with the brakes in the second round had us a little worried about qualifying. We took the car back to the paddock and after checking the issue out the Compass360 crew fixed everything and gave me a great car to qualify with. Qualifying went well, giving us a P7 starting spot for the race on Friday.

So here comes the big day, my first Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race. I'll admit, I was a little nervous but it was nothing I couldn't channel to bring some focus in the car. We had a short little practice session in the morning where Ryan and I both went out for short stints just to bring the car up to speed, shake it out and make sure everything is ready for the big race. Just prior to the race we had a Rolex style fan-walk where all the fans got to walk around the cars in the pit lane and get autographs, meet drivers and otherwise just interact with the competitors. It was a really good time being able to hand out hero cards, give autographs and get our pictures taken... Something I could definitely get used to!

Alright, here we go... the race! Starting in P7 gave me a good view of the front of the pack going in to turn 1 giving me plenty of time to react if something were to happen in front of me, although our start was fairly clean with no major incidents. We did have a few caution laps right off the bat due to some of the GS cars making contact, going off track and otherwise making the track unsafe for green flag racing. After we make it through the first 15 minutes or so we had some relatively clean laps for a while and I worked my way up from P7 to dice for the lead for a few laps before ultimately settling in P5 to continue the rest of my stint out. After about an hour and fifteen minutes we had another full course caution which seemed like the best time for Compass360 to pit their cars. We did our pitstop and unfortunately due to an early thrown green Ryan ended up on track in P16 or P17 and had to work his way back up to the front. He did a great job working with traffic and using cautions to his advantage to put the car back up into P5 where we ultimately ended up finishing.

Overall, Compass360 had a great weekend with the #74 finishing in P1, the #77 finishing P4 and our #75 finishing P5! I’d like to say thanks to JC Concrete, the whole Compass360 crew, my Dad, Ryan Eversley, all the Grand-Am fans and everyone who has helped out and supported me!

Don't forget to check out the broadcast of the race on SPEEDtv on February 13 at 7:00PM ET!

JC Concrete partners with Compass360 Racing

2010-01-05T22:41:00.001-05:00

(Lawrenceville, GA) -- Compass360 Racing (C360R) today released details of the team's marketing partnership with J.C. Concrete for the 2010 season. The program includes multi-tiered promotion within the paddock and to fans.

"I'm so pleased to welcome J.C. Concrete to the Compass360 family," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "We believe -- and I know they agree -- that the Grand-Am paddock is a great place to develop new contacts, friendships and cultivate new business."

J.C. Concrete (http://jcconcreteonline.com) specializes in delivering high-quality builds to multi-family residential and commercial projects in the southeastern United States. A family-owned business started thirty years ago, they are as comfortable building retaining and foundation walls for a massive 400-unit apartment complex of townhomes as they are pouring the post-tension slabs for a new restaurant.

"We're thrilled to be part of the Grand-Am community with a Championship team," enthused J.C.'s Senior Project Manager, Justin Stauffer. "We are really looking forward to taking advantage of the great opportunities presented by the series to grow our business."

J.C. Concrete will be one of the primary sponsors on the team's #75 Honda Civic Si, and will be taking advantage of at-track activation and hospitality for business partners and prospects.

Remarked Thomson, "There is a surprising synergy between J.C. Concrete's core competencies and other companies who partner with Grand-Am teams. This marks the first year in a multi-year program with J.C., and we're excited to introduce a new firm to the Grand-Am community."

GRAND-AM's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge starts its year this week with Test Days at Daytona, Florida. The series' first race is on January 29th, as part of the Roar Before the 24 in support of the Rolex 24 Hours of Dayona, and will be televised, tape-delayed on SPEED TV.

Compass360 Racing Signs Eversley, Lutz For 2010 Campaign

2009-12-01T10:45:00.000-05:00

TORONTO (Dec. 1, 2009) - GRAND-AM's 2009 KONI Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner Championship-winning team, Compass360 Racing (C360R), today announced the first of its season-long driver pairings by signing Ryan Eversley and Zach Lutz to drive one of the team's Honda Civic Sis.

"C360R is extremely pleased to welcome two great drivers to our team in 2010," enthused Team Principal Karl Thomson. "I've wanted to have Ryan on our team for some time, and know he'll be a great co-driver for Zach, who really stood out as one of the great talents in (Ford Racing) Mustang Challenge last year. We're going to once again bring our A-game to defend our championships, and these guys are a key part of that effort."

Lutz, who impressed in his first season of Mustang Challenge competition last year, started racing in Quarter Midgets at the age of five. In his teens he moved up to Legends, and then shifted his focus to road racing with NASA in a variety of cars, including an Audi TT, Mustang Cobra and finally at GTS-2 BMW 325is. He won two Grand National Championships and the TT-D Championship in 2007. He rounded out last season with his best result of the year, fourth, at the season-ending race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.

"I'm so excited to have the opportunity to move another step up the ladder and to compete with a top team like Compass360," Lutz noted. "It's the next logical step for me, and I'm looking forward to getting on the podium and fighting for the championship next year."

Eversley, meanwhile, is no stranger to the GRAND-AM paddock. His career started as a mechanic with Archangel Motorsports in 2001, which quickly led to a ride with the team in their ST cars. He drove a handful of races with Kinetic's E92 M3 program last year, leading the season-ending race at VIR with just minutes go before being taken out by a competitor in dramatic style.

"I'm so excited to be able to join Compass360 in 2010!" Eversley exclaimed. "Everyone in the paddock knows they are the team to beat and hopefully I can help them keep that reputation. My dad once told me to succeed in life you must surround yourself with the best people and for 2010; that's exactly what Zach and I have done."

Compass360 Racing made history last year by being the first team to sweep the podium, with a dominant performance at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Not only did they win the team, driver and manufacturer championships, but also took third in both the driver and team points, once again being the first in the series ever to do so.

"We really had an amazing season last year," Thomson said, "and it's going to be hard to top that. But we've been pretty consistent over the past three seasons, and I know we'll be up to the fight with Ryan and Zach."

Lutz and Eversley will take to the track in their iconic orange-and-black liveried Honda during GRAND-AM's test days at Daytona in early January, and at the first race coming shortly thereafter at the Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend on Jan. 29, 2010.

Miller Motorsports Park - Round 10

2009-10-05T13:54:00.007-04:00

I don't even know where to begin with this blog update! With a season filled with numerous highs and lows it was fitting that our final race at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah was such an awesome event! For this event we decided to team up with TC Motorsports for paddock support and coaching and I can honestly say it was such a privilege to be able to work with such a great team. TC Motorsports gave me everything I could have asked for in a team.

Miller Motorsports Park is a daunting track by any measure with a 4.5 mile, 23 turn layout it's super fast and super fun. Just like almost every other track we ran at this season it would be my first time on the track so I checked out a couple videos of the event last season to prime myself and talked to Ted Anthony Jr. about key points on track. This would prove to be very beneficial in the long run. I took to the track nearly instantly and began laying down quick laps right off the bat during the Thursday test day. Throughout the first two sessions I was consistently setting top 10 times out of 26 cars and in the last session of the day I ended up P5. This was a HUGE day for me as it would be the first time in the season that I would have such good practice times.

Friday brought an easy day for us as we only had one practice session. Again, I ended up with a top 10 time, P8 to be exact. Dad and I decided to ride our motorcycles around Utah for a little that evening and we had a great time exploring our new surroundings on our bikes.

Saturday would be a great day for us. We had a small practice session before qualifying in the morning and I went out to warm up and get a feel for how the track would feel for qualifying. The track felt great and so did the car so I pulled off after only one lap. The great crew at TC Motorsports had the setup nailed perfectly on the car so we slapped a set of new BF Goodrich tires on the car and waited for qualifying. Realizing that qualifying is such an important part of a spec series like the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge has been something I've been determined to improve on throughout the season and I knew I had a lot riding on this session. Preparing for the qualifying session with TC Motorsports team owner Carlo Sparacio, the crew and the rest of the drivers proved to be a huge leg-up for us. Going through the data and video from previous sessions I felt totally prepared to lay down the biggest flyer of the weekend. Upon completion of the quickest lap I would turn all weekend I radioed in to see where I stood. P5! I was sitting in P5 for most of the session until one other driver set a lap just a few hundredths faster. I had just qualified P6. P6! POSITION 6! Such a great feeling to be in the front of the pack.

The race... Wow, what a race! Starting outside row 3 was the closest to the front of the pack I had been all season and being able to see the points leaders just ahead of me was so awesome! I had a really great green flag call from my spotter, J.R., and was able to get a great run down the front straight and enter turn 1 in P4. Behind me I noticed some cars going wild, but that was the least of my concerns at this point. Holding on to P4 was going to be tough with the competition being so close but I knew I had to keep it.

Behind me a few positions back a couple of cars got tangled up and after a few caution laps with the pace car we were back in action. Mike McGovern and Andrew Hendricks were P5 and P6 respectively behind me and I knew my main goal was to keep them there and retain my P4 spot. I held them off nearly the whole race until the last few laps when Mike McGovern was really giving me a run for my money. Mike would stick the nose of his Mustang in on me every chance he got but I was able to shut the door on him nearly every attempt. On the last turn of the last lap McGovern ducked inside and we drag raced to the start/finish line with the #33 inching him out by about 8 to 12”! I had just finished P4! What an amazing race!

I want to give a HUGE thanks to TC Motorsports for providing me with such a great car and great team all weekend. Trever, John A, John Z, Clint K, Carlo, Ted, Rick... I couldn't have done it without you guys. J.R., thanks for the spotting, it was fun having you on the radio.

Without my Dad providing support I wouldn't have been able to compete this season, so a huge thanks to him and JC Concrete. Thanks to David O'Dell for working with us throughout this season and helping me grow as a driver.

The biggest thanks of all goes out to the Mustang Challenge and Grand-Am officials. Candice Bailey, Lynda Randall... This series wouldn't have been the same without you two. “Jamie Slone here with Inside Track!” brought so much fun to the series with your interviews... Thanks so much. Wes Duenkel, thanks for all the amazing pictures of the season. Of course I can't forget our series partners, Austin Hatcher Foundation, BF Goodrich, Compass360, Ford Racing, GoPro Cameras, Grand-Am and HD Theater.

Harrah’s Autobahn Grand Prix 2009 - Round 9

2009-07-30T13:38:00.012-04:00

Well, what started off as an event that had me a little worried as to how I was going to do, ended up great and left me with a strong feeling of accomplishment. Read all about it here!

Wednesday – My Dad and I decided to drive to Illinois rather than take a quick flight so we left relatively early and made the drive up through the endless fields of corn from Georgia to Illinois in about 12 hours. We checked in to our hotel and promptly searched for a delicious Chicago style pizzeria or restaurant… and ended up at Applebee’s. That seems to be the case with us and I see no problem with that! Knowing that the next morning was going to be a pretty early one we headed back to the room and turned in for the night.

Thursday – This was my first day on track and even though I had watched videos and studied the track map it takes a few laps to learn 3.56 miles and 21 turns! For the first session we tried some pretty drastic setup changes on the Mustang and combining those with learning the track really gave me a handful that left me disappointed. We made quite a few changes to the car getting it back to the setup I was most comfortable with and went out for the second session. Session 2 went much better than the first one and I was happy to learn the track some more and feel a little more comfortable in the car. After a long day at the track we had a fun night at the event kickoff at Harrah’s in downtown Joliet, Illinois. Good drinks, good food and good people at the party.

Friday – Moving onward to the second day of practice we continued making changes to the car to nail the setup. In the first session I was struggling with over-driving the car and being too aggressive which was leading us to think the car wasn’t setup as well as it could have been but the times weren’t TOO TOO bad at 2:45.602 but I knew I still had a ways to go to catch the front runners. After the first session I talked to Scott Maxwell extensively about the track, went over some data, video and the track map. This led me to go back out for the second session with a few new tips and tricks to try. Apparently it worked because I picked up half a second of time from the first session at 2:45.108. We were all super pleased with how the day turned out and looking forward to qualifying on Saturday. Dad and I decided to go to a local restaurant and after driving around for a while ended up at Nick and Vito’s Italian restaurant. It’s always good to head to local places and see what they have to offer.

Saturday – Qualifying was at 4 in the afternoon on Saturday with nothing really to do before hand so we just took it easy all morning, had some eggs from McDonald’s and headed in to the track around lunch time. I had several things I was going to try on the track after talking to Beaux Barfield the afternoon before so I was pretty excited to get out there and set a quick lap. I guess the advice I’d been receiving all weekend from the super talented drivers and coaches ended up paying off as I lowered my time even more and set a blazing fast (for me) 2.43.981. That’s a whole second and tad off from my times in practice yesterday. AWESOME! This put me starting P11 which we were all pretty happy about since that put us super close to having a top 10 finish for the first time all season. We went out to celebrate at Aurelio’s Pizzeria… Talk about some good Chicago style deep dish pizza. I’d recommend it to anyone in the Chicago area.

Sunday – Oh boy! Race day! The plan was to take it easy and be super aware the first couple of laps just to make sure I didn’t get caught up in anything in front of me since I was starting a few rows back in P11. Good thing I was paying attention because two cars collided about two rows up from me going in to turn 2 on the first lap which put us under caution for about 15 minutes. At this point I was in P9 closely following Andrew Hendricks when the green flag dropped again after they had cleaned up the track. With about 20 or 25 minutes left to go in the race I knew I had to be smart and just work on making clean passes as I saw them pop up. A few laps after the green I saw a perfect opportunity to duck under Hendricks going in to a sharp 90° right hand corner. I stuck the car in on the inside and really drove it in the corner hard and made the pass stick. This put me in P8 following Pratt Cole. I was on his tail for the majority of the rest of the race until Hendricks got his chance and passed me back. His lead over me didn't last too long though, going in to the same turn where I passed him the first time he ran in a little too hard and went off track thus putting me back in P8 albeit a little bit back from Cole. There wasn't too much time left in the race at this point so I just kept my sights on Cole and tried my best to catch back up. Finally the checkered flag flew and I was in P8! BEST FINISH OF THE SEASON!!! Not only did I finish well, but I picked up another second from my qualifying time (2:42.950). I'm fairly certain that if I had qualified with this time and started a few positions up I could have been up there racing for a top 5 finish.

It's all about progress though and I really feel like I've progressed so much this season in my driving capabilities. We'll be running at full force in Miller Motorsports Park in September!

I'd like to give a big thanks to JC Concrete, Jacky Jones Ford and My Dad. David O'dell, Bruce O'dell and Billy O'dell for all the help. Scott Maxwell, Beaux Barfield and Ted Anthony Jr. for the on-track tips. And last but not least all the FRMC crew, Ford and the workers at Autobahn for making this event happen!

Mid-Ohio Round 8

2009-06-22T14:04:00.018-04:00

I was going to write up some long drawn out post for this event but the more I think about it, the more I realize this past weekend just wasn't that interesting. A quick overview of the weekend should suffice.

Thursday was a test day and all was going well. It was my first time on the famous Mid-Ohio sports car course but it didn't take me long to pick it up as I was P8 the first session out. After a few more practice sessions I had a pretty good grasp on the track and the day was over. We packed up, went back to the hotel and got cleaned up and then headed over to the local watering hole... Applebees.

Friday morning brought rain... and lots of it. First session out on Friday was POURING down and only around 10 brave drivers went out. I'm pretty sure most of us spun at some point. Puddles and streams don't make for good track time.

Shortly after our first session the rain subsided and we had one last opportunity to go out before qualifying. The final practice session went well and I was excited about trying to throw down a huge "flyer" in qualifying. We bolted on a new set of BF Goodrich tires and got ready for the session. I went out and for the first time this year I actually set my quickest lap (1:37.7) on the second lap beating my previous times by almost a second. This put us at P12 for the race, although the times between P3 and P12 were only separated by 7/10ths of a second. We were all prepared for some super close racing come Saturday.

Saturday was our race day and I was super excited for the race! Our race was at around 12:30, so we had to play the waiting game for a while in the morning but as soon as the time came around we were ready. I signed a few autographs for some kids, hopped in the car and got all situated for the race. After we all grid up on track and take the green things seem to be going well, except for the high speed understeer the car picked up between qualifying and race time. I ended up racing with Leo Capaldi for 12th spot and we had some great action back and forth for a few laps until some unfortunate contact caused Leo to spin on the crest of turn 5. This caught Grand-Am's attention and they deemed it necessary that I come in for a drive-through. I understand where they were coming from in making that call, but it's just a bum deal because after the race I talked to Leo about the incident and we both agreed it was just racing and anywhere else on track it would have just been a little "rubbin is racin!" Oh well... I get back out on track after the drive-through, raced with a few guys and just cruised around until the end of the race. I ended up in P12 after all... at least I didn't come in behind where I qualified.

Thanks to everyone who made this weekend possible and to those who came out to enjoy the races!

Rounds 5 and 6 RECAP!

2009-05-19T16:14:00.020-04:00

I suppose I should update my blog with what's been going on with my adventures in racing with the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge. We've run at two events since I last updated, New Jersey Motorsports Park and Laguna Seca. Neither event left us with a good finish... sometimes things just don't go your way.

New Jersey Motorsports Park

Thursday - This was my first time running at New Jersey Motorsports Park and I'd watched several videos before getting on track the first time just to get the track layout in my head. First practice session gave me a great feel of the track and I didn't plan on laying any fast laps down this session but the track really came to me and I ended up with P6 times. Second session comes around and I let Ryan Eversley, my coach, drive for the first half of the session. Our times were about the same, with Ryan about 3 tenths faster than me. This put us at P5 for that session. Great day... everything seemed to be fitting into place.

Friday - Friday brought another day of practice for us at NJMP. We opted to continue to run on the old tires rather than put on a new set like several other teams did. This didn't hinder our times compared to everyone else too bad. The first session brought us in with a P10 time, made sense though considering the new vs old tires. The second session evened out the field once again and gave us a P7 time. Not a bad last session before qualifying.

Saturday - Qualifying always seems difficult for me and I'm still trying to work out the kinks of laying down a HUGE lap right off the bat. After having such great practice times I went out and could only muster a P12 qualifying time. It's not that bad, I'd just have to work my way up during the race and shoot for the BF-Goodrich "Take Control" award for gaining the most positions.

Sunday - RAIN, RAIN, RAIN! So much rain on Sunday. After debating all morning about what the weather was going to do it was pretty clear right before the race... it started to come down pretty hard. Awesome, I thought, a rain race. This is going to be fun. We bolted up the BF-Goodrich all-weather tires and prepared to get into line. We went out for our out-lap and I saw a few cars ahead of me Dan Aweida spun out going into the turn 3 chicane. I knew it was going to be slick out there after seeing that and the only way to do well in the race was going to be patience and car control. As we pull on the front straight all the cars bunch up waiting for the green flag to drop, I hear Ryan give me the call over the radio that the green had dropped... I couldn't see a thing. The rooster tails from the cars in front of me had my vision down to about 10%. I relied on Ryan to let me know if I was clear for turn 1, he didn't let me down, we all made it through turn 1 just as clean as could be. After all the cars got into single file and started to spread out, the rooster tails went away and I was finally able to see. I started picking off positions as I saw able and got up to 8th after a few quick laps. Things got a little bit tricky when I was punted in the rear by Andrew Hendricks which sent me spinning off the track between turns 7 and 8. This put me back into the last position. Not so bad, I thought... I just worked my way up from 12th to 8th, I should be able to do it again, I've got plenty of time. So, again, I start picking off cars as I catch them and eventually work my way up to 6th place with about 10 minutes to go in the race. I'm really excited at this point thinking I'm about to get my career best finish in the Mustang Challenge... IN THE RAIN! All of a sudden, going in to turn 4 the wheels lock up under braking and I go sliding off the track extremely fast. The ABS went out. THE ABS WENT OUT. IN. THE. RAIN! Of course, I lose all my positions trying to get back on track. This basically put an end to my race as I was unable to gain any positions back since I was just limping around the track with no ABS until the end. I ended up finishing in 13th place, but had the ABS not gone out I think we could have pulled off a 6th, maybe 5th place finish.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

First off, I just want to say Laguna Seca is the kind of track racers dream about driving at some point in their racing careers. It was truly amazing to finally get on the track that I've driven countless hours on in Forza and Gran Tourismo.

Thursday - Our first day of practice at Laguna Seca gave me a great chance to learn the track, given we had 3 sessions out. My first session was a great learning experience, going through the corkscrew was a whole new experience for me... I didn't realize how much of a blind corner it is! I couldn't see anything on the right side of the car after making the first apex. I talked to Joe Foster about visual points to look for to make the corner and found out that all I needed to do was point the car towards the third tree to the right and give it some throttle input and I'd go right on down the hill. Sure thing, next session I go out and aim for the tree and wouldn't you know, I make it through the corkscrew just about perfect. All three practice sessions went well and I ended up being P11 in my fastest session. Not too bad for my first day on track.

Friday - One more practice day before qualifying, time to really get some quick times and work on the track some more. The first practice session didn't go so great. The inside apex at turn 10 has the motorcycle curbing on it... raised, red and dangerous. I clipped the inside apex down there after turning in a little too early and bent the panhard bar which put an end to that session. No serious damage, just had to replace it before the next session. After getting it fixed, we went out for the second round of practice and everything went smoothly. Ended up P11 with my fastest time of the day. Not bad... New BF-Goodrich tires should help us pick up some more time for qualifying.

Saturday - Qualifying! Not my forte, but I'm working on it. Focusing on laying down a huge lap right off the bat, I went out with a brand new set of BF-Goodrich tires and the determination to qualify well. I pulled off a huge lap (for me) right off the bat which was about 4 to 5 tenths faster than any of my previous times... A career first for me, setting a quicker time in qualifying than any previous session. I considered this a victory even though I still only qualified P11.

Sunday - The race. The big day. Man, I was excited. The race starts and is going well, I picked up a position or two and was working on picking off more when another car went off and got stuck in the gravel trap. This brought out a full course caution and had us all get in to single file behind the pace car waiting for the green to fly when the track was cleared. Two laps go by while we slowly pace around the track. Finally we pull through turn 10 and the pace car pulls in the hot pits. We're good to go after hitting the front straight after turn 11. We all bunch up on the front straight and wait for the flag to drop. I hear the call over the radio that the green flag was waving and I immediately go to full throttle hoping to be able to pass some cars going in to turn 2 coming up at the end of the front straight.

Here's a video of the restart and then we'll get back to the story...

A "stop and go" penalty was awarded for "initiating a pass before the start finish line." As you can clearly see, I was avoiding creating a much larger accident by pulling out instead of nailing the back of Andrew Hendricks' car because of the check-up that someone started several cars ahead of us.

This "stop and go" penalty caused me to lose a potential top 10 finish, which would have been my best finish of the season. We also have to replace the hood, front bumper, headlight and right-front fender due to this incident.

Not too much happened after the restart and "stop and go" penalty. I just pushed out a good clean race until the end. I ended up finishing 12th, but looking back at the times it looks like I could have finished around 7th or 8th had all gone well throughout the race.

All in all, I feel like these last two events have been great learning experiences for me even if everything hasn't gone my way. We'll keep pushing forward, learning more and hopefully getting some good finishing positions along the way.

THANKS!

Again, I want to thank my Dad, David O'dell, Ryan Eversley, Bruce O'dell, JC Concrete, Jacky Jones Ford, all the FRMC crew, Ford and the crews at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Laguna Seca!

Inspiring Quote from Allen McNish

2009-05-04T21:37:00.006-04:00

So, I was watching the Audi documentary, Truth in 24 and came across this quote from Allen McNish (Twice 24 Heures du Mans Winner, 1999 & 2008) and I found it so inspiring that I sat down and wrote it out as I listened to it.

"I, personally, do not believe in luck. I think luck is an excuse for people that have failed in their mission to do something. If you do your preparation correct, if you do the work, if you think about things, if you make the correct judgments on the risks that you take and if you stay out of the pits, then you win the race... and that's not luck, that's hard work."

A controller of his own destiny on the track, Allen McNish truly put in to words what I, along with many other racers are striving for. After this past weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park, I felt like lady-luck wasn't quite on my side when we had car troubles that all but put me out of the race, but looking back it was still a great learning experience that I can hopefully build on as a racer.

I'll have a full run-down of what went on at NJMP this past weekend pretty soon... I'm still trying to dry my feet out, it was awfully wet out there!

45th Mustang Anniversary at Barber Motorsports Park - Rounds 3 & 4

2009-04-29T20:08:00.011-04:00

Oh, boy…
What an awesome weekend with the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge series. Where to begin?!?! For our 3rd and 4th races we found ourselves at Barber Motorsports Park for a Double-Header weekend. Being the 45th Anniversary of the Ford Mustang, the place was packed with fans and SO MANY Mustangs and guess who was the main attraction? We were! The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge was "The Place to Race" and "The Races to Watch" at Barber! Needless to say, Barber is one of the most beautiful racing facilities I have ever been to, the whole compound is awesome. Ranging from the rolling green grassy hills to the weird spider statues holding motorcycles, it is just amazing. The track is so much fun to drive, with so many little intricacies, it's just awesome.

THURSDAY

Thursday was a rather uneventful day... Birmingham, Alabama is just a short two and half hour trip from Lawrenceville, Georgia. We arrived at the track and I think my Dad, David and I were all in shock at how many Ford Mustangs we saw. The place was packed! We pulled into the paddock and set up the trailer and got everything ready for practice on Friday. After scoping out the track we decided to head back to our "hotel" for some rest and relaxation for the big practice day on Friday. We checked in to our awesome condo on the Coosa river right outside Birmingham and called it a night.

FRIDAY

Our first on track excursion was at 8:00 am and we were ready to go... or so we thought. I got in the car to fire it up just to make sure everything was in working order before heading over to pre-grid and noticed a little bit of hesitation with the engine. David, my Dad and Jeff from Ford Racing were all digging around under the hood to try and get things straightened out. They tried an Oxygen Sensor and we thought that got it going better so off to the track we went. Nope, not any better. The car just had no power and was limping around the track. I pulled in to pit lane hoping something would pop up on the computer when Jeff checked it out. Nothing we didn't know already... so my Dad popped the fuse box open and found a blown fuse, replaced it and lo and behold it got it running in 100% shape. This left me with about 10 or 15 minutes of track time. Ryan Eversley, my coach, helped me get used to the track and setting some decent times. After practice, Ryan and I went over the video, determined to get quicker.

The second practice went much smoother than the first. No engine problems what so ever, the car was running great. This gave us the full hour to work on lines, braking points, feeling out the track and letting David tweak the set-up. We set some decent times and gave us a good feeling about throwing some brand new BFGoodrich tires on the car for qualifying the next morning and throwing down some huge fast laps.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning brought another 8:00 am track time for qualifying. With a new set of BFGoodrich tires on the car, I was ready to go out and run some great laps! We pulled out and had some great clean laps and ended up qualifying Position 12 with a 1:40:161 out of 23 cars! Man, I was stoked for the race with such a great qualifying time like that.

Race time! The start of the race goes great, everything seems to be in order... I hold my position up until turn 13, up and over the hill on the backside of the track. This is where things go bad. The rear end of the car lightens up and kicks out just enough that I start to spin and head towards the inside wall. Both feet in on the clutch and brake and the car comes to a stop on the inside of the track out of harms way. I waited for traffic to clear out and put the car back on the track knowing I had some work to do to catch back up to where I was since no caution was thrown. I decided to just push my way forward and not let the spin affect me too bad. Unfortunately for me, there was no cautions the entire race so I had no chance to close the gap up to the front runners. I pushed and pushed and pushed and ended up in P17 at the end of the race. One mistake on the first lap cost me quite a few positions but it did teach me quite a bit so it wasn't a total loss.

Saturday also brought one of the coolest things ever for me... an autograph session! All the drivers lined up at our tables at the Mustang Challenge trailer and signed fans autographs for an hour or so. We signed posters, hero cards, shirts, hats and anything people brought up to us! It was a blast getting to meet all the fans of the series and of Mustangs.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning brought a practice before qualifying. Sunday morning also brought rain... that was fun! We slapped on the BFGoodrich rain tires and went out to see what the track was going to be like. It was slippery but fun! I was P3 on the board for quite a long time out there during practice until it started to dry up and the boys with slicks picked up some better times. This left us hoping for rain for qualifying and the race.

By the time qualifying rolled around the track had dried up and the sky turned blue... no clouds to be seen. Another new set of BFGoodrich sticker tires and off to qualify we went. The car felt great, but we couldn't seem to get and super quick laps out of it, this left us starting in position 16 for the race. Not too bad, I'll just have to work my way up.

Race time! This time I told myself I wasn't going to spin it on the first lap and keep it going straight so I could start picking off positions as I saw able. The car was feeling great and I just kept pushing my way forward. I picked up a few positions throughout the first half of the race until we had a caution thrown when a car ahead of me hit the wall on the backside of the track. This brought the pack all together and proved to be quite a good opportunity for me. Soon we all saw the green flag flying and everyone barreling down the front straight right in to turn 1. I saw an opportunity to huck it in to turn 1 super hard and overtake some cars gaining two positions before turn 2 was even complete! This put me in position 10 which I just had to hold off until the end of the race. It was such a great race and I was super happy with finishing in the top 10 after Saturday's disappointing race.

THANKS!

I want to give a big thanks to all the Ford Mustang fans for coming out, my Dad, David O'dell, Ryan Eversley, Bruce O'dell, JC Concrete, Jacky Jones Ford, all the FRMC crew, Ford and Barber Motorsports Park.

Homestead Wrap-Up - Rounds 1 & 2

2009-03-14T21:54:00.011-04:00

PHEW! What an adventure!

I'm just going to start this post saying I had blast on this trip. The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge crew sure put together an awesome weekend for us. Homestead Miami Speedway is an awesome track, great combination of super technical turns and huge "go big or go home" turns. Great top notch facility that I'd love to go back to any chance I get.

So, my Dad, David Odell and I made the 12 hour drive down Wednesday in the LMI truck and trailer and dropped it off at the track not really knowing what to expect, as this was our first adventure to race in the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge series. After checking in to our hotel we made our way to the dinner choice of champions... Golden Corral. Yum. Enough about hotels and dinner choices, let's move on to the good gritty racing stuff.

Thursday morning rolls around, promoter test day, my first day on track. EXCITING! Not really knowing what to expect from the track, except what I've done on iracing.com and read on trackpedia, we decided to take it easy the first round out and sort the car, the track, and my brain. Everything went smooth and I started getting used to everything. My times weren't super great but I was learning and having a blast (the most important part!). Thursday night ended at Applebee’s, always fun with David and my Dad.

Friday… My main goal for Friday was to put down some good times in practice and then lay down a super quick lap in qualifying. Two practice sessions left us with some decent times, I ended up being 7th quick in the session before qualifying. Great, I thought, I'll get some new tires on there for qualifying and end up top 5 maybe? With a brand new set of BF Goodrich tires on the car I went out and knew I had to lay down a super quick lap within my first lap or two and I just couldn't make it happen. The whole "go super fast for one lap and pull in" strategy is new to me. I ended up not taking any time off my previous session out... but everyone else did. I ended up Qualifying 16th. Ok, I'll just have to work my way up the pack during the race. It'll be more fun. We had such a good time at Applebee’s the last night we decided to go again, this time we had one more crew member join us. Justin Stauffer flew in earlier to help out for the weekend and we all had a great time at dinner.

Alright, Saturday! My first Ford Racing Mustang Challenge race! The first practice session of the morning went great, knocking a little more time off of yesterday. I’m so excited about my first race that I can’t hardly contain myself. We go out and make our warm-up lap and return back to grid. At this point I’m so excited for that green flag to drop I’m about to lose it. The Grand Marshall sounds off and everyone fires their engines up. It’s great. I’m ready for this. We make our way around track and on to the front straight where the green flag flies. The first couple laps go great and I’m starting to get into the groove of things. I start looking for opportunities to make passes when all hell breaks loose in front of me going into turn 10. Two cars make contact and start to spin. After analyzing the situation in my head I saw that the inside line was going to be my best bet for avoiding contact. The car in front of me slid from track left to track right and I tried to jet through but unfortunately that same car didn’t stop and continued back inside to track left making contact with my left front fender. After shouting in my head for a second, I regained my bearings, told the guys over the radio I made contact and pulled into pit lane. David examined the front end and found the Lower Control Arm and steering rod were bent and it was unsafe to go back on track. That put a quick end to our day. I must have watched the video of the accident 100 times that night to see if there was anything I could have done different. In the end, I think it was just an unlucky situation. David and Justin spent a few hours working on the car getting it ready to go for Sunday. It might not be as pretty as it was when we showed up, but they got it together for me to go race the next day. Big thanks to Hyper-Sport for coming over and helping out with the LCA!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! The last day of qualifying and racing. The last day to redeem myself! First practice session we go out and set some decently quick laps putting us at 11th of 18 cars. Not bad. So we throw a set of new tires on for qualifying and I went out and turned my personal best lap of the weekend, a 1:39:931. Great for me, but still only putting us at a 13th for the start of the race. Better than Saturday and this time we’re going to try and finish the race! After a quick morning rain shower the track was a little damp for the start of the race, but not enough to warrant rain tires. Everything about Sunday’s race was fun. I was able to pick off two positions and finish up 11th over all. I had a great time racing with Dan Aweida in the 17 car, we had several back and forth laps which was a TON of fun.

I was also very honored with receiving the GoPro ‘Setting the Standard’ Award. I was given a great big oversized check for $250 and a GoPro camera. This award was given to me for my sportsmanship at the track and dedication to the FRMC series. I just want to say thanks to FRMC, GoPro, BF Goodrich and everyone who made it possible to be at Homestead this weekend!

Got a shoutout!

2009-03-04T16:24:00.001-05:00

Cool, got a shoutout on the new update at the Mustang Challenge Website.

"Some new names are also on the list for Homestead, including former karting champ and sprint racer Zach Lutz, who will be making his Mustang Challenge debut at Homestead"

Awesome, Let's get down there and have some fun! Can't Wait!

I'm on the website!

2009-03-01T00:16:00.002-05:00

You guys can check out the official press release on the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge website now!

Here's the link!

Hopping Curbs!

2009-02-20T19:26:00.001-05:00

Here's a picture that my Dad snapped at the Road Atlanta Test day today.

This Seasons Schedule.

2009-02-19T18:54:00.002-05:00

I guess I should post up our schedule for anyone that is following along and interested:

Homestead-Miami Speedway (Double-Header)
March 14, 2009 - March 15, 2009

Barber Motorsports Park (Double-Header)
April 18, 2009 - April 19, 2009

New Jersey Motorsports Park
May 02, 2009 - May 03, 2009

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
May 17, 2009 - May 17, 2009

Mosport International Raceway
Jun 13, 2009 - Jun 14, 2009

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Jun 20, 2009 - Jun 20, 2009

Autobahn Country Club
Jul 25, 2009 - Jul 26, 2009

Miller Motorsports Park
Sep 19, 2009 - Sep 19, 2009

Getting ready for Road Atlanta testing

2009-02-19T14:14:00.003-05:00

Well, the car is in the trailer. The trailer is hooked to the truck. And I'm sitting here at the computer waiting to go testing tomorrow. We'll be up at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga at an SCCA test day trying to get some more hours withe me in the car on a track i'm familiar with. It'll be nice to have some times to compare to... If I can match last years times I'll be very very happy.

Here we are getting ready to go:

On Track Pictures from CMP

2009-02-13T14:29:00.003-05:00

Here we go! Some great pictures by Travis Rhoads from CMP this past weekend.

Photo Copyright Travis Rhoads:TR PhotoStudio

Picture of the car before going to CMP

2009-02-12T16:34:00.003-05:00

This was before we put the contingency stickers on, I'll post some new pictures with all the stickers on when i get 'round to it.

Testing at CMP

2009-02-12T12:43:00.003-05:00

Well... After a little over a month of staring and drooling over the car sitting in the shop we finally got to take it out for some testing at the NASA Winter Meltdown at Carolina Motorsports Park. We finished up getting the stickers put on the car Friday morning just before we packed up the car and started heading up to Kershaw, South Carolina. Friday was rather uneventful, I drove the truck and trailer up while Dad slept in the passenger seat, David O'Dell followed us up with his truck and trailer which held Dad's Panoz. Friday afternoon we arrived at the track, went through registration/tech and got all settled in. Friday night consisted of quizno's subs, heading back to to the hotel and hitting the sack early.

Saturday morning rolls around and of course I wake up at 4:00 AM 'cause I'm so anxious to get out on the track. I toss and turn a few hours until it's time for breakfast at the Colony Inn. We get to the track, attend the all hands meeting, pull the cars out and check them over one last time. Then finally... it's time to drive the car. The moment of truth. First time out on track is Thunder Practice. Cold morning, cold tires, cold brain... but AMAZING. The Ford Racing Mustang is quite the performer. We get a good 6-7 laps and I'm just starting to get a feel for the car before they throw the checkered flag. I come to the garages and get a debriefing from David, my crew chief, and then it's back to the waiting game. Next couple sessions out is Time Trials, no pressure, just getting some more seat time. Car felt great again, David made a few adjustments and loosened it up for me. Thunder qualifying comes up and I qualify first in the Miller Cup class, 3rd overall. Lunch time rolls around. Again... I have to wait to drive. GREAT.

Saturdays Thunder Race went great. Set some times that we're happy about and ended up 5th on track behind some pretty quick cars. Over Time Trials went well too, final results put me at 4th fastest of the day behind some porsches and vettes.

Sunday brought the same events as Saturday, Time Trials and Thunder qualifying/races. Time Trial session one was just getting the car warmed up and myself warmed up for the day. Thunder qualifying came around and I was determined to get some quicker times out of it so we tweaked the set up a little and went out to see what we could do. All went well and we knocked about 1/2 second off of our lap times from Saturday. This put us on the pole of the AI/AIX/CMC/Miller Cup starting pack. Thunder Race rolls around and all goes extremely well. Ended up 11th on track but second in the pack I started with.

Overall, we had a great weekend. I was super stoked about getting to drive the car so much at a track I was familiar with. I can't wait to get out there and run with some other FRMC cars at Homestead-Miami coming up in March.

I've got videos and pictures of the whole weekend I'll get posted as soon as I can.

Zach Lutz Joins The Elite In The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Series

2009-01-27T12:18:00.001-05:00

Lawrenceville, Georgia (Friday, February 13 2009): Zach Lutz of Lawrenceville, Georgia will start his professional auto racing career by competing in the 2009 Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Series.

Only 23 years old but already with 18 years of racing experience going back to championships in Quarter Midget competition (1998 and 1999 Quarter Midget Grand National Champion), the 2007 TT-D NASA Champion, Lutz will be making a run for the Rookie of the Year and an opportunity at the For Racing Mustang Challenge Series Championship in 2009.

The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge is a new professional racing series co-developed by Ford Racing and Miller Motorsports Park. Utilizing the new Ford Mustang FR500S and sanctioned by the Grand American Road Racing Association, the Mustang Challenge Series is a support series to major professional road racing events across North America.

“I am looking forward to the increased competition level,” an excited Lutz states. “I would like to see where I stand with other professional drivers and the Mustang Challenge Series is a great opportunity to drive equally prepared machines against other professional drivers.” Lutz also exclaims, “The Mustang Challenge gives us every opportunity to match our skill level with other teams. I am confident that we will be competitive, professional and a championship contender.”

Teaming with Bob Lutz, Owner of Lutz Motorsports Industries and Crew Chief David Odell the team is built with Championship Caliber as Bob Lutz won the 2008 Panoz St-2 Series Championship and Odell, a veteran crew chief, who guided Mike McGovern to third in the 2008 Mustang Challenge Series championship.

Lutz will be piloting in Chassis #6 of 77 factory built Ford Mustang FR500s.These cars are custom built for the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Series. This car won the first ever competitive race at The Pot O Gold Rush at Road Atlanta in March 2008. Chassis #6 saw more podiums than any other car in the Mustang Challenge, including a win in Mid Ohio.

The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Series will be making their 2009 stops with double header races at Homestead in Miami, FL on March 14-15 and Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL on April 18-19.

New Jersey Motorsports Park in Milleville, NJ on May2-3. Then LMI will make its way out to the world famous Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, CA on May 16-17. Lutz will cross the northern border to compete at the Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario in Canada on June 13-14, then back down to where Chassis #6 has won before at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH on June 20-21. The Autobahn Country Club in Joliey, IL on July 25-26 and finishing the 2009 season at The Miller Motorsports Park in Toole, UT on September 19-20. Completing the 2009 season with a 10 race journey across the United States and into Canada.

TO LEARN MORE:

2009-01-26T12:23:00.000-05:00

To learn more about Zach Lutz and the Lutz Motorsports Industries Team and to inquire about sponsorship opportunities for the 2009 racing season, please contact either Justin Stauffer at (678) 725-3733 or Bob Lutz at (678) 725-3541.