2012 Racing and a New Year’s Resolution
It’s a new year and a new race season is about to get started. One of my goals this year is to post more blog entries on the website. So bear with me as I give blog updates another try. The last one I did was back in 2010 and after that season I think I felt a little bit like they jinxed me. Who said racers are superstitious? Feel free to ask questions about what is going in at BimmerWorld, Grand Am, or personally. I will do my best to answer anything that I can freely answer.
2012 starts off with several changes at BimmerWorld compared to the 2011 season. We have some new faces and some new cars. Last year we ran the season with 4 cars, (2) GS M3s and (2) ST 328i. This year there will be three ST 328i and no GS M3s. The decision to switch to a full team of ST cars was in the management department at BimmerWorld. I feel it is a great move so we can focus 100% on winning a championship at the end of this season.
That brings up the next part of change we have. As sad as it is to say we won’t be seeing a couple of our long time Grand Am friends around the paddock wearing BimmerWorld blue. Bill Heumann and David White aren’t back with the team this season. Both of them will be missed around our pits, as they were part of this program when we switched to run in the Continental Sports Car Challenge. You can still see them around the paddocks of racetracks across the US racing BMWs in NASA and BMWCCA events.
My new co-driver for this season is Dan Rogers from Anchorage, Alaska. Dan has a competitive nature as he competes in sports car racing, triathlons, martial arts, helps raise money for Team Seattle, works, and has a great family. As you can tell he likes to keep busy and compete. His history of racing is geared more towards BMWs even though he ran 5 races with Compass 360 last season. Dan is normally found racing his BMW E30 painted up in the TicTack color scheme in the Pro-3 Series found in the Pacific Northwest of the US. Check out some of his in-car footage from a Pro-3 race in 2009 (http://youtu.be/WWfaL-Sa5O0). Dan’s love for BMWs prevailed this year, which helped create the #82 BimmerWorld entry. Dan and I stared out conversations about running together immediately coming up with a plan to be in the fight for the championship right from the start. I think we have a great shot at it combining Dan and my competitive edge with BimmerWorld’s winning crew. We’re confident in a great 2012!
Some great news for our car this year is we will be in the #82 CRC Brakleen Bimmerworld 328i all season. CRC Brakleen is going to be the featured sponsor on the car. This week at Daytona they are unveiling the updated paint scheme of the car showcasing the Brakleen products. I did get a little glimpse of the car early on and I know it will be a car that is easy to pick out on the track. Hopefully that means it will strike fear in the eyes of our opponents.
This is the latest racing report from me. Tomorrow is our first official practice session with the CTSCC crowd at Daytona. Follow along with us as 81 cars are set to participate in the BMW 200. Live timing and scoring will be posted at www.grand-am.com. Also check my Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates throughout the weekend.
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