SCCA: Sofronas, Culver in TC Kline Racing M3S

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

TC Kline Racing has named Michael Culver and James Sofronas drivers of the team's No. 12 and 21 BMW M3s for the 2001 SCCA Pro Racing Speedvision GT Championship.

Sofronas joins the team after running sporadic World Challenge races since 1994, earning five top-10 finishes in 19 starts through the end of the 2000 season. The majority of Sofronas' starts have come in Oldsmobile products, but the Newport Beach, Calif. resident has also competed in a BMW M5, M3 and 328is.

"Since competing in my first race in World Challenge back in 1994, I have been looking for an opportunity to drive for a first rate team in a top level car," said Sofronas, who will pilot the No. 21 SSF Imported Auto Parts/TC Kline Racing entry. "I have finally gotten the chance to do so with TC Kline Racing and I owe it all to Hans Kopecky, the President of SSF Motorsports. We have built a strong relationship over the last two and a half years doing a lot of racing together in both World Challenge and BMW Club Racing. It was a natural progression for SSF to sponsor a front-running BMW team like TC Kline Racing, since SSF is getting more and more into high end performance parts for BMW as well as Porsche."

South San Francisco Imported Auto Parts, Inc. is a leading wholesale supplier for European replacement and performance auto parts. Known to its 10,000 customers nationwide as SSF, it offers a complete product line for Porsche, BMW, Audi and Mercedes. SSF's five locations and 25 years experience provide unmatched service to automotive shops, tuners and race teams.

Driving the No. 12 TCKlineRacing.com/SSF BMW M3 will be Michael Culver, of Westport, Conn. Culver has been successful in endurance street stock competition, winning the 1998 Speedvision Cup Sports Division Championship with co-driver Mike Fitzgerald, and finishing third the last two seasons in the Motorola Cup series.

TC Kline Racing, which contested the 2000 Speedvision Touring Car Championship with drivers Neal Sapp (one win, Rookie of the Year, series runner-up), Mike Fitzgerald (one win) and Shauna Marinus, has converted two of its 328Ci E46-bodied racers into M3s for 2001. The team will be the only in Speedvision GT running the new body style in M3 trim.

"We've decided to move to GT with the M3, but will be taking a slightly different approach," said Kline. "This season, we'll be running a stock, production-based E46 M3 drivetrain, as opposed to spending a lot of money on engine development and aftermarket transmissions. In addition to the budget saved, doing this permits our cars to run at a lower weight, which we feel may be advantageous with the new tires."

Text Provided By Eric Prill

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.