Pilgrim's Progress: Cadillac Driver Takes Shot at SCCA SPEED GT Title at Laguna Seca This Weekend

For Immediate Release

 

 

Pilgrim's Progress: 

Cadillac Driver Takes Shot at SCCA SPEED GT Title at Laguna Seca This
Weekend

 

MONTEREY, Calif. (Oct. 12, 2005) - It's just days before Andy Pilgrim
will take to the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit in Monterey, Calif.,
where, this weekend, he will attempt to finish off the 2005 SCCA Pro
Racing SPEED World Challenge GT season with his first SPEED GT Driver's
Championship.  But mention that to the cool-handed driver from Delray
Beach, Fla., and all you'll likely get is either a small grin or maybe
just a shrug.

 

Cockiness?  Nope.  Experience.


"I'm probably the last person in the world who thinks about a
championship before the end of the year," Pilgrim said.  "I've been
fortunate to win four of them (in other series), and I didn't plan to
win any of them.  I've also lost them when I thought I should have won.


 

"In 1998, I won [the Speedvision Cup Series - Grand Sports Class]
championship with Terry Borcheller because the guy who should have won
blew up during the race.  Two others I've dominated with the team
through the year."

 

The realistic approach with which Pilgrim approaches things is probably
one of, if not the biggest reason he currently holds the top spot in the
SPEED GT ranks - even though he has yet to win a race this season.

 

Obstacles of all sorts have flung themselves at the No. 8 Cadillac CTS-V
this season in the form of just-ahead wrecks and other things, but
Pilgrim has persevered through what he describes as average finishes and
avoided trouble (winding up in the top five in eight of 10 rounds, and
in the top 10 every race).   Staying clean on the track should surprise
no one, though, considering Pilgrim's unheard of 116 consecutive
finishes in IMSA competition.

 

While the 49 year old Team Cadillac driver is modest about personal
goals, when it comes to his team, it's a much different story.

 

"The team championship is always at the front of my mind," Pilgrim said.
"It's a whole different philosophy.  It's a team game where you have to
do the best you can at all times.  It's always back up your teammate if
you can." 

 

The team concept is something that fits Pilgrim perfectly, as he is
arguably the most consistent performer in SPEED GT, something Cadillac
needs as it tries to chase down Porsche (which leads 57-54) in the SCCA
SPEED GT Manufacturers' Championship Presented by Racer Magazine.  This
season has been a snapshot of Pilgrim's career, as he has taken a
winless season and molded it into championship-caliber one, most
importantly by finishing and, more importantly, finishing high, even as
he has driven against what he calls one of the richest talent pools in
all of racing.  

 

"Oh it's right up, absolutely it's right up there," Pilgrim said in
reference to the driving caliber of his competitors.  "Good Lord, look
at the grid at Mosport.  It was unbelievable.  You had Ron Fellows.  You
had Max Papis.  You had Patrick Long, [Mike] Rockenfeller, Tommy Archer,
Wolf Henzler, Lou Gigliotti and Leighton Reese.  

 

"You could put any one of those guys in any series, and they would be in
the top five. I don't care what series it is.  SPEED GT racing is as
deep in talent as any series out there.  It has phenomenal depth." 

 

Even though he thinks so highly of his rivals, the unflappable Pilgrim
also said that he didn't spend much time during the six-week break
worrying about how he was going to pull out the Driver's Championship.

 

"Not at all because I've been so busy doing other things," said Pilgrim,
who owns a computer company.  "I've got my business and I just released
a driver video with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. about three or four weeks ago,
which is on my Web site at www.andypilgrim.com
<http://www.andypilgrim.com/> , and that has kept me hopping.  Other
than that, I've been working out and doing some shakedown and testing in
the Cadillac.

 

"So with all that going on, I haven't had the time to sit around and
think about it and mull things over.  I've just had too many other
things going on."


Obviously, Pilgrim has kept busy during the six-week stretch between
last round and this one.  But, now that the potential
championship-winning weekend is staring squarely at him, Pilgrim's focus
is back on the track.  

 

Knowing what is at stake might make others nervous, but not Pilgrim.
That said, however, he admitted that his perch atop the point standings
is far from solid, and he'll simply take the race as it comes.

 

"I would say the word is precarious," Pilgrim said.  "You have to have
some luck, and I think I'm lucky to be [on top of the standings] after
Mosport.  

 

"You can expect 110 percent from me this weekend," Pilgrim said. "It's
kind of like golf, you have to play it shot by shot.  As soon as you
start thinking you are two holes away from a championship, you throw one
in the trees and you don't win.  So for me, it's take one step at a
time."

 

-30-

 

Photo(s) Credit: Weber/SCCA (c) 2005

Curt K.
_______________
Curtis Kitchen
Public Relations Manager
Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Inc.
ckitchen@scca.com  
800-770-2055