SAMAX - Rolex 24 Thursday

Tuttle Team Racing/SAMAX will start the Rolex 24 At Daytona from 28th on the
70-car grid after locking in a start position during the first of two
qualifying sessions. Brian Tuttle qualified the No. 11 BMW-powered Riley Mk
XI he shares with Kyle Petty and Boris Said.

 

The team's GT cars will qualify again, looking to improve on their Friday
class positions of 12th (Johnny Mowlem in the No. 17 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
car) and 23rd (Dave Lacey in the No. 71 SAMAX/Doncaster Racing Porsche).
Mowlem noted: "My first lap in qualifying was the first lap that the car
turned today. We had new [brake] discs and pads, and then they black-flagged
it. I had three laps to bed some pads and discs in and try to set a
respectable time. I'm very disappointed we couldn't show the team's and the
car's potential."

 

MD salute

 

The No. 17 SAMAX Porsche carries the Muscular Dystrophy Canada slogan -
"let's make muscles move". It's a special hello to David Shep's son Darrin,
16, who has a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Darrin will be avidly
watching the Rolex 24 race telecasts. "Having a special-needs child is a
life-awakening experience. It was the motivating factor for me leaving the
workplace to spend quality time with him. It's been fantastic!" David Shep
said. "He's a wonderful young man with an amazing sense of humor. Our family
motto is to never give up. We live one day at a time and ensure that each
day is fun and stress-free."

 

Brent Martini, who drives the No. 71 Porsche,  is involved with Canine
Support Teams, which raises and trains dogs for children like Darrin Shep
who are confined to wheelchairs. "The dogs are companions, which makes an
enormous difference in the kids' lives," Martini said. "Kids who are
wheelchair-bound are seen as misfits or outcasts, but when they have
animals, it seems to break the barrier of people being uncomfortable with
their situation. It helps their development and helps them become part of
the community."

 

fast design

 

Bryan Sellers has a fast sponsor. 3-Dimensional Services Group provides
services in design engineering, rapid prototyping, casting, injection
molding, laser processing and machining. Preparing for les 24 Heures du Mans
last year, Seller's team needed a redesigned splitter for the car -
immediately. 3-Dimensional had mold prototypes completed in one day. "It's
wild, all the stuff they do. The speed and rate of the prototyping and the
range of everything they can do is really impressive," Sellers said.
"They've been one of my biggest and longest supporters, since 1999. They
followed me the whole way."

 

Said speed

 

Boris Said's son, Boris Jr., celebrated his second birthday this week with a
party at an indoor go-kart track. "He's been going there since he was six
months old. All the kids ride on our laps," Said reported. The youngster
will have a new home track in April, when father Boris opens K1 Speed by
Boris Said in Irvine, Calif.