Houston's Tracy Krohn Amazed by Le Mans Crowds and Atmosphere
17 June 2006
Houston's Tracy Krohn amazed by Le Mans crowds and atmosphere
Tracy Krohn is in France preparing to compete in the legendry Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race.
The Friday before the Le Mans 24 Hours is usually a quiet affair with no action on the track, but Tracy and the Krohn Racing with White Lightning team had an action packed day. No activities were taking place on the track but Tracy is never one to sit still.
Tracy's guests have arrived from around the world, including the USA, England and the host country France itself. He hosted a pool-side picnic at a Chateau where the guests are staying before heading back to the track for pit stop practice. Endurance racing can be won or lost on time in the pits so every second taken to change over drivers is critical.
From there Tracy headed with fellow racers Nic Jönsson and Jörg Bergmeister to the town of Le Mans for the Drivers' Parade. Jörg had witnessed the spectacle before but Nic and Tracy were completely in awe of the support from the crowds.
Tracy Krohn:
"The parade is an event not unlike Mardi Gras in that there's a party atmosphere. Lots of families, kids and young people. Everyone was so friendly. It took us about two hours to get round the parade route. Not only did we go round in vintage cars but there were bands, all sorts of historic cars and a great parade of American cars. There must have been tens of thousands of people there - absolutely amazing! The whole Le Mans experience is like nothing else - I knew it would be good but in reality it's like nothing else. It's been great that people have come over as guests all the way from the States - we've got people here from Houston and New Orleans - and I'm sure all the guests will have a great time in this fantastic atmosphere."
Background information
Official Le Mans entrant, Dale White of White Lightning Racing, two-time Le Mans GT2 class-winning effort, will be sponsored for the French event by Krohn Racing LLC, a leading sports car organization in North America. The No. 90 Porsche will be raced in a new "Krohn-Green Lightning" livery, by Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld, Germany), Nic Jönsson (a native of Sweden currently living in Buford, Georgia, USA) and Tracy Krohn (Houston, Texas, USA).
This arrangement between the two racing operations gives Krohn Racing owner/driver, Tracy Krohn, a unique opportunity to race at Le Mans and, with key Krohn Racing staff in attendance, gain experience for future programs. Krohn has also provided his Krohn Racing Grand-Am team drivers Bergmeister and Jönsson who, with Krohn, secured a 5th place at the Daytona 24 Hours this year. The German and the Swede both also drive in the ALMS for Petersen/White Lightning, thus enhancing this co-operation between the two teams with excellent continuity. Krohn's funding and drivers allows White Lightning, wanting to return to Le Mans but concerned about budgetary constraints impacting their American Le Mans Series GT2 title defense, to again challenge for GT2 honors at the French classic. The arrangement also permits Krohn his first inside look at the trials of racing at the 8.6 mile Circuit de la Sarthe for 24 Hours. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR will race on Michelin tires and have the full support of Porsche Motorsports.
As President and CEO of an oil and gas exploration and production company, Houston native Krohn came to auto racing only after climbing to the top of in the world of business. A graduate of the Panoz Racing School, he went on to become runner-up in the 2003 Panoz GT Pro Series. The following year he entered the 2004 American Le Mans Series as joint owner/driver of the Krohn Barbour Racing team, but the Lamborghini Murcielago proved to be too technically troublesome to produce the results required for success. In the same year, Krohn also made two Rolex Series starts and these were enough to convince him to enter the whole series in 2005. The highlight of his first career overall victory at the Six Hours of the Glen event was all the encouragement he needed to set up his own team for the Grand- Am series in 2006.
As one of the most successful ALMS teams to participate at Le Mans in recent years, class winners in 2003 and 2004, the Michael Petersen-owned White Lightning team is automatically considered a top-contender in class. Its entry to the 2006 race is thanks to one of the coveted 'automatic' slots allocated by the Automobile Club de L'Ouest, by virtue of the team having won the GT2 category at the 2005 Petit Le Mans race. Having finished second last year, in a tight battle that lasted the full 24 hours, the team will be keen to regain its place on the top step of the podium.
The race starts today with the clock starting to countdown 24 hours on June 17 at 5 PM local time.