Infineon Grand Am Race Report - #57 Stevenson Motorsports Corvette

August 29, 2006

Stevenson Corvette Infineon Grand Am Race Report -

The #57 Stevenson Motorsports GT class Chevrolet Corvette, running in the Grand American Rolex Sportscar Series race at Infineon Raceway last weekend, had to overcome a good deal of adversity to make the start and ultimately finish the race. They had their share of hits and yet, despite the impact of all those impacts, in the end the car still managed to finish the race 10th in class, ahead of four other GT cars, thanks in no small measure to the determination and commitment of the Stevenson crew.

Ron Ogletree, Team Engineer and Strategist reviewed the troublesome weekend. “We had a real bad accident on Friday at the very end of the first practice session. One of the prototypes wound up using our car as his brake. He drove our car into the wall at turn nine causing excessive damage to the Corvette.

“Several areas of the car were really banged up including the front upright suspension package – everything was just gone. The front sway bar tube was bent. Several issues had to be fixed and we simply couldn’t get them fixed in time for the second practice session. But we did get it fixed for the qualifying session, which was just amazing!

“This team deserves a whole lot of respect. They worked their buns off! They fixed everything in a matter of hours. All the body panels had to be replaced. It was just a real mess but the whole crew got in there and worked like crazy to get the car ready for qualifying. I really didn’t think we would get into qualifying but these guys worked magic and got it done.

“As the guys were pushing the car to tech they were being applauded by guys on other teams, and by the fans, who were amazed that our guys were able to get the car back together in time.

Team owner John Stevenson was in awe of what his team had accomplished in so short a time frame.

“I can’t say enough about the tremendous job our crew did this weekend. As a team owner, it is always good to say you had a successful weekend, but this time around the job this crew did to keep us in the race went above and beyond what anyone had a right to expect. This crew did a fantastic job and I can’t thank them enough for all that they accomplished at Infineon.”

Race day turned out to be a case of continued target practice as several other cars seemed to find a way to kiss the Corvette in an oh-so-not-gentle way.

Ogletree: “We were doing well in the race until we were spun out in turn 6. The DP driver got his nose up under our tail end and, since you are already at the limit of adhesion anyway, it didn’t take much to spin us off. Nothing was damaged but we did lose track position and we were passed by the leaders when all of a sudden a yellow came out which immediately put us a lap down. That took us out of the race.

“We just kept going of course, because you never know what is going to happen. Then (on lap 27) we got nailed by the #66 Porsche driven by Lonnie Pechnik. He later sent the team an email and offered his sincere apology for having hit us. While the hit really hurt us, we really appreciate his apology and we were glad to see there are people in this series who can own up to a mistake and have the decency to express regret. Lonnie is OK in our book.

“The contact with the Porsche flattened the tire and damaged some bodywork. We had to come in again for repairs. I say again because, before Lonnie hit us, the #23 AJR Crawford DP car stopped short in front of us and we ran up the back of that car. Vic hit the right rear of the DP and damaged our splitter and the front bodywork. He had to come in for repairs that time too.

“It was just a case of every time we turned around someone else was hitting us. My feeling was that I will never eat Mexican food before a race again because I didn’t like our being the designated Piņata!”

When the crash fest finally ended with the waving of the checkered flag, the crew faced the daunting task of bringing the Corvette back to life so it could be target-tested again at the next race at Miller Motorsports Park, in Toele, Utah. There was no break in the calendar for this weary band of metal benders and it took an iron man performance to get the car ready to be loaded onto the transporter so as to begin the drive from Sonoma to Toele.

Ogletree: “We had a whole lot of work to do to get the car ready for Miller. Every corner of the car was damaged. We had to employ a local composite shop in the Sonoma area to take our body panels that were still serviceable and fix them. We have been scraping to get ready for the next race.

“You know, our team worked long and hard hours all weekend to get our car to where we could transport it to Miller. The guys worked on the car after the race on Saturday. Then on Sunday, while we were still at Infineon, the guys took a short break for a barbeque thrown by Vic at his house. After that we went right back to working on the car. Around 10 PM Sunday night we split the crew into two groups and sent one to get some sleep while the other guys worked through the night. The next morning they traded places and the guys who had gotten some sleep finished up the repairs and got the car loaded onto the transporter.

“I can’t say enough about how hard the guys worked this weekend. We would not be able to race at Miller if it weren’t for them. I only hope we can run a race without contact this time around. At Infineon, I think the only car that didn’t hit us was the pace car! And that’s only because we never got close enough to it!"

The team is looking to run a clean race and avoid problems. They only hope the other guys on the track are reading these words. More succinctly, Ogletree laughingly suggested that “the other guys should just stay the hell away from us!”

The Stevenson Motorsports Corvette has entered 13 of the 15 events on the Grand Am GT calendar this season, As of today, the team continues to hold down 11th place overall in the Team Standings, putting them ahead of 30 other GT teams.

For more information on the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series visit: http://grandamerican.com/Home.asp