Rolex 24 Preview - Stevenson Motorsports
January 17, 2007; Stevenson Motorsports To Field Two Corvettes In Grand Am GT class in 2007
The 2007 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series is shaping up to be the most extensive collection of competitive teams, cars, and drivers to come down the racing road in a very long time. While the Daytona Prototype class has been getting most of the attention in the media, the real excitement this season will be in GT. No less than 44 cars are entered in the class for the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona on January 27-28.
The field will include such acclaimed marques as Mazda, Porsche, Pontiac, BMW, Nissan, Infiniti, and Ferrari. Looking to lead this field that represents the best of Japanese, German, Italian and United States automotive technology will be the “paternal twin” Chevrolet Corvettes of Stevenson Motorsports, operating out of Jacksonville, North Carolina, home of the U.S, Marine Corps Camp Lejeune. And these ‘sisters’ will be proudly wearing the red, white and blue colors of the U.S. flag as they go head to head with the best of the rest of the world.
John Stevenson heads up the team that will run a pair of Corvette chassis that are slightly different from one another. The #97 is a solid-axle chassis, produced by Tommy Riggins Engineering and campaigned in the 2006 season as car #57. The new #57 is a custom built transaxle chassis that was just completed in the Crawford Race Cars shop in Denver, North Carolina.
“We picked up the Crawford chassis on the drive down to Daytona for the test days!” Stevenson noted. “We ran it there and then dropped it back at the shop on the way home so they could finish up a few details. We had been hoping to get the car sooner but there was a delay in the engine area – something beyond Crawford’s control. Crawford Race Car Engineering owner Max Crawford and Andy Scriven (Crawford’s designer) had only had a single opportunity to run one test with it at Kershaw before we picked it up. But we did manage to get in 20 laps at the Daytona test days and it ran pretty well without having to push it.
Stevenson had nothing but praise for the build quality of the new chassis.
“Max and Andy just did an outstanding job with this car. And they feel the aerodynamics of this car are going to prove to be a real advantage for us. We are excited about getting the finishing touches put on and getting back out to test her again for the Rolex 24.”
Stevenson noted that the two Corvettes will wear mirror image American flag paint schemes, but under their patriotic skin will be two very different chassis designs.
“The Crawford car has the same kind of transaxle and gearbox combination you find in a DP car. In a GT car it’s mounted in the reverse of how it is in a DP. This combination enables us to have a car that we can left-foot brake and flat shift all the time. And this year we will have both the old and the new type chassis to take to the fight.”
The new season not only will find Stevenson Motorsports running two Corvettes – one more than last year – but also find them working from a new, expanded home base located in Jacksonville, and with a few new faces on the team.
“This season we have moved a few people over from our dealerships and put them working full time on our race team. One of these people is our I.T. man, Phillip Taylor. He will be monitoring our data acquisition efforts. Michael Hoffman is our overall Crew Chief and he will be assisted by Aaron Aliff and John Hobbs. Ron Ogletree will also be returning for 2007 as our Team Engineer and Strategist. (Ogletree, along with his partner, Rob Debardeleben, are building the new Sabre Daytona Prototype recently approved by Grand Am). And we have pulled together some great crew guys so we are really excited about this season.”
For the season opening endurance race, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the new Crawford chassis #57 will be driven by Marc Bunting, Dominic Cicero II and James Gue. Cicero and Bunting will drive the car in the rest of the races this season as well.
Bunting is the 2006 Rolex GT co-champion (along with Andy Lally) as well as the 2004 Co-champion of the Rolex Series SGS class. With a history of finishing at or near the top, he sees 2007 as another season in which to excel once again.
“My goal for the year is to win the championship! My overall impression of the new Corvette is that it is a great platform, Crawford did an extraordinary job. I have high hopes for the car and for the rest of the season. It is unfortunate that we were unable to turn as many laps prior to the Rolex 24 hour as I would have liked. But I have the utmost confidence in Stevenson Motorsports to provide us with a well prepared car for the Rolex 24 hour, as well as the rest of the season.”
Cicero is an accomplished veteran of the Formula Renault and Renault V6 series.
Gue has raced in the ALMS, Grand Am Cup, and in the premier Daytona Prototype class. He is excited to be a part of this expanded Stevenson Motorsport entry.
“This is a great opportunity for me. Stevenson Motorsports is a great team, and we have a strong driver lineup, not to mention a really fast car. The team has been working very hard to get the car ready, so I'm very optimistic for the 24. I just need to thank Mr. Stevenson for the opportunity to be a part of his team."
The Riggins chassis #97 will be driven by returning teammates Tommy Riggins and Vic Rice, as well as Spencer Trenery.
Riggins is an accomplished race car builder and racer, and the owner of Riggins Engineering in Jacksonville, Florida. He is a past winner of the Sebring 12 hours (1987 in GTO) and was the driving champion in the IMSA Kelly American Challenge series in 1984 and 1985.
Riggins spent a number of hours in the off season making repairs to the original chassis as the car suffered its share of race damage in 2006. “We made a number or repairs to the car and we were able to put in some upgrades to the suspension. This past season helped us to learn a lot about the car and we made some evolutionary changes to it. I’m looking forward to the new season and I think we will build on the gains we made last year. And I feel real good about coming back to race with John and Susan Stevenson again. They are great car owners and are really committed to achieving success.”
Rice is a founding partner of Pacific Forest Resources, Inc., and the 1996 IMSA GT American Champion. While he gave the new Crawford car a run at the test days, he is looking forward to wheel time in the updated Riggins-built car. "I tested the new Crawford Corvette last week and it's a beautiful piece of workmanship which we've come to expect from Crawford engineering. No doubt this car has all the capability of running up front. But I'm looking forward to driving the rebuilt, updated Riggins Corvette, together with Tommy and Spencer. We had a strong package last year and we ran 3rd at Daytona in June 2006 until a late race splash of fuel cost us a podium finish.
“John and Susan Stevenson, and the whole Stevenson Motorsports team, are dedicated to insuring that both cars will be fast and reliable and with over 40 very competitive GT cars entered to date, this is shaping up to be an epic event.”
Trenery won the American Cities Racing League Sports 2000 championship, making him the youngest ever SCCA Pro Racing champion, and has spent the last few years competing in various American Le Mans series and international endurance races. Trenery has grown up in and around the motor sports industry. His Father, Bruce Trenery, has been competing in various racing series since 1968 and Spencer was bound to follow in his footsteps. And those steps have led him to be behind the wheel of two cars during the Rolex weekend. In addition to the Rolex 24, he will be running an Acura RSX for Davis Racing in the Koni Challenge ST class, on the Friday before the Rolex 24.
"I am excited to re-join the Stevenson Motorsports team this year. With another year of development under this chassis, and a mature, well seasoned driver line-up, I am confident that we have a package that is set to shine on Sunday morning."
Also, recently added to the team’s driver list is long time SPEED World Challenge and Trans Am competitor - and veteran Corvette driver - Lou Gigliotti, as well as team owner John Stevenson.
Gigliotti is a three time champion in the SPEED World Challenge series and has taken the win 22 times, competing in several different classes over 99 starts prior to the 2007 season. This will be his first outing with Stevenson, and his enthusiasm for the opportunity to race with them in the Rolex, driving a Corvette, is evident in his comments.
"I feel privileged to be included with this team and the Crawford-built Corvette. Getting the opportunity to race with John Stevenson and his driver line up at the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a highlight of my year. And for this to be in a Corvette makes it even better."
"I have checked out the Crawford chassis and I must say it looks like a winner. Crawford has built a potent and formidable package for this race. Any 24 hour race is as much luck as it is skill but luck favors the prepared."
Stevenson is the President and owner of Stevenson Automotive Group located in Southeastern North Carolina, comprising eleven new car franchises - Honda, Acura, Toyota, Scion, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Jeep, Hyundai, Suzuki, Mazda, and Kia. He is a veteran racer who started in dragsters and then, after taking several years off to build his automotive business, moved into sportscar racing in 2003. In his first ever Grand Am GT race at Watkins Glen (driving a Porsche GT3 RS) he finished on the podium, in second place. He ran a limited number of events in 2004 and 2005 and is expected to be on call for the team in the longer events in 2007.
The Rolex 24 at Daytona takes place on January 27 – 28, at the Daytona International Speedway. The race starts at 1:30 PM Eastern time and over 70 cars are expected to take the green flag.
The 2007 Grand American Rolex Series GT calendar:
Jan. 27-28 Rolex 24 at Daytona March 3 Mexico City March 24 Homestead April 28-29 Virginia International Raceway May 19-20 Laguna Seca May 28 Lime Rock Park June 9 Watkins Glen, 6 hours June 23-24 Mid-Ohio July 5 Daytona 250 July 14 Iowa July 21-22 Barber Motorsports Park Aug. 3 Montreal, Quebec Sept. 15 Miller Motorsports Park For more information on the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series visit: http://grandamerican.com/Home.asp For more information on the Stevenson Motorsports team visit: www.stevensonmotorsports.com For more information on the Stevenson Automotive Group visit: www.stevensonauto.com Driver Bios: Vic Rice (#97) Birth date: March 29, 1951 Height: 6' 2" Weight: 230 lbs Residence: San Rafael, California Family: Wife – Corrine Two Sons - Jeff and Peter Off-Track Career: Founding partner Pacific Forest Resources, Inc. wholly owned by CellMark AB of Sweden since 1990. CellMark is the world's largest privately owned forest products trading company. Vic is a director, shareholder and manages the global recycling division. Professional Driving Career: 1996: GT American Champion, winner IMSA 24 hrs of Mosport 2000: ALMS 5th GTS points, 4 podium finishes. 2002: 4th in class 7th overall FIA-GT 24hrs of SPA. 2003: 3rd in class Porsche GT3 VLN German endurance series Nurburgring, May 2003 3rd in Class, 19th overall of 230 starters in a Porsche GT3 at the 24 hrs at Nurburgring 2004: Southard MotorSports - Grand-Am DP Fabcar / BMW 2005: Stevenson MotorSports - Grand-Am GT Corvette Tommy Riggins (#97) Birth date: October 10, 1951 Height: 5' 8" Weight: 185 lbs Residence: Jacksonville, Florida Family: Married to Debbie, Two children, Brae and Brooke Off-Track Career: President, Riggins Engineering, Inc. Designs and builds race cars: manages racing programs. Builder of the #97 Corvette for Stevenson Motorsports Professional Driving Career: Driving race cars since 15yrs old Has raced in several series including: NASCAR short tracks; Busch Grand Nationals; Winston Cup; SCCA Trans Am, IMSA GTO, IMSA Camel Light and in Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes A two time IMSA Kelly American Challenge Driving Champion ('84 & '85) Grand-Am GTS Driving Champion 2003: (8 poles, 6 wins) 7th in all time IMSA career wins (26) Won '87 Sebring 12 hr GTO Class Has competed in 13 previous Rolex 24 hrs of Daytona Has raced in the US, Canada, Japan, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rico. Has driven with Buick, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Dodge, and Nissan factory race teams. Joined Stevenson MotorSports in 2005. Spencer Trenery (#97) Born: 1979 Birthplace: Walnut Creek, California Personal Information: In 2003 Spencer graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in international business and currently makes a living selling historically significant cars at Fantasy Junction in Emeryville, CA. Enjoys traveling, outdoor sports and working with his Father, Bruce at Fantasy Junction – brokers of collectible automobiles and vintage race cars. Racing Resume: At the age of 27, Spencer has competed in approximately thirty four 12 and 24 hour long races, including the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona, making him one of the most experienced, young endurance drivers in the world. 1998 – Present: Spencer has spent the last few years competing in various American Le Mans series, Grand Am, and international endurance races. 1997: Won the American Cities Racing League Sports 2000 championship, making him the youngest ever SCCA Pro Racing champion at that time 1996: SCCA Divisional National Champion in GT5 and S2000 1995: American Cities Racing League Sports 2000, SCCA Regional Champion in S2000, GT5 1988: Raced go-karts Marc Bunting (#57) Birth date: 09/20/1968 Birthplace: Baltimore, Md. Hometown: Monkton, Md. Personal Information: Two daughters (Jessie, Calli). Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of Alpine Bagel Co. Racing Resume: 2006 5 wins and 13 top finishes while winning 2006 Grand Am Rolex GT co-championship with Andy Lally. Recipient of the Bob Akin Award that recognizes the top sportsman driver in the GT class. Most recently, Marc earned recognition as a 2006 2nd team All-American by the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasting Association. 2005 Finished second in the Rolex GT Drivers Championship (tied with Andy Lally). 2 wins and 11 top ten finishes driving for TRG. 2004 Co-champion of the Rolex Series SGS class with co-driver, Andy Lally. 2 wins and 11 podium positions in 12 races. 2nd in Rolex GT Championship by one point. 2003 1 Rolex Series start at Phoenix, finishing fourth in GT class. 2002 Finished 13th in the GTS class in Rolex 24 at Daytona. Finished 6th in ALMS GTS class. One podium and seven top-five results in eight starts. 2001 7 starts in Rolex Series GT. Best finish, 6th at Phoenix. 6 starts in the Grand-Am Cup Series ST class. Best finish, 2nd at Phoenix. 2000/1999 1 win each year in Motorola Cup competition Rolex Sports Car Series Victories: 2005 Homestead-Miami (GT); 2005 Watkins Glen 250 (GT); 2004 Watkins Glen 6 hr. (SGS); 2004 Barber Motorsports Park (SGS) Dominic Cicero II (#97) Birth date 9/25/1980 Birthplace: Vancouver, Wash. Hometown: Portland, Ore. Personal Information: Personal website: www.dominiccicero.com Racing Resume: 2002-2005 Westernesse Racing LLC. - Progressed from junior Formula Renault to Renault V6. 1998-2000 Professional Factory Racing Driver. Official spokesperson for Elf Oil and Renault Car Company, Competed in Formula Campus Classification, ranked as high as fourth 1997 Refurbished race cars and worked as a race crew member. James Gue (#97) Birth Date: December, 30th 1981 Weight: 145 lbs, 66 kg Height: 5’8”, 1.73 meters Birth place: New Haven, Connecticut Residence: Alpharetta, Georgia Website: www.jamesgue.net Racing Resume: 2006 Le Mans Pre-Qualifying C65 Courage ALMS – P2 Courage C65 – Sebring 12hr (M-DNF) Grand-Am Cup – Ford Mustang (4th, 2nd) Grand-Am Daytona Prototype – Mexico City, Salt Lake City 2005 Roush “Gong Show” 1 of 25 Finalists Grand-Am Daytona Prototype – 24 Hours of Daytona, Daytona Sprint, Phoenix Grand-Am Cup - Multimatic Ford Factory Sedan Car Team (1- win, 5 top 5’s) Grand-Am Porsche GT3 Cup Car (Mont-Tremblant 6 Hour) ALMS - P2 Courage C65 - Petit Le Mans (M-DNF), Laguna Seca (2nd) 2004 ALMS P2 – Lola B2K/40, Courage C65 (2 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, 1 m-dnf) 1st place ALMS P2 Team Championship – Miracle Motorsports 2nd place ALMS P2 Drivers Championship Grand-Am Daytona Prototype – Homestead, Miami 6th place 2003 US FF2000 Zetec Championship (3 top 5’s, 9th in Final Points) ALMS 675 – Lola B2K/40 (1 race, 2nd place) HSR Group C GTP Nissan R90C, Chevy Spice GTP (3 races) 2002 Formula Mazda National Series (2 races) US FF2000 Zetec Championship (4 races) Grand-Am SRPI – Riley & Scott (co-drove with Buddy Rice) (1 race, 2nd place) 2001 Skip Barber National Series – Barber-CART Karting Scholarship Team Winner Grand-Am Cup – Team Lexus (2 races) 2000 Team O’Neil Tony Kart – Karting World Championships (Portugal) BRM/Dream Kart Lead Formula A Driver – Karting European Championships 1999 KGB Lead Formula A Driver - Karting European Championships Top Kart Driver - North American Championships (Highest American 6th) World Championships (one of 4 Americans to qualify in past 20yrs) (Belgium) 1991-1998 National and local go karting - 2 National Wins, 4 GA State Champs. Lou Gigliotti Birth date: December 29, 1949 Personal Information: Married to Karen and they have two children, Christina and Louis. Louis Jr. was named crew chief of the year in the World Challenge series for 2006. He drives a Corvette C6 on the street. Loves Italian food Considers Mosport, Infineon Raceway, Utah, and Road Atlanta to be his favorite tracks Website: www.lgmotorsports.com His extensive driving career has included wheel time in everything from open wheel cars to NASCAR, Trans Am and GT Cars. 1970’s: Made his club racing debut in the SCCA, ran in Super Vee 1991-1997: Started 68 consecutive World Challenge races. Was driving champion in 1991, 1192 and 1996 1998 - 2002: Joined Trans Am series in 1998 and won in the rain at Lime Rock Park in just his 8th race. He won the Paul Revere 250 at Daytona, and finished 2nd at Watkins Glen. He also won the Long Beach Grand Prix in 2001. 2003: Took a year off from racing to run his business, LG Motorsports, one of America's leading Corvette high performance suppliers and tuners. 2004 – Present: A steady competitor in World Challenge - had 3 top five and 5 top ten finishes in 10 races. He has racked up 22 wins and 26 poles in his World Challenge career. This includes a 24-hour race win at Mosport. John Stevenson (#57) Birth date: May 11, 1948 Height: 5’ '7" Weight: 165 lbs. Residence: Swansboro, North Carolina Family: Wife – Susan Daughters - Shelley and Booth Interests outside of racing: Boating and Labrador Retrievers Off-Track Career: John is the President and Owner of Stevenson Automotive Group located in Southeastern North Carolina, comprising eleven new car franchises - Honda, Acura, Toyota, Scion, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Jeep, Hyundai, Suzuki, Mazda, and Kia. Professional Racing Career: 2003: A newcomer to the Grand American Road Racing Series, he competed in his first GT race at Watkins Glen in a Porsche GT3 RS. He finished on the podium, in second place, in his first professional race. 2004: Driver with Stevenson MotorSports - finished 6th in GT team points in their first full year of competition. About The Stevenson Automotive Group Stevenson Automotive Group has been a leading automotive influence in Southeastern North Carolina since 1983. We enjoy a reputation for conducting business in an honest and professional manner with all of our customers. They are always our number one priority. The owner, John Stevenson, has a vested interest in obtaining maximum customer satisfaction and that commitment to excellence is shared with over 200 well-trained parts, service and sales staff. When it has our name on it, you have our word on it! The Stevenson Automotive Group includes the following store locations in North Carolina: Stevenson Honda – Wilmington Stevenson Acura - Wilmington Stevenson Chevrolet - Swansboro Stevenson Chrysler – Jeep – Mazda - Jacksonville Stevenson Hyundai - Suzuki of Jacksonville Stevenson Kia - Jacksonville Stevenson Mazda - Kia - Wilmington Stevenson Toyota - Scion – Jacksonville Stevenson Pre Owned Center - Jacksonville Website: www.StevensonAuto.com