ON THE TRACK AGAIN

Colin Braun, the 2006 Rolex Series Daytona Prototype-driving-champ-who-wasn't-because-a-lawyer-didn't-understand-age-isn’t-always-all-defining was at Barber Motorsports Park last week for a two-day test with Starworks Motorsport.

Team principal Peter Baron before the test said Braun's 2012 seat with the team "is his to lose."

No word, as yet, if Braun did so, but such idea is difficult to fathom when involving such a talented racer.

(Be forewarned, it's at this point wherein arising is a treasure trove of bar-bet material produced by the 2006 Rolex Sports Car Series season, mostly connected to Braun.)

At Krohn Racing in 2006, when “allowed” to compete Braun was teamed with Jörg Bergmeister in one (No. 76) of two (No. 75, the other) Ford-powered Riley Daytona Prototypes throughout the season, the latter being teamed three times with drivers other than Braun (altogether excluding those who were a part of the first-of-year, multi-driver Rolex 24 team).

Bergmeister’s spare-driver rotation included: Max Papis at HMS; Boris Said at WGI’s (Sahlen’s 6 Hours at The Glen); Niclas Jönsson, team-owner Tracy Krohn and, again, Said at Sonoma. Should the reader be a tad confused about all those drivers at Sonoma: yes, Herr Bergmeister drove two different cars. (An Ol' DC maxim: "Rules rule at the time they are, or are not rules." Rules, laws, regulations, ordinances, statutes and kindred edicts can change or even be nonexistent at one time or another. Desirous of an example? Compare the quantity of Federal Statutes as of the close of the First Congress and that of the most recent).

Despite being altogether absent for three of that season's 17 points-paying races (it was a busy year) Braun nevertheless finished fourth in the 2006 championship fight.

Just in case someone thinks Braun, or Bergmeister for that matter was taking a veritable "cruise" lacking competition: In 2006, nearly 38 drivers completed at least 82-percent of that season's 17 races. As a whole, 21 drivers would meet rules definitions for having competed in every Daytona Prototype race among the 51 drivers who appeared at no fewer than half of that season’s 14 venues. Keep in mind that every Rolex Series driver must compete, or “drive” to at least some minimal, defined extent so as to score points ("complete" a race) but wherein attempting, more than one driver has found himself on the short end of the stick – no track time at all – when a preceding driver did not complete a car’s handoff to a teammate whether the result of mechanical failure, wreck or dumbheadedness. (Krohn Racing No. 76, right, in 2006 Sahlen’s 6 Hours At The Glen Victory Lane).

Together Braun and Bergmeister (below, left and right, respectively, with thanks to Krohn Racing for images) together produced two wins; eight top-fives and thirteen top-10's – only once finishing out of the top 10 (a 12th at Mazda raceway Laguna Seca, Race 1).

Braun's three in-absentia races wasn't the design of anyone from Krohn Racing or the Rolex Series.

Instead, some lawyer/s, lacking the ability to think outside of a particular legal box, used the term "under 18 years of age" to define a “minor” class of people who were excluded from what may well have been established, ordinary and gainful professional practices coincidentally conducted at a racing venue having engaged contracts between the Indy Racing League and Philip Morris USA.

Um, er, wasn't Krohn Racing a sportscar team? Yep, still is a sportscar team, in fact.

The Rolex series just happened to schedule a race the same weekend (Saturday) as the IRL (Sunday).

"So, Williams, you're saying Braun couldn't 'legally' race because of a contractual agreement that didn't directly involve the Rolex Series, Krohn Racing or Braun? And they didn’t even race on the same day!?"

Yep.

A misstep typical of those who haven't stood on a particular fence side (and we've all been there; or not there), some arguing of late that the same has befallen IndyCar Series' CEO Randy Bernard, who clearly has accomplished what his employers sought – "out-of-box thinking" – but who in so doing, some claim, lacks perspective unique to motorsports and, particularly, open-wheel racing. Indeed, the absence of intimate knowledge of one racing style as compared to another, say, stock car versus sportscar, can lead to miscues, too. Woe inevitably visits those who conjure answers when a question’s full grasp eludes.

The whole Smoking Braun deal was still weirder in a number of ways, such as Braun could've raced on Monday (which because of the legal squabbling nearly occurred), but we in the United States have in recent times "gotten off" on telling others not only where to go, but what to do and how to do it along the way. So let's just stay focused on Braun's racing or, perhaps, lack thereof.

So, as a result of smoking, a nonsmoking Braun in 2006 didn't race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS), Watkins Glen International (WGI) or Infineon Raceway (Sonoma) – at all of which the race card included the IRL – where Bergmeister (at right, credit Grand-Am) respectively finished 8th, 1st and 9th, ultimately besting (who else?) Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz ("Memo Rojas" before a name change) by 16 points for the championship crown . . . well, er, Rolex "watch." Okay, okay: "timepiece."

Perhaps more surprisingly, having been “exposed,” Braun still didn’t partake of any tobacco product, even though he daily remained at The Glen during the race weekend. Amazing, that. 

On 2007, Braun finished fifth in the championship, hampered again by an undesired and forced race absence again at Sonoma, only this time it was at the hands of Rolex Series competition director Mark Raffauf, who insisted, "Colin Braun is one of the brightest talents the racing world has seen in the last few years," just before exacting a 16-day suspension period, within which was a race date at Sonoma.

Raffauf claimed (as did also claim a few team owners and drivers) Braun earlier that year breached the peace at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Barber Motorsports Park and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Again driving for Krohn Racing (it's a "Texan" thing) in the season's third of three 2007-season visits to Watkins Glen International, Braun was reportedly handed a pre-race "aggressive driving" warning ticket by Raffauf but nonetheless, while fighting for second-place in the race's final laps, committed the egregious act of contacting the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac-Riley and driver Max Angelelli, who has been known to, um, rub fenders, too.

"However, like other emerging stars before him, occasionally these young drivers need to be refocused," Raffauf was quoted in the suspension announcement.

"I have no doubt that Colin will emerge from this suspension as an even better driver."

After Sonoma, Braun returned for the season's final race and proceeded to finish fifth in the championship, one spot better than when he was suspended. Funky, that.

Other than in a few one-off rides since the close of the 2007, Braun's been doing just that, becoming an "even better driver" while under the wing of Roush Fenway Racing.

After three years, a win and a personal best fifth-place NASCAR Truck Series championship finish in 2009, Braun's ride fell prey to a sponsorship plague which has yet to be defeated at Roush Fenway Racing (as well as others).

Released by Roush in Dec. 2010, after taking a year off Braun's apparently returned to sportscar racing and there's little doubt he's a "better driver," too, maturity's process being what it is.

Unsure at present who exactly will land in what car and with whom as Starworks owners Baron, Alex Popow and Enzo Potolicchio (who also moonlight as fairly good drivers) are working toward fielding three cars for the 2012 season. (Dalziel, Baron, Potolicchio, at right)

Just a few weeks ago at the end of the 2011 season, Potolicchio and longtime Baron driver Ryan Dalziel won the 2011 season's final race at Mid-Ohio, overcoming an otherwise season-long winless drought for Ford (Roush Yates Engines).

Also in Starworks’ Barber Motorsports Park test pits was Canadian Mark Wilkins, who isn’t likely to return to Woodbridge (Toronto) based AIM Autosport in 2012, especially since his Riley DP No. 001 is being restored to its black and gold livery – the colors worn for 2008-season race wins at Montreal (at left) and Watkins Glen International (race No. 2) – in preparation for its soon-to-be delivery and display at a Canadian motor sports museum.

"We're on good terms," Wilkins insisted of his relationship with his former team, soon without the Daytona Prototype in with which Wilkins and 2008 co-driver Brian Frisselle scored three podium finishes and finished fifth in the Rolex Series championship.

"I wish Ian (Willis) and AIM all the best but now is a good time for each of us to take new directions."

It was was in a Starworks Porsche-Riley (in a sole Porsche flat-six DP) that Wilkins led seven laps at Mid-Ohio in mid-September, one of the six drivers to lead the race, giving way to Starworks’ sister car and eventual winning-driver Dalziel (at below right, credit Grand-Am) after Wilkins’ tires went away toward race end.

A battle to be Starworks' engine supplier has since emerged, with Ford and Porsche the apparent leading contenders.

One only can wonder if Ford will beat Porsche at Starworks, just as it may have prophetically done at Mid-Ohio, or whether the team will run the flat-six – an engine even Porsche says has likely already traveled the full length of its developmental spectrum (yet, when Alwin Springer is involved, one wonders what magic he might still perform).

Whatever the power, Starworks appears set for a heckuva strong 2012 driving team.

Later,

DC

DEMPSEY GONE?

"Depends," according to some observers at Barber Motorsports Park.

Following a primary sponsor's withdrawal from Dempsey Racing's No. 41 Mazda RX-8 program, Dane Cameron (left, hatless) and James Gué (right, in hat) won't drive in 2012 what they drove in 2011 despite having finished fourth in the Rolex Series' GT championship, 13-points shy of first place.

Thus the former two-car, full-season (emphasis on "full season," please) team now is down to one; presumably driving are Joe Foster, Patrick Dempsey and, probably, Charles Espenlaub as needed, as the team's principal drivers.

Dempsey Racing and Foster, who not only drives but is the administrative "brains" behind the team, were at Barber Motorsports Park, often being among the earliest to hit the track Monday when the various sessions commenced (pictured at below, left).

When the checkered flag fell on the Monday's final Rolex Series session of the two-day test, though, Foster and team struck the tent, jumped on the nearby I-20 eastbound ramp and headed for their Atlanta-area shop.

Before departing, Foster was enmeshed in an animated conversation with Grand-Am officials who promptly declined comment.

One nearby team's crew member wasn't as mum, claiming Foster at various times during the day expressed dissatisfaction with the new tire, saying that Foster (at right) felt it was better than what previously existed but fell short of the mark he wished to experience.

"What mark?" rhetorically grumbled yet another nearby GT competitor who's been in the thick of more than a few pitched points battles over recent years.

"What racer doesn't think tires can't be better? We always lack enough horsepower; always want the latest 'this' or the latest 'that.' Like golfers playing on a golf course, he (Foster) just needs to quit bellyaching about the clubs and focus on the fact that everyone else faces the same sand traps, too.

"If you ask me, either the team can't deal with the situation it's in or it's falling apart; one or the other. The tire just happens to a convenient excuse."

Noted is the turmoil that reportedly roiled within Dempsey Racing during the 2011 season, most particularly as it related to Cameron and Gué's No. 41 Mazda RX-8.

According to firsthand accounts, the team's behind-the-scenes performance at that time was deemed poor given the level of driving talent, only thrice cracking the top five (4,4,5) in nine starts.

Reportedly attributed to poor strategy calls, a sponsor's subtle requests for change evolved into a clear-cut demand for change, heeded just before the series landed at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

"What happened?" the Barber source asked rhetorically. "They finished on the podium at the very next race (NJMP) and kept on improving."

In the season's four remaining races, Gué and Cameron finished with three thirds and one sixth-place finish, averaging a 3.75-place finish as compared to a 7.375 average finish in the races prior to NJMP.

"2012 probably would've been a helluva good year for them if they had stayed around," the source continued.

"No one ever really wins in a sponsor versus owner face-off like they had over there because a sponsor doesn't generally get where he's at professionally unless he's competitive, too.

"You've got a team owner who's competitive but you can be sure that the sponsor's competitive, too. The difference is the sponsor's the one who's funding the team, man. He may be proved right or proved wrong but you've got to listen to him. You can't blow him off like he hasn't a clue as to how to win."

"You just don't find yourself taking something like that to the mat and then have everyone walk away with a warm and fuzzy feeling after that kind of deal. It was his (the sponsor's) ball to take home and he did."

Nevertheless, Dempsey Racing's No. 40 RX-8 (left, at Daytona) -- with Foster, Dempsey, Charles Espenlaub and Tom Long sharing the wheel -- made an early season statement on the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona podium, finishing a team-best third place in the race.

Unfortunately, it also was the team's final 2011 foray into a top-5 finish, averaging roughly an 11th-place average in the 11 races in which they scored points. Keeping the string intact, the No. 40 finished 11th in team points, seven spots behind a fourth place for the No. 41 team. In the GT driving championship, Foster finished 13th; Dempsey two places better in 11th.

Dempsey is a light year or two ahead of the driving ability he demonstrated just after the actor wrapped the movie "Made of Honor" and finally was free to run at the 2007 season's third race, ironically, at Barber Motorsports Park.

Dempsey's first intended 2007 race, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (then Grand-Am Cup), occurring on the Friday preceding the Rolex 24 At Daytona, was preempted by Dempsey's desire to be at spouse Jillian Fink's side while she delivered twins Sullivan Patrick and Darby Galen on Feb. 1, 2007.

Outside of childbirth, in one of those darned if you do; darned if you don't rock-and-hard-place things, Dempsey's weak point was not getting enough seat time when conflicting were TV and movie shooting schedules which, as Dempsey has noted, provided the funds with which to seed Dempsey Racing.

Undertaking a concerted effort in 2011 to better himself -- often involving strenuous cross-country flights which are never particularly fun regardless of "cabin class" -- Dempsey competed more than he'd previously raced in a single season and it showed in his improved skill set, too.

So where's the team's weak spot?

It surely wasn't TV time, which aptly came shortly after Gunter Schaldach's No. 07 CoolTV, Leighton Reese-owned Chevrolet Camaro rammed Foster's No. 40 Mazda RX-8 at Road America, afterward making more newsreels than J.C. France and Chris Bingham's 2006 Mexico Hat Dance.

Also, Foster isn't exactly what one can describe as a shabby driver, by any measure.

In the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Foster teamed with Scotty Maxwell (at right) in driving a top-of-the-line Ford Mustang Boss 302R prepared by Ford factory proxy Multimatic Motorsports -- Foster the opener; Maxwell the cleanup.

For the most part considered de rigueur in "team sportscar," especially insofar as sprint races are concerned, a team's "weakest link" usually starts a race (and in Grand-Am, the starter must qualify the car), followed by the "strongest" of the driving crew, who then theoretically can close a race providing the best possible results given the overall conditions.

Earning a series-leading three poles (tied with Rum Bum Racing's Nick Longhi) at Barber Motorsports Park, Lime Rock and Watkins Glen International, plus sitting on an additional four outside poles, Foster sat on the greater number of Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge front rows than did anyone in 2011.

Hobbled somewhat with a shoulder and neck injury following the Road America shunt, Foster still finished the 2011 season having compiled the third-greatest number of lead laps, 87, bested only by Matt Plumb (89) and Billy Johnson (108). Trailing Foster in the three following spots were the likes of Bill Auberlen (78), Longhi (49) and John Edwards (45).

Despite some criticism leveled at Dempsey at NJMP over SPEEDtv, the driver has more often than not received praise for his heads-up driving, generally transferring a reasonably positioned and "whole" car to teammate Foster, who closes when he's in the RX-8.

That the teamed averaged an 11th-place finish in GT seems at odds with potential, thus perhaps lending credence to the now-former sponsor's reported perspective.

Dempsey Racing is looking to run two cars in the 50th-anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona (Jan. 29-30), reportedly having most, if not all the available seats filled. As of now, the team will halve that car count for the remainder of 2012.

Later,

DC

DAN WHELDON, RIP

In one of the most dominating performances in the history of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, in 2006 Scott Dixon, Casey Mears and Dan Wheldon teamed to win the twice-around-the-clock event.

Compiling a race-leading 272 laps on the point, the team - born of drivers coming from Chip Ganassi Racing w/ Felix Sabates and Target Chip Ganassi Racing teams - would compile 734 laps in their No. 02 Lexus-powered Riley DP by race end, at the time ranking fifth overall (now sixth overall) in the race's all time completed-laps category - just 28 laps shy of 1992's leading 762 laps.

Wheldon's finish, in the pursuit of which he'd personally lead an individual sixth-best 58 laps, was a considerable improvement over his 33rd-place finish just a year earlier, in which he co-drove the Pontiac-powered No. 2 Howard Boss Motorsports' Crawford DP03 along with Milka Duno, Marino Franchitti and Dario Franchitti.

Though Wheldon and the Franchitti brothers had already long known each other, Wheldon once later said it was in the trenches of that grueling 2005 Rolex 24 race where he gained a keen appreciation for "those two Italians masquerading as Scots" - said with a hearty laugh after dislodging a tongue previously implanted firmly in cheek.

In just a few months' time Wheldon would've returned to Daytona International Speedway to join the many other returning Rolex 24 At Daytona champions, who will help celebrate the race's Jan. 28-29, 2012, 50th anniversary.

Wheldon wasn't exactly the tallest to be found in a paddock, but what he lacked in physical stature easily was overshadowed by his accomplishments in a race car - 16 IndyCar Series wins; a 2005 IndyCar Series championship; and, two Indy 500 wins coming in 2005 and 2011 - as well as his being just a darn nice guy who joked, laughed, smiled and made others feel as perfectly at ease as could anyone.

Perhaps that's the best way, too, for Wheldon to be remembered.

There's a cold certainty found in numbers which are indisputable. The warmth of a meaningful smile, the quick extension of a welcoming hand is something altogether different.

And that's the Dan Wheldon this writer will most remember.

And miss.

Later,

DC