Farnbacher Loles Racing made a special stop en route to this week's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. Team owner Dino Loles, driver Leh Keen and 15 members of the crew visited Camp Boggy Creek in Eustis, Fla., on Wednesday. The camp was founded by actor Paul Newman and General H. Norman Schwarzkopf as one of the Hole in the Wall Camps for children who have chronic or life-threatening illnesses.
The crew participated in the annual Frisselle Brothers Invitational Tournament on the camp's mini golf course and Farnbacher Loles owner Gregory Loles contributed $10,000 as the inaugural member of the Camp Boggy Creek Country Club. He urged his race competitors to also support the camp.
"All of us in the paddock are very fortunate to be able to participate in motorsports. It's our obligation to share our good fortune with the less-privileged around us," he said. "I applaud Grand-Am for embracing Camp Boggy Creek and allowing us as teams to also participate. The work the camp is doing with the limited resources they have is incredible. We are proud to say we are contributing to this tremendous organization from all levels of Farnbacher Loles – our crew members, drivers and management have all embraced the camp and are giving of their time and money. I hope our paddock can strive for 100-per-cent participation. It doesn't matter how much you give, just that you do it."
The team took Keen's race-winning No. 86 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to camp and dozens of children accepted the invitation to sit in the driver's seat.
"It's a really awesome place. I would like to stay longer and see more of it," Keen said. "The people and all the facilities are top-notch. It's good to know there's something like this here for the kids. We take a lot of things for granted, so it makes us realize how good we have it. We can just have a normal life and be healthy – and we get to race, too. It's cool that we can share that with the kids."
rain race?
Farnbacher Loles Racing will field three cars in the July 3 race on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course – the same track used for the Rolex 24 At Daytona endurance race in January. Leh Keen of Charleston, S.C., and Eric Lux of Jacksonville, Fla., will share the No. 86 Porsche and their teammates Bryce Miller of Summit, N.J., and Dirk Werner of Kissenbrück, Germany, will be behind the wheel of the No. 87 Porsche.
The team will also prepare the No. 63 Porsche for JLowe Racing and drivers Jim Lowe of Bryn Mawr, Pa., and Jim Pace of Ridgeland, Miss. The pair will compete in two 2008 Rolex Series races with Farnbacher Loles – this week's Daytona event and a race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in August.
The team's chief engineer, Lars Giersing, noted the high banks at Daytona are a challenge, but forecast rain might help the team celebrate a second-consecutive win.
"We have to find the balance between a fast sprint setup and yet have a safe car. There is tremendous load on the right rear tire in the banking at Daytona. I think that even though it is hotter than the winter race, we will get as much speed out of the cars and go just as fast as at the 24-hour," he said. "We can hope for some rain to help the Porsches get another win!"
