Polestar Racing Group’s Alex Barron and Alan Sciuto Ready for Houston as Atlantic Competition Heats Up for Fast Trac 100
If the 2006 Yokohama Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series Powered by Mazda season promises anything, it’s that every race is going to be a hotly contested battle for track position, not to mention the $2 million dollar incentive that goes to the championship winner.
This Saturday’s Fast Trac 100, the second round of the 12-race Atlantic series, takes the fight to the streets around Reliant Park, with an all-new track and a host of teams and drivers hungry to win.
While the Reliant 1.615-mile circuit presents an unknown challenge for everyone, the Chardon, Ohio-based Polestar Racing Group team is no stranger to Atlantic race and championship victories. Under the guidance of co-owners Jim Griffith, Pam Griffith and Bruce Potter, the team accounted for nearly half of last year’s Atlantic race wins by capturing five victories out of 12 events with series rookies Katherine Legge and Antoine Bessette.
For 2006, Polestar brings out its street-fighting arsenal in the form of 1997 Atlantic series champion Barron (#21 The Room Store of Arizona Swift) and pole-winning rookie Sciuto (#12 Sealy/PKV Racing/The Room Store of Arizona Swift). Barron himself staked five wins, four poles and the Rookie-of-the-Year title on his way to claim the ’97 Atlantic crown with the same engineer he has today
Jim Griffith.
“To say we’re hungry to run up front would be an understatement,” said Barron, who finished eighth in last month’s 2006 season opener at Long Beach. “After Long Beach we were a bit puzzled. We were a little behind to begin with, but we just wrapped up two very productive days of testing and made a big jump in the right direction. We have a much better understanding of what the car wants. We can make it turn, we can make grip, and we have a very good set-up for a street course, which bodes well for this weekend.”
Sciuto, who also cracked the top ten in Long Beach by finishing tenth in his first race with the Polestar team, is seeking a return to his front-running form that put him on pole in only his second of three Atlantic starts last year.
“We’re certainly on the right track,” said Sciuto, 18, of Orange, Calif. “We just came off of a very good test and made some significant gains. We’ve been focusing on learning more about the car and were able to try a ton of things. We’re pretty upbeat about everything and anxious to see how things will go this weekend.”
The Atlantic activities at Reliant Park officially kick-off on Thursday, May 11, with a 55- minute practice session at 2:30 pm local. The first qualifying session will be held that night from 7:30 to 8:00 pm.
The second round of qualifying takes place from 6:30 to 7:00 Friday night, with the 40-lap (60.60 miles), 50-minute Fast Trac 100 race scheduled to begin at 5:15 pm Saturday.
The Atlantic series last competed in Houston in 2001, when the series ran for four consecutive years (1998 – 2001) on a temporary downtown street circuit around the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Barron, of Menifee, Calif., last competed on that Houston circuit in 2000, when he started 23rd and finished 12th while racing in the Champ Car World Series for Dale Coyne Racing. He also competed in the Champ Car World Series and Indy Racing League from 1998 to 2005 with such teams as Cheever Racing, All American Racers and Team Penske.
Sciuto was recognized as North America’s top shifter kart racer in 2004 before competing in three Atlantic races last year. He finished fourth in his series debut on the challenging San Jose street course then, the following week in Denver, led both rounds of qualifying to capture his first career Atlantic pole position and establish himself as the youngest-ever Atlantic pole winner at just 17 years of age. Polestar team owners Jim and Pam Griffith and Potter are all experienced Atlantic veterans, having been instrumental to the Atlantic championship-winning efforts of Barron, Patrick Carpentier (1996) and Buddy Rice (2000).
SPEED will provide tape-delayed television coverage of the Grand Prix of Houston Atlantic race on Sunday, May 20 at 1:00 pm ET. The race will also air to U.S. service men and women in over 130 countries around the world through the American Forces Radio & Television Service.
