FLAT-OUT THROUGH THE FOREST
Carrying the momentum of three top-5 finishes in a row, rising open-wheel Atlantic Championship star Dane Cameron heads for a double header at Road America
Dane Cameron, the 2007 Star Mazda Champion who won his Mazda-sponsored drive in the 2008 Atlantic Championship courtesy of the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder, has demonstrated just how well that ladder works by scoring a top-5 triple, including Mont-Tremblant and the double-header at Edmonton – where he qualified on the front row and finished 4th in one race and 5th in the other. As a result, Cameron has vaulted from 12th to 7th in the Atlantic Championship points championship battle heading into a back-to-back races, beginning with a double-header this weekend at Road America.
I addition to the useful effects of momentum on a driver and team, the next two events (three races) on the Atlantic Championship schedule are at tracks where Cameron has raced – and done well -- previously. In 2006, Cameron started from the pole and won one of two races in a Formula Ford 2000 double-header weekend at Road America on his way to a second-place finish and 'Rookie of the Year' award in the series championship. In 2007, racing in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, Cameron qualified 8th and finished 2nd on his way to becoming one of only two rookies in the 17-year history of Star Mazda to win the championship in his first year.
And in the second event of back-to-back weekends for the Atlantic Championship, Cameron also scored a 2nd-place finish in the Star Mazda Championship race at the historic street circuit in Trois Rivières, Quebec.
"I'm looking forward to these two weekends because I've raced at both track several times, which takes away the pressure of learning a new circuit at the same time you're trying to figure out the best car setup," says Cameron. "I love Road America because it’s a real driver's track with long straights for drafting and braking zones for passing. Trois Rivières is one of those street circuits where qualifying is everything and the whole race is an exercise in precision driving. You need to be able to handle both kinds of courses at the upper levels of racing, so these two weekends are good for my growth as a driver and as a chance to show top teams what I can do."
Cameron arrives at this stage of his career via an accomplished climb up the open-wheel ladder. In addition to the 2007 Star Mazda Championship, where he was both series champion and Rookie of the Year (only the second driver in the series’ 17-year history to become champion in his first season), Cameron was the 2006 F2000 Rookie of the Year and finished second in the championship. As a Team USA Scholarship driver, he won the 2006 Palmer Audi Winter Championship in Europe. In 2005 Cameron was the SCCA Formula Jim Russell Series champion and Rookie of the Year. His karting career, beginning in 2000, was similarly successful, including the 2003 Jim Russell Karting 80cc Junior Shifter Championship and a 2004 finalist in the Red Bull Driver Search.
Cameron drives for Genoa Racing, a team with a rich heritage in many forms of motorsports. Founded by successful San Francisco-based businessman Angelo Ferro in the early 1980s, the team began competing in the famed CanAm Championship, moved to the Atlantic series in 1990 and graduated to Indy Racing League competition in 1997-98 as Thomas Knapp Motorsports/Genoa Racing with driver Greg Ray, a period highlighted by Ray's front-row qualifying run for the 1998 Indianapolis 500.
His participation in the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda is also made possible by the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder, as well as a variety of long-time personal sponsors; including the Finlay Motorsports Driver Development Program, Lynx Racing, Mockett.com, Rett.org, Nearburg Exploration, Red Line Oil and Sparco USA.
The Atlantic Championship is the longest-running open-wheel driver development series in North America and celebrates its 35th Anniversary season in 2008. The series is noted for its long history of graduating its drivers into the top levels of motorsport throughout the world, including IndyCar champions such as Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve, Jimmy Vasser, Greg Ray, Sam Hornish Jr. and Dan Wheldon, Indy 500 winners such as Sullivan, Rahal, Villeneuve, Buddy Rice, Wheldon and Hornish, and Formula One world champions such as Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg.
Atlantic on-track action at Road America begins with several practice sessions on Friday, August 8. The 35-minute qualifying for Race #1 takes place from 1:00 pm to 1:35 pm Friday afternoon. Qualifying for Race #2 takes place from 8:45 am to 9:20 am Saturday, August 9, with the green flag for the 1-hour Race #1 scheduled to wave at 1:00 pm Saturday afternoon. There will be a 15-minute warmup session on Sunday morning, with Race #2 scheduled to take the green flag at 1:30 pm.
Dates and times for the television broadcast of the event have yet to be determined; check AtlanticChampionship.com for further information.
