GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing in thick of Rolex Series Championship battle as five-race stretch begins Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park
GAINSCO, Gurney and Fogarty seek points lead and second Porsche 250 win in three years
Locked in a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Championship battle as hot as an Alabama summer weekend, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty will look to retake the series points lead with a second win at Barber Motorsports Park in three years in this weekend’s Porsche 250 presented by Legacy Credit Union, July 17 - 19. Sunday’s 2-3/4-hour timed sprint race on the 2.3-mile road course, which will be run in the grueling heat and humidity of a typical Birmingham July afternoon, can be seen live on SPEED at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT.
GAINSCO and its championship drivers have won a pair of races and added top-three podium finishes in the last two events to move into full-on Grand-Am Rolex Series title contention with just five races left in the season. Archrivals Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and the No. 01 TELMEX/Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley lead the Daytona Prototype battle with 199 points, the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara and drivers Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle are one spot back with 198 points and the GAINSCO squad is right there in third with 196 points. With a maximum 35 points available to a team in a Grand-Am Rolex Series race, the 2009 title battle is still far from decided heading back to Birmingham.
“With five races left in the championship, things are getting really tight,” said Gurney, who took over from Fogarty and crossed the finish line a close second to Angelelli two weeks ago in the Brumos Porsche 250 At Daytona. “We’re coming off a great weekend in Daytona where I had a great battle with Max at the end of the race. I would have loved to come out on top but still, those are the races that I always enjoy and I think the type that has become commonplace in the Grand-Am Rolex Series.”
Gurney had a similar nose-to-tail thriller with current NASCAR Truck Series winner Colin Braun throughout the second half of the 2007 Porsche 250 at Barber, and took the win with Fogarty and GAINSCO. It is that type of close competition that makes race car drivers truly love their profession.
“We love to race… period,” Fogarty said. “Whether it is checking out on the competition or side-by-side banging, it’s all part of it. The daring moves and side-by-side stuff is great for the fans, and when it goes your way, you look and feel like a hero. But I really enjoy the technical side too, and getting the job done prior to the race and working with the team to come up with the best solution for getting around the track quickly.”
The 2007 Barber victory was part of a dominating run to that season’s Rolex Series Driver and Team Championships. GAINSCO won half of the year’s 14 races and the obvious talent of the drivers was equally complemented by the hardworking crew and engineering team. The drivers see a similar performance from the GAINSCO team this season.
“I am really proud of our team; they have been doing an excellent job across the board and are clearly hungry for another championship,” Gurney said. “We know we really need to focus hard on reliability and staying out of trouble as we close in on the end of the year. That being said, with the pace of our No. 99 GAINSCO car recently, we are definitely going to Barber with the intention of winning the race. We’ve always had a good car at Barber and with some more recent improvements, I think we will be one of the teams to beat.”
GAINSCO won two of 2009’s first four races with convincing performances in the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway in April and the Verizon Festival of Speed presented by SPEEDCOM at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May, where they led the championship standings for the first time this year. June’s highlight was a third-place finish in the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio and two weeks later GAINSCO took the second-place finish at Daytona on the Fourth of July to get the final half of the season off to a solid start.
The Daytona race was run in searing Florida afternoon heat and humidity, and similar conditions are usually the norm in Birmingham as well. Last year at Barber, teams and drivers endured stifling humidity and temperatures approaching 100 degrees. Such dire conditions are an issue during and even days after a race.
“The 24-36 hours after a hot race is rough,” Fogarty said. “You are incredibly dehydrated and that creates a lot of issues for your well being. It is crucial to replenish ASAP. An IV would be the best but we generally have enough time between events that we can do it the old fashioned way by drinking a lot of water. But headache and fatigue are the order of the day following a big race.”
Both Gurney and Fogarty stay in top physical shape and fully enclosed Daytona Prototypes like the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley are known for being extremely hot.
“There is really no way to train for the conditions that occur inside a Daytona Prototype and if you did recreate the conditions I think you would end up hurting yourself more than helping,” Fogarty said. “The most important thing is to be able to stay hydrated and use the water in your system efficiently. I think overall cardio fitness, diet and hydration are the keys to handling the heat.”
Gurney is expecting a hot race this weekend but, like Fogarty, will be wearing a cool suit that the GAINSCO team keeps in top operating condition.
“As far as the heat, since sitting in our car is a little like sitting on the surface of the sun, I expect it could be an issue this weekend, but we have been working hard to improve in that area,” Gurney said.
NOTEWORTHY
* GAINSCO Auto Insurance will entertain several guests at this weekend’s Porsche 250, including 10 new agent partners from Georgia. GAINSCO, which sells its insurance exclusively in Sunbelt states, recently expanded to the Georgia market. “GAINSCO’s focus on Sunbelt states is not an accident,” said GAINSCO’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing Andy Jordan. “We have enjoyed success in Florida and South Carolina, which are states with great markets for our product. Georgia was a logical next step for the company. It’s amazing how closely the story of the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing team parallels the story of GAINSCO Auto Insurance over the past few years. In both situations, we set out focused on a championship performance, and we really mean to be the best.” Fogarty also sees a connection between the racing team and GAINSCO’s corporate business. “I think GAINSCO’s success is similar to why you occasionally see race cars check out on the track,” Fogarty said. “They are doing their homework behind the scenes and coming up with solutions that their competitors are unable to match. The product is great, and the pricing is matched to the economy.” Jim Cook, President of Atlanta-based Keystone Insurance, is one of the Georgia agents joining GAINSCO this weekend at the Porsche 250. “I am really looking forward to going to the race with GAINSCO,” Cook said. “The racing is a great tie-in and GAINSCO has leveraged it all very well. Using a race car as the company’s primary branding tool was really smart. The wheels-based connection works for a company that focuses on selling auto insurance.”
* Barber is a favorite track for GAINSCO and its drivers not only for the outstanding racing circuit but also its beautiful, park-like setting. “Barber is more a work of art than a race track and I think we are all very lucky to race there,” Gurney said. Fogarty gives the track high marks for being great for race fans and also appreciates their strong support. “Barber is just such an awesome track to drive and it is equally great for the spectators,” Fogarty said. “The viewing is top notch, the fans can get close to the track, and it is easy to get around as the facility is fairly compact. I am not sure what the reason is for the great turnout, but we love it and with the great racing that we have in the Grand-Am Rolex Series I would expect the turnout to grow.”
* Success at Barber this weekend could be linked to the June Mid-Ohio race where GAINSCO joined several Grand-Am Rolex Series teams for a special Monday test following the EMCO Gears Classic. “Barber is a much more similar circuit to Mid-Ohio,” Fogarty said. “Daytona is kind of its own beast and we were able to provide some of the things we learned at Mid-Ohio there, but I am definitely looking forward to the more technical tracks like Barber. We definitely have more to work with and a better understanding of how to tune on this car now. We love to test and the team is good at it. I wish we had the opportunity to do it more. We are happy that the final races, with the exception of Homestead, will be on some pretty serious handling circuits.” Gurney also felt the test in Ohio was time well spent. “We are right in there and I am more encouraged than ever because of our test at Mid-Ohio,” Gurney said. “I think we are going to be really strong the rest of the year.”
