in No. 99 Red Dragon at Lime Rock ParkGAINSCO, Gurney and Fogarty look to close out 2012 season with first win of the year in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette Daytona PrototypeFresh off of a second-place finish in the symbolic 99th race for the No. 99 GAINSCO Red Dragon Daytona Prototype three weeks ago, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, and drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, will mark the teams milestone 100th GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race this weekend at the season-ending GRAND-AM Road Racing Championship at Lime Rock Park, September 2729.GAINSCO, Gurney and Fogarty hope to commemorate the centennial start with their first 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series victory in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette Daytona Prototype in Saturdays featured 2-3/4 hour sprint. The finale of this years 13-event race schedule, the Lime Rock closer can be seen live on SPEED this Saturday, September 29, at 3 p.m. EDT/12 p.m. EDT.GAINSCO has finished second in each of the last two racesincluding the 99th race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, September 9and last month in the Montreal 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The No. 99 GAINSCO/BobStallingsCars.com Corvette was also driven to two more second-place finishes at Barber Motorsports Park last March and in the Sahlens Six Hours of The Glen in early July. While those four runner-up placings are GAINSCOs best results of the year, a win in Saturdays season-ending race at Lime Rock will extend for a sixth consecutive year GAINSCOs record of scoring at least one race victory in a season.We obviously want to close out our season with a victory to keep our streak of wins alive in every season since 2007, Gurney said. Second place is a good result but it doesnt feel that good when you think you should be winning! Lime Rock has been tough for us the last couple of years, but we've been learning and we think we now know what it will require to be quick there.As good as the four runner-up and six total top-five results have been, GAINSCOs bid for victory at Lime Rock would likely be a result of the teams best top-to-bottom performance of the year.
Montreal was quite a good race although we just did not have the pace of the (winning) No. 01 BMW, Fogarty said. Other than that I feel we executed quite well. Laguna we had the fastest car but we had some issues in other areas. So while we had strengths in each event I actually dont feel like we have really nailed any race weekends this year. There is a lot of moving parts on a race team and perfection is hard to attain. I feel like we have the personnel and have been in a position to win several times this year if it wasn't for some truly honest bad luck. I am ready for Lime Rock to be our weekend to showcase our abilities.GAINSCO, and the driving duo of Gurney and Fogarty, finished fourth from fifth on the grid at Lime Rock last year and sixth after qualifying third in the debut Daytona Prototype race on the 1.53-mile Connecticut road course in 2010.Lime Rock presents many challenges, Fogarty said. It is short, fast and has almost all right hand corners so having a car that works handling wise is critical. Having said that, horsepower is always an advantage, as well as the rev-limit or "red line" of the motor, the more revs you have the more flexibility you have with gearing. Unfortunately, the series has required the Chevrolet to have less revs than any other motor and that makes our lives difficult at many tracks gearing wise, Lime Rock included. We always have very good, reliable and very consistent motors from ECR and are confident that we are right at the edge of the performance envelope that the rules allow.GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing debuted the first Chevrolet motor ECR (Earnhardt-Childress Racing) Engines built for the Daytona Prototype division at the 2010 Lime Rock Park race.
The ECR organization has been very professional over the years, they are extremely good at what they do, and I think we are very lucky to have them, Gurney said. They started with a big headwind with a two-valve motor and not as much revs as the four valves but have managed to always still stay in the hunt. I think handling will be the big key this weekend although horsepower never hurts!A victory Saturday gives GAINSCO a chance to celebrate its milestone 100th race after coming up just short of victory in the 99th start. GAINSCO has racked up a solid record of success since debuting in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series in 2005, highlighted by Daytona Prototype Team and Driver Championships in 2007 and 2009. The team has won 15 races, all with Gurney and Fogarty at the wheel, as part of a run of 54 top-five finishes in GAINSCOs first 99 races. That finishing record includes an amazing tally of 42 top-three podium results comprised of 16 runner-up placings, 11 third-place showings and the 15 victories.In addition to the solid career race results record, the No. 99 has also shined in qualifying since its partial debut season in 2005. The No. 99 GAINSCO Red Dragon has been driven to 28 pole positions in the last 99 races, including the teams first with Gurney in just its third race at Barber Motorsports Park in the debut year. Gurney has five career poles at the wheel of the Red Dragon while Fogarty owns the other 23 top-qualifying effortsincluding four this yearas the all-time Daytona Prototype career pole leader for the last several seasons.Fogartys 2012 poles in the No. 99 came at Montreal, Detroit Belle Isle, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and in the inaugural Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.A race win and a pole at Lime Rock would be GAINSCO firsts.As a team I feel as though we have learned a lot about Lime Rock in our past two visits, Fogarty said. That combined with what we have learned about the 2012 Corvette will put us in a good position to win. We have not been extremely quick in the previous runs at Lime Rock, but we are certainly looking to change that this weekend.A two-day event, the Rolex Series schedule for the GRAND-AM Road Racing Championship weekend begins with practice on Friday. Saturdays schedule begins with a rare race-day qualifying session that is the only on-track Rolex Series activity before the featured 2-3/4 hour race that starts at 3 p.m. local time.I don't think any of us are happy with the results from this year and its very hard for us to put our fingers on something specific that has held us back, Gurney said. We have been in position to win several times but have run into some very strange circumstances. A win to close out the season would definitely give the Red Dragon some momentum going into next year!
Noteworthy- Team owner and former driver Bob Stallings has been part of the behind the wheel career success of the No. 99 Red Dragon. He co-drove with Gurney to a second-place finish on the Watkins Glen short course in 2005, GAINSCOs first podium result in just its fourth race. Stallings made 11 career Daytona Prototype starts before stepping out of the car after the second race of the 2006 season, a move that led to Fogarty joining the team and the first set of Daytona Prototype Championships in 2007.- Gurney and Fogarty are native Californians and had their biggest fans on hand one race ago at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. His wife Colleen, and their young daughters Natalie and Savannah, joined Gurney while Fogartys wife Sara their young children William and Allison attended. It was very special again to have my young family there with me at Laguna, Gurney said. The girls seem to love the race car and seem to be a source of good luck as well! They've only been to two races with me and we finished first and second in those two events!
- Each driver gave his second-place trophy to his children after the Laguna race. Having family at a race certainly does put things in perspective, Fogarty said. My kids excitement helped take the sting away from missing the top step and, in a way, being able to have them there and give the trophy was better than winning. I love having my family there. I think maybe you push a bit harder to make a win happen for them, which is a great thing. At the same time, I dont want to feel OK about anything other than a win, and my family helps me do that, so its an odd thing really having them there, but I am glad to be able to have them at a few races a year. Winning with those closest to you is the ultimate high, so maybe it would be great to have them all of the time. William keeps the trophy in his room which he shares, for the time being, with his sister so they are both able to enjoy it.
