| GarySheehan | 05-01-2002 01:04 PM |
PR: Subaru of America and Sheehan Motor Racing Accept the Challenge
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2002
[B]Subaru of America and Sheehan Motor Racing Accept the Challenge[/B]
Subaru of America and Sheehan Motor Racing have joined forces to compete in the 1st annual Grassroots Motorsports Open Track Challenge ([url]www.opentrackchallenge.com[/url]).
The Open Track Challenge is a new driving competition sponsored by Grassroots Motorsports magazine that is getting a lot of attention across the country. The Open Track Challenge is a weeklong endurance event that will see participating teams drive on seven different race tracks across California and Nevada in seven days. The format of the event is similar to Formula 1 qualifying sessions and each teams' two fastest lap times at each track will be added together to produce a total elapsed time. The lowest elapsed time in each class will win the championship in that class.
The Open Track Challenge starts on May 12 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada and crisscrosses California before returning back to Nevada at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 17. The racetracks in between include Willow Springs International Raceway, The Streets of Willow, Buttonwillow Raceway Park and Thunderhill Park. In addition to 2 hours of track time every day, the teams will need to deal with nearly 1,400 miles of highway travel to get them through the entire event.
Sheehan Motor Racing will be campaigning the Subaru WRX that they have been racing in the U.S. Touring Car Championship (USTCC). The team finished 2nd overall in the 2001 USTCC season and is currently tied for 1st place in the 2002 championship. The Sheehan Motor Racing Subaru WRX will be running in the Unlimited 3 class, which is open to such makes as the Audi S4, BMW M3, BMW M5 and earlier models of the Porsche 911. Without the USTCC rules restrictions, the Subaru WRX will go on an extreme weight reduction plan and receive significant power enhancements.
"We are very excited to be participating in the Grassroots Motorsports Open Track Challenge," said Gary Sheehan, one of the team's two drivers. "This is going to be a long, grueling event; conditions our Subaru WRX thrives in."
"The Grassroots Motorsports Open Track Challenge provides an excellent way to showcase the advantages of Subaru All-Wheel Drive in providing excellent handling," said Mike Whelan, Senior Manager, Product Public Relations for Subaru of America, Inc.. "With this kind of event, there will also be the opportunity for a variety of weather and driving conditions, and that's when Subaru technology shines".
The 2002 Subaru WRX embodies Subaru's legendary motorsports history. Featuring Subaru Core Technology which combines the boxer engine design, a simple symmetric drivetrain layout, and All-Wheel Drive, the WRX boasts three World Rally Championships to its pedigree, as well as countless other motorsports victories around the world.
************************************
For more information, please contact:
Gary Sheehan - Sheehan Motor Racing/Team Manager
[email][email protected][/email]
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]
May 1, 2002
[B]Subaru of America and Sheehan Motor Racing Accept the Challenge[/B]
Subaru of America and Sheehan Motor Racing have joined forces to compete in the 1st annual Grassroots Motorsports Open Track Challenge ([url]www.opentrackchallenge.com[/url]).
The Open Track Challenge is a new driving competition sponsored by Grassroots Motorsports magazine that is getting a lot of attention across the country. The Open Track Challenge is a weeklong endurance event that will see participating teams drive on seven different race tracks across California and Nevada in seven days. The format of the event is similar to Formula 1 qualifying sessions and each teams' two fastest lap times at each track will be added together to produce a total elapsed time. The lowest elapsed time in each class will win the championship in that class.
The Open Track Challenge starts on May 12 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada and crisscrosses California before returning back to Nevada at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 17. The racetracks in between include Willow Springs International Raceway, The Streets of Willow, Buttonwillow Raceway Park and Thunderhill Park. In addition to 2 hours of track time every day, the teams will need to deal with nearly 1,400 miles of highway travel to get them through the entire event.
Sheehan Motor Racing will be campaigning the Subaru WRX that they have been racing in the U.S. Touring Car Championship (USTCC). The team finished 2nd overall in the 2001 USTCC season and is currently tied for 1st place in the 2002 championship. The Sheehan Motor Racing Subaru WRX will be running in the Unlimited 3 class, which is open to such makes as the Audi S4, BMW M3, BMW M5 and earlier models of the Porsche 911. Without the USTCC rules restrictions, the Subaru WRX will go on an extreme weight reduction plan and receive significant power enhancements.
"We are very excited to be participating in the Grassroots Motorsports Open Track Challenge," said Gary Sheehan, one of the team's two drivers. "This is going to be a long, grueling event; conditions our Subaru WRX thrives in."
"The Grassroots Motorsports Open Track Challenge provides an excellent way to showcase the advantages of Subaru All-Wheel Drive in providing excellent handling," said Mike Whelan, Senior Manager, Product Public Relations for Subaru of America, Inc.. "With this kind of event, there will also be the opportunity for a variety of weather and driving conditions, and that's when Subaru technology shines".
The 2002 Subaru WRX embodies Subaru's legendary motorsports history. Featuring Subaru Core Technology which combines the boxer engine design, a simple symmetric drivetrain layout, and All-Wheel Drive, the WRX boasts three World Rally Championships to its pedigree, as well as countless other motorsports victories around the world.
************************************
For more information, please contact:
Gary Sheehan - Sheehan Motor Racing/Team Manager
[email][email protected][/email]
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]
| andyC | 05-01-2002 01:06 PM |
Go Gary Go!!!
:devil:
:devil:
| omahasubaru | 05-01-2002 01:48 PM |
ROCK ON!!!! I hope part of this is televised!
So will you be elaborating on your modifications?? Will SOA offer you one of the US Subaru Rally Team truck/trailers or will you have to handle all transportation on your own?
GO GET 'EM!
So will you be elaborating on your modifications?? Will SOA offer you one of the US Subaru Rally Team truck/trailers or will you have to handle all transportation on your own?
GO GET 'EM!
| Patrick Olsen | 05-01-2002 04:21 PM |
I, too, will be competing in the Open Track Challenge, along with my co-driver, Ray Kwan (rkkwan here on i-Club). We'll be driving my Legacy in Touring 4. I'm really looking forward to the event, and I'm really looking forward to seeing Gary's race car. With the USTCC rules out of the way I'm thinkin' his ride is gonna be damn fast!
This event is open to spectators (you may have to pay a track entry fee, but that depends on the track, not the event), so hopefully some of you left coast types will come out to spectate and support the few Subarus in the event. The schedule is here: [url]http://www.opentrackchallenge.com/trackroute.new.htm[/url] .
As for TV coverage, here's what was sent to the Team Captains a couple of days ago:
[i]OTC Team Captains -
If you've talked to me or visited the website in the last two days, you probably know we have an additional 10 million+ eyeballs on us now through our TV/Video deal with the ABC affiliate in Lake Tahoe. Let me take a few minutes to explain how that affects each of you.
Mike Conway of KMTN will be on site each day to film the OTC Video. This video will be a documentary about OTC as experienced by all the teams and staff. He's outlined an operating format in that he'll try to meet with each team on film. This gives you a great opportunity to treat your sponsors right and have a good time with your newfound popularity. The
video will be for sale to the general public for $25.00.
I have promised and established for Mike full access to OTC. He's going to have a ton of broadcast quality equipment on and off the track. If he asks you for your time, please accomodate him if you are reasonably able to do so. Nobody wants to infringe on your competitiveness so don't feel bad about telling him you are busy. He'll have the track schedule for each day and have a pretty good idea when you'll be light on stress.
This footage will be shot, edited, and produced daily to be uplinked to the networks. It'll be broadcast on a variety of different news, lifestyle, and motorsports shows throughout the summer. We have uplink capability to ESPN and Speed Channel directly and will be submitting production content every
afternoon. If it is a slow news day, you might be surprised where your face ends up!
This agreement along with exposure from most of the top automotive magazines lays an impressive media framework for this event and future OTC events. I hope it makes it a little easier to recapture the costs of running an event like ours or to round up some last minute support for this year's event.
Please contact me at this email or the number below if you have any questions. Thanks and see you all in a couple weeks!
Brian M. Provost
Director, Open Track Challenge
[url]http://www.opentrackchallenge.com[/url] [/i]
Pretty sweet, eh? :D
Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan
OTC Touring 4 #28
This event is open to spectators (you may have to pay a track entry fee, but that depends on the track, not the event), so hopefully some of you left coast types will come out to spectate and support the few Subarus in the event. The schedule is here: [url]http://www.opentrackchallenge.com/trackroute.new.htm[/url] .
As for TV coverage, here's what was sent to the Team Captains a couple of days ago:
[i]OTC Team Captains -
If you've talked to me or visited the website in the last two days, you probably know we have an additional 10 million+ eyeballs on us now through our TV/Video deal with the ABC affiliate in Lake Tahoe. Let me take a few minutes to explain how that affects each of you.
Mike Conway of KMTN will be on site each day to film the OTC Video. This video will be a documentary about OTC as experienced by all the teams and staff. He's outlined an operating format in that he'll try to meet with each team on film. This gives you a great opportunity to treat your sponsors right and have a good time with your newfound popularity. The
video will be for sale to the general public for $25.00.
I have promised and established for Mike full access to OTC. He's going to have a ton of broadcast quality equipment on and off the track. If he asks you for your time, please accomodate him if you are reasonably able to do so. Nobody wants to infringe on your competitiveness so don't feel bad about telling him you are busy. He'll have the track schedule for each day and have a pretty good idea when you'll be light on stress.
This footage will be shot, edited, and produced daily to be uplinked to the networks. It'll be broadcast on a variety of different news, lifestyle, and motorsports shows throughout the summer. We have uplink capability to ESPN and Speed Channel directly and will be submitting production content every
afternoon. If it is a slow news day, you might be surprised where your face ends up!
This agreement along with exposure from most of the top automotive magazines lays an impressive media framework for this event and future OTC events. I hope it makes it a little easier to recapture the costs of running an event like ours or to round up some last minute support for this year's event.
Please contact me at this email or the number below if you have any questions. Thanks and see you all in a couple weeks!
Brian M. Provost
Director, Open Track Challenge
[url]http://www.opentrackchallenge.com[/url] [/i]
Pretty sweet, eh? :D
Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan
OTC Touring 4 #28
| pio!pio! | 05-01-2002 06:14 PM |
Will you be able to fully develop your car in time for the events? It's only two weeks away and it takes time to source parts and dyno tune and stuff.
Mmm..stroker kit? giant turbo? fully programmable ECU? (fueling upgrades of course)
The bad thing is after it's over you can't use the upgraded parts for USTCC racing anymore.
Be sure to tell us how light you can get that sucker! (And dyno plots too!)
Mmm..stroker kit? giant turbo? fully programmable ECU? (fueling upgrades of course)
The bad thing is after it's over you can't use the upgraded parts for USTCC racing anymore.
Be sure to tell us how light you can get that sucker! (And dyno plots too!)
| nqwan | 05-01-2002 07:25 PM |
dont know if it was mentioned or not but what role is subaru of america playing in this? is it just publicity or are they actually sponsering the car and providing parts/funding?
| GarySheehan | 05-01-2002 08:15 PM |
Pio,
We will be announcing shortly what engine enhancements are taking place to provide additional power.
Nqwan,
I won't go into the details of Subaru's involvement, but I can say they are providing financial, product and technical support.
Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]
We will be announcing shortly what engine enhancements are taking place to provide additional power.
Nqwan,
I won't go into the details of Subaru's involvement, but I can say they are providing financial, product and technical support.
Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]
| M | 05-01-2002 09:29 PM |
best of luck to you. some day i will meet you and absolutely destroy you!:p
| vrm vrm | 05-02-2002 01:13 AM |
YEEHAW!!!
Kick ars and take names Gary!
| Kostamojen | 05-02-2002 02:21 AM |
Are these all like morning racing times? I wanna go watch at thunderhill but I have class til 1:15...
BTW, your ultra-light weigh super-powered WRX will DESTROY ALL! :devil:
BTW, your ultra-light weigh super-powered WRX will DESTROY ALL! :devil:
| bowenx | 05-02-2002 10:48 AM |
Gary,
Great news, and best of luck to you.
Now get out there and show those folks what a Subie can do!!
And yes, keep us all informed as to what you do with your car....
wonder if any of it is going to void your warranty eh?
(must be nice to have SOA backing your mods!!)
Great news, and best of luck to you.
Now get out there and show those folks what a Subie can do!!
And yes, keep us all informed as to what you do with your car....
wonder if any of it is going to void your warranty eh?
(must be nice to have SOA backing your mods!!)
| Marquis | 05-02-2002 10:52 AM |
Excellent news, Gary. I just wish I lived on the left coast (or had a business trip planned over there) so I could come and watch. I'll be making the trek to WV, though.
| jaybird | 05-02-2002 10:53 AM |
Sweet! Awesome idea. I think this OTC is going to end up being huge.
| brainrally | 05-02-2002 10:55 AM |
Good luck, and keep the shiny side up. Oh, and watch out for those frisky Hondas. ;)
| Patrick Olsen | 05-02-2002 11:10 AM |
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Kostamojen [/i]
[B]Are these all like morning racing times? I wanna go watch at thunderhill but I have class til 1:15...[/B][/QUOTE]
Each day's schedule will be set up like a typical open track event. There are 5 run groups that will rotate 20min sessions on the track all day long. The [i]tentative[/i] daily schedule was just put out yesterday or the day before, and shows the last batch of sessions running from 2:20pm - 4:00pm.
Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan
OTC Touring4 #28
[B]Are these all like morning racing times? I wanna go watch at thunderhill but I have class til 1:15...[/B][/QUOTE]
Each day's schedule will be set up like a typical open track event. There are 5 run groups that will rotate 20min sessions on the track all day long. The [i]tentative[/i] daily schedule was just put out yesterday or the day before, and shows the last batch of sessions running from 2:20pm - 4:00pm.
Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan
OTC Touring4 #28
| Ru fan | 05-02-2002 11:32 AM |
This is so cool! When will cool stuff like this be happening in the east?
Later,
Seth E.:alien:
Later,
Seth E.:alien:
| PaulC | 05-02-2002 12:05 PM |
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Ru fan [/i]
[B]This is so cool! When will cool stuff like this be happening in the east?
[/B][/QUOTE]
It's called One Lap of America. It started yesterday? today?
[url]www.onelapofamerica.com[/url]
[B]This is so cool! When will cool stuff like this be happening in the east?
[/B][/QUOTE]
It's called One Lap of America. It started yesterday? today?
[url]www.onelapofamerica.com[/url]
| Fitz | 05-02-2002 12:13 PM |
Friday night in Rochester, NY. :)
One Lap and Open Track differ in that Open track is a little bit more laid back in regards to the schedule and they have a significant larger amount of track time.
Fitz
One Lap and Open Track differ in that Open track is a little bit more laid back in regards to the schedule and they have a significant larger amount of track time.
Fitz
| gmaki | 05-02-2002 01:32 PM |
Dammit Gary! why must you test my loyalties. Not only is my buddy in this event, he is in your class! Now I don't know who to root for.
Good luck anyway, I 'll just have to hope for a tie I guess.
Good luck anyway, I 'll just have to hope for a tie I guess.
| Lightning Jack | 05-02-2002 01:33 PM |
go gary!!:alien:
| bemani | 05-02-2002 01:42 PM |
I would go and watch you race on TH, but you just happened conflict with Star Wars :P Anyways, good luck!
| GarySheehan | 05-02-2002 02:44 PM |
gmaki,
Who's your friend that's running in U3?
Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]
Who's your friend that's running in U3?
Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]
| gmaki | 05-02-2002 02:55 PM |
Unlimited 3 63 72 Porsche 911 Michael Marshall, Michael Kaidbey
I know both guys but Kaidbey is my driving instructor and co-worker. Nice guys too, for Porsche owners :)
I know both guys but Kaidbey is my driving instructor and co-worker. Nice guys too, for Porsche owners :)
| Mikanical | 05-02-2002 05:10 PM |
Good luck Gary.
With SOA involvment, you will need it for any warranty issue!
:lol:
With SOA involvment, you will need it for any warranty issue!
:lol:
| Tkacik | 05-02-2002 05:26 PM |
Good luck Patrick (Keep her right side up;)) and Gary, I cant wait till these tapes go on sale.
| David S. Wallens | 05-02-2002 09:16 PM |
Cool, I'll be out there for the first few events. Wish I could stay all week, but I have to get back and proof the magazine.
David S. Wallens, managing ed
Grassroots Motorsports
[url]www.grassrootsmotorsports.com[/url]
David S. Wallens, managing ed
Grassroots Motorsports
[url]www.grassrootsmotorsports.com[/url]
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