Connect with us

Motorsports

RACER Debrief: Fourth-gen racer Loni Unser on the challenge of Pikes Peak

When you think of the history and the legends of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, you think of the Unser family. Three generations of Unsers have earned 26 overall wins at The Race to the Clouds, and now a fourth-generation Unser, Loni, is looking to make her mark on the Colorado mountain, too. As […]

Published

on


When you think of the history and the legends of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, you think of the Unser family. Three generations of Unsers have earned 26 overall wins at The Race to the Clouds, and now a fourth-generation Unser, Loni, is looking to make her mark on the Colorado mountain, too. As she gets ready to ascend the 14,110ft peak for a fourth time on June 22, Loni joins the RACER Debrief to talk about her journey to racing at Pikes Peak, her 2025 program with BBI, Mobil 1 and Porsche, and the challenge of taking on one of motorsports’ most memorable and unique events.

Watch Pikes Peak on the RACER Network and the RACER+ app live on June 22.



Link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Motorsports

All-Pro Auto Reconditioning becomes primary sponsor of NASCAR points leader William Byron

CONCORD, N.C. – Automotive cosmetic appearance services leader All-Pro Auto Reconditioning will become a primary sponsor of two-time DAYTONA 500 champion and current points leader William Byron through the 2030 season, representing an expansion of its existing partnership with 14-time NASCAR Cup Series champions Hendrick Motorsports.  In 2025, All-Pro will appear as a primary sponsor of Byron’s […]

Published

on


CONCORD, N.C.  Automotive cosmetic appearance services leader All-Pro Auto Reconditioning will become a primary sponsor of two-time DAYTONA 500 champion and current points leader William Byron through the 2030 season, representing an expansion of its existing partnership with 14-time NASCAR Cup Series champions Hendrick Motorsports. 

In 2025, All-Pro will appear as a primary sponsor of Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet at two high-profile events: the Chicago Street Race on July 6 and the Cup Series playoff opener at Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31. The company will continue to grow its presence in subsequent seasons, serving as a primary sponsor for two races again in 2026, four races in 2027 and six races annually from 2028 through 2030. 

“From day one, partnering with Hendrick Motorsports has exceeded our expectations,” said Brett Boettcher, chief strategy officer for All-Pro Auto Reconditioning. “This expansion reflects our confidence in the relationship and what it delivers for our brand. Hendrick Motorsports embodies performance, precision and teamwork the same values we bring to every customer we serve. As we grow nationally, aligning with William and the iconic No. 24 team will elevate our visibility, deepen customer relationships and attract top-tier talent to our company. We’re proud to take this next step and excited about the long-term impact it will have on our associates and our partners.” 

Byron, 27, opened 2025 with his second consecutive DAYTONA 500 victory and currently leads the Cup Series regular season standings after 17 races. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has already posted 14 career wins at NASCAR’s top level. 

“I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished with All-Pro in such a short time,” Byron said. “They’re a great partner with a shared commitment to performance. Having them become a primary sponsor shows that we’re delivering results, and it means a lot to me and the whole No. 24 team. We’re looking to build on our momentum and put All-Pro up front for years to come.” 

All-Pro originally joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2024, aligning with the No. 24 team as an associate sponsor. The partnership launched during a milestone year for both organizations, with All-Pro celebrating its 30th anniversary and Hendrick Motorsports marking its 40th in NASCAR. 

“It means a lot when a partner believes in what we’re doing and chooses to grow with us,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “The No. 24 team has competed at a high level, and William continues to elevate his role as a driver, a leader and a spokesperson. All-Pro is expanding the program because it supports business goals, strengthens their connection with customers and reflects the performance-driven culture they’ve developed. We’re proud of this long-term commitment and can’t wait to see what’s next.” 



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

How iRacing helped make the NASCAR Chicago Street Race a reality – NBC4 Washington

The NASCAR Chicago Street Race didn’t come from nowhere — it came from a computer. Rather than taking the risk of racing on the roads of a major city blind, NASCAR used a cost-effective alternative: iRacing. The sim-racing video game has become an essential tool for the real-life racing series, especially when it comes to […]

Published

on


The NASCAR Chicago Street Race didn’t come from nowhere — it came from a computer.

Rather than taking the risk of racing on the roads of a major city blind, NASCAR used a cost-effective alternative: iRacing.

The sim-racing video game has become an essential tool for the real-life racing series, especially when it comes to innovation.

So, when NASCAR began to consider what a street race in Chicago might look like, it turned to iRacing for help. The sim game is the closest replica of what it feels like to drive a race car. Using laser-scanners, iRacing is able to create pin-point details of every car and track imaginable.

“We pioneered the use of laser-scanners, to go to a track and use them,” said Steve Myers, executive vice president of iRacing. “We can collect millions of points of data by taking laser-scanners around these tracks, and get them digitally perfect. Every little bump, every curve, every crack. We can even, from the laser-scan, pick up where the paint is on the track. Paint is a little bit more slippery than pavement, so we can recreate these tracks to be exactly perfect.”

Myers, who has been in the industry since 2000, was one of iRacing’s earliest employees. The company was founded in 2003 by designer Dave Kaemmer and John Henry, who co-owns the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, Liverpool FC and RFK Racing.

“We started the company with the idea that we wanted to make the most authentic racing simulation that you could possibly make,” Myers said. “The way that we did that was create truly authentic driving models of cars and digitally perfect race tracks, to the point that real world race car drivers could use the product and actually find value in it.”

The value of sim racing is different from virtual reality versions of any other sport. If you’re playing “Madden” or “NBA 2K,” you aren’t actually doing the motions of football or basketball. In iRacing, you’re able to truly simulate what to feels like to drive a particular race car — from setting up the balance to managing tires and navigating treacherous tracks.

“There is no Dick’s Sporting Goods where you can go buy a race car and do it in your backyard,” Myers explained. “This is done on a computer now. It absolutely has become that gateway for people to experience racing and see if this is something exciting for them.

“In sim racing, you can be on the track with Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and be competitive with him. William Byron, he was able to take that skill transition to the real world and continue that career and trajectory to where I think he’s going to be a Cup champion some day. That’s what’s really cool about sim racing though — if you were good at ‘NBA 2K,’ you could dominate LeBron James in that game on a console. There’s no chance that you’re going on to a basketball court with him and probably even score a basket.”

Byron is perhaps the greatest example of how iRacing translates to the real world. The Hendrick Motorsports star didn’t grow up racing, instead picking up iRacing as a teenager. His success in the video game boosted his profile and eventually led to a contract with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Now, the 27-year-old Byron is the two-time defending Daytona 500 champion and leads the NASCAR Cup Series points standings.

As NASCAR saw drivers like Byron coming from iRacing, they have developed a closer partnership for projects like the Chicago Street Race. That venture began back in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when NASCAR broadcasted virtual races on iRacing with real-life stars competing.

That’s when the world was introduced to the Chicago Street Course.

We walked, biked and drove the Chicago NASCAR Street Race course to see what it’s really like—and how long it takes to complete without race-day speed.

“NASCAR was interested in looking at Chicago as a location for a race,” Myers explained. “We came to the city in November of 2021 and we scanned every road around Grant Park there. Then we took that data back in house, and started mapping out what might be a good race course.

“In 2021, we did the Pro Invitational (virtual race on FOX), where we showed the Chicago Street Course to the world for the first time in the digital space. It wasn’t even a real race yet at that point. So, when we did that race on TV, it was well-received. The racing was well-received. That was the point where NASCAR and Chicago decided to make this a real race.”

That wasn’t the end of it, though. The first street race was held in July 2023, nearly two years later. Over that time in between, Myers and his team worked with NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy to nail down the perfect course layout.

“We worked very closely with Ben Kennedy, who had made site visits and had some ideas of sections of the track that he wanted to see there,” Myers said. “Over a couple of months, we iterated a number of different design ideas and showed them to Ben and we’d have drivers drive it. Ultimately, we settled on the track that’s currently being raced now.”

Even when they finally thought the track was perfect, Kennedy found one more change to make.

“We actually had it going the reverse direction, and then Ben was doing laps on iRacing and said ‘You know what? I think this is going to go better going the other direction.’ So, we switched the direction based on his feedback.”

Now, the Chicago Street Course is a 2.14-mile circuit with 12 turns — going in the clockwise direction around Grant Park.

“We’re very proud of our part in the sport and being able to do some of these changes.”

The third edition of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race will take place on Sunday, July 6.

A street race brings high speeds and tight turns to city streets that are closed off for racing.



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

All-Pro Auto Reconditioning to Serve as Primary Sponsor of Byron Through 2030

Hendrick Motorsports and All-Pro Auto Reconditioning, which serves over 250 auto dealers nationwide, have announced an expansion of their partnership, which will now include primary sponsorship of William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team through the 2030 season. Byron, 27, is excited to continue the partnership with All-Pro Auto Reconditioning […]

Published

on


Hendrick Motorsports and All-Pro Auto Reconditioning, which serves over 250 auto dealers nationwide, have announced an expansion of their partnership, which will now include primary sponsorship of William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team through the 2030 season.

Byron, 27, is excited to continue the partnership with All-Pro Auto Reconditioning with an expanded level of sponsorship.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished with All-Pro in such a short time,” Byron said. “They’re a great partner with a shared commitment to performance. Having them become a primary sponsor shows that we’re delivering results, and it means a lot to me and the whole No. 24 team. We’re looking to build on our momentum and put All-Pro up front for years to come.”

According to a press release from the race team, the company, which has served as an associate sponsorship partner of Byron since 2024, will adorn Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet in the Chicago Street Race on July 6 as well as the Southern 500 at Darlington on August 31. All-Pro Auto Reconditioning will expand its involvement with the No. 24 team in the coming seasons.

In 2025 and 2026, the company will serve as a two-race primary sponsorship partner; that presence will grow to four races in 2027, and six races annually from 2028 to 2030.

“From day one, partnering with Hendrick Motorsports has exceeded our expectations,” said Brett Boettcher, chief strategy officer for All-Pro Auto Reconditioning. “This expansion reflects our confidence in the relationship and what it delivers for our brand. Hendrick Motorsports embodies performance, precision and teamwork – the same values we bring to every customer we serve. As we grow nationally, aligning with William and the iconic No. 24 team will elevate our visibility, deepen customer relationships and attract top-tier talent to our company. We’re proud to take this next step and excited about the long-term impact it will have on our associates and our partners.”

For Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick, it’s just special to see a partner that doubles down due to their belief in the race team.

“It means a lot when a partner believes in what we’re doing and chooses to grow with us,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “The No. 24 team has competed at a high level, and William continues to elevate his role as a driver, a leader and a spokesperson. All-Pro is expanding the program because it supports business goals, strengthens their connection with customers and reflects the performance-driven culture they’ve developed. We’re proud of this long-term commitment and can’t wait to see what’s next.”

Through 17 races, Byron is the leader of the NASCAR Cup Series championship point standings, and he has nine races left to wrap up a regular season championship. Byron took a victory in the season-opening Daytona 500, the young driver’s second consecutive triumph in The Great American Race. Byron has accumulated 14 victories through his first 269 career NASCAR Cup Series starts.



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

NASCAR Wants to Race at Franklin Field in Philadelphia

News Plus, it turns out we’re not the only ones who dislike Center City Sips. Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee! NASCAR wants to hold a race at Franklin Field in Philadelphia (photo of Franklin Field via public domain) Check phillymag.com each […]

Published

on


News

Plus, it turns out we’re not the only ones who dislike Center City Sips.


NASCAR wants to hold a race at Franklin Field in Philadelphia

NASCAR wants to hold a race at Franklin Field in Philadelphia (photo of Franklin Field via public domain)

Check phillymag.com each morning Monday through Thursday for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking Philly Mag reporters, please direct it here. You can also use that form to send us reader mail. We love reader mail!

NASCAR Wants to Race at Franklin Field In Philadelphia

There are few things that get me less excited than NASCAR, cars just going around in circles over and over again. But I’m a firm believer in the democratic process and that this column can’t just be about me. And obviously NASCAR is a beloved “sport” to many. So here goes…

As part of an expansion plan, NASCAR is considering Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania for future races.

“The days of just building a rural track are over,” NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell told the Pocono Record. (Pocono Raceway is a major destination for NASCAR races; you just missed races there last weekend.) “But if we can build a track with some real estate development around it and partner with some people, we’re gonna look at major cities and bring the product to the fan base within the city as well.”

O’Donnell confirmed that Franklin Field is the location NASCAR is looking at in Philadelphia, saying, “It was one of the only places we could’ve put a race track inside.”

Franklin Field, which dates back to the late 19th century, is the oldest operating college football stadium in the country. The Eagles played there from 1958 until 1970, thereafter moving to Veterans Stadium.

There’s no timeline for when all of this NASCAR action might come to Philadelphia. So it sounds like you have plenty of times to learn your Kyle Larsons from your Denny Hamlins. (Yes, I googled this.)

The Amy Wax Watch

It’s been a while since we talked about Amy Wax, who is either a racist or a martyr for Free Speech, depending on whom you ask. Wax, who is serving a one-year suspensions from her University of Pennsylvania professorship over race-related comments she made, has been suing the university for punishing her, alleging that the school was racially discriminating against her and violating her First Amendment rights. She tried to get a judge to issue a preliminary injunction against Penn, but the judge just ruled against her, as the Daily Pennsylvanian reports.

The Mutter Museum Watch

It’s also been a while since we talked about the Mutter Museum, which has been struggling for years with its identity amid ethical controversies over keeping and displaying human remains. The New Yorker finally caught on to this mess, and does a deep dive in the new issue.

The Heat Wave Watch

If you were hoping that Wednesday might bring some relief from the heat, that’s not gonna happen. Though we’re not supposed to have a redo of Tuesday’s triple digits, we’re still looking at 96 degrees or so. The good news? We’re not supposed to see another day in the 90s through the weekend.

Headlines We Weren’t Expecting to See

“Alligator Named Ferdinand Recovered During Philly Eviction”

But How Do You Really Feel, Kae Lani?

Do you remember when famed New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells gave an infamously bad review to some Guy Fieri restaurant in Times Square? Well, I don’t think I’m understating it when I say that my esteemed colleague Kae Lani Palmisano just wrote what will become known as an infamously bad review of “the worst new bar in Philadelphia.” Everybody’s talking about it.

Speaking of Bad Bar Scenes…

Never been a fan of Center City Sips. It’s like amateur hour for happy hour. And it sounds like these three Center City bars aren’t big fans of it either, having pulled out due to all the “mayhem.”

By the Numbers

2: Shows still happening at World Cafe Live this week between Wednesday and Sunday. If that sounds like an anemic schedule to you, that’s because it is. Artists are refusing to perform there thanks to actions by the new leadership team.

0: Nonstop flights you can catch from Philadelphia to Doha (it’s in Qatar, in case you’re not up on your geography) now that American Airlines has suspended its service between the two cities amid rising tensions in the Middle East. But, hey, it’s 110 in Doha and 100 here, so you can almost get the Doha experience. Well, minus all the human rights abuses. Oh, well, actually…

15: Years that Rob McElhenney’s Philly bar Mac’s Tavern lasted before announcing that it was closing. The bar made the announcement on social media yesterday. Meanwhile, the 17th season of his show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia premieres in July.

Local Talent

If you’re wondering what’s new and fresh in the Philly music scene these days, look no further than KulfiGirls, which longtime Philly music scribe and current Philly Mag contributor Patrick Rapa describes as having “blazing riffs, venomous vocals and angular accents from a well-plucked veena,” an apt description if ever there was one. You can see them for free on Thursday night at Spruce Street Harbor Park. And you can listen to their first single, “Divinity”, right here.



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

NASCAR looks for new tournament to end schedule doldrums

LONG POND, Pa. — It’s time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road — a journey over city streets, concrete and bricks — to the final four and beyond. Totally awesome, baby? Forget all the upset specials in March. NASCAR will find out soon enough if […]

Published

on


LONG POND, Pa. — It’s time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road — a journey over city streets, concrete and bricks — to the final four and beyond.

Totally awesome, baby?

Forget all the upset specials in March.

NASCAR will find out soon enough if its attempt to snap out of a mid-summer malaise with its first in-season tournament is a success with drivers and fans as it strives to boost engagement and build buzz in the staid regular season.

The concept has already juiced enthusiasm in NASCAR to levels not seen since the halcyon days when Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough duked it out in the 1979 Daytona 500.

“To be really honest with you,” 2020 NASCAR champion Chase Elliott said, “I have not paid any attention to it.”

Maybe a look at the matchup will get NASCAR’s most popular driver pumped!

Elliott is seeded fifth against No. 28 seed Austin Dillon in the first round of the head-to-head showdown in the race-within-the-race set for this weekend at the track better known as Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Here’s a refresher for Elliott and any other sports fan who missed out on the specifics of NASCAR joining the in-season tournament party, much like attempts in the NBA, NHL, and, of course, throughout the world in soccer.

NASCAR is set to start the engines on a five-race, bracket-style tournament called the In-Season Challenge in the midst of the summer slate, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner.

The final 32-driver field was set by results of the last three races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. The drivers are paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Buoyed by a win at Michigan and a runner-up finish at Pocono, Denny Hamlin earned the top seed. He’ll square off — race off? — against No. 32 seed Ty Dillon. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe is the No. 2 seed and is pitted against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson.

Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Elliott fifth, among notable names.

The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at the street race in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four on the lone concrete track in the series at Dover and the final two over the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Challenge is part of NASCAR’s media rights deal that includes TNT, and the Atlanta-based cable network will broadcast all five races in the tournament, starting with the 400-miler in Atlanta.

Aside from a shrug from Elliott and a few others, drivers are intrigued by the idea of increasing the stakes in each race beyond a playoff berth, trophy and the winner’s purse.

“I love it. I think it’s great,” three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said. “I think it’s placed perfectly where it is in the season. This is kind of that moment where the newness is worn off. We’re into the rhythm, we’re racing every week. It’s starting to start a little bit of, who’s going to be in the playoffs, who’s not, the cutoff line all those types of things. But it’s not really the main story quite yet.”

Stories are what sell, of course, and the sizzle in Pocono during the weekend had little to do with which drivers or teams are the ones to beat for the 2025 championship. Rather, it was whether two pedestrian drivers were going to fight, the end of Amazon Prime’s run of wildly-popular telecasts and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s win in his first race as a crew chief.

“This really spices up the mid-part of the season,” Logano said.

So does placing a few bucks on No. 11 to win.

But as of Monday afternoon, most sports gambling sites did not offer odds on specific matchups headed into Atlanta. NASCAR is offering $1 million to a winning fan with a perfect bracket in its fantasy game.

There are some quirks to the bracket: Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup race in Mexico City and is not in the field while series points leader William Byron is only a No. 9 seed. The tournament boasts matchups in the first-round of past Cup champions (Kyle Busch-Brad Keselowski), former teammates (Briscoe-Gragson), and even best friends (Bubba Wallace-Daniel Suarez).

The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion who floated the idea of a mid-season tournament on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media “such a win for our sport and drivers.” He jokingly added, “I will collect my 1M royalty next season.”

Hamlin’s on deck and clearly a favorite to win it all, with three wins this year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the top seed. (And let’s not haggle about who gets credit in court.)

“I’m a sports guy, so I’m going to be engaged with it,” Hamlin said. “I’ll know who I will have to beat next week. I’ve told the team, we are going to try and do what we can. We are going to be up against it because we are going to tracks that aren’t very favorable to me. But we are going to try to do our best to beat that one car for the next four to five weeks.”

NASCAR will present the tournament winner at Indianapolis with a ring, jackets, trophy and — oh yeah, a million bucks.

That’s enough cash to get anyone’s attention — even Elliott’s.

“I don’t know what you get. You get anything,” Elliott asked.

“Oh, a million dollars to the winner? Then yeah, we want to win.”



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

A Tale of Two Tracks

It’s not just on the car; it’s in the cars.  Turner Motorsport uses the same LIQUI MOLY motor oils in their racecars as we can in our daily drivers. Thank you to LIQUI MOLY for supporting this column. Same but different? The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship (let’s […]

Published

on


It’s not just on the car; it’s in the cars.  Turner Motorsport uses the same LIQUI MOLY motor oils in their racecars as we can in our daily drivers. Thank you to LIQUI MOLY for supporting this column.

Same but different? The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship (let’s call them “Long Beach” and “Laguna Seca” going forward here) both have eleven turns and are both early stops along the thirteen event IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship season. And that’s about where the similarities end.

Laguna Seca is a full-time race track (and camp ground!) with plenty of run-off space.

After attending both races in the same month earlier this calendar year, I was amazed at how different (yet both awesome!) the events were considering there were, at least from a sportscar racing perspective, mostly the same drivers in the same cars for the same race teams. There isn’t a right or wrong, a better or worse. It’s similar to when your friend presents two cars and asks “which one would you want?” and the answer is a clear…“yes.”

Long Beach, with its temporary walls winding around existing landmarks, creates a narrow course without much room for error. (Justin Rothberg here had very few errors in a two-win weekend.)

Right off the bat, let’s look at attendance. Long Beach has been setting records in recent years and eclipsed 200,000 attendees this year. It might have to do with location, too. Laguna Seca doesn’t come close to that, but Long Beach’s track literally winds its way through city streets and includes both IMSA and IndyCar, among others.

The track in Long Beach is surrounded by fourteen packed grandstands and countless other places to catch the cars whizzing by.

To get to Laguna Seca, it takes specific effort and while you can get back to your hotel or home easily, lodging doesn’t loom over the track as it can in Long Beach. Yet for a unique twist at Laguna Seca, the race also encircles an active campground.

The tents on the surrounding hills remind attendees that Laguna Seca is an active campground.

Long Beach is an event that has racing.  Laguna Seca is a track you visit to watch racing. Long Beach has a central exhibit hall that does triple duty as a large vendor hall, an air-conditioned respite from the usual high temps, and the actual paddock for the GT America cars.

At Laguna Seca, you do have as many amenities and resources as you’ll need. And ease of access is relatively simple.

Laguna Seca has a few places to buy food.  Long Beach has few places where you can’t buy food. Long Beach wraps up its evenings first with the Super Drift Challenge and concerts well into the evening. Lagnua Seca usually goes quiet by 7:00pm, allowing the neighbors who have built their homes by the track some respite from the sounds of race cars.

Super Drift is incredibly popular as the sun sets Friday and Saturday evenings.

Both environments provide extraordinary access to the cars, teams, and drivers.  At both races, if you are in the paddock, look both ways or else you might get much closer to the cars than planned. BMW CCA local chapters at both tracks coordinate with the teams—usually Turner Motorsport, RLL, and Paul Miller Racing—for Meet and Greet events where the team owners, managers, drivers, and strategists share (some of) their secrets for and about the racing that weekend. You’re actually surrounding the racecar as the team scrambles to get it ready the forthcoming race, sometimes merely minutes following the gathering. If you seem too interested, they might hand you a tool and put you to work.

In addition to the IMSA racing, which includes GTP and GTD racing at both events, both weekends incorporate other racing groups or organizations. At Long Beach, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is sort of second fiddle (yet a large fiddle!) to the aforementioned Indy racing. There’s also an Historic Formula Exhibition, GT America races, Stadium Super Trucks (replete with ramps brought out onto the track mid day!), and Super Drift.

At Laguna Seca, in addition to IMSA’s Weathertech Sportscar Championship, you can watch IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge and Mustang Challenge, and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo.  Both events provide great visibility to more types of racing to the fans of the other types. But if that wasn’t enough to sway you, Laguna Seca’s event hosted BMW parade laps around the track on Saturday, too. Come for one race, leave loving more racing.

Sure, it might not have been pushing the limits, but a parade lap on race weekend at Laguna Seca seems to bring out plenty of smiles.

As for track and racing comparisons, the best folks to provide that input are the ones racing.  “Long Beach is a really short race. There’s not a lot of driving, but it’s really intense, lined with walls with zero room for error,” BMW Factory and Turner Motorsports driver Robby Foley says. “The surface is unique with some pavement and some other concrete areas, but it does have a lot of grip. Our environment is tough. There isn’t a lot of space in the paddock or the pits. But it’s a really special event. I look forward to it every year.  You feel the heritage and passion from everyone there. You can also tell it’s a party for the fans, right there on the water. It’s special to be a part of it.”

Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley pause (and maybe pose) during the Fan Walk at Long Beach during this year’s 50th Anniversary.

As special as Long Beach is to Foley, Laguna Seca has also captured a good part of his heart. “This is the first place I really drove,” Foley explains. “I did a racing school here when I was fourteen and have had a lot of success here with our Turner team. It’s also a beautiful place. I like the area in general. The track walk is incredible, giving us a chance to see some incredible views. TV does not do it all justice. It’s amazing to look at and a lot of tracks don’t have that surrounding beauty.

“There’s a lot of elevation change at Laguna Seca, especially compared to the completely flat Long Beach course,” he continues. “The Corkscrew is technical, but the rest of the course is not as much. You do have to be precise with where you place the car entering the Corkscrew; being off by a couple of feet at the top will really affect how you end at the bottom. Laguna is a little smoother with longer and definitely more open corners. At Long Beach, corners are more rushed but slower. There, they’re all second gear corners except the hairpin but most at Laguna Seca are third and fourth gear corners.”

Always nestled around the racecars, Will Turner and the Turner team host Meet and Greets at both Long Beach (seen here) and Laguna Seca.

Nothing ever wrong will Foley’s input, but we figured we’d get some input from the team principal Will Turner. His team has raced at Long Beach for more than ten years but he has personally raced—and won—at Laguna Seca. “There’s a very different feeling with these two tracks,” Turner says. “For me, you get a quality track at Laguna Seca and then amazing energy from fans at Long Beach. From a track perspective, the traditional course at Laguna Seca is more forgiving. Over the years, they have modified the track with gravel traps or at least room you need for run off. With Long Beach being a street course, there isn’t room for error. Long Beach at 100 minutes is a lot shorter. This usually means pit as soon as you can. At Laguna Seca, tire degradation has historically been the issue.”

Even while focusing on racing, it is difficult for the teams to not recognize the atmosphere at a race. “Long Beach seems to be all about the fans. They’re everywhere and we get motivated by their energy. The grandstands are full all around the track. With Laguna Seca, it’s almost like a secret. There isn’t really a centralization of fans at Laguna Seca. But, there is simply more room in the paddock for us and the fans up north. Fans can get closer to the cars and there is a little more flexibility in the schedule. The Meet and Greet events with the BMW CCA are great at both races. Those are a little smaller lately, especially at Laguna Seca, but we’re always excited to talk with members and fans.

“Between the two tracks, there couldn’t be any greater differences but both are so fantastic!” Turner summarizes.

 

 

 

Tags: Laguna Seca Long Beach race experiences





Link

Continue Reading

Most Viewed Posts

Trending