raceannouncerblog

One of my most enjoyable motorsports announcing jobs is doing the webcast for the Rolex Grand Am series. The series consists of two distinct divisions: Rolex Grand Am Series, featuring Daytona Prototypes (DP) and GT (Grand Touring, for production car-based entries) and the Koni Challenge Series, a series for production vehicles, also split into 2 classes: GS (Grand Sport) and ST (Street Tuner). (NOTE: for those who may remember the old Firestone Firehawk series or "Showroom Stock" series, the Koni Challenge is the Grand Am current equivalent).

Not only do I get to see and announce some great road racing, the job requires me to travel to places I might not otherwise would ever get to see. Plus, just as in any other form of motorsports, I have the opportunity to watch great driving performances. One would expect veteran drivers to put on a great show and most of the time, they do! However, it's always cool to be able to watch a young and/or new driver very few people have ever heard of put in a great performance.

This past weekend, the schedule featured the Koni Challenge and the Rolex GT cars at Lime Rock Park CT, located in the northwest corner of Connecticut, about 1 1/2 hours southeast of Albany NY. Each race was 2 1/2 hours long and all three were great races. However, one young driver in the Rolex GT Challenge took his driving reputation to the next level. REMEMBER THE NAME: DREW STAVELEY.

Before the Lime Rock race, I had seen Drew race before but nothing really stood out about him. Like so many other drivers, he started his interest in racing at a very young age--10. His family were SCCA road racers, who had earned many championships. When he turned 16, he began driving road racing cars such as a Mazda RX-7 and Mazda Miatas. He earned success quickly, as all his finishes were in the top 5 and 3 of those were podium or top 3 finishes!

Until a driver gets "noticed", he or she has to have a "real" job. Drew found his in racing as both a fabricator and a driving instructor for Toyota, Jaguar and a driving school. His "pro" career began just 2 years ago when he competed in the SCCA Pro Miata Series. Last year, he got 2 podium finishes in the newly-renamed MX-5 Cup. This year, he came to the attention of a new team in the Rolex Grand Am GT, Racers Edge Motorsports. They bought a brand new Pontiac GXP-R to race in the GT division, built by the lengendary Pratt & Miller shop (in case you think you've never heard of them, they built Chevrolet's Corvette road race machines that have won both the Rolex 24 at Daytona as well as the LeMans 24 hours, Sebring 12 hours and other prestigious road racing events.)  The Racers Edge team has competed well in this, their first year of competition in the Rolex Grand Am GT division.

But this past weekend, Drew Stavely turned in a stellar performance.  After qualifying the car 5th, (Grand Am rules stipulate that the qualifying driver must start the race), Drew drove superbly in his first stint, which lasted just over the halfway mark of the 2 1/2 hour race.  Even though the Lime Rock Park 1.53 mile circuit is notorious for being a tough place to pass, Drew took the #30 Racers Edge Pontiac GXP-R to the lead, passing veteran Grand Am drivers such as eventual winner Leighton Reese, Nick Ham, Spencer Pumpelly and others, just before pitting to hand the car over to his co-driver, Mark Pavan.  Pavan got into trouble not of his own doing and the team eventually finished the race in 5th place (incidentally, that's the second consecutive top 5 finish for Drew in the series--anyone noticing a trend here???).  But it was the WAY that Drew accomplished the feat that was the most impressive.  He was very smooth and very patient, making passes only when the opportunity was right.  That meant being aggressive only when necessary combined with having the maturity to wait for the best chance to get it done.  It was sheer enjoyment to be able to watch such a fantastic performance! 

It's always refreshing to see new talent emerge during race events of any kind.  I'll be talking a lot more about Drew Staveley in the future in Grand Am, if his performance at Lime Rock Park is any indication! 

Mike Paz, Motorsports Announcer