Tryon’s endurance road racing team finished just out of the money in a field of more than 60 cars during a rain-hampered ChumpCar World Series contest at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) on Saturday, March 30. After several first-place finishes during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, Blitzen Benz Racing placed fourth at Road Atlanta in February and fifth at Sebring International Raceway in October, races that also had more than 60 entries. “Baby Blitzen” consistently finishes among the top five cars in the Eastern Division – the most competitive region in the nation.
ChumpCar World Series sanctions sports car endurance road racing at the most prestigious courses in the U.S., Canada and Mexico for racecars designed and built on platforms originally valued at no more than $500. As the CCWS matures, entries are being attracted from the top professional and amateur ranks, including NASCAR, SCCA, NASA and GRAND-AM.
Builders include Riley Racing Technologies, Stuart-Haas Racing, Junior Johnson Racing and others. For example, in the VIR race on March 30, NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte and his son drove a race car entered by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department. The winning BMW team was sponsored by McDonald’s of North Carolina, with the purse donated to Ronald McDonald House. Blitzen Benz Racing is seeking local sponsors to support its continuing competitive participation.
“Baby Blitzen,” the only Mercedes Benz 190E in the series, consistently outperforms most of the predominant BMWs and Asian racecars, such as Nissan, Toyota and Honda, The Blitzen Benz Racing team said. Ned Gallaher of Gallaher’s Restorations built and prepares “Baby Blitzen.”
In addition to Gallaher, on Saturday the race car was driven by Warren Board, Peter Mayrhofer and Jim Wright of Tryon and Mark Thomas of Waynesboro, Va. Crew chief Rusty Tredinnick of Mills River, N.C. provided strategic planning and race management and Greg Pressley of Hendersonville, N.C. provided race communication and mechanical support.
Next on Blitzen Benz Racing’s schedule are a 14-hour endurance race at Daytona International Speedway on Memorial Day weekend and a 24-hour race at Virginia International Raceway on Aug. 11-12.
If you would like to experience road racing from the driver’s perspective, go to youtube.com, enter “Baby Blitzen” in the search window and click on “Chump Car Baby Blitzen VIR2” for a short video clip of part of Peter Mayrhofer’s two-hour Saturday afternoon stint at VIR.
– article submitted
by Warren Board