OVERALL WINNER: Rolex 24 at Daytona GTS WINNER: 24 Hours of Le Mans GTS CHAMPION MANUFACTURER: American Le Mans Series GTS CHAMPION TEAM: American Le

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1 OVERALL WINNER: Rolex 24 at Daytona GTS WINNER: 24 Hours of Le Mans GTS CHAMPION MANUFACTURER: American Le Mans Series GTS CHAMPION TEAM: American Le Mans Series

2 WINNERS & CHAMPIONS 2001 CONTENTS What a Year it Was! 1 Highest Standards Pratt & Miller s Tradition of Excellence 2 Our New Home 6 Living the Dream Two Thousand and Won! 8 Mega Start The Rolex 24 at Daytona 12 Mission Accomplished The 24 Hours of Le Mans 24 Road To The Championship The American Le Mans Series 37 Cover Stories Corvette Racing Makes Big News 54 Giving Something Back Pratt & Miller Charitable Involvement 55 What Champions Are Made Of Corvette Racing Drivers, GM / Corvette Racing Championship Team, Pratt & Miller / Corvette Racing Championship Team, We Are Family 64 We Remember Dale Earnhardt 68 WHAT A YEAR IT WAS! In last year s book, we documented Daytona 500. Today, we are still at a loss our Return to Victory Lane. In 2001, we for words to describe our emotions. We not only returned to victory lane, but were fortunate to cross paths with the were fortunate enough to do so many Earnhardt family, but at the cost of bearing a deep sense of loss. Dale, his wife, times the overall win at Daytona the historic 1 2 finish at Le Mans five family and the entire DEI organization ALMS summer sprint race victories and are Winners and Champions. completing the season with our repeat Fortunately, in racing we are able to pick win at Petite Le Mans. Therefore, we felt up the pieces and be distracted from such Winners and Champions was an appropriate tragedies. We head back to the track and title for our chronicle of this year s travels. focus on the next challenge. And what a However, it is important to note that challenge that was! Le Mans the world s this title was chosen not only because we most prestigious road racing event our won races and were crowned champions. Super Bowl. To run first and second in just More importantly, it was chosen to our second year in France is truly a sign of acknowledge the way in which the entire Winners and Champions. Before the race, we Pratt & Miller team acted, responded and knew our team was special; now the entire represented themselves throughout the racing world knows. year. We proudly say that all of you are After enjoying a summer full of visits to truly Winners and Champions. the winner s circle, we watched the horrific And what a year it was! We would be events of September 11. Once again we hard pressed to reflect on any given 12- were at loss to articulate our emotions, but month period in which, as a group, we we pulled together for a very special weekend in early October. On a playing field experienced the emotional peaks and valleys that we had to navigate in stacked against us, the 4 car prevailed for a It started with the opportunity of a lifetime the privilege of welcoming Dale Petite Le Mans. And at the season-ending pole position and rallied for the victory at Earnhardt and Dale Jr. to our team at ALMS awards banquet, the racing community applauded the Pratt & Miller team Daytona then an emotional overall victory after the heartbreaking secondplace finish in 2000 only to watch We enjoyed this special year with as Winners and Champions. in disbelief two weeks later at the end continued support from General Motors, GM Racing and the Corvette brand. We welcomed Steve Shannon to the team and thank him for his confidence in P&M. To Dave Hill, Herb Fishel, Joe Negri, Gary Claudio, Doug Fehan and John Rice, special thanks for giving us the opportunity to fulfill your expectations and join together in victory circle. We are proud to have all the folks from GM as supporters of the P&M team. You have provided the means for us to be Winners and Champions. Our heart-felt appreciation to all our drivers, with special thanks to Chris Kneifel for his efforts from the start of the Corvette program. We welcomed Johnny O. not only for his driving skills but for just being who he is. And special thanks to Ron, Andy, Kelly, Franck and Scott. You guys went through a lot this year all of you are Winners and Champions. Thanks to our all of our business partners, especially to the folks at Katech and Goodyear together we stand as Winners and Champions. Finally, special thanks to the remarkable efforts of the employees of Pratt & Miller. We feel that you guys are the real Winners and Champions. This book is dedicated to you. JIM MILLER AND GARY PRATT Photos courtesy of Goodyear, General Motors, Peter Brock, John Brooks, David Noels, Robin Pratt, Richard Prince, Rene Tanner. Printed with permission. Winners & Champions Copyright 2001 Pratt & Miller Engineering and Fabrication All rights reserved William K Smith Drive, New Hudson, MI Phone: Fax:

3 HIGHEST STANDARDS PRATT & MILLER: A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN A COMPETITIVE WORLD 2 It s a dynamic combination: one successful businessman and one highly respected designer and fabricator. When Jim Miller and Gary Pratt combined forces in Pratt & Miller Engineering and Fabrication, Inc., they brought to the auto industry a partnership that has built a tradition of excellence in a field where high standards are just the price of admission. Since the company was formed in 1989, Pratt & Miller has provided innovative engineering solutions to major automotive manufacturers a field in which Gary Pratt has excelled since Chicago businessman Jim Miller adds the sound acumen that keeps the company on a course of growth and continuous improvement. Pratt & Miller is located near the epicenter of American auto manufacturing, in New Hudson, Michigan, just outside of Detroit. The company s specialty is the design and construction of prototype vehicles from race cars to models for wind tunnel studies and it also has limitedproduction manufacturing capabilities. In addition, Pratt & Miller designs and fabricates specialized parts using its extensive networked CAD system and computer-aided milling and turning equipment. These parts can be made of the most exotic materials available today, including carbon-fiber composites, titanium and alloys of aluminum. The strength of the organization comes from its dedicated management and employees, who take pride in their skills and in providing quality craftsmanship and on-time customer delivery. One of Pratt & Miller s first contracts was with Chevrolet for the design and construction of a Grand Touring Prototype race car. For this project, Pratt & Miller transformed a traditional fabrication facility into a world-class prototype manufacturing site in less than six months. The resulting high-tech, all-composite RM-1 chassis raised the standard for American 3

4 HIGHEST STANDARDS CONTINUED 4 engineering excellence. It competed in the International Motor Sports Association series, and compiled an impressive racing record against teams from global manufacturers such as Nissan, Toyota, Porsche, Mazda and Jaguar. Other projects included a championship -winning Sports 2000 race car, an IMSA Oldsmobile Aurora, as well as Camaro and Corvette race cars for the SCCA Trans-Am series. One of Pratt & Miller s most exciting projects is the current factory Chevrolet Corvette C5-R race car, designed and built in partnership with GM Motorsports. The team s remarkably successful 2001 season has elevated the Pratt & Miller/GM Motorsports organization to the pinnacle of international endurance racing. Eight victories in 10 races during 2001 include an overall win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and a 1-2 finish in GTS class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world s most prestigious long-distance race. Six victories in the American Le Mans Series also earned Corvette Racing manufacturer and team championships to highlight the season s accomplishments. This success comes from a competitive, driven-to-win attitude that is shared by everyone who works at Pratt & Miller. The company s staff includes key personnel who have served as crew chiefs, race engineers, team managers and team owners at the highest levels of motor racing. This experience, and the consequent can-do, results-oriented mentality, distinguishes Pratt & Miller s determination to provide nothing short of excellence in the products and services for its customers. 5

5 OUR NEW HOME IN 2002 WHERE THE WINNING TRADITION CONTINUES 6 7

6 LIVING THE DREAM TWO THOUSAND AND WON! by GARY YOUNG mechanic, 3 car It was at our victory lunch after winning the Daytona 24-hour race where I first heard Ron Fellows use the term Living the Dream. For everyone here at Pratt and Miller, this year has truly been a dream, starting with our overall victory at Daytona. After coming so close the year before, it was almost unbelievable to come away with the overall win this time real tribute to the dedication, preparation and determination of everyone here! Having the Earnhardts on the team made it even more special. Just meeting them and working with them was an honor, considering the tragic event that was to follow in the next two weeks. But that is another story in our year to remember. So yes, Daytona seems like a dream now: the flawless performance by car, crew and drivers; the rain; the Earnhardts; the overall victory; first and second in class! It doesn t get much better than that. Or does it? Then it was off to Texas for a repeat of our first victory from the year before. Thankfully, it was earlier in the season instead of in the middle of summer heat like the year before. But the results were the same, as was the awesome Texas barbecue put on by Bob McGraw and the people at AER. They are a wonderful group, and it was great to be able to thank them for their Texas hospitality with a repeat victory! Next was lovely Sebring, Florida. What can I say, Sebring is Sebring. Sometimes that single race seems like a whole season! It s always very grueling, but we came away with a second and third, and we did make progress from the year before. My favorite trip, or two, is the 24 Heures du Mans. What a spectacular event! It truly is the most prestigious road race in the world. Our second journey to the 24-hour spectacle showed that we learned a lot from our first year there. I remember sitting in front of the car in the garage, ready to go while all the other teams were still working, getting ready for night practice before the race. Even the officials walking by commented on how calm and prepared we all were. We were determined, no matter what, to do our best to put on another flawless performance. We had to rebody the whole car after a late-night mishap in practice, but the next day we heard someone on one of the other teams remark, That isn t going to slow those guys down. And they were right! The day before the race there was a strange but good feeling in the air, along with a few rain clouds here and there. We all gathered around as Gary Claudio read a letter from Teresa Earnhardt. We knew Dale wanted to do this race with us, and as Teresa said, he was there with us, cheering us on, just like at Daytona. And as we all tried to hold back tears, the clouds opened up and the rain poured down, just as if we were back at Daytona with Dale. After we all gathered our composure and I thought about it, I told Doug Fehan it felt like the downpour was an omen that someone was watching out for us, and that we were going to win this thing. Needless to say, it rained just about the whole race, like Daytona. With another flawless performance by our car, crew and awesome drivers we drove away with a stunning one-two finish in GTS by Corvette Racing. Every one of us couldn t have been more proud! Yes, we were living the dream. With such a fantastic start to the season, it s hard to describe the feeling of accomplishment we had going into the next part of the American Le Mans Series schedule. Sears Point was our fourth win in five races, followed by a mad dash back to Michigan and out to Portland for another victory. Next was Mosport and the Ron Fellows hometown show! The Canadian fans love Ron and it was a pleasure to deliver a win for them. At Mid-Ohio the next weekend it was family day for everyone at Pratt & Miller. We provided an especially fun day for all our family and friends by delivering another win for them. Our next stop was back out in California at my hometown track, Laguna Seca, where we finished an acceptable second and third in class. Then we traveled back across the country to Road Atlanta for the season finale. We ended the season with an awesome win by the 4 car, taking the Petite Le Mans GTS victory for the second year in a row! So there it is Living the Dream, as Ron put it! We won eight of the ten races we entered this year, including Daytona overall and The 24 Hours of Le Mans, and to win the Team Championship, Manufacturers Championship and more is truly a dream. I am so proud to have been part of it, along with everyone that made it possible. We will all be there again next year to continue our dreams, for what is life without them! 8 9

7 AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND AUGUST 5, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 1st, Ron Fellows, mph 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, mph GTS RACE: 1st, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Corvette C5-R #3, 122 laps, mph disqualified (underweight), Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Corvette C5-R #4, 122 laps AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES X-FACTOR GRAND PRIX AT SEARS POINT JULY 22, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 2nd, Ron Fellows, mph 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, mph GTS RACE: 1st, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Corvette C5-R #3, 97 laps, mph 2nd, Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Corvette C5-R #4, 97 laps AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES GRAND PRIX AT MID-OHIO AUGUST 25, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 2nd, Ron Fellows, mph 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, mph GTS RACE: 1st, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Corvette C5-R #3, 109 laps, mph 2nd, Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Corvette C5-R #4, 109 laps AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES GT3 GRAND PRIX AT MOSPORT PARK AUGUST 19, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 2nd, Andy Pilgrim, mph 5th, Ron Fellows, mph GTS RACE: 1st, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Corvette C5-R #3, 109 laps, mph 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Corvette C5-R #4, 107 laps AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES PETITE LE MANS AT ROAD ATLANTA OCTOBER 6, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 1st, Andy Pilgrim, mph 9th, Ron Fellows, mph GTS RACE: 1st, Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Corvette C5-R #4, 362 laps, mph disqualified, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Corvette C5-R #3, 2 laps 24 HOURS OF LE MANS JUNE 16-17, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 2nd, Ron Fellows, mph 4th, Andy Pilgrim, GTS RACE: 1st (8th overall), Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Scott Pruett, Corvette C5-R #63 2nd, (14th overall), Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Franck Freon, Corvette C5-R #64 AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIPS AT LAGUNA SECA September 9, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 2nd, Ron Fellows, mph 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, mph GTS RACE: 2nd, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Corvette C5-R #3, 111 laps 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Corvette C5-R #4, 111 laps AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES LEATHER CENTER GRAND PRIX OF TEXAS MARCH 4, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 1st, Ron Fellows, mph 2nd, Andy Pilgrim, mph GTS RACE: 1st, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Corvette C5-R #3, 108 laps, mph dnf (crash), Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Corvette C5-R #4, 61 laps AMERICAN AMERICAN LE LE MANS MANS SERIES SERIES SUPERFLO 12 HOURS OF SEBRING MARCH 17, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 2nd, Ron Fellows, mph 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, mph GTS RACE: 2nd, Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Franck Freon, Corvette C5-R #4, 331 laps 3rd, Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Chris Kneifel, Corvette C5-R #3, 322 laps ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA FEBRUARY 3-4, 2001 GTS QUALIFYING: 2nd, Ron Fellows, mph 3rd, Andy Pilgrim, mph GTS RACE: 1st (1st overall), Ron Fellows, Johnny O Connell, Franck Freon, Chris Kneifel, Corvette C5-R #2 2nd (4th overall), Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Corvette C5-R #

8 ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA FEBRUARY 3-4, 2001 MEGA START SPECTACULAR BONUS FOR CORVETTE RACING IN ROLEX 24 Corvette Racing s 2001 season opened with a mega-successful Rolex 24 at Daytona. The team was gunning for a one-two finish in the GTS class, but got the spectacular bonus of the overall victory. The number-2 GM Goodwrench Corvette driven by Ron Fellows, Chris Kneifel, Johnny O Connell and Franck Freon finished first overall, while teammates Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. piloted the number-3 GM Goodwrench Corvette to second in class and fourth in the overall order. They did it in decidedly unfavorable weather conditions, with rain on and off throughout the event. I told the guys before we went to Daytona that I wouldn t mind if it rained because we race well in the rain, said Gary Pratt, team manager. Well, we got our wish, and then some. But I was right; we raced very well in the rain. Everybody did a superb job the drivers, crews everyone on the team

9 14 MEGA START CONTINUED Qualifying was conducted under the Grand-Am series wet weather rules, which meant that in both sessions all the cars were on the track at once for 45 minutes. In the first session on Thursday, only the front row of the grid was established, which made it primarily a practice session for the GTS cars. Even so, the Corvettes gave hints of their capabilities, with Pilgrim in the number-3 car clocking the fourth fastest time overall, and first in GTS, with Fellows right behind in fifth overall and second in class. Friday s final qualifying was in the same conditions, with 80 cars all on the track at once, and the track drying out as the session progressed. That made it pretty much of a crap-shoot for getting a good lap, said Fellows. You had to try and get a clean lap no traffic in the way when the tires were at their optimum. That was tough; you needed some luck and we never got it, but Scotty [Maxwell] did in the Porsche. The Bytzek Motorsport Porsche GT1 took the top starting spot in GTS, and 12th overall, with a time of 1: ( mph), while Fellows qualified the number- 2 Corvette second, and 14th overall at 1: ( mph). Andy Pilgrim lined up third in GTS and 19th overall with a time of 1: ( mph). QUALIFYING: A crap-shoot for getting a good lap. RON F ELLOWS 15

10 MEGA START CONTINUED The track was dry for the 1:00 p.m. Saturday start, but that lasted less than two hours. From then on, we were on rain tires or intermediates the whole race, noted Pratt. Under those conditions, the drivers concentration has to be so much higher they have to watch every little thing really carefully. We had a spotter for the 3 car who really helped them out; the 2 car didn t have a spotter, but we had Steve Cole and Doug Louth concentrating on them. Doug kept an eye on the leader and made the right calls on their pit stops every time. They probably gained at least a couple of laps that way. In the second hour, the number-2 Corvette took over the GTS lead and was well into the top 10 overall. From then on, we just slowly kept building our lead, said Fellows. Our pit stops helped a lot, for both cars. We had worked hard on cutting down our driver-change times, and the result was we were making about the fastest stops of anybody on pit lane. Over 24 hours that makes a huge difference. Those Goodyear rain tires made a big difference, too. Those were some treacherous conditions, and the tires were just fantastic. The whole team performed perfectly Johnny, Chris, Franck nobody put so much as a scratch on the car the whole time, and that s amazing in such terrible conditions. Those were some treacherous conditions, and the tires were just fantastic. RON F ELLOWS 16 17

11 MEGA START CONTINUED By 9 p.m. the number-2 car was leading GTS and up to fourth overall, while the number-3 Corvette was running third in class and seventh overall. Everything was fine until just after midnight, said Frank Resciniti, crew chief on the number-3 Corvette. Dale Jr. came in and said the transmission was gone. We replaced the transmission in about 15 minutes, but it turned out it was an axle shaft that had broken. All Dale s racing experience has been in cars with solid rear axles, so it felt like the transmission to him. The fact is, the only reason this happened at all was because a supplier let us down. We ordered new half-shafts in plenty of time, but they didn t arrive until we were literally pushing the car onto the grid. So we started the race on used units and they didn t last. That probably cost us a one-two finish overall. But I m proud of our drivers and crew. We took the cards we were dealt and played them the best way possible. And really, working through the problems we had will make us that much better the next time. I have to say, Resciniti continued, it was a pleasure working with our drivers. Andy and Kelly were quick and reliable, and the Earnhardts were great. Dale Jr. is an amazing natural talent. He had no experience in the rain, but once he got into it he was fine. So was his father; he got rained on hard, and he was quick, smooth and kept turning in these amazingly consistent lap times. The only complaint he had was that I wasn t talking to him enough on the radio. So I asked him what he wanted me to talk about. He said, doesn t matter tell me about your family, or fishing, anything it gets lonely out there. We joked around a lot, and talking to Dale Sr. on the radio was one of the best times I ve ever had in racing. Dale said, Tell me about your family, or fishing, anything it gets lonely out there. FRANK R ESCINITI 18 19

12 MEGA START CONTINUED The number-2 Corvette team did have a couple of anxious moments in their run to the victory. In the middle of the night Ron radioed in that the brake pedal had gone way down, said Bill DeLong, crew chief. He came in and we found a wheel nut that had cracked and the wheel had come loose. But we got it fixed without losing much time. Then, about 6 in the morning, the engine started cutting out when Johnny was driving. It had been raining really hard, and there was a lot of water in the car on the floor. It was shorting out a sensor lead. So we drilled holes in the floor to help drain the water, and moved the wire farther up out of the way, and that fixed the problem. All the crew guys did a terrific job, said Pratt. They re really good at planning for all the what-ifs that can happen in a race like that, and the fact that they ve worked together for a long time makes them a much stronger team. It s a big advantage for us. There were about four hours to go when the leading SRP car dropped out, and an overall victory became a real possibility. Those were the longest four hours I ve ever been through, said Pratt, who was only able to relax a little with about 20 minutes to go, when his number-2 car had gained an insurmountable lead. It was a concern when Ron reported the transmission warning light coming on, but we were able to play it safe because nobody could catch us. Fellows waited in the pits until the last couple of laps, then completed the race with Pilgrim in the team car alongside. Before my last stint I had just wakened from a short sleep and I saw on the TV monitor that the leading car had dropped out, Fellows remembers. I felt bad for the Dyson team but all of a sudden I got goose-bumps when I realized, we could win this thing overall. It really happened and I m glad we didn t have to do it sitting in pit lane. Winning the 24 Hours of Daytona overall is an awesome accomplishment. It s great for the team and for GM and Corvette Racing. Those were the longest four hours I ve ever been through 20 GARY P RATT 21

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14 24 HOURS OF LE MANS JUNE 16-17, 2001 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED CORVETTE RACING SCORES 1-2 FINISH IN TOUGHEST LE MANS EVER Twenty-three-and-a-half hours of the race had played out and Ron Fellows was cruising. All he had to do was cross the finish line when the 24 hours were up and Corvette Racing would win a GTS victory in the world s most prestigious endurance race. This would be a mission accomplished that the team had been working toward for more than three years. In that last half-hour we were just driving around at not much faster than pacecar speed, Fellows said. I got thinking about our very first test with the Corvette at Sebring in There were about six of us, all Pratt & Miller team people. We had one pickup truck, a 35-foot trailer, and one tool box. Now we re here with this huge armada of people and equipment, and I thought, we sure have come a long way. It was a long way in both distance and effort, and the final days leading up to the triumph were particularly difficult. Although the team had a comfortable margin at the end, it had been anything but an easy victory

15 We had to replace just about every body panel on the car, but it could have been a lot worse. GARY P RATT 26 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED CONTINUED This was very rewarding but also very tough, said Gary Pratt, team manager. From the time we first were on the track Wednesday evening until the race ended at four Sunday afternoon, there was one unexpected thing after another we had to deal with. But we were well prepared and the whole team did just a great job getting through it all. We also had a little bit of good luck on a couple of occasions, and that helped, too. The first unexpected setback came in the first session Wednesday evening. Fellows cut a rear tire and crashed heavily in the second chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Ron emerged unscathed, but the car was a mess. According to the data he went off at about 170 miles an hour, said Pratt. We had to replace just about every body panel on the car, but it could have been a lot worse. It turned out to be only body damage. After the Wednesday sessions, the two Corvette C5-Rs were within striking distance of the 3:54-plus qualifying time set by Oliver Gavin in the Saleen S7R. But the next day Gavin cut a full two seconds off of that time. When he set the 3:52 lap, we started working on race setup, Pratt said. They had other issues to worry about, too. The 63 car was having a fuel starvation problem. It would be fine for four or five laps, then the pressure would drop off. We had to completely rewire the pump, Pratt explained, which was added to all the race-preparation work we had to do on Friday. That work included replacing virtually the entire drivetrain, as well as the suspension uprights on both cars. 27

16 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED CONTINUED When it came time for the 9 a.m. warm-up session on Saturday, both cars were ready and in prime condition. But the first headache wasn t long in coming. The 64 car left the pits when the session started, but it didn t get any farther than the Dunlop bridge before it lost oil pressure, Pratt said. It had to be towed back, and we discovered that the oil pump belt had come off. That hadn t happened in three years. This was the first of a bunch of stupid stuff that happened to our car, said Andy Pilgrim. We had things break that never break, so the race was a double challenge for us. It seemed like we were always trying to come back from something. The last thing the 64 car s crew needed was the extra effort of changing an engine as a preliminary to being at their posts and working for the next 24 hours. But it was done with all the meticulous care that s vital in racing, and at four o clock the 63 and 64 cars were rolling in their grid positions. The track was damp and the skies were threatening when the race started. Nevertheless, most cars started on slick tires. One exception was the 63 Corvette C5-R, which was on intermediates. We took a look at the sky and decided that starting on intermediates would be a fairly low-risk option, Fellows said. If the track continued drying up we would lose some time squirming around on the intermediates, but overall it wouldn t cost us all that much. About a half-hour into the race, that call turned into one of the biggest breaks they got in the whole 24 hours. They called me on the radio and warned me about rain, recalled Fellows. It started raining lightly, but then I came out of Arnage and it was like I drove into a wall of water. There were cars spinning in front of me, behind me and beside me. Fellows made it through unscathed, and the intermediate tires not only helped him get through the melee, they also helped him cover the distance to the pits in short order to get full rain tires. Andy Pilgrim also made it through in the 64 car, but with some body damage to a front fender from debris. All of a sudden we were up in the top 15 overall, remarked Fellows. That cloudburst took out a lot of cars. The race was a double challenge for us. It seemed like we were always trying to come back from something. ANDY P ILGRIM 28 29

17 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED CONTINUED It rained on and off for the rest of the 24 hours and the two Corvettes alternated between protecting their lead and working to overcome sudden misfortune. The first incident happened at about the five-hour mark, when Johnny O Connell reported a big miss in the 63 car s engine. He also said he smelled something like a wire burning, said Pratt. But just as he was coming into the pits the miss went away. So we did a regular service, the burning smell disappeared, and there was no more problem.. It must have been a wire for the engine control system for a function we don t use, and when the wire burned through it was okay again. The 63 car s last incident of the race could have been disastrous. It was about 4 a.m. and I had just taken over from Scott Pruett, Fellows said. I had just about completed my out lap when I hit a puddle in the Ford chicane and spun into a gravel trap. The car was stuck and I thought the race was over, but almost immediately some corner workers pulled me out and away I went into the pits. We cleaned a lot of gravel out of that car, Pratt said. It was everywhere, but there was no serious damage. The conditions were treacherous, Fellows commented, but it was my fault. I should have been more careful. The car was stuck and I thought the race was over RON F ELLOWS 30 31

18 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED CONTINUED After working back to the class lead by hour four, the 64 car s first problem was losing the drive belt for the transmission and differential oil pump. That s another thing that never goes wrong, said Pratt, but we do keep a spare secured right along side it because it s impossible to change without removing the transmission. So we put the spare one on and it was fine for four or five hours, but then it came off too. We have no idea why. At that point we had to change the transmission, which set us back quite a bit. That was the low point of the race for us, said Pilgrim. We d been doing great, and all of a sudden we lost two or three places and a bunch of laps. The last of the 64 car s mechanical problems came in the form of a dead starter motor, and replacing it dropped them back farther still. At that point all we could do was run a quick but steady pace and let the race come back to us, said Pratt. We did catch a couple of lucky breaks on pit stops, when it started to rain just when we were coming in to change tires. That helped a lot. Shortly after noon on Sunday, the strategy paid off and the Corvettes were once again running one-two in class. Not long after that, problems encountered by the closest Saleen had set it back far enough to give the two Corvettes an insurmountable lead. However, the rules at Le Mans require a car to be running at then end to be listed as a finisher. For that reason, Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing program manager for GM Motorsports, decided to call the cars into the pits and wait, letting them return to the track for the final half-hour or so. We did catch a couple of lucky breaks on pit stops That helped a lot. GARY P RATT 32 33

19 You never knew from one corner to the next what the conditions would be. That made it incredibly difficult mentally. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED CONTINUED ANDY P ILGRIM Veterans at the track, including Jacky Ickx, said this race had the worst conditions ever in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I ran a total of three laps on slick tires, said Fellows. About 7:30 Sunday morning I went out on slicks, but three laps later it was raining again, and that was it. The rain tires Goodyear developed for us were a saving grace. They were our ace in the hole for wet conditions. This was the most difficult race I ve ever run, said Pilgrim. At the end I wasn t physically tired but I was mentally exhausted. For the whole race it varied from light rain to a monsoon. Steady rain like we had at Daytona is relatively easy to deal with. Here, you never knew from one corner to the next what the conditions would be. That made it incredibly difficult mentally. Fellows agreed. We thought Daytona was a tough race, but this was 10 times worse, he said. Nothing was ever a given and you could never relax, even going in a straight line. Everybody did a great job under extremely difficult conditions, Fellows added. I told the guys that the best team would win this race, not the fastest car. And that proved to be the case

20 AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES MARCH 4-OCTOBER 6, 2001 ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP Corvette Racing had several key objectives in the 2001 season. Two major ones were winning the 24-hour races at Daytona and Le Mans. Another was winning races and championships in the eight-race American Le Mans Series. In the ALMS there were titles for manufacturers, teams and drivers up for grabs, but it wasn t going to be easy. There was formidable competition on the horizon, in the form of a new, mid-engine race car called the Saleen S7R. ROUND 1 LEATHER CENTER GRAND PRIX OF TEXAS TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY MARCH 4, 2001 There s No Such Thing as an Easy Win On paper, the ALMS 2001 opener looked relatively easy for Corvette Racing. The Saleen wasn t on the scene yet, and there was a fairly small field for the two-hour, 45- minute race. So the primary competition for the two GM Goodwrench Corvettes seemed to be each other. The only team orders were to race cleanly and may the best one win. With the Daytona triumph still fresh in people s minds, another onetwo finish in GTS was the goal. It didn t work out quite that way. Corvette Racing got its second win of 2001 all right, but not without some drama and improbable racing luck good and bad. At the end, the number-3 GM Goodwrench Corvette driven by Ron Fellows and Johnny O Connell was parked in victory circle, while the number-4 car, piloted by Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins, was being loaded onto its transporter looking very second hand. Race day was cool, dry and sunny ideal conditions when Johnny O Connell started the 3 car and Andy Pilgrim took the first stint in Corvette number-4. Everything went according to plan for the first 25 minutes. Then, right in front of the pits, O Connell suddenly dropped off the pace when a rear tire deflated. Fortunately it didn t come apart right away, so Johnny had no trouble keeping control, said Bill DeLong, crew chief for the number-3 Corvette. But it couldn t have happened at a worse place on the track. He had to do most of a lap very slowly. O Connell ended up almost two laps down to Pilgrim, until Andy made his own pit stop, under green, and handed over to Kelly Collins. That put Johnny back on the same lap, but almost a full lap behind

21 ROUND 1 LEATHER CENTER GRAND PRIX OF TEXAS CONTINUED The big break for O Connell came about 10 minutes later in the form of a full-course yellow. He was just ahead of the overall race leader on the track, so was able to recover most of a lap in the ensuing caution period. He also made a pit stop and Fellows took over. With fresher tires, Fellows was able to take the lead, and from then on had a fairly uneventful race. Unfortunately, Collins did not. All of a sudden there was this violent thumping from the right rear and it just turned up into the wall, said Collins, describing his sudden tire deflation. Up to then, the car felt really good. It wasn t as fast as our other car through the turns, but I had settled into a rhythm and was going great. Then I was slamming into the wall and sliding backwards into the infield. Just like that. Fellows cruised on to a two-lap margin of victory over a Dodge Viper GTS-R driven by Erik Messley and Terry Borcheller. Back in Wixom, the team s big challenge was to repair the number-4 Corvette in time for the Superflo 12 Hours of Sebring less than two weeks later. It took a lot of man hours but we got it ready, said Frank Resciniti, crew chief for the number-4 Corvette. The car was badly torn up, but the front absorbed a lot of energy. We use the factory Corvette frame rails, which are designed to accordion in a frontal impact. Kelly was sore the next day, but he was ready to go at Sebring, and so was the car. ROUND 2 SUPERFLO 12 HOURS OF SEBRING, SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY MARCH 17, 2001 One Tough Old Track The venerable old race track in Sebring, Florida, is an airport circuit built on a World War II training field. They ve been running annual 12-hour races there for almost 50 years, and every year the world s best sports cars get a brutal 12- hour workout. Going into this year s event, the Corvette Racing Team C5-Rs had never That was a long week at Sebring, all jammed into 12 hours, said Gary Pratt, team manager. The [GTS-winning] Saleen S7R could run faster than we could on the track, but we had quicker pit stops. We probably could have won with a clean race, but that didn t happen. Even so, the number-4 Corvette, driven by Pilgrim, Collins and Franck Freon, was in a close battle with the Saleen all the way. They finished first and second in GTS, sixth and seventh overall, with the Corvette a little over a minute behind. managed to get into the top three in class. One way or another, the old track had always managed to beat them. This year, both cars finished in the top three of GTS, but a win eluded them once again. RESURRECTING THE 4 CAR by Frank Resciniti The 4 car was a steaming heap in a mud puddle after its close encounter with the Texas Motor Speedway wall. From the firewall forward, only the left-side main frame rail remained on the car, and we had nine days to get her back together for Sebring. The transporter drivers, Rich Eldred and Randy Hughes, drove all night to get the car back to Wixom by Monday morning. Ross Jeffery and Ray Gongla came in Monday afternoon and stripped the wrecked parts off the chassis. Tuesday we finished disassembling the car and moved it over to one of the chassis plates. We transplanted a spare Corvette frame rail onto the right-front, then new pickup points, motor mounts and rail connectors had to be fabricated and welded into place all done by Bill DeLong, Mark Salice and our new guy, Vinnie Carrivino. The frame was finished Wednesday night and painted about 1 a.m. Meanwhile, the 4 car s crew was preparing parts for reassembly. Trust me, these weren t eight-hour days! On Thursday, Friday and Saturday we rebuilt the car new suspension, engine, cooling system, brakes, transmission, bodywork, and all the normal race-prep stuff plus an alignment at the end! The bulk of this work was done by Ross, Ray, Randy, Mike Tanner, Greg Hiatt and me the regular 4-car crew. The plan was to be done by Sunday and test in Sebring on Tuesday. But we were able to load the car at 6 p.m. Saturday, which gave the truck drivers time to get there without killing themselves. We wanted to run a few laps in Tuesday s 2:45 p.m. practice session, just to make sure everything was working OK. In fact, we ran 38 laps and didn t have a single problem. Our times were a couple of tenths off the 3-car s, second-fastest of the day! It was a proud moment after an above-and-beyond effort by the whole crew and team

22 ROUND 2 SUPERFLO 12 HOURS OF SEBRING, CONTINUED We didn t have any big problems, said Pilgrim, and we were trading the lead back and forth through most of the race. We had to make an extra stop because we sucked up a plastic garbage bag that blocked the air intake. Then later on we got nailed with a stop-and-go penalty for passing under a local yellow. Just those two incidents could have made the difference. The number-3 Corvette, driven by Fellows, O Connell and Chris Kneifel, then a broken right-side door latch added time to every pit stop. Another delay was caused when a broken connector in the ignition wiring had to be replaced. It was just a series of little things that can make you crazy, said Fellows, whose car finished 11th overall and third in GTS, nine laps behind. There s no predicting stuff like that; it just happens sometimes especially at this track. Far from being discouraged, the drivers and crews were upbeat and looking ahead with great competitive spirit. We will win this race, predicted Fellows, and it will be that much sweeter when we do. ROUND 3 X-FACTOR GRAND PRIX SEARS POINT RACEWAY JULY 22, 2001 Another One-Two Finish Sears Point Raceway near Sonoma, Calif., certainly is one of the country s most picturesque facilities. It s also one of the most challenging, and Corvette Racing came to the 2.52-mile road course with a difficult mission: beat the Saleen S7R in a two-hour, 45-minute shootout. The weekend began badly, when unexpected transaxle problems on Friday meant almost no track time for Fellows and O Connell. Pilgrim and Collins weren t having an easy time of it either, as they struggled to find a good setup for the number-4 car. The team s fortunes began to turn around on Saturday. The Pilgrim/Collins crew chose to work on finding a good race setup. Even so, Pilgrim s qualifying time was almost a full second better than any of their previous runs, and he was happy with their third-place position in GTS. Fellows, who qualified the number-3 car in second place, three-quarters of a second behind the Saleen, was not so pleased, even though it was a huge improvement over Friday. We wanted the pole, he said flatly, and I was disappointed because we seemed to be chasing the track, and never really found the right combination. Sunday was a beautiful, sunny, California summer day. Corvette Racing chose to run on a new, hard-compound tire from Goodyear, while the Borcheller/ Konrad Saleen ran on a medium-compound tire. At the start, Fellows latched onto the bumper of the Saleen and held on for a while, until traffic, together with the Saleen s softer tires, gained Borcheller a lead of several seconds. It didn t last, however. As the track heated up I was able to catch him, said Fellows. Those Goodyears were just great far and away the best we ve had for a slick track. I could drive hard, and if the rears greased up I just took it easier for a little while and they would come right back. had a series of mechanical frustrations. First, a starter motor had to be replaced, 40 41

23 ROUND 3 X-FACTOR GRAND PRIX CONTINUED Fellows stalked Borcheller for several laps, then got by and immediately started opening up a lead until a full-course caution came out a half-dozen laps later. Fellows pitted during the caution period and handed over to Johnny O Connell, who held the GTS lead when racing resumed. From then on, the Saleen gradually faded from contention, and the Corvette teammates found themselves racing for the win. Kelly and I were both racing as hard as we could, said O Connell. I managed to get a big enough lead to come in for a splash of fuel with about 10 laps to go. But then I had trouble getting the car restarted. That made things really tense. When I came out of the pits, Kelly was right behind me. O Connell finished with a lead of six seconds over Collins. Corvette Racing now had finished one-two in the longest race of the year, and the shortest. ROUND 4 GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY AUGUST 5, 2001 A Winning Strategy When Corvette Racing came to this twomile circuit in the Pacific Northwest, the team s only pole position so far in 2001 had been at Texas. And for most of the qualifying session at Portland, it looked as though this would not be the second. When the team elected to try a different setup on the Fellows/O Connell C5-R, Ron discovered some unexpected handling issues as he was hustling into turn one on his first hot qualifying lap. He went off at turn one under braking, said Pratt. It didn t do any damage, but after that he couldn t get a clean lap for a flyer. For most of the session Ron s best time was just a tick behind Franz Konrad s Saleen. Finally, in the last minute of the session, Fellows posted a time of 1:12.32 ( mph), seven one-hundredths of a second faster than the Saleen. At the start of Sunday s two-hour, 45- minute race, Fellows held the GTS lead through the first 19 laps, shadowed closely by Konrad, while Pilgrim followed in third. Then, during a full-course caution period, the Corvette crews made a strategic decision. We weren t into our fuel window yet, explained Pratt, but we decided to pit under the yellow anyway, and thanks to Katech and the great fuel mileage we re getting now, we were able to go the rest of the way with just one more stop. When racing resumed, the Saleen held a 10-second lead over Fellows. He was able to catch up, but his tires lost some grip and he fell back to a gap of about seven seconds. When the Saleen had to pit under green, the Corvettes gained a lead of more than a lap, and when the Corvettes made their second stops, also under green, they came out only a short distance behind the Saleen. With O Connell and Collins now driving, their chase to catch up became a non-issue when their adversary s car began to smoke and slow down

24 ROUND 4 GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND CONTINUED I believe our pit stop strategy had the race won for us even if the Saleen had stayed healthy, said O Connell. Making the early pit stop under caution was an inspired call. Our car was really strong mechanically and we were getting good fuel mileage, so when I took over from Ron we could go the rest of the way. Terry was about 15 seconds ahead at that point, but he still had to pit one more time. The Corvettes crossed the finish line first and second in GTS, but at the post- ROUND 5 GT3 GRAND PRIX MOSPORT PARK AUGUST 19, 2001 Lucky, and Good As the familiar old saying goes, I d rather be lucky than good, and at Mosport, Corvette Racing was both lucky and good. It proved to be an unbeatable combination. Fellows and O Connell posted their fourth GTS win in five ALMS races, while Pilgrim and Collins drove to third. The Corvettes were split by the Saleen driven by Konrad and Borcheller. Fellows holds the GTS qualifying record at Mosport, set at 1: a year ago, but track conditions during the session meant no new record in Pilgrim set a time of 1:17.253, just behind Borcheller s 1: pole run. Fellows never got a shot at the pole because of a clutch problem. He did a couple of slow laps but had to give up and settle for 25th on the starting grid. Sunday s two-hour, 45-minute race started with a light rain falling, and Fellows immediately showed his prowess on his home track in wet conditions. He charged toward the front and, within 20 minutes, had taken the lead in GTS. Then, 35 minutes in, the rain stopped and the complexion of the race changed. Both cars made pit stops for slicks, which wasn t what the team had planned for. The weather forecast called for rain all afternoon, said Pratt, so we went with a wet setup on both cars, which is quite a bit softer than what we use on a dry track. Then, when the sun came out and track dried up, that hurt us. Fellows maintained the GTS lead until about an hour into the race, when he had a scary moment and thought his luck had run out. A GT car made an unexpected move just in front of him when he was breaking for turn three, which forced him out of the dry line. Fellows skated off into the grass, clipped a tire barrier and tore off some of his left-rear bodywork, but he managed to get back on the track and keep going. Fortunately the rear wing wasn t damaged, he said. It hit behind the rear wheel, and the damage made it over- race weigh-in, the apparent one-two steer a bit more. That actually seemed to finish evaporated when the number-4 make the car a little faster. car didn t come up to minimum weight and was disqualified. All the drivers did a great job, and it s a shame to spoil a one-two finish, Pratt added, but we certainly won t let that get us down

25 ROUND 5 GT3 GRAND PRIX CONTINUED Fellows off-track excursion cost him the GTS lead to Konrad, but it took him only three or four laps to catch up and move out front again. Both Corvettes stopped for tires, fuel and driver changes with just under an hour to go. O Connell took over from Fellows, and his pit crew s fast work added to his lead over the Saleen. The pit crew did a great job, said Pratt. It was a green-flag stop and we picked up 12 seconds or so on the Saleen. That s the kind of work that wins races. It took O Connell a few laps to get used to the softer, wet-weather suspension setup on a dry track, and Terry Borcheller, now driving the Saleen, was cutting relentlessly into O Connell s lead. With about 15 minutes to go, the Corvette team caught another lucky break. O Connell was in front of the overall race leader on the track and the Saleen was just behind when a full-course caution came out. The pace car picked up the race leader, and O Connell was able to gain almost a full lap on his pursuer. I think Johnny could have held him off, but I m just as glad we didn t have a chance to find out, Pratt said. We ve been on the bad side of that same break more than once, so I don t mind taking this one. ROUND 6 GRAND PRIX AT MID-OHIO MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE AUGUST 25, 2001 Teamwork Wins! It was the first-ever ALMS race at Mid- Ohio, but for the Corvette team, it meant racing at a track fairly close to home, and one they know well because of occasional test sessions. In practice and qualifying, however, it looked as though hope of any home track advantage was out the window, as the Saleen dominated the timing charts. Ron Fellows qualified second in GTS, but his time was almost 1.5 seconds off the pace of Borcheller in the Saleen. Pilgrim qualified the number-4 Corvette third, another four-tenths back. Worse, continually changing track conditions meant finding a good race setup was mostly guesswork. As it turned out, one team got it right, the other guessed wrong. When the two-hour,45-minute race started, Fellows soon realized he had missed the setup in a big way. It was scary loose, he said. We were slipping and sliding all over the place. I tried to make some sway bar adjustments, but it didn t work. All I could do was hang on as best I could. Pilgrim passed his teammate after about 10 minutes and set off in pursuit of the Saleen. Eventually he was able to pass Konrad and begin opening up a lead. A few minutes later, the Saleen had a wheel come loose, which put the car two laps down. After about an hour and 10 minutes, both Corvettes stopped for service and driver changes. That was the worst driving stint I ve had all year, Fellows said, but I think the track was coming back to us just a little bit by the end. That pit stop shows the real depth of teamwork we ve developed. The crew guys were able to make big adjustments, and they did it without losing any time in the pits! 46 47

26 ROUND 6 GRAND PRIX AT MID-OHIO CONTINUED The race now was between the Corvette teammates, and O Connell s pursuit of Collins was aided by a couple of full-course caution periods that bunched up the field. I didn t think we were going to be able to win this one, said O Connell, who passed Collins with about a halfhour to go, but we hit on a great setup during the pit stop. This team is so good we just kept working and working to get the car right. We made a big gamble on the setup and it paid off, Pilgrim explained. The only problem was it paid off big in the first half of the race. I just wish we could have made that charge to the front at the end of the race instead. ROUND 7 MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIPS LAGUNA SECA RACEWAY SEPT. 9, 2001 Down to the Wire The team s four-race winning streak was broken in the two-hour, 45-minute race on Laguna Seca s twisting, hilly, 2.5-mile circuit. Fellows and O Connell drove to second place in GTS, one lap behind the Saleen of Borcheller and Konrad. Pilgrim and Collins finished third in class, on the same lap as their teammates. In the season so far, the Saleen had shown an edge in speed at every race. But in every race except Sebring, Corvette Racing had beaten them with great teamwork and driving, helped by the occasional gremlin or failure on the part of the Saleen team. We knew that if they ever got their act together and turned in a perfect race they d be tough to beat, said Johnny O Connell. And this time they managed a perfect race. We did what we could, said Pratt. We had a good pit stop strategy and the crews did great work in the pits, which got us close. We thought if we got a caution period late in the race we might have been able to pull out a win, but it stayed green. We had to come in for a splash of fuel with about a half hour to go, and had to settle for second. Terry Borcheller, the quicker of the two Saleen drivers, started the race and did a double stint, leaving Franz Konrad to drive the last 45 minutes. In the first two hours, Borcheller built up a lead of more than a lap over the Corvettes. Fellows took the class lead briefly when Borcheller made his first fuel stop, but dropped back to second five minutes later when he came in for fuel and tires, and handed over to O Connell. Konrad took over the Saleen just before the two-hour mark, which allowed the Corvettes to get back on the same lap. During the next 15 minutes, a full-course caution would have allowed the Corvettes to make their final fuel stops and have a chance to chase down Konrad. But the track stayed green, they finally had to come in for fuel, which put the Corvettes a lap down at the end

27 ROUND 7 MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIPS CONTINUED We struggled for the whole race with the car, said O Connell. Under braking, it wasn t doing what we needed it to do, and also we were having some unusual tire wear issues. At first there was cloud cover, and then when the sun came out it was even more difficult. We couldn t brake when we wanted, and we also tried using softer tires, but that didn t work either. Pilgrim and Collins had almost the opposite problems to deal with on their car. Our car was too tight, said Pilgrim. When we had the cloud layer, we couldn t get it to handle. Later, when the sun came out, the car came to us, but by then it was too late. ROUND 8 PETITE LE MANS ROAD ATLANTA OCTOBER 6, 2001 Thrill and Agony In the 1,000-mile Petite Le Mans, the ALMS season finale, Pilgrim, Collins and Franck Freon scored a well-deserved and hard-fought victory. Corvette Racing finished the 2001 season with six ALMS wins in eight races and the GTS Team Championship, while Chevrolet won the GTS Manufacturers title. But celebrations were tempered by the knowledge that the season s hard work had come up short of one goal. Corvette number-3, driven by Fellows, O Connell and Scott Pruett, had a disastrous weekend, which ultimately cost Fellows the drivers championship. In Friday s qualifying session, Pilgrim won his first ALMS pole, but Fellows effort was cut short with a broken driveshaft yoke. The thrashing of the loose shaft also did extensive damage to several components in the powertrain, which kept the crew busy making repairs and fitting replacements. Come race time at noon on Saturday, however, all was well. The number-3 car had performed perfectly in the morning warmup, and the number-4 car also was working at its best. Our strategy was for the 4 car to race for the win and 3 car to just take it easy and stay out of trouble. said Pratt. All we had to do was run enough laps for Ron to score points even last-place points and the championship was his. There was no reason to expect the misfortune that followed on the second lap of the race. The engine just died, Fellows said. I could smell burning wiring, so I figured it was some sort of electrical problem. It turns out that a short in the starter motor was sucking all the juice out of the battery, which killed the engine. The crew was directing me on the radio about what to do, Fellows continued. I had to disconnect the starter motor and isolate it from then rest of the electrical system. But then I had to get the car to a place where I could roll it down a hill and jump-start it. There was no way I could do that on my own. And because people helped me push it, we were disqualified. The rules are pretty clear on that: out on the course where we were, nobody can touch the car but the driver

28 ROUND 8 PETITE LE MANS CONTINUED It was one of those weekends, said DeLong. After a dream season we had a nightmare at the end. The starter that was in the car when the drive shaft broke was one we knew was good and reliable. But the replacement was a brand new one we d never used before. All in all, it was just awful bad luck. Meanwhile, the number-4 car wasn t having a trouble-free race, either. For most of the race it was a back-and-forth struggle between the Corvette and the Saleen driven by Borcheller, Konrad and Charlie Slater, until the Saleen was slowed by engine problems near the end. It really was a 1,000-mile sprint race, commented Resciniti. We were racing a car that was basically a second or so faster per lap than we were. But everybody did a great job. All our pit stops were right on. In one stop, we beat the Saleen out by 11 seconds. It was a very satisfying way to win, and for us, a great way to end the season. It was the second consecutive Petite Le Mans victory for Pilgrim s car. It was a hard race and we had a good battle with Terry and the Saleen for most of it, Pilgrim said. We just went as hard as we could and still keep it all together. We ve been battling hard all year, and it has been a really successful season for the team, said Collins. Repeating as winners of this race is bittersweet because of what happened to the other car, but we re really happy we could come through with the win An engine builder is in kind of a no-win situation. If the car wins, it s a team effort; if the engine fails, there s nowhere to hide. Thanks to Katech s great work, we won a lot of races and had no engine-related retirements in That s special. JIM M ILLER MECHANIC OF THE YEAR During the ALMS awards banquet at the Chateau Elan, Bill DeLong was named Mechanic of the Year. His car, the number-3 GM Goodwrench Corvette, contributed five wins toward the manufacturer and team championships. When you add in Daytona and Le Mans, we had seven wins in 10 races, and two of them were 24-hour races DeLong said. Seasons like that don t happen very often. But this is a great crew, and the drivers are real pros. When you have a group like this to work with, it makes the odds a lot better. This is a very motivated group, and our bad luck at the end will just make us work that much harder

29 COVER STORIES Giving Something Back CORVETTE RACING S ROAD TO SUCCESS MAKES BIG NEWS AROUND THE WORLD OUR PEOPLE BELIEVE IN HELPING OTHERS THROUGH CHARITABLE INVOLVEMENT Pratt & Miller, and its individual Celebrity Classic hosted by Bobby Orr, team members, are strong believers which benefits the Oshawa General in donating time and money to Hospital and the Durham Region YMCA, support worthy causes. Pratt & and he is a spokesman for the Ontario Miller sponsored the 2001 Re\Max Community Council on Impaired Partners 5K Run, in Royal Oak, Michigan, Driving. Ron and Lynda also organized which benefits the Children s Miracle a pledge drive on Ron s website in conjunction with Petite Le Mans, which Network in support of the Beaumont Children s Pediatric Center, as well as a raised more than $14,000 for the New conference for the Prevent Child Abuse In York Twin Towers Fund. America organization. Pratt & Miller also Andy Pilgrim has been conducting supports the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, a series of driver safety talks with classes the Wixom, Mich., Police Department, the at Cooper City (Florida) High School for Motorsport Hall of Fame in Novi, Mich. eight years. Andy helps the students learn Tom Mikrut organized Corvette Racing s how to survive on the streets in the involvement in a 10-kilometer run in the Chicago area the day after the Mid- Ohio American Le Mans Series race. Generous contributions from team members, plus matching Pratt & Miller donations, raised $3,000 for the Illinois Special Olympics. Ron Fellows supports a number of charities, including Peel Partners for a Drug-Free Community, Teaching street survival skills: Andy Pilgrim makes safe-driving points with the Oshawa Golf Club students at Cooper City High School. formative years of their driving careers. Johnny O Connell hosted a charity auction on the Friday evening before the Petite Le Mans. Auction items varied from donated race car parts and driver apparel to sessions at several prominent racing schools. Johnny s auction raised more than $25,000 for the United Way September 11 Fund. Johnny s organization also supports Guest House, a social services agency in Atlanta. Chris Kneifel works with the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization, and is on the board of directors of Prevent Child Abuse In America. At Petite Le Mans, Corvette Racing team members showed their support for New York police and firefighters, and were heavily involved in 9-11 fundraising projects. Tom Mikrut spearheaded Corvette Racing s fundraising effort for the Illinois Special Olympics. Tom running 10km for the Special Olympics, before it started to hurt. Tom and Bailie: Which one is the real runner? 54 55

30 WHAT CHAMPIONS ARE MADE OF CORVETTE RACING DRIVERS, 2001 FRANCK FREON RON FELLOWS ANDY PILGRIM SCOTT PRUETT KELLY COLLINS JOHNNY O CONNELL DALE EARNHARDT CHRIS KNEIFEL DALE EARNHARDT JR. 56 Our drivers are great; they re fast, and they really motivate each other. But the best part is, they also are genuine, stand-up nice guys. BILL D E L ONG, CREW CHIEF, CORVETTE C5-R #3 As different as they are, our guys complement each other really well. They all know what it takes to conserve a car without going too slow and they all fit in the same seat! FRANK R ESCINITI, CREW CHIEF, CORVETTE C5-R #4 57

31 PRATT & MILLER/ CORVETTE RACING CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM, 2001 ROSS JEFFEREY CREW MEMBER GARY RON CLAYTON DELEEUW CREW GM MEMBER GARY TOM DELEEUW DIEHM CREW GM MEMBER JIM MILLER OWNER GARY PRATT OWNER BILL DELONG CREW CHIEF GREG HIATT CREW MEMBER CHARLIE GARY DELEEUW DENEGER CREW GM MEMBER GARY J.R. REDFIELD DELEEUW CREW GM MEMBER TOM MIKRUT CONTROLLER/CREW MEMBER FRANK RESCINITI CREW CHIEF BRIAN WADE CREW MEMBER RANDY HUGHES CREW MEMBER GARY RICH DELEEUW ELDRED CREW GM MEMBER STEVE GARY DELEEUW HARTSELL CREW GM MEMBER RAY GONGLA CREW MEMBER DAVE ALBRIGHT CREW MEMBER GARY YOUNG CREW MEMBER MIKE ATKINS CREW MEMBER GARY DAVE DELEEUW JAMES CREW GM MEMBER GARY DAN POLASKY DELEEUW CREW GM MEMBER 58 59

32 PRATT & MILLER/ CORVETTE RACING CONTINUED PATRICK CARBARY CREW MEMBER Frank s toolbox MIKE TANNEER CREW MEMBER RICH FULKS CREW MEMBER PAM PRINCE CREW MEMBER GARY DELEEUW CREW MEMBER BOB PAYTON CREW MEMBER ROBIN PRATT CREW MEMBER ADAM JAKUPI CREW MEMBER JIM KELLEY PRS DAVE DECKER PRS MELANIE CORRELL TIMING & SCORING VINNIE CIARAVINO CREW MEMBER MARK SALICE CREW MEMBER SAM VALDEZ CREW MEMBER RALPH SIMPSON CATERING TODD HORNIG KFC COMPOSITES 60 61

33 GM/CORVETTE RACING CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM, 2001 WALLY REESE GM PR JOHN TAUBE GOODYEAR NICK OLSON AP BRAKES STEVE SHANNON GM DAVE HILL GM HERB FICHEL GM BENOIT FROGGER GM (FRECH CONNECTION) DAVE CORAM GM FRANK PARKER PARKER ENGINEERING JOE NEGRI GM RICHARD BALDICK GM GARY CLAUDIO GM KEVIN PRANGER KATECH RICHARD PRIESTER KATECH LISA STANICK GM DOUG FEHAN GM JOHN RICE GM FRITZ KAYL WARREN FREIZE KATECH GARY DELEEUW GM STEVE WESOLOSKI GM KEN BROWN GM STEVE COLE COLE PERFORMANCE DOUG LOUTH BRD JOE KIEFER BRD 62 63

34 WE ARE FAMILY 64 65

35 A VERY BIG FAMILY 66 67

36 THANKS FOR A REAL TEAM EFFORT Great teamwork is one of our keys to success at Pratt & Miller. It s just the way we do things, and this 2001 yearbook is no exception. This book is my baby, but it couldn t be done without the efforts of a large number of people. I m sure by now people at the tracks think my trusty camera is permanently attached, but when you look through this book you ll see many absolutely stunning images contributed by these great photographers: Peter Brock John Brooks David Noels Richard Prince Rene Tanner Kevin York A very special thanks for your beautiful work. I want to thank everyone on the team. All of you made this book possible with your help and cooperation, but I have to single out several people in particular for their special contributions: Steve Crisp, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Tom Mikrut Bob Payton Gary Pratt Pam Prince Frank Resciniti Gary Young And finally, there s the team who put it all together and made it happen. I think you will agree, their work speaks for itself loud and clear in these pages: Chuck McLaren, writing, editing, production coordination Ray McAllister, design Dan Kelly, Colortech Graphics, Inc., printing Elaine Kelly, proofreading We re proud to have this special record of 2001, an extraordinary year for Pratt & Miller and Corvette Racing. ROBIN PRATT We Remember Dale Earnhardt The people at Corvette Racing had the honor of working with Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Two weeks later, his fatal crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500 stunned and saddened the racing world, and none more so than his road-racing teammates. We had found in the seven-time Winston Cup champion both a new friend and kindred competitive spirit. For Big E, driving in the 24-hour endurance race was something new and different. The car was more refined and sophisticated than anything he had ever raced before, and that motivated him. Even though Dale had achieved a stature higher than most in his profession, he approached the Rolex 24 knowing he had a lot to learn, and was ready, willing and eager to tackle the challenge. He looked to his fellow drivers and the crew for help and guidance. He was a team player. Because of his stature as a racer, he was scrutinized more closely than most other drivers at Daytona, but he did his job as you would expect from a thorough professional. His approach to going fast in a car he had never driven before was a textbook example of how to do it right. Being a superbly talented driver, Big E learned quickly and turned in an impressive performance. When he joined the team for the Rolex 24, we were in awe of The Intimidator s racing accomplishments. After his performance at Daytona both in the car and interacting with the team we felt tremendous respect and a real sense of friendship. We are sad that he will not race with us again; He just wanted to be one of the guys on the team that s one of the things Dale really enjoyed about it. He fit right in. GARY P RATT 68 we are happy that he did, even just this once. GARY PRATT, AND THE WHOLE TEAM AT CORVETTE RACING I was lucky enough to be able to call Dale Earnhardt my friend and I miss my friend. ANDY P ILGRIM

37 He was the real McCoy very honest, very genuine, and truly one of the last of the good ol boys. We really thought a lot of Dale Earnhardt. KELLY C OLLINS The most impressive thing about Dale was his passion for racing, and his total commitment to the team for that particular race. R ON F ELLOWS Whoever named him The Intimidator had only ever raced against him never worked with him. It was a delight to have Dale on the team; he was that kind of guy. FRANK R ESCINITI

38 WINNERS & CHAMPIONS 2001