Gurney and Fogarty Joined by Fellow Champs da Matta and Vasser in First
Two-Car GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Effort on Saturday
MONTEREY, Calif. (May 13, 2008) -- GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing will for
the first time field two Daytona Prototype race cars in Saturday's
RumBum.com 250 (SPEED, May 18 at Noon ET) at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in
a history-making Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race that will see
champion driver Cristiano da Matta make his first professional race start
since recovering from life-threatening injuries in an August 2006 testing
accident.
Reigning Grand-Am Rolex Series Champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty will
be joined by da Matta and former CART Champ Car Champion Jimmy Vasser in
similar Pontiac Rileys on the legendary Laguna Seca track where
GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing made its debut just three years ago. Gurney,
along with team owner and then-driver Bob Stallings, finished sixth.
"I returned to racing in 2005 after two years away when GAINSCO/Bob
Stallings Racing made its series debut at Laguna Seca, so it is a special
place for us," said Gurney, who drove through the field after Stallings
recovered from an early contact incident. "We will always remember being
quickest on our first day and we want that tradition to continue this
weekend. We've had some terrible luck lately, but the speed of the car is
there and the team is performing well, so we believe wins are coming.
I'll have a big contingent of family and friends attending, so it's the
perfect weekend to get back into victory lane."
Fogarty, who was part of another GAINSCO Laguna Seca milestone one year
later when he and Gurney bagged runner-up honors in just their second
race together, knew the Bob Stallings-led team was a winner long before
signing on as a driver.
"I took notice of the GAINSCO team's performance when they were at Laguna
Seca a year before," said Fogarty, who took over driving duties from
Stallings in April 2006. "Right equipment, great driver, great engineer,
top crew and a committed team owner, all the makings were there. I'm
pretty sure I wasn't the only one who took notice, but having a friend
and former teammate kicking butt in a new venue gave me a strange sense
of pride. It was really cool to see how well Alex and the team were
performing."
Yet another GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Laguna Seca milestone is set for
this weekend with close friends and former teammates da Matta and Vasser
sharing a race car for the first time. Gurney and Fogarty will handle the
familiar No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley while da Matta and
Vasser will drive the nearly identical No. 98 GAINSCO Auto Insurance
Pontiac Riley.
"I've had enough vacation, man," said da Matta, who has fully recovered
from devastating head injuries sustained when his Champ Car struck a
wayward deer on August 3, 2006, while testing at Road America in Elkhart
Lake, Wisconsin. "It's very nice to get back to work. The GAINSCO team
and Bob Stallings were the only ones who gave me a chance to drive. Many
other teams said come back after I did some races with somebody else, but
only Bob and GAINSCO gave me a chance. I can't thank them enough."
Da Matta, who won a 2002 Champ Car race at Laguna Seca in addition to a
1997 Indy Lights race, was cleared to return to professional driving
earlier this year. He sailed through his first test with the GAINSCO team
at the Eagles Canyon circuit near Dallas in late March, and is set for
his official return to racing on a track that he and his teammate both
love.
"Laguna Seca is my home track and it is a favorite more so than a lot of
other circuits," said Vasser, who won the featured CART Champ Car race on
the same day da Matta took Indy Lights honors in 1997. "It's a track I
know so well and this is a weekend I have been looking forward to for a
long time. I was there the day of Cristiano's accident and was in the
hospital a couple of times, so I know how severe this was, how incredible
of a comeback this really is. He is a great friend and a great champion
and it is cool to be able to share this with Cristiano at a track we
love."
Noteworthy
Gurney is likely the only driver in Rolex Series competition that has led
at least one session at Laguna Seca the last three years, but that isn't
the only reason he likes the track. "For me, it's the only race on the
schedule that I get to drive to instead of fly to," Gurney said. "I
usually get a speeding ticket about halfway through my five-hour drive up
from Irvine, but it's all part of the Laguna process for me" -- Dozens of
friends and family members will be at Laguna Seca to watch da Matta's
return, including his newlywed wife Vanessa Franco da Matta, his parents
Toninho and Maria, and younger brothers Gustavo and Felipe. Another guest
will be Naval Officer Captain Thomas L. Mascolo, who played a key role in
expediting U.S. visas for da Matta's parents so they could travel to be
with their son on the day of the accident. This will be the first meeting
of the da Matta family and Captain Mascolo, who is based at Everett Naval
Station near Seattle -- Some familiar and experienced crew members have
been brought in to help run GAINSCO's first two-car operation this
weekend. Taking the lead on the No. 98 will be Mark Lubin, who ran the
GAINSCO Daytona Prototype team early on and when Stallings won the 2004
Formula Atlantic SCCA National Championship. Greg Finley will return as
the fueler for the No. 98 and was with the team for three previous races,
including taking his first career win along with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings
Racing at Mexico City last year. Vasser will also see a familiar face, as
one of his former team members at Target/Chip Ganassi Racing from 1995
through 2001, Dan Hammond, will be part of the No. 98 crew -- While the
two Pontiac Rileys will sport identical bright red finishes and the
familiar GAINSCO Auto Insurance markings, there will be some slight
differences. The No. 99 will run the usual black windshield banner with
white Pontiac lettering, while the No. 98 will have a red banner with
white Pontiac lettering -- Also showing their GAINSCO colors this weekend
will be the "Pint-Sized Pit Crew," a group of identically outfitted
toddlers who are sons and daughters of various crew members, team
associates and drivers Gurney (Natalie, 17 months) and Fogarty (William,
27 months).
-credit: bsr
