2000 Mid Ohio - Grand Am

The Grand American Road Racing (Grand Am) series was established in 1999 after the demise of the United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC). The original USRRC was created by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in 1962 and ran until 1968 when it was replaced by the Can Am series. In 1998 the SCCA revived the USRRC as an alternative to the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) series, however, it lasted only two seasons. It had moderate success the first year but in 1999 there was very little interest among competitors and the final two rounds were cancelled.

Like the USRRC concept, Grand Am was seen as an alternative to IMSA. With NASCAR support the Grand Am model differed from the IMSA series on a number of points:

cost control
allow private teams to be competitive
avoid being dependent on manufacturers
stable rules

The rules for the 2000 Grand Am season were basically the same as those used the previous year in the USRRC. The series had two major categories: Sports Racer (SportsRacer and SportsRacer II) and Grand Touring (GTO, GTU and American GT).

The inaugural season kicked off with the series premier event the 24-Hours of Daytona. It was followed by races at Phoenix International Raceway, Homestead-Miami, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Daytona, Road America, Trois Rivieres and ending mid-August at Watkins Glen.

In early June, Mid-Ohio hosted the U.S. Road Racing Classic which was the fifth round of the 2000 Grand-American Road Racing Series. The 250-mile endurance race had forty-one starters with thirty cars being classified as finishers.

The No. 16 Dyson Racing Riley & Scott was set to dominate the Mid-Ohio event when misfortune struck. Following on the heels of the previous weekend’s success at Lime Rock James Weaver captured the pole position at the Mid-Ohio. He and co-driver Butch Leitzinger led much of the race until lap-86. A bolt in the suspension backed out which required Weaver to pit. He lost 4-laps for repairs which dropped them to eighth in SRP I.

Taking advantage of James Weaver’s misfortune and with some excellent driving by Jack Baldwin the Robinson Racing Riley & Scott Mk III moved from fourth to first in the final 30-laps of the race. The win was particularly gratifying for team owner George Robinson as it was his first race back after a bout of malaria.

Sharing the front row for the start of the race was the Creighton Motorsports Lola B2K/10. This should have been no surprise to the competition as the car was qualified by Andy Wallace, who shared the driving duties with former IMSA Lights Champion Scott Schubot. The duo ran a very competitive race in the new car and finished third.

One of the best-looking cars at Mid-Ohio was the No. 82 McCann Racing Dodge Viper GTS-R. This car was built the French Oreca Racing team. It was raced by team owner Jim McCann and Tommy Archer. The car proved competitive but only completed 40-laps – the result of Archer spinning the car into a gravel trap.

In the SPR II class, the Archangel Motorsport Lola B2K/40 of Ryan Hampton and Larry Oberto took the win and finished an impressive seventh overall. The duo was having a tremendous season in the Grand Am series as they had captured four SRP II victories in four starts.

The battle for class honours in GTU was between the No. 81 G&W Motorsports entry and the Fordahl Motorsports Porsche RSR. Mike Fitzgerald and Darren Law in the G&W car not only took the class win but finished ahead of the quicker American GT and GTO competitors.

Elliot Forbes-Robinson and John Paul Jr. shared the No. 20 Dyson Racing Riley & Scott. On lap-91 of 111 Jack Baldwin passed Forbes-Robinson for the lead relegating the Dyson pair to a second place finish. Forbes-Robinson finished just under 10-seconds behind Baldwin.

The GTO class was expected to be a battle between the points leading Saleen Mustang and the Dodge Vipers of Team Viper West and McCann Racing. But problems delayed all three teams allowing the Doncaster Porsche 911 Turbo driven by Greg Wilkins and David Lacey to take the class victory.

Terry Borcheller and Ron Johnson finished second in the GTO class. The Saleen-Allen Speedlab Mustang drivers were in a race long battle with the Dodge Vipers of Team Viper West and McCann Racing. But electrical problems hindered their progress and under the circumstances, the team had to be satisfied with their results.

The Team Spencer Motorsports Kudzu DLM suffered accident damage a week earlier at Lime Rock and their attendance at the Mid-Ohio round was in question. But the team made repairs and the car was able to qualify albeit last in SRP II. During the race, drivers Richard Grupp and Dennis Spencer made good process and finished second in class and tenth overall.

Erik Messley and Stu Hayner shared the Team Viper West Dodge Viper. A week earlier at Lime Rock was the team’s first foray into the Grand Am series. An axle issue resulted in a fourth place finish. At Mid-Ohio, the team was leading the GTO class when the differential failed but they completed enough laps to classified third.

Finishing 3-laps up on their competition and taking the American GT class win was the Spirit of Daytona Chevrolet Camaro driven by Craig Conway and Doug Goad. This team was dominating the class in 2000 but at Mid-Ohio they were threatened when the Ford Mustang of Orion Motorsports qualified first. During the race, the Mustang threat did not materialize.

The No. 12 Risi Competizione Ferrari 333 SP was driven by Mimmo Schiattarella and Ralf Kelleners. The Ferrari drivers started fifth and led briefly. But the car’s poor fuel mileage contributed to a fourth-place finish - the last car to finish on the lead lap.

The No. 18 Fordahl Motorsports Porsche 911 Carrera RSR was shared by Randy Pobst and the only female in the field Kim Hiskey. It was a busy day for Pobst who had competed in Sunday morning’s 3-hour Motorola Cup race. The pair started second in GTU and finished third in class.

Qualifying third in SRP II were Larry Schumacher and Martin Snow in a Lola B2K/40. Schumacher and Snow had a lot of success competing at the GT level in Porsches. However, they were being challenged by reliability issues in the Sports Racing class. At Mid-Ohio, they finished a season-high third.

The only non-Chevrolet entered in the American GT class was the ex-Roush Racing Ford Mustang of Orion Motorsports which was driven by Paul Jenkins and Bruce Nesbitt. They started first in class but finished third - 7-laps behind the American GT winners.

Jon Field spun the No. 37 Intersport Lola B2K/10 early in the race. The car driven by Field and Oliver Gavin started sixth but retired after just 9-laps with gearbox problems. As a result, Field switched cars and joined his twin brother Joel in the team’s Riley & Scott. The pair finished sixth the SRP I class and overall.

Finishing second in GTU but 1-lap behind the class winner was the Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3R driven by Kevin Buckler and Philip Collin.

Pos.	No.	Drivers	Car	Entrant	Laps	Reason	Pos.	Gr.
1	74	Baldwin / Robinson	Riley & Scott Mk III	Robinson Racing	111	-	1	SR
2	20	Forbes-Robinson / Paul, Jr.	Riley & Scott Mk III	Dyson Racing Team	111	-	2	SR
3	8	Wallace / Schubot	Lola B2K/10 Ford	Philip Creighton Motorsports	111	-	3	SR
4	12	Schiattarella / Kelleners	Ferrari 333 SP	Risi Competizione	111	-	4	SR
5	27	Theys / Baldi	Doran Special Judd	Doran Lista Racing	110	-	5	SR
6	29	Field / Field	Riley & Scott Mk III	Intersport Racing	110	-	6	SR
7	22	Oberto / Hampton	Lola B2K/40 Nissan	Archangel Motorsport Services	109	-	1	SR II
8	95	Schroeder / Volk	Riley & Scott Mk III	TRV Motorsport	109	-	7	SR
9	16	Weaver / Leitzinger	Riley & Scott Mk III	Dyson Racing Team	109	-	8	SR
10	62	Grupp / Spencer	Kudzu DLM Mazda	Team Spencer Motorsports	106	-	2	SR II
11	63	Smith / Downing	Kudzu DLY Mazda	Downing Atlanta	106	-	9	SR
12	99	Snow / Schumacher	Lola B2K/40 Nissan	Snow/Schumacher Racing	106	-	3	SR II
13	81	Fitzgerald / Law	Porsche GT3R	G&W Motorsports	105	-	1	GTU
14	6	Gibson / Tiller	Lola B2K/40 Nissan	TRP Racing	104	-	4	SR II
15	09	Conway / Goad	Chevrolet Camaro	The Spirit of Daytona	104	-	1	AGT
16	0	Lacey / Wilkins	Porsche 911 GT2	Doncaster Racing	104	-	1	GTO
17	66	Collin / Buckler	Porsche GT3R	The Racer's Group	104	-	2	GTU
18	18	Pobst / Hiskey	Porsche Carrera	Fordahl Motorsports	104	-	3	GTU
19	5	Johnson / Borcheller	Saleen Mustang	Saleen-Allen Speedlab	103	-	2	GTO
20	61	Brunk / Fisher	Porsche 964	Paragon Motorsports	102	-	4	GTU
21	55	Goldsborough / Pilgrim	BMW M3	Genesis Racing	102	-	5	GTU
22	46	Messley / Hayner	Dodge Viper GTS	Team Viper West	101	Differential	3	GTO
23	118	Cohen / Leavy	Chevrolet Camaro	Leavy Racing	101	-	2	AGT
24	34	Pumpelly / Assentato	Porsche Carrera	Pumpelly Racing	101	-	6	GTU
25	93	McGlynn / Rask	Porsche GT3R	ProTechnik Racing	100	-	7	GTU
26	80	Morton / Schrom	Porsche GT3R	G&W Motorsports	99	-	8	GTU
27	2	Brown / Dickens	Ferrari 333 SP	Brown Motorsports	99	-	10	SR
28	58	Knollenberg/Shalala/Bouchier	Porsche 911	ProTechnik Racing	98	-	9	GTU
29	07	Cook / Marshall	Porsche 911 GT2	G&W Motorsports	97	Turbocharger	4	GTO
30	00	Nesbitt / Jenkins	Ford Mustang	Orion Motorsports	97	-	3	AGT
31	38	Ave / Fahlgren	Mazda RX-7	Swedish Racing	96	-	10	GTU
32	67	Tumminelli / Nagel	Porsche GT3R	The Racers Group	92	-	11	GTU
33	84	McNeil / Deware	Chevrolet Camaro	Comer Racing Inc	89	Oil belt	4	AGT
34	71	Mills / Thompson / DeFontes	Chevrolet Camaro	Dura Motorsport	66	Differential	5	AGT
35	82	Archer / McCann	Dodge Viper	Michael McCann	40	Spin	5	GTO
36	50	Fairbanks / Auberlen	BMW M3	Genesis Racing	29	Accident	12	GTU
37	73	Worth / Schardt	Mazda RX-7	Pettit Racing	24	Overheating	13	GTU
38	25	Montgomery/Rodenroth/Bove	Porsche 968	Broadfoot/Press Racing	17	DQ: too slow	6	GTO
39	37	Field / Gavin	Lola B98/10 Ford	Intersport Racing	11	Gearbox	11	SR
40	10	Gleason / Bunting	BMW M3	Genesis Racing	9	Drive shaft	14	GTU
41	48	Moyer / Barnard	Chevrolet Corvette	Motech Motorsports	7	Clutch	7	GTO

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