2002 SEASON ::: MORE RACING NEWS

Johnny O's Sebring Race Report

Hmmm where to start. Well first off....well done to everyone at Corvette... Pratt and Miller, Katech and Goodyear. Nice to get that first win for Corvette at Sebring...the race just went perfect for us. Which actually I would never have guessed if you looked at how the car was on monday.

Normally we roll off the trailer pretty close..especially as we tested really well at Sebring in November...but this time it was awful. Neither Ron, myself or Oliver Gavin...our new team mate, liked the car. It was not good under braking, no feel, the rear moving around..and then understeer in the middle of the corners...seems like we were a mile from a good set-up. What was kind of odd is that Andy, Kelly and Frank, with their car set-up almost the same..loved their car. They hardly made a change all week. Anyway..it was a tough week for all the guys on our car as we made tons of changes..everyday...to get it better.

I have to say, perhaps the biggest strength of the #3 car is the guys twisting the wrenches on it. They are so good...so dedicated...I'm going to spend some time as the season goes on telling you more about them as individuals....suffice to say the are the best.

Back to the race. Finally on Wednesday the car started to come around a little...and then on Thursday morning, both Ron and I realized that she was coming back to us, and we were getting a car that we really liked. Our engineers, Steve Cole and Doug Louth definitely earned their pay this week-end !!! Anyway, Ron did a great job as always in qualifying and got the pole, which for a 12 hour race is not so important other than to send a message to all the other teams. I think everyone knew we would be the team to beat.

Skip ahead to race day, and still we are happy with the car in warm-up. I think for all of us our only real concern was the weather, and how insane it would be in the car....hot hot hot !! At the start we kind of fell into just runnning a lap where the car was comfortable..and as it turned out, an hour or so into the race it looked like we already had things in hand. We backed down the pace, and the 3 and 4 car just set about lapping. I'm guessing that when the race got to around the 10th hour the brass at GM would let us turn them loose to see who would get the win. Of course that never happened as Andy in the #4 car had a throttle hang up on him going into turn 5, and he could not save it before testing the tire barriers. Probably some debris got in there...and for he Kelly and Frank it was rotten luck. It took them awhile to repair it, and from that point on we just cruised. Nice win to say the least.

Its funny, but early in my sports car days, I went three years in a row winning sebring. I figured it was the easiest race in the world..and for sure one of my favorites. Then I went 6 years only reaching the podium once. The reality of Sebring is that it is for sure one of the most difficult and demanding races to win. It so hard on car and driver, that those who are fortunate enough to win there have generally done there homework. With this in mind I immediately look at our team. Last year we lost Sebring, and Petiit Le Mans because of a starter problem. This year we show up for the race, and there are two starters and two batteries on the car. Its that type of approach that gets us to the winners circle. Hopefully for Ron and I we can win them all this season. For sure we are going to try...

Johnny O

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