My brother-in-law Pierre Kleinubing just missed his 5th World Challenge Title October 3rd coming in five points behind team owner Peter Cunnigham in the 2008 season finale at Road Atlanta.
This is Peter's 5th World Challenge Title and wraps up an incredible season for Realtime Racing where they nabbed the Championship as well as second, third, and the Manufacturer's Title. It was an amazing season that won't be easily eclipsed. Afterall, how do you do better than the Championship, 2nd, 3rd, and the Manufacturer's Cup? I guess we'll find out next year when the Realtime crew kicks off the 2009 World Challenge Season at Sebring.
I'll be there as usual with my kids to cheer Pierre and RTR on to victory. If you are at the track stop by the RTR trailer and say "hi".
This past Friday dealt yet another blow to the racing community with the passing of Paul Newman. Known not only for his incredible acting career, Paul Newman was also an accomplished driver and team owner. I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who could say they didn't like Paul Newman. He was one of the few genuine, charismatic individuals who was loved and respected by all.
He has long been one of my personal all-time favorite celebrities. A real "man's man" in a sea of shallow, conceited actors and athletes. I was fortunate to have met Mr. Newman a few times at the Cleveland Grand Prix at Burke Lakefront Airport back in the glory days of Champ Car Racing. When I first met him I was struck by how sincere and affable he was. There was never a hint of ego or elitism despite his legendary status.
He was an icon who will be missed but never forgotten. Godspeed!
Although I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, Phil Hill has always been one of my favorite drivers. No matter what he was associated with he always seemed to portray a sense of class and charisma that is a rarity in today's age. I always enjoyed reading any magazine or article that he was a part of. I only wish I could have had the opportunity to speak with him in person. Imagine the stories he could tell!
Here's the official news:
Born in Miami, Florida, Hill was raised in Santa Monica, California, where he lived until his death. He studied business administration at the University of Southern California in 1945-47 but left early to pursue auto racing, working as a mechanic on other drivers' cars. Hill began racing cars at an early age, going to England as a Jaguar trainee in 1949 and signing with Enzo Ferrari’s team in 1956. He made his debut in the French Grand Prix at Reims France in 1958 driving a Maserati. That same year, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Belgian team mate Olivier Gendebien, driving for most of the night in horrific rainy conditions. He and Gendebien would go on to win the famous endurance race two more times.
In 1961, Hill won the 24 Hours of Le Mans again and the Formula One driving championship for the Ferrari team. He secured the championship when he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza that year. His closest rival, teammate Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips, crashed and died in the same race. Earlier that year, during a practice session at the German Grand Prix, Hill became the first man to lap the Nordschleife at the Nürburgring in less than nine minutes. Unlike Mario Andretti, Hill was born in the USA, and is still the only US-born F1 champion.
After leaving Ferrari at the end of 1962 in the great walkout of engineers, he and fellow driver Giancarlo Baghetti started for their new team ATS. Hill continued in Formula One for a few more years until he switched to sports car racing with Ford Motor Company and the Chaparral Cars of Jim Hall.
Phil Hill has the distinction of having won the first (a 3 lap event at Carrell Speedway in a MG TC on July 24 1949) and last races of his driving career, the final victory driving for Chaparral in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in England in 1967. Following his retirement, Hill built up an award winning classic car restoration business in the 1970s called Hill & Vaughn with business partner Ken Vaughn, until they sold the partnership to Jordanian Raja Gargour and Vaughn went on run a separate business on his own in 1984. Phil remained with Gargour at Hill & Vaughn until the sale of the business again in 1995. Hill also worked as a television commentator for ABC's Wide World of Sports.
Hill had a long and distinguished association with Road & Track magazine. He wrote several articles for them, including road tests and retrospective articles on historic cars and races. He shared his "grand old man" status at R&T with '60s racing rival Paul Frere, who also died in 2008.
Hill, in his last years, devoted his time to his vintage car collection and judged at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance more often than any other individual; 2006 was the 38th time he had judged the event.
Hill was married to Alma, and had three children: Derek, Vanessa and Jennifer. Derek raced in International Formula 3000 in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but was forced to retire when Hill became ill with Parkinson's Disease.
After traveling to the Monterey Historic Automobile Races in August of 2008, Hill was taken to a hospital, where he died after a short illness from complications of Parkinson's Disease in Salinas, California on August 28th.
A fortuitous third place finish today by RealTime Acura team owner Peter Cunningham assured Acura of its unprecedented seventh Manufacturers' Championship in the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship.
Round Nine of the ten-event road racing championship for production-based touring sedans was held north of the border at the historic Mosport International Raceway. After qualifying ninth, Cunningham steadily moved forward in a tight field whose fastest race laps were only separated by 0.813 of a second. While pushing hard to what appeared to be a fifth place finish and in sight of the finish line, the third place BMW decided to attempt a pass on the second place Mazda.
As the two spinning cars were trying to regain their footing, Cunningham and Canadian teammate Kuno Wittmer took the checkers in third and fourth, scoring enough Manufacturers' points to seal the deal for Acura with one event remaining on the 2008 calendar.
"Our objective today was to do everything in our power to place one of our cars in the top four, which would clinch the championship for Acura," said Cunningham. "It was apparent after Qualifying that that task was going to be difficult, and when 27 and 7/8ths of the scheduled 28 laps were complete, we were resigned to the fact that we'd have to wait for the finale to ice the title. When the melee emerged in front of me and I made it safely through into third, I started cheering in my helmet!"
Coming into the weekend, the chase for the title among the top three drivers was closer than ever before, with only five points separating them. The best of the RTR pilots in Qualifying was four-time driving titlist Pierre Kleinubing in fifth. He collected two more points for that result, tying him for second with Cunningham and only three points behind Wittmer for the lead heading into the race.
Unfortunately for Kleinubing, series race officials busted him for 'creeping' at the start line before the lights were extinguished, forcing him to the pits to serve a drive through penalty. In courageous style, he fought back and was credited with a remarkable sixth place finish.
Dino Crescentini finished one spot behind in seventh after qualifying 11th and team newcomer and Rookie of the Year contender Patrick Lindsey moved up one spot from his qualifying position to finish 11th.
The final round of the season will take place at the Petit Le Mans weekend, October 1-3 at Road Atlanta.
"Now, all five of our drivers can relax just a bit at Road Atlanta, enjoy the weekend knowing our first priority for any season has been achieved," noted crew chief Paul Truess. "With the Drivers' tally as close as it is, it will be a one-race shootout to see who will be named the 2008 Drivers' Champion."
The RTR boys head to the finale with Cunningham atop the Drivers' points standings, looking for his fifth title with the team which he founded. If he outscores his teammates but fails to win the race, he will become the second driver in four years to assemble a season filled with enough consistently-high results that he wins the championship without winning a race.
Wittmer has three wins here in his third season of Touring Car competition and sits second in the points, four behind Cunningham. Kleinubing has one victory of his own this year and runs third, 16 markers out of first.
The SPEED TV broadcast of the Mosport race airs this Wednesday, August 27 at Noon ET.
RealTime Racing Acura driver Pierre Kleinubing drove his TSX to a hard-fought second place finish at Road America, Round Eight of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED Touring Car Championship. This result netted an additional three markers over second place Mazda in the Manufacturers' Championship, with Acura now leading by 18 points, 69-51. If Acura can score at least one fourth place result in either of the final two races, it will secure its record-extending sixth Manufacturers' title.
Kleinubing qualified on the pole with a 98.376 mph lap around the famed 4.048-mile road course and led laps 1 thru 11 before being passed by BMW driver James Clay, who was only able to put a 1.5-second gap on Kleinubing when the checkered flag fell six laps later.
"This was the most exciting Touring Car race the series has seen in quite awhile," commented RTR team leader Peter Cunningham, whose fifth place finish keeps him in second place for the driving title. "The battles were ongoing throughout the field and no one knew where they would finish until the checkered flag fell."
Points leader Kuno Wittmer came into the weekend as the series' most recent race winner, but found out that was no guarantee of superiority. In Qualifying he led the pack out of the gate as the Touring Cars line up in points order. At a place like Road America however, that's not where you want to be, because being the benefactor of the 'draft' can shave your lap time substantially. After starting from the 11th position (This was the first time this year he qualified worse than sixth), Wittmer did his best to work his way to the front but got shuffled back in a restart fracas and had to settle for 10th.
Former RealTime regular Eric Curran pinch hit once again this weekend, for an absent Glenn Bocchino. Glenn instead focused his energies on his i-Moto Racing Grand Am Koni Challenge program that was competing in Iowa. Eric was quickly comfortable in the similar RSX machine that he had driven for three years for the RealTime squad, gridding the car in 10th. In that previously-mentioned skirmish on the restart, he chose the proper lane, allowing him to produce a sixth place finish.
Dino Crescentini was looking to improve on his 14th place starting point, but fell to 18th after an electrical gremlin under the hood forced his retirement before the 17 laps were completed.
So now, with eight of the ten rounds complete, an incredible battle is shaping up the Drivers' Championship, as three RealTime Acura drivers are in lockstep for the points lead. Wittmer maintains the top of the order with 765 markers, Cunningham runs second with 762, and Kleinubing's results here in Wisconsin moved him right back into the fray with 760. At no time in the 19-year history of the World Challenge has the fight for the title been so close this late in the season.
"This weekend was also special because we consider Road America our home track. We enjoyed spending time with more than 200 family members and friends of RealTime Racing." added Cunningham. "The weather was picture-perfect, and the support from our fans helped us perform at our best."
The SPEED TV broadcast of the Road America race airs Wednesday, August 20 at 1pm ET.
What an incredible weekend! Sebring holds a special place in my heart and this year was no different. The heart thumping finish of the GT2 class above says it all.
I was also on hand to proudly witness my brother-in-law Pierre Kleinubing battle his way to a third place finish in the World Challenge Touring Car season opener in his RTR Acura TSX. Congratulations Pierre! Here's to a repeat championship performance of last year.
The victory champagne also flowed for my friend Charlie Scardina who not only nailed the pole position for the IMSA GT3 Cup race but kept the field at bay to finish first. Best of luck to Charlie for the rest of the series. He may be as rookie but I know he'll do well.
This time of year is nirvana for racing fans here in Florida. We have world class concours seemingly every weekend and the racing season gets underway.
I was fortunate enough this past Saturday to catch the Ferrari Challenge down at our local track in Homestead. In addition to the Challenge race there was an incredible sea of Ferraris basking under the 80 degree sunshine with nary a cloud to be seen.
The highlight of the day was watching the F1 cars with my son. If you've never experienced F1 in person you need to add it to the short list of things to do before you die. It's guaranteed to send chills down your spine.
Another F1 season is finally upon us! Sadly Michael Schumacher will no longer dumbfound us with his brilliance but I look forward to see who will try to fill his nomex shoes.
The video above is from my favorite circuit Spa, which will be returning to the schedule this year.
