October 3rd, 2006
Text and pictures by Ismael "the Corvette guy" Gonzalez
The ALMS (American Le Mans Series) is a racing series affiliated to IMSA (International Motorsports Association). They race 4 categories of cars, based on those raced in the famous 24 hour of Le Mans race (Hence the name). There are 4 categories of race cars in the series, all competing at the same time. The categories are: LMP1 and LMP2 for prototype purpose built race cars and GT1 and GT2 for production based race cars. The C6-R Corvettes compete in the GT1 category. The series consist of 11 races, for driver's, manufacturer's, team and pit crew championships in all 4 categories.
I had the opportunity to go to the 10th race of the 2006 season: the Petit Le Mans race in Road Atlanta. This is an endurance race of 1000 miles or 10 hours, whichever comes first. Only the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring races are longer.
I was blessed with the opportunity of not only going to the event, but also to meet a lot of important personalities and be part of the GM racing team as a Sponsor employee.
As an ambassador to our hobby, I also gave away some ScaleCorvettes.com souvenirs.
Here are some pictures of the fine people I met in the best car weekend I've ever had:
David Palmeter from Indiana: Long time cyber-friend and contributor to
www.ScaleCorvettes.com He is a
passionate expert in all things Corvette and has a nice website:
www.Palmeter.com We are posing in
front of his beautiful 2001 C5. It was a real pleasure to meet David and
his wife Judy. Truly first class people.
From left to right: Me, Johnny O'Connell after winning the pole for the GT1
category and my friend "No Way" Jose. Jose's Magnetic Red C6 in the back
was my taxi for the weekend :)
Will Cooksey. Plant manager of the Bowling Green assembly plant,
birthplace of all Corvettes since 1981. He was kind enough to sign
autographs and we talked for a while on several occasions.
Ron Fellows: One of my favorite race car drivers of all time. This picture
was after the Speed GT Challenge race on Friday, where he drove a Cadillac CTS-V
to a podium finish. He has been part of the Corvette racing team since day
one, having doing testing and help in the development of the first C5-R
back in 1999. He also scored the first C5-R victory in 2000 and holds the record
of most career wins in GTS/GT1 in ALMS with 24.
This is me inside the trailer. They insisted on me taking a $25,000 Titanium 6
piston quick change caliper as a souvenir, but I graciously declined (yeah
right)
"Testing, one, two, three. Can you hear me?" " go go go go go go! watch
your pit speed, easy, easy, go go go go go go go go"
Kristin Anderson. She treated us like royalty and was my personal escort
to the hot pits....... wohoooo!
Sally Carrera: Now, how many can claim to have met and take a picture with this
hot Hollywood star?
Frank Parker: The communications guru of the Corvette Racing team. What a
nice guy! He ensures that drivers, pit crew and the whole team communicate
constantly, not only throughout the race but all the time. He was
kind enough to loan us 2 radios so we could listen into the action first hand.
Yes it fits! (barely) This was the suit I had to use to go the hot
pits during the race. Yes, HOT PITS as in the actual race. I
would have made even a small size suit fit. I wouldn't miss that opportunity in
my life.
Olivier Beretta. Driver of the #3 Corvette. The podium finish puts
him and Oliver Gavin at the lead of the championship points.
At the starting grid. Yes, I talked to her. Yes, I kissed her. It's a SHE.
NOT HE, NOT IT. OK? Is that clear?
Bruce Melnick. Astronaut of 2 Shuttle missions to space. He is used
to the space shuttle power. So his 2007 Velocity Yellow Z06 should keep him
happy :)
Gary Pratt: Co-founder of Pratt & Miller, the magicians who made Corvette Racing
a reality.
Doug Fehan. The Doctor. Simply put, Corvette Racing project manager. THE
BOSS. He chased me down for a picture with me. (yeah right!)
After the dust settled in the track, Corvette #4 was in the podium with a 3rd
place finish.
Dave Hill: The Maestro. If you know anything about Corvettes, you know
this name. Corvette Chief Engineer since 1992. The guy responsible for the
C5, C6 and making the Corvette what it is today. He recently retired after
serving in GM since 1965.
Of course he needed a "surface" to sign the autograph :)
Wooh, After an exhausting driving stint (yeah right, dream on)
Tom Hnatiw. Track announcer and star of Dream Car Garage TV show.
And to make a perfect weekend even better, I met with Bob Downey (behind me),
Wayne (sitting), Henry (behind Bob) and the rest of the ACME model club gang.
As per request of some members, the location, time and circumstances of this
picture shall remain a secret :)
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