The Amazing 2011 Win Streak Of Brandon Davis

This season's designated NASCAR national championship division is back at the Toyota Speedway on Saturday night 5/21/2011 with young Brandon Davis on a roll and sporting a perfect 5-for-5 record in the Auto Club Late Models. Davis is pictured here answering questions at the Pirelli World Challenge Championship post race press conference - he won this race as well. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

The Amazing 2011 Win Streak Of Brandon Davis

Last night, 25 year old Brandon Davis won his sixth 2011 Southern California race in a row.

Davis easily won the 50-lap main event, his fifth consecutive victory in the NASCAR sanctioned Automobile Club of Southern California Late Model series races held at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale driving his Applied Computer Solutions No. 55 High Point Racing Chevy Monte Carlo .

"I did not think I could [win five consecutive 2011 series races] in my wildest dreams," Davis said. "Now that we've done it, let's see if we can make it six in a row."

Davis' victory tied an Irwindale record for most victories (5) to start the season in the series (Chris Holloway was second and Dylan Lupton third). In fact, Brandon Davis hasn't lost a race in the track's Automobile Club of Southern California Late Model series since last September, when he won the final points-paying race - so, bridging 2010 and 2011, Davis has won six in a row at Toyota Speedway.

Travis Irving, who plans on leaving the series competition (for, as he puts it ... political reasons) raced to a fifth place position after proclaiming at the beginning of the evening's NASCAR sactioned Automobile Club of Southern California Late Model series event, "We're going to have a little bit of fun and try to end one guy's (Brandon Davis') win streak. There are no other cars that can beat him."
(quote ht: pasadenastarnews.com)

Last month, Brandon Davis also notched a win in the only race he competed in the SCCA's Pirelli World Challenge GT Class series. This series features modified cars manufactured by Porsche (current manufacturer points leader), Cadillac, Volvo, Dodge Viper, and Corvette driven by as prestigious drivers as James Sofronas, Johnny O'Connell, and factory Porsche driver, Patrick Long. Davis, the 2009 Drivers’ Champion was making his first SCCA sanctioned Pirelli World Challenge start since a podium finish a season ago at Long Beach, started second in the No. 10 Applied Computer Solutions Express/Sun Micro Ford Mustang Cobra.

“It was great,” Davis said. “I’ve tried so hard in the Mustang to run up there the last few years. One of the issues we’ve always had with the Mustang is it’s been really hard on tires. It was one of those races that it just seemed like it was destiny. We started behind Pat Long and just assumed that we were going to be looking for who was coming from behind us because he had been so quick all weekend. Fortunately for us, he rolled on the start and went to the back."

"We started to see Sofronas [in another Porsche] coming late in the race and we were luckily able to hold him off, we got some help in traffic. Just coming back to Long Beach and getting the win, we’re very happy.”
(quotes ht: world-challenge.com)

The next opportunity for Brandon Davis to travel in from Henderson, Nevada (or Huntington Beach) to extend his streak comes next weekend on May 21, 2011 - Armed Forces Appreciation Night. Saturday night will also feature Echo Equipment Night Sponsored by USG $1 Hot Dog, $2 Beer, and a Seidners Collision Centers SKID PLATE RACE!!

... notes from The EDJE

Long Beach Is Prepped! ... "Let's Get Ready To R(copyright)!"

Media Luncheon driver group photo that included, Mike Conway, Ryan Briscoe, Will Power, Oliver Gavin, Justin and brother Stefan Wilson, James Jakes, Scott Sharp, Ed Brown Oriol Servia and Charlie Kimball in the roof. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011) Long Beach Is Prepped! ... "Let's Get Ready To R(copyright)!" The annual race through the streets of Long Beach has always been characterized as a rough and tumble street fight between drivers and cars. So please excuse us if we are reminded of a man, standing at the middle of a ring, with a microphone in his hand, making a loud announcement and using the word RUMBLE! The picture just seems to fit the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. From the E! style Toyota Pro/Celebrity Scion tCs battles, all of the way through Drifting exhibitions, the Pirelli World Challenge, the exotic Patron American Le Mans Series, to the open wheel excitement of IZOD IndyCar series racing rarely does a competition go down without a brutal contest and issues with a wall or another competitor. This what we come to expect from this rite of spring event here in the LA Basin - great weather, people lookin' racy and stylin' to the 9's, and tough time at the beginning of the race ... any race in turn #1! Will Power - Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011) Ryan Hunter-Raey - Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011) The talk from IndyCar drivers - specifically, Penske's Will Power (series points leader after 2 races), and Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Raey (defending Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach champion) centered around the new rule for IndyCar restarts implemented this season ... double file on all starts during the entire race. It was what was discussed most often during the TGPLB pre-event luncheon at the infield Tacate Lite Lounge yesterday. Paul Tracy will join a full 28 car field and run his first race of the season with the Jay Penske Dragon Racing Team. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011) In previous years, only the first start of the race had two rows side-by-side going into the hard left turn #1 after screaming down the wide and fast Shoreline Drive, soft right-turn, front straight. Speeds could reach over 170 mph just to be braked down to under 60 mph under ideal conditions - no other cars on one's left or right. So, after any full-course YELLOW Flag, the re-start of the race will be just as hazardous and exciting as the first start of the race with no romm to fudge in the first few turns with everyone looking to gain positions. Then there comes the ability to pass at the track. The Patron American Le Mans race last year saw Adrian Fernandez in his Aston Martin get passed by Simon Pagenaud in his Acura in the last laps which always keeps the excitement high. This excerpted and edited from autoblog.com - With six minutes to go, the race looked to belong to Fernandez. With 50 seconds left, the pair crossed the start/finish line for the final time. By the time they reached Turn 1, Adrian had powered ahead by a sizable amount. Through 2,3 and 4, though, Simon was right on his tail again. As the two entered Turn 5, Fernandez made an uncharacteristic slip and when he ran wide, Pagenaud slid through and into the lead. It briefly appeared that Fernandez would take it back in 6,7, or even 8, but by the time they hit slower traffic at the hairpin, Simon was still ahead. Could that big V12 outdrag the ARX-01c on the final blast to the checkers? Not this time. Pagenaud held on, taking the win by just 0.353 seconds. Reference Here The Dyson Racing, G-Oil, Mazda/Lola of the LMP1 classification in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. Image Credit: ALMS/Patron More about the Long Beach street course as seen by the Mazda/Lola Dyson Racing's Chris Dyson excerpted and edited from the ALMS - IN HIS OWN WORDS: CHRIS DYSON At Long Beach owning the LMP1 championship lead After finishing the 12 Hours of Sebring second among the American Le Mans Series LMP1 entries (and first in points), Chris Dyson gave his thoughts on Dyson Racing`s performance at Sebring, this weekend`s upcoming Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, and the start of a new season... The team is coming off a solid run at Sebring. How does that affect your confidence for the Long Beach race and for the season? It makes a huge difference for the season, to be honest. If there`s one lesson we`ve learned from our years in the ALMS, it is that you have to score week in and week out. Sebring is a bonus points event, so it`s critical to have a strong result. The team executed brilliantly all week at Sebring and that really sets the tone for the rest of the year. Best memory from Sebring? Midway through the event, I looked at the timing and scoring and we were running fourth overall with a car that was five seconds off the pace. I really chuckled at that, but it was no fluke. The faster cars were smashing into each other and going off into the tires, and our Mazda had just marched up the charts. Obviously, we couldn`t sustain it over the full race, but it did give us all some genuine pride in the quality of the team`s performance and strategy. You first ran Long Beach in 2005. Your thoughts on your very first lap of the track? I fell in love with Long Beach right away. It`s a great challenge. Most street circuits don`t really have long straightaways and good rhythm sections, but Long Beach is unique. Also, you really feel like you`re competing on a grand stage. The track is like a cavern slicing though a city, and the crowds are fantastic. The whole time it feels like you`re in a huge stadium. It`s an extra buzz and you find yourself digging deeper every lap. How much of an adjustment is there in a driver`s style going from the wide-open track at Sebring to the confines of a street race like Long Beach? You have to treat both tracks with equal respect. Sebring looks wide open but in reality there`s so little runoff, you can have a massive shunt before you even know what happened. Also, it`s the first race of the year and the last thing you want to do is jeopardize the team`s result in an enduro. Long Beach has Jersey barriers lining the track and that keeps you honest. You have to respect the limit at all times because Long Beach is entirely unforgiving. Blow the corner entry and pay the price. What is the best part of the Long Beach track? I really like the last section of corners before the Queen`s Hairpin. You come down the back straight and brake as late as you can, but you have to be careful of the bumps in the middle of the braking zone. Get greedy and your day will be over instantly. But if you get the entrance to that corner right, the car flows through the rest of the complex quite nicely. It`s a challenge every lap, and very important for lap time. Why does Long Beach posses such an iconic standing among street races? I think it`s mainly the venue itself and the great history of the event. If you look at a transformative event in a city`s history, the LBGP is certainly one of the biggest game- changers for Long Beach. The fact that it has run without interruption for over thirty-five years is a staggering accomplishment for a street race. Most come and go after only a few years. The longevity and the importance of the SoCal market means it`s the "city" race that every team and sponsor wants to win the most. The importance of qualifying at Long Beach vs. other tracks? Qualifying is very important at Long Beach, but the nature of the track still allows for passing and this means it`s not the do-all and end-all. The polesitter hasn`t won the race every year we`ve been here, and that says something about the place. Is Long Beach more of a measured strategy compared to others on the ALMS calendar? It`s a tough one because it`s an unusual race distance. At two hours, it`s the shortest race on the calendar and it`s the first time we`ve run the race over 90 minutes here. This is going to raise some interesting strategic points because fuel economy will be just as big of a factor as outright performance and arguably more so. Once the flag drops, it`s up to Vince (Wood) and Peter (Weston) to navigate Guy and I to the front! Last year you were elected to the Road Race Drivers Club at Long Beach. A highlight of the year for you? It was really cool-- an honor-- to join the RRDC. I had been pestering my dad for years about joining this "secret society" and he and Bob Leitzinger always used to laugh about that. All joking aside, the highlight of my year was finding out that we were having a baby girl! What kind of flavor does a race weekend have when we share the track with IndyCar? It`s enhanced. The turnout is always very good and the same kind of fans who watch IndyCars like ALMS, and vice versa. It`s always great to see our friends from the IndyCars, several of whom have competed in ALMS the past few years. Usually, we share the venues at classic stops on our tours, so the crowds are really into it. The car ran flawlessly at Sebring. Talk a little bit about the advances that have been done to the Mazda MZR-R engine, the Lola chassis and the Dunlop tires in the offseason. Engine-wise, the team ended 2010 on a very strong footing. The second half of last season reflected all the hard work and development efforts that AER had put into the Mazda MZR-R engine. It`s the smallest engine on the track, but you`d never know that based on the Mazda turbo`s performance. This offseason, the engine team has concentrated on maximizing the power and torque curves based on the 2011 regulations, which are quite a bit different than last year`s and which were finalized quite late in the day. On the Lola chassis front, over the winter, we focused on starting the season with the narrower, 2011 rear wing and understanding the effects this would have on the balance of the car. There`s less downforce, so this has meant that we have had to reconsider the mechanical setup, including the springs and shock absorbers. We worked very hard in the testing to regain the balance and make the car happy on the tires, which thanks to Dunlop have taken another step forward. We had a pretty short timescale to come up with a race-able package, but as always the DRT engineering team gave us a great car in the race at Sebring. There`s definitely some more to come with the car, but we`ve hit the ground running. This is a home race for Mazda with their corporate headquarters nearby. How does the addition of their enthusiastic fans affect the team and drivers? The SoCal tuning crowd really has lots of love for Mazda, and the paddock is always mobbed around our cars. It`s amazing how passionate the Mazda owners are about the brand! A recent Motor Trend article called Dyson Racing the `greenest entry" in the ALMS with biodegradable oil, G-OIL and bio-fuel isobutanol. How does this green message fit in with your view on the direction of racing and the ALMS? It`s a great fit and really a matter of perfect timing that we happened to align ourselves with "green" thinking companies as the ALMS was truly beginning to embrace Green Racing. I couldn`t be prouder of our partners. It`s an honor to be aligned with such a forward-thinking group at G-OIL, who recognize the ALMS as a terrific platform to showcase their wonderful product in the most demanding racing conditions. Likewise Mazda, whose 2.0 liter MZR-R turbo engine is a core engine for their road car platform, has leveraged the value of the ALMS program as a direct connection to the their own, cutting-edge showroom products. And we have been able to give the world debut to the isobutanol fuel, which is revolutionary. How many other racing platforms allow for such a broad array of technological freedom and innovation? Racing needs to be fast, exciting and dramatic. But it can also contribute some genuine good to the world through innovation. The ALMS has given us the opportunity to showcase some incredible technologies and spread our partners` messages in a thrilling environment. This year’s race will be telecast by ESPN2 from 5 to 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 17. Live video and radio coverage will be available on americanlemans.com and ESPN3.com starting at 7:15 p.m. ET/4:15 p.m. local time. Visit the American Le Mans Series` schedule page for information on tickets and area accommodations. (ht: ALMS by Patron) ... notes from The EDJE

PS: From the Editor, Round 3 of the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge Championships will be streamed live online at www.world-challengeTV.com on Sunday April 17, 7 pm Eastern/ 4 pm Pacific.

The Pirelli World Challenge at Long Beach presented by StopTech Round 3 race will be easily accessible to viewers around the world, and will feature audio play-by-play and color commentary from the voice of the series, Greg Creamer. Veteran race announcer Jim Martyn will work alongside Creamer on the broadcast. The race will also be available live to Droid phone users.

The online feed for Round 3 of the World Challenge Sports Car Wars season is scheduled to start at 7p.m. Eastern/ 4p.m. Pacific on Sunday, April 17.

And we need to get this series on real TV live, even on VS, better on Speed.
Dicken Wear, Editor-in-Chief

2011 LB Pro/Celebrity Media Day: Five Minutes With Patrick Long

TruSpeed Motorsports Director, Tyler Tadevic readies a race prepared Porsche with ALMS stickers. Able assistance for sticker application was provided by Erin Cechal, American Le Mans Series Director of Public Relations/Media Services. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

2011 Long Beach Pro/Celebrity Media Day: Five Minutes With Patrick Long

One might assume that it would be difficult to have a conversation with one of the more accomplished, yet under-publicized motorsports drivers of our era ... American born (actually Southern California born and bred) factory Porsche driver, Patrick Long.

Five minutes with Patrick Long leaves one with a strong and positive long-term memory of a person who is able to pursue & experience one's passion of mastering the art of driving an automobile in competition, establish strong interpersonal relationships at the pinnacle of performance, and make a difference in the context of this professional world on an international basis.

Audio Of Revealing Interview With Patrick Long, Here
(Patrick on World Challenge ride, open-wheel racing, general life issues)

Patrick Long gets ready to step into his office for the day giving rides around a track he has won at in the American Le Mans Series the previous two years. If he wins again (in any series) ... this threatens to bring a new meaning understanding to the name "Long Beach"! Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

All of this may sound daunting and hectic given the goals of winning and the demands of representing the technology and corporate agenda of an international sports car powerhouse that is Porsche, especially when one considers that Patrick remains the happy, relaxed yet focused and professional Southern Californian that he is, but to Patrick ... it is all part of a life lived fully and well.

At the 2011 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/Celebrity Media Day, a day about one and half weeks before the event and where the celebrities are able to get familiar with the track lay-out for the first time as the city shuts down public access to the streets, Patrick Long joined his newest competition effort in the World Challenge for 2011. Patrick has joined forces with TruSpeed Motorsports (part of TruSpeed Motorcars, and TruSpeed Motorwerks - Porsche Sales, Service, and Racing out of Costa Mesa) in its desire to field a two car Porsche team in competing the Pirelli World Challenge Championship.

TruSpeed is best known as the premier source for air-cooled Porsches in the United States. Founded by businessman and driver Rob Morgan in January of 2001, TruSpeed has delivered absolute satisfaction and superior service to more than 4,000 customers worldwide.

Patrick Long grabs his helmet as he gets ready to take another hot lap, with a passenger in tow, around the temporary street course that is the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach race track. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

Porsche, TruSpeed's founder and lead driver Rob Morgan, and TruSpeed's Motorsports Director, Tyler Tadevic are happy to have Patrick expand his competition awareness efforts outside of his primary Factory responsibilities of the American Le Mans Series and other corporate efforts ... as long as there remains no conflict on the Factory side. This TruSpeed Motorsports opportunity of teaming up with Rob Morgan fit the bill almost perfectly. Only one race, the Round 4 run at Miller Motorsports Park, Utah, would be effected with Patrick's absence. So far, Patrick has captured wins in Rounds 1 and 2 of the Pirelli World Challenge Championships from St. Petersberg ... and with 322 points, leads the driver championship by 89 points over the nearest competitor in the GT class.

This excerpted and edited from American Le Mans Series -

LONG BEACH VICTORIES TOUGH TO COME BY
List of multi-time winners is a short one

Since the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón first raced at the historic Long Beach circuit in 2007, multiple victories have been hard to come by.

Only one driver pairing in the last four seasons managed back-to-back class wins in the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach – Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long for Flying Lizard Motorsports and Porsche in 2009 and 2010. In addition, Corvette Racing’s Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin took GT1 victories in 2007 and 2009.

The only other competitors to win more than once at Long Beach are David Brabham (2008 LMP2 and 2010 overall) and Simon Pagenaud (2009 and 2010 overall). There are 12 previous Long Beach class winners entered for next week’s race. In contrast 17 drivers will make their first Long Beach start in the Series.

This year’s race will be telecast in its entirety on ESPN3.com starting at 7:15 p.m. ET/4:15 p.m. local time. ESPN2 will provide television coverage from 5 to 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 17. Visit the American Le Mans Series' schedule page for information on tickets and area accommodations.
Reference Here

Come the weekend of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (April 14-17, 2011), Patrick Long will be very busy doing what he feels he was born to do ... driving and promoting the expansion of the relationships he shares in the Porsche motorsports community by looking to notch his third victory in class for the Flying Lizards factory Porsche team with teammate Jorg Bergmeister and competing in his first season in the World Challenge with TruSpeed Motorsports with his own Porsche along side of teammate Rob Morgan.

Maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to win two Long Beach races during the same weekend in different series championships - if anyone can do it, Patrick Long can.

... notes from The EDJE