I would run the Ford, it's already built and ready to run. Grand Am wants American cars to win..........
Hi Guys . . . on my way to Daytona. The real 197 WILL be back for Barber in March. It's still being rebuilt after the crash at Mid-Ohio last year. It was hard to get a replacement tub. It's 75% done right now. We will still run 4 Mini's for the 2012 season. We are running a Honda at Daytona. We may run 5 cars the rest of the season. We have no plans to leave Mini at this time but support for 2012 has been rolled back. Racing is a business for RSR. We all love the Mini's and there is nothing I would like better than to continue with the Marque. . . But, it's hard enough to race WITH factory support. It's darn near impossible without it. Stay loyal! We value your support very much. Randy
Great news, Randy! I flew up to Mid-Ohio for the race last year and saw the 197 car after the race. There was definitely plenty of work to be done to fix that up! It is disappointing to hear that MINIs support has been rolled back for 2012, however. Maybe there's something we, the MINI community, can do to encourage MINI to be more supportive. Any suggestions? I'll be driving over to Daytona this Friday for the race and will be parking in the MINI corral. Hopefully I'll get to meet some of you guys. I'm sure the other MINI owners from Sunshine MINIs would enjoy that as well. By the way, might you have some RSR t-shirts for sale there? I'd love to buy one to support the team. Either way, good luck! Blaine
Randy maybe you can use that Civic as a designated hitter on the Kia's.... :devil: We may be bitchin a bit, but we are still with you.
An EXCELLENT question!... That I don't know the answer to right now. I'll try to figure that out and let you guys know. Agreed... If I'm upset with anyone, it's MINI for not providing support for the only major race series MINI participates in here in the US.
Randy, thanks for stopping in and giving us an update. I agree with the others that you still have my support. You and your team have always been very nice when I've stopped by at Mid-Ohio.
I echo Blaine's overture of support. There must be a few things we can do as a community of MINI enthusiasts that would send a clear message to MINI USA. Time to put the thinking caps on...
I'm still a very strong supporter of RSR and Randy in particular. It's MINIUSA that torques me. (smidget I can't eat any MORE bacon )
Qualifying was run this afternoon. RSR's result: 12th -- #197 (the Honda) -- Puskar / Smalley / Trinkler 20th -- #198 -- Fergus / Gimple 23rd -- #195 -- Conway / Smalley 25th -- #196 -- Farmer / Hart Unfortunately the top two qualifiers in ST were Kias... :frown2: Also of note, the #63 BMW 128i piloted by Sarah Cattaneo and ? Kanavas qualified 30th in ST. ----------- The race starts tomorrow (27 Jan) at 1:30pm ET.
I just read Speed are going to show this race live.....but only on Speed2.com. You can check the website to see whether your provider is on the list (mine isn't, no surprise to me). Race starts in less than 10 minutes.
The race is over but you'll get no spoilers from me! If you don't want to wait for an official announcement or for the broadcast next week, here's a link to the Results page.
I don't think there is a spoiler here, but I am not sure. You have been warned. Found some pictures from Daytona... 2012 Rolex24 Thursday - a set on Flickr 2012 Rolex24 Friday - a set on Flickr
Looks like the other RSR Mini is spoilerless as well. wonder why that decision was made. Not like the OEM one has a function I guess.