David Soares with Kevin Buckler on Daytona and Beyond

David Soares with Kevin Buckler on Daytona and Beyond

Houses of the Holy
On February 5 the sportscar season will get under way, as it has for many of us

for nearly 40 years, when the green flag drops on the Rolex 24 at Daytona. But in

a sport where the holiest of holiest remains the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the field of

29 Daytona Prototypes and 34 GT�s represents at best a schism within the faith.

Ask anyone (even the people who run them) and you�ll hear that the design

parameters laid down for the Daytona Prototype did not translate well from two

dimensions to three. There is no question that these cars are pretty ugly and the

euphemisms used to describe them range from the reptilian to the scatological.

Even a blunt instrument like the Riley & Scott Mk. III had a certain proportion and

stance that looked good in photographs and on the television screen. Rolex

Series supremo Roger Edmundson now tells us not to worry about the cars and

to focus on the drivers, but that�s never been a part of the sportscar faith.

With their power plants dumbed-down to a GT3 benchmark, the DP�s are also

disappointingly slow. They have been slow enough that the GT class had to be

limited in horsepower, fuel capacity, weight, and footprint so that the cars are little

faster (and in some cases slower) than the street cars they resemble. What�s

more, the cars that will sweep past the letters DAYTONA USA aren�t part of any

international championship formula. Some people are even suggesting that the

cars have turned the Rolex Series into little more than glorified club racing.

A mile wide and an inch deep�.
Many of the sportscar faithful are crying heresy and calling for a infatada against

the infidels who dare to race these scaled-down prototypes and eunuch GT�s.

Those who subscribe to the belief system that raises sportscar racing to the level

of religion believe that jihad must be made against the unbelievers. Is sportscar

racing worthy of such religious fervor? Are certain of us starting to sound like the

residents of Third World countries who can�t figure out why all the happy, rich, and

successful cultures in the world don�t subscribe to their version of the afterlife?

There are sixty-three cars entered for this year�s Rolex 24. There are a grand

total of ten entered so far for the ALMS Sebring test with four more (Dyson and

Corvette) scheduled to test privately the week after. Fourteen true believers.

Meanwhile, the sixty-three car Daytona entry has several Le Mans winners and

podium regulars in its ranks, including Derek Bell, Hurley Haywood, Guy Smith,

Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace, Stefan Johansson, Jorg Bergmeister, Kevin Buckler,

Jan Magnussen, and Oliver Gavin. Blasphemers? As the Chief Lama of this

monastery put so aptly in his January sermon: it�s time to get off the fence.

Before the faithful start planning ways to sneak box-cutters onto fully-fueled

heavies taking off from Miami and diverting them to Daytona Beach for a

rendezvous with paradise and six virgins, I�m going to suggest that everyone take

a step back and get in touch with why their $7,000 entry check didn�t go out to the

ACO again this year. All racing cars cost money. Lots and lots of money. People

with lots and lots of money need to map out why they�re spending their money and

how much of it they want to spend. Many of them will want value for their money.

They may all want to emulate Steve McQueen sauntering past the old pits and

strapping himself into his 240 mph sportscar, but the reality is that there aren�t

that many guaranteed Le Mans entries on this side of the pond. There are even

fewer when the same teams may win at Sebring, Petit Le Mans, and the ALMS

banquet in Monterey.

Most people in racing are different from my late friend Bob Soltau, who was

happy to spend a million of his own dollars a year to qualify at the back of the

CART grid. They want to make the Big Show and they want a shot at winning.

When I looked at the staggering number of entries that showed up for the Daytona

Test Days in January I decided to take a fresh look at the religion of sportscar

racing and wondered if it isn�t a religion at all. If in fact it isn�t a business. With

this goal in mind I decided to pay a visit to the Great Satan himself, Kevin Buckler,

founder and proprietor of the Racers Group in Sonoma, California.

Get Fuzzy�. Bucky bags the big ones
Kevin Buckler has one of those swell first-in-class trophies with the number �24�

on top that they give out at Le Mans in June. He was the darling of the faithful

when he showed up at the Rolex 24 in 2003, the first year the DP�s ran, and

cleaned house in a little Porsche GT3 RS as overall winner (after winning GT the

year before and staging a three-car Racers Group DAYTONA USA photo-op).

He�s been in the Porsche-prep business for a dozen years and has fielded two-

and three-car teams in both the ALMS and the Grand Am, racing in IMSA before

that. This guy has been walking the walk and talking the talk for years.

The day before Halloween Buckler delivered a trick-or-treat message: the

longtime Porsche stalwart would be fielding a two-car Daytona Prototype effort in

2005. Then he rubbed everyone�s face in it by teaming up with Tracy Krohn, Bill

Riley, and Pontiac power and showing up at the test days with two DP�s and six

GT�s. The team took a brand-new chassis and posted second fastest overall out

of the box plus fourth fastest in GT ahead of the 2004 series-champion PTG BMW

team.

Fruit of the vine�.
For a guy who is at the top of a management pyramid responsible for 12.5% of

this year�s Rolex field, Buckler was in a surprisingly relaxed and expansive mood

when I met with him (other than the fact that he was in his race shop on a

Saturday that was also his wife and business partner Debra�s birthday). We

began our meeting with Kevin pointing to a faded photo in a frame on his wall.

�That was the first professional race I won, an IMSA race here at Sears point in

�95. Of the 22 teams in that race only two are racing today.� He made it clear that

he didn�t build his business to lose money and that through the combination of

giving sponsors a friendly high-value package, funded drivers, and a thriving

Porsche club-racing business he has managed to stay in the black every year.

I want to show you just what my politics are�
Buckler also made it clear from the outset that his expanded GARRA program is

not about a conflict with IMSA or the ALMS. He is trying to put an ALMS program

together for 2005 and hopes to enter Sebring with at least one of the RSR�s

prominently displayed in his showroom. He has also sent in the hefty Le Mans

entry fee in hopes of securing a fourth consecutive invitation to la Sarthe for The

Racers Group. He waxes poetic about getting off a Trans-Atlantic flight in 2002

and driving straight to the track so that he could stand in front of the main

grandstand like Steve McQueen. Le Mans is in this man�s blood. The biggest

problem he faces is finding drivers and sponsors who don�t mind going up

against two factory-supported teams in the ALMS GT2 class.

The jump to DP and four GT entries was a logical evolution of the business

model he and his wife have developed over the past decade and Buckler defends

his decision strictly from a business perspective. Kevin Buckler started out like

many of us, having some fun at track days. Then he wanted to go a little faster

and worked out a coil-over set-up for his Porsche. People started asking how

come he wasn�t lifting his inside front wheel in Laguna Seca�s turn eleven and all

of a sudden he and wife Debra were in the coil-over conversion business. With

money coming in one thing lead to another and in 2002 he won the GT class at

both Daytona and Le Mans and the Porsche Cup.

Buckler�s organization, The Racers Group, is a conscious and logical

development of these club racing roots. Some knock TRG for being the world�s

largest arrive-and-drive outfit, but the results speak for themselves. The eight

(plus support of the Aussie Assault) Rolex 24 entries carry no primary sponsor

livery other than that of The Racers Group. When a funded driver joins forces with

Buckler he or she can be assured of first-class equipment and a first-class

experience. Kevin Buckler has made a conscious effort to keep a �club race� feel

in his paddock.

A Fistful of Drivers�.
Buckler points out that sportscars have always appealed to the wealthy hobbyist.

His business model is to provide drivers and sponsors with a complete package

for the weekend from car and crew graphics to catering and Kevin and Debra�s

Adobe Road wines. Buckler also has consciously tried to take advantage of

economies of scale: once a catering kitchen is in service the incremental cost of

more food is insignificant. If you�re going to feed 25 you might as well feed 250.

He�s also not been afraid to contract out when it makes sense. A few years ago

he shuttered his engine shop when it became clear that PMNA motors were more

cost-effective. The loss of control over engine building didn�t pencil-out compared

with the overhead.

Buckler credits his devotion to this �total package� to his success. When the

France organization approached him to inquire whether he might be interested in

making the jump to the Daytona Prototype ranks they made it clear that The

Racers Group promotes the �feel� that they want for their series. For better or

worse, sportscar racing cannot support full fields of professional drivers in

sponsored cars. Historically Daytona has featured large numbers of privately-

entered and funded cars driven by people who managed to scrape together the

money on their own. Why should they have to squat on dirty lawn chairs eating

canned chili and Pringles? Shared resources promote a more enjoyable

experience for drivers and sponsors. When Tracy Krohn called to congratulate

Buckler on his move to DP, the conversation likewise turned to how much Krohn

would like his own operation to feel like TRG. Kevin Buckler�s response was to

propose that Krohn�s operation be TRG! �I felt like I was at a similar precipice as

when I decided to run three cars at Daytona in 2002. I made the jump and things

just started falling into place.�

The Legitimate Theater
The decision to devote more resources to the Grand Am series wasn�t made

because of looks � it was made because it was a sound business decision.

Series participant SunTrust Bank offers teams up to 100% financing of their new

cars. The Racers Group�s number 66 on a Riley-Pontiac is as jarring at first

glance as Al Holbert�s number 14 on a DeKon Monza, but things worked out for

Porsche-man Holbert. Kevin Buckler�s eyes fill with fire when he says, �My

ultimate goal is to legitimize sportscar racing.�

There are twenty-nine Daytona Prototypes entered in the Rolex 24. Nearly all of

them are manned by name professional drivers, mostly legitimate road racers

and not ringers from NASCAR brought in to appeal to the ISC crowd. This field is

backed up by thirty-four GT entries, mostly Porsche GT3 Cups. PMNA actually ran

out of engines at the Test Days. Why have so many chosen to turn their backs on

the ACO rules?

Walker Percy goes south�.
Despite election year hype, the world economy and in particular the United

States economy is in poor shape. While corporate profits are up, corporate

investment and employment are down. Yanqui Dollars don�t buy much in the way

of European hardware or European racing. But, as Kevin Phillips pointed out in

his 2001 tome Wealth and Democracy, in bad times the wealthy tend to stay

wealthy while investment tends to go down. During the Great Depression and the

Second World War America�s wealthiest families chose lower-profile and lower-

risk ways to enjoy their wealth. Today wealthy individuals have a greater impact

on sportscar racing than corporate and particularly manufacturer investment.

A rules package designed to cater to high-tech machines developed by well-

financed manufacturers gives the most exciting cars. Unfortunately it depends on

the will of manufacturers to fund programs. Without these programs, racing

organizations must cater to individuals. The debate on whether a Riley-Pontiac or

an Audi R8 is the better sportscar is a non-starter, but if your goal is the

legitimization of sportscar racing is that even a question to be asking?

Motorsports's WPA
There are just three of the neo-turbopanzers slated to race worldwide in 2005. In

the six seasons since the R8 first appeared at and won the 12 Hours of Sebring

in 2000 nobody has built a legitimate competitor. Only VAG�s Bentley brand beat

the R8 in one of the true endurance events. Fighting amongst the family. The

Panoz LMP had a few good showings as has the Lola-AER/MG, but neither car

mounted a serious challenge in the big events; neither was fielded by a major

automobile manufacturer, only the Lola still races. The Brits are all worked up

about the near stillborn Reynard/Zytec/DBA but both cars that ran in 2004 looked

to have the usual Colonel Blimp fast-but-fragile air about them. How many R10�s

will Audi build in 2006, and who will be able to afford them? Will Audi�s

endurance dynasty survive Ferdinand Piech?

Where are the Pros from Dover ?
In the other sportscar classes, Corvette has been the only legitimate contender

over the years. Dave Richards� Prodrive has built competitive and furiously fast

cars but can�t find people with the budget to run them. GT has been a Porsche

parade on both sides of the Atlantic. BMW built a bridge too far and Ferrari has

never been serious about anything but Karting-with-Bernie. Grand Am�s Porsche

parade may be about to come to an end with the introduction of �Prep 2� cars

during the coming season, a formula that has more in common with JGTC cars

than the current FIA GT and ACO GT1 classes (isn�t Stephane Ratel in talks with

the JGTC people?).

If racing teams are to survive in the current economic environment, they need to

find a rules package that lets them tap into the money. Wealthy individuals still

want to go racing. Their goal isn�t to showcase technology as a marketing

exercise. They just want to go out and stomp on the accelerator and show their

friends a good time. Everybody wants to see an international championship

culminating in the big race in France every June, but that takes the kind of money

(Flying Lizards are rumored to have spent two million dollars last year to earn their

invitation this June) that�s particularly hard for individuals to float in these times.

If it is legitimacy that the faithful are seeking, then numbers have to mean

something. When Le Mans runners like Kevin Buckler and Jim Matthews join the

heretics we have to wonder if a reformation isn�t in order. Are DP�s the way?

When I ask Kevin Buckler he just smiles and says that he�s always been a GT

racer at heart. But when you look at the hired guns that aren�t in Audis all you see

are Corvettes, Aston Martins, and Maseratis. Until more of these programs are

under way, can we fault those in the business of racing if they want to tap in to a

program that keeps the lights on and the wrenches employed?

King Harvest
In 1930 the AAA Contest Board realized that Herbert Hoover was full of it and

acknowledged the Great Depression by dumping the Millers and Deusenbergs

that nobody could afford. They instituted a �junk formula� that assured the survival

of American championship racing. The cars were often built up from Studebakers

and Hudsons and sported riding mechanics and speeds much slower than the

pure racing cars of the Roaring Twenties, but they assured full fields and the

continuity of racing during some very lean years. The �junk formula�lasted until

1938, but it kept the business of racing alive through the world economic

collapse.

We need to park our car bombs and give credit to the reformation. It�s ugly, it�s

slow, it�s not fan-oriented (many of the races repeat the same ISC venues two and

three times) but it has to be acknowledged that there are a dozen DP�s and a

dozen GT�s that have a shot at class and overall wins at Daytona. Who can blame

people for wanting a shot at the podium? Isn�t sportscar racing a religion of

peace?

David Soares
February 2005