I'm sorry if this is old news. I was randomly browsing on AIM tire's web site... and came across these bits in 2009 NASA 25 Hour Enduro:

- E2 class: Donny Edwards BMW E30 Spec car on TOYO R888 tires. Donny didn't win, but ran the ENTIRE race as the ONLY driver in the car! Total number of tires used? 1 new set and 2 very old USED sets (12 in all)

- Stephen DROVE THE ENTIRE 24 HOURS ALONE! AND WON THE E-2 CLASS!!!!

What's this? 25 Hour race with 1 driver. Not just finish, but WIN? Okay, never mind the endurance you need to race for 25 hours... What about eating some food for energy? (did these ppl have a open face helmet and ate a burger while still racing??!) What about bathroom breaks? I guess they got a tube hooked up??

ps, Whatever happened to the race track that Ron @ AIM was involved with. Like out in Tracy or something... any more updates on that track??

 

I thought there were mandatory driver changes? I'm sure he did stops and had a little time as others did driver changes more often.

 

That is old news, and was covered in GRM I think. Crazy stuff. I'm assuming exceptions were made for whatever reason.

 

found this via. google:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...e-notebook/P2/

Ironman Steve Gorriaran

While Mazda’s flagship effort featured a 25-driver lineup, another Miata made it to the checkered flag with a single driver completing the entire race. Steve Gorriaran not only drove for 25 hours straight, but came home a class winner at Thunderhill, all in his first attempt!

Gorriaran, piloting an E2-class 1999 Mazda Miata, completed 653 laps, just 37 laps shy of the previous overall distance record from 2006. The 2009 SCCA Spec Miata National Champion, entering his first NASA race, put on quite a show. So how did this racer from Providence, R.I. pull it off?
Steve Gorriaran at the wheel of the Gorilla Racing Mazda Miata. (John Dagys)

“I did it with these guys helping me,” Gorriaran said, pointing to his team, who drove five days straight from New England to get to Thunderhill. “It was pretty funny. When I met David [Delgenio] five years ago, I said to him, ‘You know, I always want to run a 24 hour race by myself.’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve run the 24 Hours of Mosport before by myself.’ We’ve always talked about and I said, ‘Lets go to Canada sometime and we’ll do one, and then he calls me up and says there’s a race we can do. We come out here and clear it with the guys at NASA, and they let us do it. Here we are.”

Gorriaran put his Gorilla Racing/Driven Performance/Racer Motors machine on the class pole, but elected to start from the rear of the field to stay out of trouble. That strategy appeared to be working, as the Miata stayed within the top three for the entire race.

During each pit stop, Gorriaran got out of the car for a quick bathroom break while the team refueled and changed tires. Delgenio estimated they lost about two and a half minutes during each stop, but nonetheless remained on the lead lap to the other class leaders.

A full-service pit stop came exactly halfway, where the team changed all four brake pads and gave Gorriaran some well deserved resting time, or not!

“There was one stop where we did the brakes and I ate dinner,” he said. “It was some wonderful cold chicken! They had a [street] car running [with the heat on] and the plan was for me to get into it and lay down for a little bit while they did the brakes. But by the time I got done with that freezing chicken, I flipped the seat down and was just about to lay down when one of the guys came over and said, ‘Ready to get back in the car?’”

That stop at the 12.5-hour mark dropped Gorriaran five laps down from the class-leading Miatacage.com Mazda Miata, but he slowly worked his way back up, thanks to a revised strategy of keeping him in the car during the pit stops to the end. After all, Gorriaran was getting stiff, and struggled climbing in and out of the car during each stop.
The Gorilla Racing team, along with "ironman" Steve Gorriaran, celebrates the the E2-class win. (John Dagys)

Utilizing a special funnel that drastically reduced refueling times, Gorriaran was able to creep back up the leader board and eventually retake the lead with three hours remaining. From there, he didn’t look back, and took the narrow win over the Miatacage.com entry.

“It was probably easier for me to stay awake then my guys,” he said. “I thought you’d zone out, but I felt sharp the whole time. My wife was shaking her head hoping I had the sense to stop once I got tired, but I never got tired! The only thing that [disappointed] me was that we had a problem with a wheel bearing at the end. We were going very slowly, and I really wanted to match my times from the start.”

While it was a one-man driving effort, Gorriaran was quick to praise his hard-working crew, who also stayed up for the entire 25 hours. Led by Driven Performance’s David Delgenio, David Woodle from DWW Motorsports and mechanics Shawn Dewey, Jonah Delgenio, Leos Kubic, David Loring and Dan Malek, the entire crew, plus Gorriaran of corse, deserves a huge pat on the back for what was truly an ironman effort.

So will Gorriaran attempt another 25-hour solo race next year?

“We talked about it beforehand, and I thought it was going to be more tiring to drive this car because we’re in the second slowest class,” Gorriaran said. “That meant that I kept getting blinded by the lights of the cars coming up behind me. When you’re attacking, you only look straight ahead. If you’re in a very fast car, it’s easier to judge traffic. I would do it again if we could win overall. It’s like all the things we do, I want to take the next step.”

And there you have it, straight from the ironman himself, Steve Gorriaran.

 

Didn't Steve Gorriaran do the same in a E3 Spec Miata?? And didn't he win his class as well?

Edit: Doh... a second too late

 

ps, Whatever happened to the race track that Ron @ AIM was involved with. Like out in Tracy or something... any more updates on that track??[/QUOTE]

Which track.. Altamont= Dead Riverside failed to get county approval to stay open.
There was talk of a multiuse track in Tracy but its only talk at this point.
There have been studies into see how it would impact the area but thats about it.

 

Ahh yes, Riverside was what I was thinking of. I guess it's dead dead dead. Altamont is dead as well? That sucks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Motorsports_Park

Although this link shows the CEO guy John Condren was a bit shady...

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2009/07...-park-ceo.html

 

He was the 3rd or 4th person to do it. I've been at the 25hour since 2003 and i remember every year there being some one doing it themselves.

 

I was at the 25 last year helping Kiwi..
The thought of having to drive 25 hours makes me cringe!
My hat is off to anyone who did it alone!
Thats pure punishment!

It would be nice to have a track near me but as long as i have lived out here the only place local was Altamont. Roundy Roundy stuff.
Its not too bad I tried it for a few weekends.
I am afraid its dead forever now.

 

I remember watching Donnie hopping out of the driver's seat, grabbing the fuel can and start fueling his car...I was still in my suit from fueling the car I was with and ran over to help him. Donnie even took at ~20 minute break to go get a massage in the middle of the race. Good guy.

 

To finish by yourself is quite an accomplishment already but to win... in a class of 12 drivers and with a few teams highly experienced and well prepared is quite amazing. I'd say a one of the top accomplishment of 2009, if not ever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Raceway_Park

hmm, so I guess the reason Altamont closed was because it was under RMP management in after 2006? wiki says it officially closed on Oct. 2008. no other management tried to revive it?

 

Found a good read on Altamont's troubled past on San Francisco Chronicle. Notably: "The track has burned through nine ownership groups in all. The original owner sold it after three years."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...pe=newsbayarea


R.I.P. Altamont Raceway

David White, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle May 24, 2009 09:27 PM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Lance Iversen / The Chronicle

A warm harsh wind cuts through the abandoned, or no-longer-in-use Altamont Motorsports Park in Tracy Ca Thursday, May 21, 2009.

(05-24) 21:27 PDT -- Altamont Speedway has died its thousandth death, and no one bothered to show up for the funeral.

It was too sun-baked by day for auto racers in their fireproofed suits, too wind-blasted by night for fans in their layered hoodies, and too noisy on weekends for a few lawyered-up neighbors.

With no proper sendoff, the half-mile track, perched on the back side of Altamont pass, shut down some time after the 2008 season ended in October. The last oval, asphalt track in the Bay Area is closed for the sixth time in its 43 years, and many think this could be the once and for all of it.

"It's the curse of Altamont," said former track promoter Kenny Shepherd. "I wouldn't call it a surprise. It's more a shame."

A shame, Shepherd said, because Altamont Speedway sits in the dark and cold on Memorial Day weekend. This is the most celebrated holiday of the racing calendar, from the Indy 500 to the little big shows at small tracks across America.

Aside from the wandering horses and wild squirrels, all that raced within Altamont's property lines Saturday was loose foxtails and tumbleweed in the 30-mile per hour gusts.

Its current owners hope to get a new use permit and restart the track, possibly by next season. Anyone who knows anything about its long history of false starts and colossal failures share the same plea: Let the dead be.

"I don't think anyone can make this place work," said Ken Clapp, a NASCAR senior consultant who oversaw its western operations for 25 years. "It has always been a nightmare."

Alternate tracks

Doff Cooksey Jr. has a goatee hanging off his chin, tobacco chew sticking in his teeth and a mean streak flying out of his 21-year-old mouth.

He towed his late-model Chevy from Brentwood to Stockton 99 Speedway on Saturday fixing to break even with a $1,500 winner's check. Fifteen hours later, all he had to show for an eighth-place finish was a $350 payday and $500 in damages after 150 laps of paint-exchange racing.

The sides are scraped. The front end is busted. And now, he's got to load up the bent mobile for a midnight run back to Brentwood, almost an hour away if his trailer catches the green lights on crooked Highway 4.

"I'm glad to have a good place to race, but I'd rather be at Altamont," Cooksey said. "I love racing to death but I can't be traveling every weekend, not in this economy."

Altamont Speedway was his hometrack, just 20 minutes from his house. Cooksey started racing there as a 13-year-old. At age 20, he finished second out of 25 regular drivers in last year's late-model standings. Every race is a haul now. Altamont It was the last Bay Area track left on the oval asphalt circuit. San Jose Speedway died in 1977. Oakland Speedway went away in 1954.

All that's left locally are dirt tracks in Antioch, Calistoga and Petaluma. Infineon Raceway has a drag-race program and brings in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series for a road race once a year.

But, for those interested in NASCAR's signature style of racing - left turns on asphalt - the closest options are in Stockton, Roseville and Madera.

Only five of Altamont's 25 late-model drivers are known to still be racing on a regular basis. If Altamont is dead indeed, it's taking a crop of Bay Area race teams with it.

"There's just nothing left for us in the Bay," said Doff Cooksey Sr., who runs a helicopter spraying business. "I can't be doing this all the time like I used to. We work seasonally seven days a week. I gotta get up for work at 4:30 Sunday morning."

The Cooksey family thinks re-opening Altamont would save NASCAR racing in Northern California. Those who tried to run the track wonder why.

'Trying to figure it out'

Kenny Shepherd thought he would make things different when he was named track president and general manager in 2006. They all do when they buy into Altamont Speedway.

"When I got up there, some of the older guys told me to stay away, it's cursed," Shepherd said. "I knew going in it was a nightmare. and the odds were so big against us. I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out."

The track itself is considered fantastic. The surface is as fast as the straightaways are long. Smaller tracks are like bullrings, where the winners are those who best avoid the pileups. Altamont runs more like a sprint to the finish with elbow room.

Too bad everything else makes it such a miserable place.

No one seems to know why, but the original owner built the track in the howling center of the Altamont Pass wind corridor. The later it gets, the stiffer the breeze and colder the night.

"They put them windmills on those hills for a reason," current track president Jeff Macey said.

The restrooms were rank no matter how hard the cleaning crew scrubbed. The water in the local well had too much sulfur, giving it the aroma of rotten eggs.

"I've never seen anything like it," Ken Clapp said. He's run some 4,150 single-day shows at 18 race tracks. He was Altamont's promoter for a brief time in 1973.

"It was always something. Grass fires, traffic jams, power failures were imminent. The losses were huge. For every home run, there were 99 failures. I can easily count $12 million that's been lost there and I think it's probably a bigger number than that."

Yet, new owners keep diving in, convinced they can be the ones to turn the track around. The track has burned through nine ownership groups in all. The original owner sold it after three years.

The next in line rented the place out for the "Woodstock of the West" concert featuring the Rolling Stone in December 1969. A crowd of 300,000 trashed the place beyond use. A teenager was stabbed to death by a Hells Angels security guard. Racing did not return for three years.

"You talk to all the operators and it's the same thing," Shepherd said. "It's a piece of Bay Area property. How can I lose on it? Somehow, someway, they all end up losing."

Current co-owner Mel Andrews wonders why he never got the message.

Millions lost

Andrews is a Southern Californian who invests money for a living and races vintage cars as a hobby.

He wanted to get into track ownership. In 2006, he bought into Altamont as a lead investor in Lakeside Motorsports-Altamont, LLC. He's been losing money ever since, more than he cares to disclose.

"I probably was not aware of the history that it had," Andrews said. "The people that were the lead in running this either weren't aware of it or they weren't as forthright as I would wish they'd be." I kept putting more money into it, so I became a much bigger investor than I had ever dreamed.

"Given what I know now about its history, I would not have gotten involved."

Truth is, no one could have seen what was around the turn.

The group spent $1.8 million in upgrades to a track that was dormant from 2002-05. It operated under a conditional user permit from Alameda County, but it expired in 2006.

The renewal process took on a death of its own.

A new neighbor brought complaints and land-use lawsuits against the track because of the weekly noise. The state Department of Fish and Game held up the track's environmental impact report because the proposed project - adding a sign, awning and caretakers' house - could endanger the San Joaquin kit fox and California tiger salamander.

The county allowed the track to operate last year with restrictions. Races could only run during the day and had to end before nightfall. Current track president Jeff Macey said those rules "strangled" them.

"It's hard enough to get people out there to start with," Macey said. "Then to get them to come there in the heat of the day? That really hurt our fan base."

With the restrictions the county put on us, there was absolutely no way we could be functional as far as making a profit."

That's why the track is closed today. Big events always drew big crowds at Altamont, especially on Memorial Day weekend, but they were never enough to outweigh the weekly overhead of a full season.

"As much as it seems a shame to have it sit there empty," Andrews said, "it's better than having to write a check every month to cover the losses."

Racing teams impacted

Jeff Macey has been in auto racing for 35 years as a mechanic, driver, builder, owner and track manager. He remains president and general manager of Altamont Speedway, but he couldn't just sit and wait to see if racing comes back.

So, he took the job of competition director at All-American Speedway in Roseville, where he oversees large car fields and even larger crowds just outside Sacramento.

Macey is using the same formula he had at Altamont: take care of the drivers, bring in big events, and make it affordable for the fans. It turns out, the formula works just fine.

"It must be working because the grandstands are packed and we've got great car counts," Macey said. "Altamont always had its own set of problems. What has there been, how many owners? That tells you it's never been totally successful. If it had been, someone would have kept it for a long time."

Shepherd, too, is enjoying post-Altamont success. He took over a closed-down Madera Speedway in 2007 and brought it back to life. This year, he has Chowchilla Speedway back in operation.

"The same business model I'm using here just did not work at Altamont," Shepherd said. "No matter what you do, you can't get crowds out there."

Perhaps they can draw fans some of the time, and maybe that's how asphalt racing can return to the Bay Area.

One idea Andrews has is to re-open the track on a part-time basis with perhaps one big race per month. That, or sell the place to someone who wants a personal track to play in.

For now, he's focused on getting through the permit process with the county while pushing forward plans to build a road course and motorcycle park in Tracy.

Shepherd thinks he has the best idea of all, if only it were possible.

"If we could move Altamont race track, pick it up and slide it down the mountain in either direction, it would be an absolute home run," Shepherd said. "Even if you take away the political and neighbor pressure out of the equation, I still don't think it makes it financially because of where it sits.

"That's just a tough place to be."

E-mail David White at dwhite@sfchronicle.com.

 

The bad part is .. with the last upgrade to the track the 1.8 million spent, they provisioned for a road course in and around the track itself.
Too bad nobody really got to run on it.
I tried to test it out one weekend after running my shifter kart out at Atwater.
Kenny Sheperd was there and let me wander the course.
It was the day they laid new asphalt and the steam rollers were still flattening the surface.
Kart was there and i was ready to hit the track... but...they couldn't let me.
I think with the proper permitting and allowed night time use. it could be nice again.
When i first moved to Tracy they used to run a full slate each weekend. That was before the upgrades and adequate lighting was put in.
Nice place to go catch some racing and have fun.
Thank that monkey who built his dream home off of 580 across from the track that can be seen from the freeway for killing motorsports here.
BTW its rumored that he owns the motor cross track next to the Altamont, and has been trying to grab that property for years.

 

The last upgrade was $1.8 mil? Maybe RMP did do something right after all. If that's really the case then I hope Altamond makes a come back.