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Endangered Species

A friend of Murphy’s asked, “Is Jaguar an endangered species? At Sebring, the car smoked more than a hookah in Istanbul. This is not doing the Jaguar reputation for reliability any good.” The Bear asks, “What reputation?” Ok, there were the Castrol/Silk Cut and D types. But any more of this…

The Bear has heard not a few in the paddock are wondering how large a check Tata wrote to the ACO for the Rocketsports’ Le Mans invitation. Now Bill Riley is on board to do what he can before June. Murphy hears several team owners from the ALMS, GA, and IRL have made contact with Jag about taking over the program. The smart money is on a European operation that’s been talking to Tata HQ in India. The car will have to get to Le Mans, and then perform substantially better that it has thus far, or it will be a very quick exit for Rocketsports.

I’m Daniel Orr, and I’m a Grand Am Driver

Before Momentum Race Group’s transporter had even returned from Daytona, Daniel Orr and Jordon Musser had put together a contract that would see them in the AmSource Capital/Monster Graphix #06 Camaro GS.R for the entire 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race schedule. So wrote Momentum’s press flack in February.

That all ended in another one of those spectacular race-driver-arrested stories. Daniel J. Orr, 40, went into the Space Coast Credit Union branch in Palm Coast, Florida and tried to open an account with a $63,000 check, Flagler County sheriff’s spokeswoman Debra Johnson said.

A hold was put on the account until the check cleared, but it never did because officials from Wells Fargo Bank, where the check supposedly was issued, said the account number wasn’t valid.

Orr claimed the problem occurred because the account was dormant for a while, and returned a few days later with a second check for $65,000. When another hold was placed on the account, an unknown woman called and claimed to be the branch manager. She ordered the hold to be lifted, the report states.

Orr then cashed two checks, $400 each, before bank officials noticed the hold was lifted. “The investigation indicates that Mr. Orr has done this in other states and other areas in South Florida,” Sheriff Donald Fleming said in a statement. “He told bank officials that he had a significant amount of money in that account and wanted to move it to a local account so he could live off it, until he got his new found racing career going.”

 Orr was charged with two counts of grand theft and two counts of organized fraud to scheme. He remained at the Flagler County Inmate Facility on Wednesday on $45,000 bail.

Trophies by El Cheapo, Inc.

The Bear is hearing that the ALMS’ 2010 trophies are el cheapo specials of the kind your nine-year-old might get for Pinewood Derby “participation.” Another observer called them “a workshop project.” In one of the dumbest excuses for penury the Bear’s heard yet, someone at the series said they had to be “downsized so the Tequila girls could handle them.” So, get bigger and stronger girls. Besides, the girls don’t need to hand you the trophy; a hug and kiss will do. Let Hindy handle the hardware.

What’s Big Mac doin’?

The Bear hears McLaren and the ACO are in talks about something or other.

Abruzzi Explained

Tom Milner is designing – and will build – the race car in Winchester, Virginia. Danny and the boys at Elan will build some road cars so the race car meets homologation requirements. Elan Motorsports Technology is manufacturing some tooling and perhaps a bit of bodywork. Meanwhile, It’s the classic race car first strategy.

Where is Miller Barrett?

Miller Barrett Racing announced it would skip Grand Am’s Barber round – and perhaps more – because Grand Am rules, even with recent revisions, leave Porsche’s iconic 911 uncompetitive in its Cup form. Kevin Buckler’s TRG quickly followed suit, leaving just two second-tier-team 911’s in the Barber GT field. None of this will surprise the Bear’s readers, of course, since he told you last year that Porsche was cutting its support for Grand Am, and teams would naturally follow Weissach out the door.

However, that’s still not the whole story. As Murphy advised over Twitter last week, “Miller Barrett Racing won’t do Barber with its Porsche; read the Bear next week for where they’ll be and what they’ll be doing instead.” The clue to that (if Murphy’s sources are correct, of course) was in a little noticed line in the same Miller Barrett presser: “We understand that other rule adjustments are under consideration, and we respectfully await those decisions.”

While the rest of the Grand Am gang is at Barber, Miller Barrett will be at Road Atlanta testing a Porsche 911 Cup with a 3.8 liter RSR motor, the Bear’s been told. Rumor has it that Greg Loles snuck a 3.8 through tech at least twice last season, and TRG may have done so another time.

Why all the sturm und drang? Another line in that press release is telling: (Along with the unibody “Prep 1” Porsches , Grand Am allows) “modified production or tube-frame chassis (Prep 2). Although series rules attempt to equalize the different manufacturers’ cars, the Porsche has been uncompetitive against the new Prep 2 cars.”

Note the reference to “modified production…chassis.” Murphy bets y’all thought Prep 2 meant “tube frame.” It’s not that simple. It’s not against just the Mazda, but also the Corvette – a Prep 2 tube frame – on the pole at Homestead, and new “modified production chassis” waiting in the wings that Porsche teams know they will struggle with the engine-hanging-in-the-back 911, unless they get a “game changer.” The 3.8 RSR engine (and its transmission) is rumored to be that game changing “other rule adjustment under consideration.” Even if it is “a bit expensive,” Murphy said, with characteristic understatement.

Sebring Quote of the Year

A GT2 driver, “What is up with Jaguar?  Did Gentilozzi pack the car in the transporter following the Laguna Seca finale and then simply unload at Sebring in March of 2010?”

Sebring Quote of the Year, Runner-up

“What’s Don been spending his money on? Certainly not this track.”

Follow the Bear on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Murphythebear

Tags: Abruzzi, Barber Motorsports Park, Continental Tire Spors Car Challenge, Corvette, Daniel Orr, Flagler County Sheriff, Grand Am, Jaguar, Kevin Buckler, Mazda, McLaren, Miller Barrett Racing, Momentum Race Group, Panoz, Paul Gentilozzi, Porsche, Road Atlanta, Rocketsports Racing, Tata, Tom Milner, TRG

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Paddock Poop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.