John Dagys has been the topic of an almsfanforum thread of late. Some of it runs along the lines of “lucky guy.” Luck? Murphy’s furry backside! Young as he his, John Dagys worked his tail off to get the gig the forum numpties (that rather descriptive word coined by an anonymous “industry observer” who the Bear claims as a friend) dream of. Anyway, John was haunting media rooms writing – on his own nickel – for an independent website (The-Paddock.net, in which he was a partner and the chief editor) while still a journalism student at Columbia College, Chicago.

John started covering the American Le Mans Series in 2005, as a freshman, and started at Speed.com in 2009, the same year he graduated with his journalism degree. In between he slaved over PR releases to keep himself fed while getting paid next to nothing at web publications  in the “mainstream” of sports car racing coverage (“mainstream” in the sports car media world means little noticed, and rarely read, of course).

You wienies want to get a gig like John’s? It’s easy, just learn to write (Ha!), spend a half decade mostly paying your own way , and plan to keep having to supplement your income trying to make the owner of Level 5 look good. (If there’s any measure of genius, that might be it. Of course, it didn’t hurt he practiced with Intersport, another tough nut.) [Edit: Murphy 's told that John does not do PR work for Level 5 or its owner.] After yesterday, stick a fork in the Scott Tucker thing – it’s done.

Murphy’s been there, done that (including the PR articles tagged as “team reports” that once included Intersport, but that’s another story). It got really, really old. As for John, the Bear thinks he’s doing a great job under the circumstances. And Murphy believes what Mr. Dagys writes, too…except for when it’s about Mr. Tucker, of course.

On Lotus AJR

Alex’s racing BFF once told the Bear. “The best sponsor you can have is the manufacturer.” Alex Job Racing is a much better team than Rocketsports Racing. All you would have had to do is walk the paddock and look – really look – at the cars and the work area to see that. Want to know the secret to racing? Given a reasonably competitive car – admittedly that’s in doubt for the Evora – it’s attention to detail. Alex will do just fine.

And if he doesn’t? Some of the forum numpties will write “he should have stayed with Porsche,” proving once again they have no understanding of this sport at all. As Murphy’s friend “Reality Slap” wrote, Alex is in business. Drivers, sponsors (including the manufacturer) paid Alex to race the Evora. What are he and Holly supposed to do?” Starve? Of course not. They’ll take on the challenge, and (you read it here) do much better than Rocketsports did with the Jaguar. Why? Have you ever looked at an Alex Job prepared car? Then at a Rocketsports prepared car? Case closed.

News Flash

You want the definition of really, really big news? Even bigger than “FTC Accuses Scott Tucker of being a Rip-Off Artist?”  This headline might make it in our sport: “Jim France Fields ALMS Team.” That’s what you’d have if Action Express were to run in the ALMS, so yes, that would “rate a laugh or two” as a regular posted in the almsfanforum.

On Dope

Back in January 2007 a driver named Luca Moro was given a two-year FIA suspension for a positive drug test. Two months later, at Sebring, a driver named Luciano da Silva led three laps in GT2. Wink, wink.  An entry is an entry, isn’t it? Do you really need to know anything else about this sport?

No Soup for You

Who remembers the guy who pulled the scam on Cosworth, ordering their engines for an LMP1, then ordering a pair of prototypes from Lola (all a big mistake, to hear him tell it)? Well, lately, he’s sort of back. “Sort of” because the scam isn’t on builders, it’s on fans – the few of you who you read Murphy, anyway.

A while back, Mr. Malooley started posting in the Bear’s comments as “Clay.” Not long after, Murphy began a correspondence with the estimable Mr. Malooley, who (nothing new here) was perfectly happy to talk about his plans for a two-car prototype team. It didn’t work out for 2011, of course, but there was to be a “rented car” (Enterprise will pick you up!) for “a very limited ALMS and LMS program in 2012.” That bit followed teases about meetings and conference calls, hiring crew, and locating shops. None of which can be verified, of course. Most recently, Clay writes in comments to the Bear’s 198 that “the program (will use) an America car, engine, and driver package.” Yadda, yadda, this has been going on for too long.

Murphy never bought Clay’s BS. Really, who would? (Don’t answer that!) And really, would the Bear, very closely associated with the exposure of the Solaroli-CET scam? Who was right there reporting Greg Loles’ demise in the sports’ press? Daily SportsCar was the first to name Clay (good for them, makes up a bit for hanging on so long lapping up Solo Al’s crooked bullshit), way back when he was placing faux orders with engine builders and chassis constructors. But Murphy figured he’d see where this was going. Well, it’s been going nowhere except to more tall tales, it seems. All wrapped in sworn to secrecy by the wealthy big-name sponsors, and always meetings and delays, meetings and delays – and market studies and surveys. Finally it’s time for the Bear to say, “Move along, there’s nothing here to see.” After posting that his yet-unseen  racing operation was working with NASA, Clay followed up with this post:

“We believe the amount of technology available and the fact we are based on the Space Coast will be invaluable. Several companies have offered their assistance in a number of ways. Some of the technology and materials that we have seen is beyond anything currently being used in motorsports. It may help us down the road.”

Geez, what crap.

Murphy will give this little episode a wrap by simply saying, the Bear doesn’t believe it. Not one word. You can read the whole story by reading through the “Comments” at the end of each Paddock Poop over the past six months or so.

On Pretenders

Continuing with our theme, the list of pretenders is pretty long, isn’t it? There was Reg and the gang over at Signature (not much of a gang, of course, since there’s no one there we know of beyond Reg and Matt). That one’s kind of like Clay’s latest, just an April Fool’s trick (carried on for months) on the fan community, both the gullible kind and the sycophant kind (for some of you forum followers, that word means ass-kissers – ok, to be a bit more kind, we’ll call it hero worship). The Bear figures that other than time wasted writing gushingly hopeful posts in forums, there’s no big harm in scamming the fans. Hell, the series has been doing it for years, hasn’t it? ACO leading the way struggling year-after-year to “balance performance” between gasoline and diesel power. Wink, wink. ALMS inadvertently let that cat out of the bag in 2007, didn’t it?

On Real Crooks

Remember the Rands? Murphy wrote this last September.

“Gregory Keith Rand, aka “Greg Rand,” 46, and William Nicholas Rand, aka “Bill Rand,” 41, both of Dallas, were sentenced on July 27th to federal prison terms of 18 years and 14 years, respectively, for fraud. Their father, William Anthony Rand, aka “Tony Rand,” 69, of Plano, was sentenced to five and one-half years in federal prison. In addition, the defendants were ordered to pay $99,707,758 in restitution and forfeit numerous pieces of personal property to the government, including real estate, boats and other personal water craft, luxury vehicles, artwork, including an original Picasso, furniture, antiques, musical instruments, jade, expensive jewelry and wine. Greg Rand was remanded into custody; the others will be allowed to report to the Bureau of Prisons at a later date. The forfeited property will be sold by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Rand Racing contested Grand Am in 2001 and 2002 in SRP II. And yes, some who worked for them were screwed, even after winning judgments against the crooks, when the Rands stripped the assets out of Rand Racing. Among many who worked for this criminal family were Thomas Blam, Risi Competizione, Jeff Braun, Anthony Lazzaro, Nic Johnson, Marino Franchitti, and Ralf Kelleners. How many were stiffed? One for sure, who told Murphy “ I sued and won, but Bill mothballed the team until the statute of limitations ran out, so no restitution here.”
This little note from Murphy is for the superfans who want their heroes to be left alone. The moral of this story is, “sooner or later the Feds will get you,” and, the crooks in our sport hurt real people. Ever since John Dillinger, we can believe if the IRS is in the hunt, something is not right. And what if the next felony will be the third?”

Is there a Theme Here?

Dah! Wink, wink. Today’s theme is crooks, and the Crook de Jour is Ferrari Test Driver Scott Tucker, the Boss’ BFF (or so Murphy’s been told). If you really want to know what Tucker thinks of you rubes out there, just figure he thinks you’ll believe that test driver crap. Ole Scott has the FTC on his ass, and Murphy was on the wire last night with his friends, including the Hunting Dawg, parsing the long-expected news. You didn’t really believe ole Scotty boy would get away with that scam forever, did you? The Bear didn’t, and he said so, many times.

It’s just another in a long line of crooks who think sports car racing will be a fun place to launder their ill-gotten gains.

Another example is the felon who’s son owns the Ohio sports car racing team. Wink, wink. The IRS has finally put that build-and-close, dump-and-run-in-the-middle-of-the-night operation out of its misery. But back to Tucker and his Rent-a-Tribe operation. He seems really to have believed that would keep his consumer loan scam out of the reach of the law.

Someone over in the ALMS fan forum actually thought he was being funny when he asked the Hunting Dawg if he was taking legal advice from the Bear…only to eat his words a few posts later. You want a clue? A case with which Murphy is quite, ah, intimately acquainted is actually cited in the FTC-Tucker Federal Court filing. And the Bear knows that case chapter, verse and seizure. So padlocks it is for Level 5…and its assets, and that might extend beyond Level 5 into the ALMS grid. Don’t give Murphy any of that “innocent until proven..” crap, either. This is the FTC, the SEC, the IRS. They seize it and ask questions later.

It almost extended even further, because Tucker’s BFF (the bald one aka “The Boss”) had been wandering around the paddock for a long time looking for a buyer for the series, almost pleading with those he thought might be well-heeled enough to bail him out from under “The Don,” who of course had long since lost interest in the whole shebang. (Abruzzi, tracks for sale, DeltaWang, what else do you need to know?)

He thought he had that done with Tucker when the deal had to be set aside in last year’s spike in bad publicity for the Kansas City scammer. (Murphy says you’re welcome.) But the Bear’s sources say that wasn’t the end of it. The rumored “investment” by Tucker and his Level 5 team in other operations and entrants has been a holding pattern to find the right time to take over the rest. (And it’s a little more cash laundered, isn’t it?) Murphy can’t prove that, it’s rumor only, but now it’s irrelevant, isn’t it?

BTW. Someone said the Tucker’s Level 5 had made some big commitment/contribution to ALMS. Really? Got pissed off and ran off to the WEC? Parked its car in the middle of a race, as soon as the points were in hand? Murphy’s bent over in laughter.

Where’s the Bear Been?

After more than a decade, he’s really quite tired of the Braselburger crap. He’s got something far more fun and far more important to work on. Check out some background material at http://gourl.gr/owz or http://min.us/msLVTYQei . Go ahead, download. Perhaps you know someone who knows someone who can help.

The Bear will check in occasionally, and he’ll still tweet. But if it’s the same ole mostly-spec-racing crap, well, he’s got better things to do.

For the third year, the Bear’s picking five entries likely to contend for the win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. In 2008, his list of five captured 1, 2, and 3. Last year, they grabbed the top two steps.

Before he picked, Murphy gave away the five rools that will let his friends pick the Daytona Prototype winners, too. Not much has changed, so here they are again:

1. Riley only. The first non-Riley in 2008 was 15th. Last year, a Dallara snuck into 4th, a Crawford into 8th. That’s not enough to change the rool.
2. Teams you’ve heard of. Ganassi won its third in a row in 2008, another of Murphy’s teams,  Brumos won in 2009 – and took third, too. Ganassi was second and fifth, Penske sixth, GAINSCO seventh. The Bear didn’t mention SunTrust, which was fourth; they’ll replace the departed Penske among our picks. Murphy thinks “nicely turned out” counts for a lot. It’s a team that does that.
3. No oil billionaire drivers, no scrawny girls. No drivers with the same name as the team. No brain doctors or heart doctors. In other words, absent an LMS-type ‘gentleman driver rool’ DP is a “pro only need apply” class.

Rolex Favorites

The Bear had no trouble picking four, but his fifth turn out to be ‘a bear,’ so to speak. After Ganassi (2), GAINSCO, and Brumos, it came down to SunTrust Racing, a familiar (and successful) team (see rool 2.) but with a Dallara (rool 1.). It was the SunTrust Dallara that snuck into 4th last year, too. On the other hand, there’s Action Express Racing, a “rookie” team (that runs afoul of rool 2.), while meeting rool 3. (drivers), and rool 1. What to do? The elves told the Bear it was time to do a little research.

A little digging uncovered that Action Express is the ‘second Brumos entry,’ owned by long-time Brumos associate Bob Johnson, with a number Brumos staff and crew, and with drivers Barbosa and Borcheller. So, with good leadership, it might meet rool 2. after all. SunTrust’s 4th was a break-through for the non-Riley Dallara, three of four drivers return – Ricky Taylor (son of team owner Wayne) replaces veteran gentleman Brian Frisselle. Is that an improvement? Was last season’s Dallara break-through a trend or an aberration?

Here are Murphy’s by-the-rools five favorites for the 2010 Rolex. Last year we asked if this ‘Looked familiar?’ This year, it’s ‘Look familiar – again?’

01 Ganassi  Papis, Wilson, Pruett, Rojas – BMW / Riley
02 Ganassi  Dixon, Franchitti, Montoya, McMurray  – BMW / Riley
  9 Action Express Barbosa, Borcheller, Dalziel, Rockenfeller – Porsche / Riley
59 Brumos Donohue, Haywood, Law, Leitzinger, Matos – Porsche / Riley
99 GAINSCO   Fogarty, Gurney, Johnson, Vasser – Chevrolet / Riley

If anything, Ganassi is fielding even better driver lineups. Brumos returns without the drug felon, and with Leitzinger and Matos – a huge upgrade in talent (and sense) if a Bear ever saw one. Two-time Grand Am champion GAINSCO returns with drivers as good as anyone – intent on capturing the prize that’s eluded them. Action Express – as we’ve explained – is ‘Brumos Lite’ with a better roster of pilots.

Murphy makes SunTrust his “dark horse.” Level 5 having morphed into NPN Racing might have made the Bear’s favorites list, until Tucker, the designated rich guy, listed himself in both cars, diluting otherwise stellar driving lineups. If you can figure out which car will not get Tucker’s driving help, pick the other one.

Taking a Flyer on GT with the Bear

The Bear decided it’s time to pay some attention to the GT field. Just in time for the faux Mazdas to drop from contention, now having fallen to second tier teams and too many otherwise-employed drivers out for a weekend fling. That doesn’t rule out other bodies on the tubers – the odd BMW and Corvette look-alike.

So, what are Murphy’s GT rools?

1. At least 3 pros to carry a weekender. If so, doctors and CEOs are O.K. here.
2. Teams with experience and talent. Some of these are easy to pick out: TRG and Turner Motorsports, for instance. Others aren’t so obvious.
3. Current or former ‘factory’ drivers. They don’t go – or aren’t sent – where they have no chance.

23 Alex Job Baldwin, Burtis, Farnbacher, Pagerey, Ragginger – Porsche GT3
44 Magnus Bleekemolen, Lietz, Potter, Stanton  – Porsche GT3
67 TRG Bergmeister, Long, Neiman, van Overbeek – Porsche GT3
71 TRG Bernhard, Dumas, George, Labonte, Pumpelly – Porsche GT3
94 Turner Auberlen, Dalla Lana, Hand, Said – BMW M6

07 Godstone Ranch Corvette is the Bear’s GT dark horse. Young up-and-comer to watch is Thomas Merrill, Salinas California, Corsa Team PR1 BMW.

Murphy’s Predictions

A smaller field gets less opportunities to hit the favorites, so the good ones will mostly be there at the end. If it rains – and it seems it might – all such bets are off.

Matt Connolly Motorsports will be relevant in Matt Connolly’s mind and among the cogs.

We’ll see more of McDreamy than we do on Grey’s Anatomy.

No one will mention that Krohn Racing is in a dust-up with Lola. Krohn, who shouldn’t want to bend the Lola with few spares (and none in the pipeline) will drive anyway, and bend the Lola.

Sebring and Le Mans will disappear into a parallel universe for the duration of the coverage.

Jack Baldwin and Hurley Haywood, separated at birth in May 1948, will insist senior discounts at Hooters on International Speedway Boulevard. Well, Jack will, anyway.

With only six NASCAR drivers on hand, that story line should be a bit more subdued in this year’s telecast. Those seats are filled by current and former German factory pilots.

Kia Goes Grand Am Racing

When it came time to pick a ‘platform,’ the fast-growing manufacturer ‘passed’ on the Global Leader Green Racing to field a new factory team. It’s particularly interesting that a manufacturer intent on building a new ‘luxury’ image would consider, then reject, the American Le Mans Series.  Wouldn’t it’s market strategy have fit ALMS’ ‘World Class’ image?  Too bad it was abandoned to chase a green strategy.

Perhaps the Braselburger boss has been too busy with alternative energy mucky-mucks to waste time with automobile manufacturers. After leaving Phoenix, he went hobnobbing in Toronto chatting up “alternative fuels” this past weekend.

Follow Murphy’s tweets at http://twitter.com/Murphythebear