Race Report

24 Hours of Moroso

West Palm Beach, Florida, December 30th -31st, 2000

portrait of Belinda Endress Back in October I got an offer to drive the 24hrs of Moroso with Phoenix Motorsports. The deal was to do PR in lieu of paying for the ride. After checking the references of the team I agreed to the deal. As they were looking for another driver I asked Terri Hundertmark to join me on the team. I knew she was excellent at PR and would be fun to work with. She was very interested, called Team Phoenix and got the ride.

I set up two days at Race Rock Orlando on the 26th and the 27th. Race Rock was very accommodating and put us in an excellent position at their entrance to the restaurant. We had the car on display in the lobby and signed posters and hero cards for the kids and adults. The response was so overwhelming that we went through well over 1,000 pieces of material.

We also received donations for Racing 4 Kids, all 100% of which goes towards kids with medical needs that they can’t pay for. On the 28th, Terri and I went to St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach and visited the kids. It was so wonderful to warm up some hearts and share our experiences about motorsports. Information on Racing 4 Kids is on my Racing Links page.

We got to the track on the 29th and Phoenix had nothing organized. Terri took care of all the registration paperwork and thank God she was there. Then comes the car. I have never seen a team fall apart so fast. Terri’s husband Dave, better known as "Poppy", who has recently worked for Chip Ganassi and Team Green in CART, was there and gave it his best shot at getting the car together, but with limited tools and too many problems, it wasn’t going to happen.

At this point, it was time to jump ship. I have never had to do something like that before, but I strongly felt if God closes a door he will open another. I went up to Terri and let her know what I was up to and she agreed with my decision. I told her that I wanted to find a ride that would take both of us and I would let her know.

Someone mentioned that there were a few announcements on the restroom walls looking for drivers. So off I went to the restroom and took an announcement off the wall and made a call to them. I called Blackforest Tuning, CarRevelotion com and talked to Chip, the husband of the car owner. I went over and took a look at the car. It was a small black stock Miata. Cute. But what impressed me were the credentials of the Crew Chief, Brian Knott. I noticed he was wearing an Indy 500 Championship ring. You just don’t go down to the local jewelry shop and pick up one of these. I soon found out he is a long time mechanic and crew chief for Hemelgarn Racing Team.

At that point Terri had walked up with her husband and lo and behold Dave knew Brian. So Terri got the other seat in the car. God really blessed us. The other drivers were Bill Fondriest with Blackforest Tuning, Steve Forester, and Carolyn, the car owner who was with Car Revolution.com.

I rode four 1 hour and 15 minute stints, one late afternoon, two at night and one at daybreak. I have to say that I love driving at night. At Moroso there aren’t very many lights and I drove by feel, if that makes sense. The car ran flawlessly, and with the help of an expert crew, I had a blast. The team finished first in it’s class, 20th out of 46 cars in the overall field and easily finished the entire 24 hours with no major mishaps. All five drivers were on the podium, got trophies and were doused with champagne.

I want to give a special thanks to Terri for being such a trooper, Dave for giving it his best shot, Brian for being there, Carolyn for the use of her new Miata and her husband Chip and every one else that worked so hard in getting the team together. It was such a wonderful event and look forward to doing it again.

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