Archives: O'Connell Racing
Rick Ware Racing (RWR) Retains General Pacific Partners as Exclusive Corporate Finance Advisor
THOMASVILLE, NC (January 5th, 2011) – Rick Ware Racing (RWR), a leading professional motorsports organization announced today that is has retained General Pacific Partners, LLC (GPP) and Kevin O’Connell as the company’s exclusive new business and corporate finance advisory firm for all of its professional motorsports organizations, specifically NASCAR and the Grand-Am Rolex Series.
Kevin O’Connell and GPP will work directly with Rick Ware and its executive team in company evaluations and communications pertaining to new and existing business relationships, driver development finance options, and partner based marketing and branding strategies for both public and private companies.
Team owner Rick Ware stated, “I have worked with Kevin as a team owner and driver and he clearly has broad based knowledge of the racing industry and the marketing and branding eco-system that exist in this business. As our NASCAR based racing business continues to grow, and the requirements for securing and maintaining marketing and branding partners increases, we need to have a “best practices” relationship with groups like GPP so that our business partners can capitalize on the creative efforts of RWR.”
GPP principal Kevin O’Connell commented, “Rick manages the most progressive marketing and branding company in the North American racing industry and specializes in the platform that NASCAR provides. His ROI formulation for his partners does not just rely on the true medium of television but is much more diversified and creative. GPP brings to RWR an understanding of capital markets, public market driven strategies, and a “venture” type approach to business and new business development. We are familiar with entrepreneurial leaders that are comfortable living “in front” of new trends and like to challenge their entire organizations with open minded thinking.”
About Rick Ware Racing: Rick Ware Racing (RWR) has competed in every NASCAR sanctioned series, ARCA Series, the WMA Motocross Series, AMA Arenacross, Motocross and Supercross Series, Summer X-Games and Rolex Grand-Am Series.
About General Pacific Partners: Established in 1997, General Pacific Partners, LLC (GPP) is a leading North American
advisory services and public venture capital group. GPP specializes in seed, early and
developmental stage direct investments and has long-term minded investment experience,
in depth capital markets knowledge, proven strategies for improving and growing
private and public companies, and strong commitments to teamwork and accountability.
OCR & Rick Ware Racing 11th at Rolex 24 at Daytona
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ORANGE COUNTY, CA., (February 1, 2011) – O’Connell Racing announced today the that team in combination with the efforts of Rick Ware Racing came from a back of the grid starting position in the GT class to finish the race in 11th position.
Crew chief Roy Montgomery, team engineers Robby Leuer and Jake Perkio were on hand with former OCR Grand Am driver Kevin Roush and mechanics Kerry Caldwell and Steve Parker to guide a team of five drivers of various backgrounds and accomplishments to an impressive finish.
Team principal Kevin O’Connell commented, “You could not have asked for a better weekend in terms of weather, so all of the plans for rain were not used. The drivers did a good job of saving the car after the first three hours when we lost second gear. Being forced to skip through second gear in the infield and go right to third gear required a change in everyone’s driving style but it did not hurt the times too bad. The team ran the entire race with that problem until about 40 minutes to go and were knocking on the door for a top ten when the alternator bearing seized up, and subsequently melted and caught the alternator belt on fire. Fortunately, Jeffrey Earnhardt was just exiting the chicane on the back stretch and was able to get down pit lane and the guys put the fire out. The team took the car behind pit lane and was able to get the car repaired quickly and back on the track without losing a position to the next team right behind us that was about 12 laps down. As expected, there was no shortage of drama and the overall team with a blending of NASCAR and Grand-Am drivers and crew and really worked well together. Rick is a pro when it comes to racing and he proved it with this finish.”
Kevin O’Connell Set to Drive the No. 43 Taleo Grill Chevrolet at Road America
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NASHVILLE, TN., (June 14, 2010) – Baker Curb Racing announced today that they will partner with O’Connell Racing (www.OConnellRacing.com), a southern California based road racing team, and driver Kevin O’Connell for the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Road America this weekend. The Bucyrus 200 presented by Menards is the first national NASCAR racing event at the Wisconsin track since the 1950’s and will be televised live on ESPN 2 at 3:00 p.m. ET Saturday.
“Road America in a Nationwide Series car is a unique opportunity to race at arguably the fastest and most historic road course in North America,” said O’Connell. “We are pleased to be partnering with Baker Curb Racing for this race and presenting Taleo Grill, “The Taste of the Mexican Riviera”, as our sponsor. I had not raced at Road America since my rookie season with the Skip Barber Series but recently got reacquainted with circuit in May of this year racing a vintage open wheel car. The collaboration with Baker Curb is a different format from how we have raced in the past, but I believe we have a great combination of people and we’ll have a strong run this weekend!”
The No. 43 team was a late addition to the Baker Cur Racing stable but the group has gelled in recent weeks showing their potential on the track. Lagasse Jr. was fast in practice and qualifying the last two weekends and ran in the top 10 for a majority of last week’s Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway. After running sixth, a faulty jack on two pit stops placed him deep in the field, but he drove his way back into the top 10 late in the race before a low right tire slowed his progress.
“We are very pleased with Scott Jr.’s performance this season, he has been solid and gotten everything out of the car’s that we give him,” said Baker Curb Racing president Matt Crews. “In tough economic times, partnering with O’Connell Racing for this weekend is beneficial for both organizations. Scott Jr. will be back in our cars for additional races this season and we are working hard to secure sponsorship to keep him on the track full-time for the remainder of the season. We look forward to him building upon the momentum he has gained over the last few races and feel that he is on the verge of consistently running in the top 10 every week.”
Litany of Problems Besiege OCR in Montreal
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ORANGE COUNTY, CA. — (National Distribution) August 8th, 2008.
O’Connell Racing (OConnellRacing.com), a southern California based Grand-Am Rolex Series and NASCAR road racing team announced the closure of a disappointing weekend for the team. Intending to run both scheduled races with the Rolex Series on Friday and the NASCAR Nationwide series on Saturday it was apparent early that this weekend would be full of challenges. In practice for the Rolex Series on Thursday driver Kevin Roush ran the car for several laps and routinely brought the car in declaring that he could hear a rattle coming from the rear of the car. After further review and after running in the top ten in practice in the GT class team engineers Kerry Caldwell and Steve Parker determined that the car was suffering from an internal engine failure. The team proceeded to come up with strategies for making the race which included trying to purchase specific motor parts in the Montreal area which ended without success to purchasing a new engine from two of the large factory backed teams present in Montreal. One of the Porsche teams was unable to present a motor that would pass 2008 specifications with Rolex Series officials and efforts by team principals to purchase a motor from a competing team was crushed when the price of the used motor increased to laughable heights. Kevin O’Connell commented, “I think we really had a good car for Montreal and I wish we could have proved it. We have had a lot of luck in the past and this weekend we gave a bunch of it back. We will have more spares in the future and we’ll avoid having to negotiate with certain individuals in a pinch”
Leading up to the NASCAR Nationwide series race on Saturday O’Connell complained that the transmission seemed to be slipping out of 3rd gear. In two of the practices the Mid Valley transmission stuck in third and fourth gear respectively causing the team to end practice early. Montgomery and O’Brien decided not to risk and additional time and installed a new Mid Valley transmission for the existing practices. After no other problems for the balance to the practice session and running in the middle of the field comfortably the team was ready for qualify the car. On the first out lap on the front stretch after taking the green flag the transmission once again jammed in third gear and ended the team’s efforts for qualifying for the race and consequently, in an unprecedented manner ended the weekend. Roy Montgomery commented, “We are very disappointed with this problem with these Mid Valley gearboxes and I understand that we were not the only team with gearbox problems. We prepared a very fast car for Montreal and would have even had the right equipment to run in the rain if necessary which the series ended up doing.”
The team heads to New Jersey Motorsports Park for the Rolex Series race at the end of August followed by Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City Utah for the season finale for Grand Am in mid September.
OCR Finishes Top Ten in GT at Rolex 24 at Daytona
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NEWPORT BEACH, CA. — (National Distribution) January 29th, 2007.
O’Connell Racing (OConnellRacing.com), a southern California based Grand American Rolex Series and NASCAR road racing team announced today it completed the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a top10 finish of 42 entries in the GT class and a 23rd overall finish with a record breaking 78 entries total for the historic race. Team drivers Kevin O’Connell and Michael Speakman were joined by Flying Lizard ALMS GT2 driver Lonnie Pechnik, IMSA winning driver Kevin Roush and NASCAR driver Jason Bowles. Kevin O’Connell commented, “our goal was to achieve a top ten finish in our first Rolex 24 and to accomplish that we elected to run our 996 GT-3 in lieu of the new 997 due to what we thought would be durability issues for the 997’s. To some degree we were right and the consistency of the 996 captured a great finish. Much of this success is credited to Barry and Roy and the rest of the crew in their efforts to get the car out of the pits as quick as possible. The crew was up for 36 hours and was executing pit stops every 90 minutes or so through the heat, cold, rain, and several unexpected situations.”
After qualifying, the team started the race 20th. Within the first few laps of the race driver Lonnie Pechnik radioed in that the car had picked up a vibration and was forced to pit for a new set of tires. That dropped the team to 37th position in GT and the team battled throughout the night and various bouts of rain to break into the top ten. Driver Michael Speakman stated, “early Sunday morning it rained hard and even the cars at low speeds with rain tires on were sliding off the track. Track officials went to a full course yellow and it wasn’t until I handed the car off to Lonnie that the track started to dry out and we went back to slicks.”
Kevin Roush completed the final two stints of the race and moved into the top 10 with 45 minutes to go in the race after the German favorite #85 Recaro Porsche 997 fell out of the contention with fatal engine failure.
Regarding television coverage, ratings for the opening broadcast on FOX Sports still to come, the audience tuning in for the anchor live portions of telecast on SPEED alone were enough to make this year’s Rolex 24 the most watched Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve race in SPEED history.
According to Nielsen Media Research, overall household viewership rose 26 percent (.43 to .54) from year-over-year totals while the network also enjoyed a three-day average increase of 28 percent over last year, as 458,000 viewers tuned into the telecast versus 359,000 in 2006.
Numbers also increased significantly within certain demographic areas, as Men 18-49 grew 72 percent and Men 18-34 rose 19 percent.
OCR Wins NASA’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill for 2006
O’Connell Racing (OConnellRacing.com), a leading southern California based team in the Grand Am Rolex Series and in NASCAR road racing announced today that the team was crowned the official winner of the west coast’s most prestigious endurance auto race, NASA’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill in northern California. The team ran a total of 2115 miles and 705 laps during the elapsed time of the event finishing the race over 30 laps ahead of the second place finisher, also a Porsche. Former 2005 Rolex Series GT champion Craig Stanton qualified the car and began the race from the pole after setting the fastest lap time. From the beginning of the race, Stanton battled with the #88 open cockpit Mazda powered spec racer setting some distance between the two before handing the car off to Greg Fordahl who created a 2 lap lead. Drivers Kevin O’Connell and Michael Speakman took over the car into nightfall with dropping temperatures followed by Betim Berisha and Jason Bowles taking the first complete darkness stints. The team set the overall pace for the race and had executed several mistake free pit stops until the team’s first pit stop around 9pm. Technical Director Roy Montgomery commented, “Mike came in hot and overshot the pit box at the end of his stint after picking up debris on the tires leading onto pit lane. After pushing the car back into the pit space the cars air jacks came down on the air hose rendering one of the air guns ineffective. I called for the battery powered backup gun and only lost a short time during the stop.”
The team extended its lead throughout the night and decided the initiate a driver change with fuel, tires and brake pads before midnight exiting Stanton and having Fordahl take over driving duties. Crew Chief Barry O’Brien stated, “the brake pad change Saturday night went extremely smooth. The team changed four tires, fuel and four corners of pad changes with a driver change in less than two minutes.” In the early morning hours temperatures reached the low 30’s and visibility became an issue for Speakman. Driver Mike Speakman commented, “ some of the other class race cars had lights installed that were extremely bright like something you would see in the BAJA 1000 and would light up the mirrors in the car to a point where it was difficult to locate the apex at certain points on the track.” Speakman completed his stint and maintained the team’s pace and handed the car off to O’Connell just before daybreak. The team executed a complete pit stop with tires and fuel as Speakman exited. Team principal and driver Kevin O’Connell commented, “ My daybreak stint at was pretty amazing as the sun rose from the east above the hills you had to adjust to what you were seeing from near tunnel vision in the darkness to the broad twilight of daybreak and warming temperatures. With sunlight you could see the endless debris off line on the track that was thrown on the course from cars going off throughout the night. You almost had to pass in the straights to avoid cutting down or flat spotting a tire.” Around 11am with an hour to go the team had established a 30-lap cushion over the second place Porsche and the third place Mazda spec racer. Around noon on Sunday the team took the checkered flag completing the 25 Hour race. O’Connell commented, “ I want to thank our partner in this race, Yokohama for supplying us with a great tire. We called on performance from the tires in the beginning of the race to get out of front of the Mazda and the other Porsche and again under nightfall needing to double stint the tires and cut down the times in the pits and the Yokohama’s delivered the grip and durability to help our drivers push ahead. Additionally, the professionalism and preparation of the Porsche GT-3 car by Betim Berisha and his firm BBI is the finest I’ve seen.”
O’Connell Racing Heads to the Wine Country at Infineon with Rolex Series
NEWPORT BEACH, CA. — (National Distribution) August 23rd, 2006.
The team travels to beautiful Sonoma Valley and Infineon Raceway in the last weekend of August to compete in the Rolex Series with both the GT cars and the Daytona Prototypes racing together. Additionally, the Indy Racing League will be present with their primary race on Sunday. O’Connell and Speakman will be piloting the Taleo Grill-General Environmental Porsche GT-3 car. For this race, Speakman will take all first practices and will qualify the car. Driver and Team Owner Kevin O’Connell commented, “ Mike will be responsible for most of the driving duties this weekend until the driver change at some point after the first pit stop. Unfortunately, I will miss Thursday and Friday practice as well as qualifying due to commitments with General Environmental’s acquisition of PCI – Pollution Control Industries. This is a track that the team has done well at in the ASC – American Stock Car road racing series with a track record and multiple poles and wins. Even with all of our challenges this month we should be in good shape.”
Marketing partners of OCR for the weekend at Sonoma will be managed by SpeedSport Branding, LLC: General Environmental Management, Inc., Taleo Grill, Mothers Polishes-Waxes-Cleaners, Dragon Optical, Crow Enterprises, HPC West, MicroFiberStuff.com, Neo Synthetics, SparcoUSA, Streamline Designs and BASF. The entire race will be broadcast on the SPEED Channel, check your local listing for times.
Team Solid at Daytona, Heads to Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama Next
NEWPORT BEACH, CA. — (National Distribution) JULY 10th, 2006.
Independence Day weekend saw the Rolex Series merged into a jammed pack racing weekend at Daytona International with the NASCAR Busch and Nextel Cup Series. With rain threatening and temperatures and humidity significant factors, the team became acclimated to the track quickly. Practice was as completed as scheduled for the first day with speeds in the Taleo Grill — GEM GT-3 reaching 175 MPH on the front tri-oval. O’Connell and Speakman adjusted to the infield road course and adapted to the changes in the car for the superspeedway portion of the track. Race day practice was cancelled as well as scheduled qualifying due to timing and scoring problems at the track. O’Connell was set up on the grid for the race according to season points. O’Connell drove the first have of the race with only small contact into turn 1 with a Daytona Prototype and handed the car off to Speakman having moved as high as 10th place during the race. Montgomery and O’Brien agreed to a late pit stop strategy in an effort to try to catch a caution and put the leaders a lap down. Roy Montgomery stated, “ We saw the leaders cycle thru their pit stops and stayed out as long as we could. Kevin did a great job of driving the car late on worn tires but we decided to make the call and do the pit stop under green flag conditions. Mike did a great job of keeping the car out of trouble and finishing in 14th place. Now we are focused on getting prepared for Barbers Motorsports Park at the end of the month.”
The Barber Motorsports race will include the current marketing partners of OCR managed by SpeedSport Branding, LLC: General Environmental Management, Inc., Taleo Grill, Mothers Polishes-Waxes-Cleaners, Dragon Optical, Crow Enterprises, HPC West, MicroFiberStuff.com, Neo Synthetics, SparcoUSA, Streamline Designs and BASF. The entire race will be broadcast live on the SPEED channel, check your local listing for times.
O’Connell & Speakman to Run Rolex 24 at Daytona With Pechnick, Roush & Bowles
NEWPORT BEACH, CA. — (National Distribution) January 22nd, 2006.
Coming off a record breaking win at the annual 25 Hours of Thunderhill in northern California, O’Connell Racing (OConnellRacing.com), a southern California based Grand American Rolex Series and NASCAR road racing team announced today that it has entered the 24 Hours of Daytona. Team drivers Kevin O’Connell and Michael Speakman will be joined by ALMS GT2 driver Lonnie Pechnik, IMSA winning driver Kevin Roush and NASCAR driver Jason Bowles. Kevin O’Connell commented, “ we have been preparing for this race for months and the entry list for this years race is evidence that the 24 Hours of Daytona is a unique race involving the most diverse drivers from the best racing series in the world today.” The team has entered its Porsche GT-3 Cup car for the 24 hour event and will engage the same partners for the Daytona race that the team used for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Technical Director, Roy Montgomery stated, ” Our GT-3 for Thunderhill was mechanically flawless for the entire weekend in Thunderhill thanks to the efforts and the expertise of BBI in Huntington Beach. The 24 Hour race will be broadcast on Fox initially and then switch to Speed channel for in depth coverage and analysis.