News Archive (May-Jun 2006)

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> 30 June 2006

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Dr. Jacques Dallaire made his way to Indianapolis to attend the SAP US Grand Prix and its support events, the Indy Pro and Formula BMW USA series. Besides providing a perfect event at which to follow up with recent program grad Daniel Morad, the trip presented Dr. Dallaire with yet another opportunity to catch up with other Performance Program alumni Jonathan Klein, Jaime Camara, and Chris Festa in the Indy Pro Series and Ian Baas, Ricardo Imery, Will Langhorne, and Jay Policastro in the Porsche Michelin Supercup series. Jonathan Klein, driver of the #27 Andretti Green Racing Klein Tools/Turn Key Forging entry earned his first podium position of the season by finishing 3rd in the Indy Pro Series Liberty Challenge race after qualifying ninth while Ian Baas also finished 3rd in the highly competitive first weekend Supercup race event. A good weekend of racing for Performance Program alumni!

> 12 June 2006

CORNELIUS, NC - Sixteen year-old Canadian hotshoe and Formula BMW USA standout Daniel Morad visited with Dr. Jacques Dallaire today to begin his initiation into the internationally-recognized HPI Racer Performance Program family. Daniel and his father Ramsin Morad heard about the program from longtime program alumn and ALMS multi-year GT1 champion Ron Fellows and with his encouragement, decided that the time was right to seek Dr. Dallaire's guidance in the further development of Daniel's mental skills. Daniel was encouraged to see how his profile of strengths and weaknesses compared to HPI's high-performance driver database and he left with an action plan and a personal A.C.T.© performance model that he was committed to. Look for Daniel to consistently be a factor in the years ahead as he builds his racecraft, refines his skills and challenges for race wins!

> 6 June 2006

CORNELIUS, NC - Dr. Jacques Dallaire welcomed German colleague Dr. Thomas Bauknecht to the Charlotte area today, a visit arranged to find out more about Dr. Dallaire's Individual Performance Program. He'd heard about the program from his friend and colleague Dr. Markus Schmidt, longtime medical consultant to the Mercedes racing program, and wanted to discuss if and how the program might be integrated into some unique new initiatives the two are developing in Germany. Dr. Bauknecht, a specialist in oncology - the treatment of cancer - and Dr. Schmidt are in the final stages of planning for a new development which includes a private hospital facility associated with a resort hotel complex in a bucolic rural area outside Frankfurt. The meeting resulted in an interesting exchange of ideas and further discussions are planned as to how the parties can work together to bring the performance-centered approach perfected by Dr. Dallaire to the treatment programs and other performance-related activities to be undertaken by the center. Updates will be provided as this exciting initiative evolves.

> 24 May 2006

CORNELIUS, NC - California native and Formula Atlantic racer Duncan Ende visited with Dr. Jacques Dallaire today to participate in the internationally-recognized HPI Racer Performance Program. In addition to the Formula Atlantic series, Duncan has been racing in the Barber Dodge National Series and it's at such an event that he met Dr. Dallaire and first discussed the program. He's looking forward to putting the knowledge he acquired to good use as he builds his racing skills and to implementing his personal performance model at the race track and beyond.

> 21 May 2006

LEXINGTON, OH - Longtime Performance Program alumni Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell enjoyed a strong race and a competitive 2nd place finish in the GT1 class in the ALMS race event held today at the Mid-Ohio race course. Corvette teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta drove their No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R to a 1.833-second victory over the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R of Fellows and O'Connell. The Corvettes finished one lap ahead of the Aston Martin DBR9s of Enge/Turner and Lamy/Sarrazin.

"This is the note upon which we wanted to depart for France," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "We ran Le Mans-spec tires here and learned a great deal. Today's result shows the dedication of this team and the thoroughness of our preparation. We had great adversaries in the Aston Martin team who showed all the speed they needed. We implemented a strong pit strategy and demonstrated why Corvette Racing is the best in the world."

> 21 May 2006

LEXINGTON, OH - Performance Program alumn Liz Halliday, the California racing driver and international equestrian rider, secured her third straight LMP2 class podium of the 2006 American Le Mans Series on Sunday with a third-place finish alongside her Intersport Racing teammate, Clint Field, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Field and Halliday, who won the season openers at Sebring and Houston, overcame early race gearbox problems to keep the car in podium contention on a weekend when the entire field - even the premier LMP1 category teams - were being shown the way by the awesomely dominant factory Porsche LMP2 cars who went on to finish 1st and 2nd overall.

Both Halliday and Field were especially delighted with the result given that Halliday began from the pit-lane at the rear of the field having lost operation of the paddle-shift mechanism on the warm-up laps. Having pitted for repairs, she rejoined the race and carved her way back through the pack before handing over to Field at the one-hour mark. Field's outstanding stint continued the car's progress and at 2 hours he handed back to Halliday for the final run to the flag. Liz's strong final stint and resultant podium was more than enough to keep the two drivers at the head of the LMP2 driver's standings - with an 8-point lead over the factory Porsche drivers.

Halliday and Field, along with the rest of the Intersport team, will now head to Le Mans for the 24 Hours - their most important event of the year, and one in which they hope to make up for the disappointment of 2005, where the car succumbed to engine failure while enjoying a class lead of nearly four laps at the 11-hour mark.

> 20 May 2006

LEXINGTON, OH - Performance Program alumn Ryan Justice of Portland, Oregon, powered his way to victory today in Round Three of The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Driving the #38 Northwest Autosport Mazda, Ryan again qualified on pole and went on to capture his second consecutive victory. Ryan's qualifying lap time of 1:18.300 breaks the existing track record of 1:18.503 set in 2005 by eventual series champion Raphael Matos.

"The credit for this pole position should go to everyone on my crew because they continue to give me a great car every weekend," Justice, who earned his first series victory last weekend in Houston, said afterwards. "Though we weren't on top at the end of practice yesterday we knew we had a good car as I encountered traffic on my fast lap, which wasn't a bad thing as it allowed us to come into this session in a somewhat stealth mode. During my fast qualifying lap today I had to pass another car entering the Keyhole but otherwise the lap was perfect."

Regarding the race, Ryan had this to say: "Jon Branam did a better job than I did of anticipating the start and was able to get into the lead but I was able to get around him right away and the rest of the race was maintaining and building a lead and managing my tires since we didn't have a lot of long runs on a dry track with all the rain earlier in the weekend. Once my car was up to speed it was the car to beat this weekend. I was hoping that Adrian and Kevin could close up a bit so we could have a fight to the finish but those days will come." The win now vaults Ryan into second position in the championship in spite of a DNF in Sebring and he is looking forward to a competitive season, building toward an inevitable championship.

> 13 May 2006

HOUSTON, TX - Dr. Jacques Dallaire headed west over the weekend to attend the Houston Grand Prix held at Reliant Park in Houston, TX. The program of activity included races in Champ Car, Formula Atlantic, Star Mazda, and ALMS where more than a dozen Performance Program alumni populated the grids across the four series.

Performance Program alumn Ryan Justice hit a home run in Houston today in the Star Mazda Series as he posted the fastest times in both practice sessions, qualified on pole, and went on to win the race.his first race win in the competitive Star Mazda series. He did so by a flag to flag drive on the 1.65 mile temporary street circuit around the streets of Reliant Park. The native Oregonian not only led every lap but set the quickest qualifying time of 1:09.340 placing his Northwest Autosport / J&M Body Shops Pro Formula Mazda in the number one starting position. This victory moves Ryan into 4th place overall for the championship after a very disappointing mechanical problem robbed him of a podium finish in Sebring Florida back in March.

Northwest Autosport's successful week started with two of its members making a visit to the Texas Children's Hospital signing autographs and delivering smiles to young patients. The visit was organized by Racing For Kids®, an organization designed to use the increasing popularity of motorsports to bring the public's attention and funding to the health care needs of children. This is an organization that the team and Ryan have worked with several times before. With his victory in Houston, Ryan receives $500 from Racing For Kids® and a $500 grant to the local children's hospital in his name. Ryan and members of the team will be visiting the Akron Children's Hospital in Akron Ohio, Wednesday May 17th, just before they start their week at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course where round 3 of the Star Mazda Championship will take place in conjunction with the American Le Mans Series. Look for Ryan and his team as they focus their efforts towards the 2006 Championship title.

> 13 May 2006

HOUSTON, TX - Performance Program alumn Liz Halliday and Intersport Racing teammate Clint Field enjoyed a very successful weekend as they raced to their second win in as many starts in the LMP2 Class in 2006 in American Le Mans Series competition. Following their LMP2 class success in Sebring in March, Liz Halliday's and Clint Field's second win in as many races, again beating the two mighty works Porsches, mean that they have extended their lead in the 2006 Drivers Championship whilst Intersport Racing has also extended its lead in the Teams' Championship. To complete her success of the day, the organizers awarded Liz the Founders Trophy - an award given to privateer drivers. Her fifth career Series win means that she ties for the most victories by a female driver in the American Le Mans Series.

The No. 37 Lola was running a strong third in class, two hours into the race, when the car suffered a cracked header - caused by an extremely bumpy circuit - and lost a lot of power. Clint drove back into the pits, the mechanics worked on the car and he rejoined the race. Ten minutes later, Clint was forced back into the pits but this time the team was able to fix the problem enough to get the car to the end. He rejoined the race and could not believe his luck when the Penske Porsches fell by the wayside during the last 30 minutes of the race! Field nursed the underpowered Intersport Racing Lola over the final 20 minutes to claim his second straight win of the season with Liz Halliday.

This event also saw Liz continue her move up the step ladder of endurance racing as the young American qualified the Intersport Lola B05/40 AER for the first time. Liz said: "This race has been brilliant for me. I was very proud to qualify the car for the team for the first time. It was not the easiest circuit for a first but I think I did a pretty good job and third in class behind the two Porsches was not too bad! In the race, I was a bit cautious at the start as I did not want to be in the wrong place in the wrong time on a circuit with no run off. I then drove a solid one-hour stint and then handed the car to Clint as planned. This new win feels really good and I hope that we can score a hat trick in Mid Ohio next weekend."

> 1 May 2006

MILWAUKIE, OR - Dr. Jacques Dallaire traveled to Portland, OR to spend the day with members of the Star Mazda series team - Northwest Autosport. The team learned of the program created by Dr. Dallaire when their driver, Ryan Justice, participated in the 2-day advanced program in mid-February of this year. The positive change that the program elicited in Ryan was noted by many at the first race event in Sebring later that month and team owner and father, Jim Justice together with team manager Ronnie Swyers, decided that the team as a whole could benefit from the information provided through the program. The team-oriented seminar program that the group participated in was designed to show team members how we humans tend to get in our own way and how we can learn to get out of our own way. The information was very well received and team members are looking forward to applying what they've learned in their quest for the 2006 Star Mazda Series championship.