Yahoo Autos SpeedTour All-Star Race this Saturday at Lime Rock Park
This Saturday, the green flag will wave at Lime Rock Park for the SpeedTour All-Star Race. 20 legendary motorsports icons from NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, IMSA, dirt racing, sports cars and road racing will be paired with 20 current drivers in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli and SVRA’s TA2 Club to share a CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series car and compete in a 60-minute race for a $50,000 winner-takes-all prize.
The All-Star drivers competing have earned a cumulative 11 NASCAR championships, an IndyCar championship, 13 road racing championships, an IROC championship, three USAC championships, four Rallycross championships and three off-road championships. The All-Star field also includes Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 winners, competitors who have stood atop the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nürburgring and Daytona, and those who have competed on racing’s biggest stages around the world.
The All-Stars aren’t the only draw for this weekend’s festivities, as the current pros they are racing with are stars in their own right, accounting for nearly 800 starts in Trans Am’s National and Western Championships and TA2 Club, 52 victories, more than 200 top-five finishes and six championship titles.
Schedule:
Autograph Sessions
Friday, July 19
2:10-3:10 p.m. ET
Location: IROC Tent in Paddock
Saturday, July 20
9:00-9:30 a.m. ET
Location: IROC Tent in Paddock
Practice
Friday, July 19
11:10-11:50 a.m. ET
Qualifying:
Friday, July 19
3:50-4:20 p.m. ET
Race:
Saturday, July 20
1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Race Length: 60 Minutes
TV Broadcast:
LIVE on MAVTV
Lineup:
Paul Menard and Adrian Wlostowski: No. 3 F.A.S.T. Auto Racing Ford Mustang
Davey Hamilton and Alan Davison: No. 6 FPEC Racing Ford Mustang
Danny Sullivan and Paul Ruth: No. 11 Concierge Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro
Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jim Gallaugher: No. 16 Mike Cope Racing Ford Mustang
Scott Speed and Tristan McKee: No. 17 Team SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro
Bobby Labonte and Thomas Merrill: No. 26 Mike Cope Racing Ford Mustang
Greg Biffle and Barry Boes: No. 27 Team SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang
Ken Schrader and Connor Mosack: No. 28 Team SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro
Boris Said and Boris Said Jr.: No. 33 Concierge Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro
Casey Mears and Edward Sevadjian: No. 38 Concierge Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro
Pippa Mann and Amy Ruman: No. 39 Concierge Motorsports Ford Mustang
Adam Andretti and AJ Henriksen: No. 44 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang
Davy Jones and Sam LeComte: No. 69 Concierge Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro
Andy Lally and Brent Crews: No. 70 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang
Hailie Deegan and Ben Maier: No. 80 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang
Ryan Newman and Thomas Annunziata: No. 90 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang
Geoff Brabham and Tom Sheehan: No. 97 Mike Cope Racing Ford Mustang
Todd Bodine and John Atwell: No. 02 XLINE Race Cars Ford Mustang
Ron Fellows and Ethan Barker: No. 07 Concierge Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro
Mike Skinner and Ryan Gemmell: No. 689 Concierge Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro
Even more stars
The 40 All-Star and pro drivers in the SpeedTour All-Star Race aren’t the only stars that will be shining this weekend at Lime Rock Park. NASCAR and modified driver Geoff Bodine will serve as Grand Marshal for the event, giving the command to start engines. Recognized as one of NASCAR’s All-Time Top 10 Modified Drivers, he holds a Guinness World Record for the most wins in one season, with 55 modified feature wins in 1978. Named as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers, Bodine was the 1982 Cup Series Rookie of the Year and went on to win the 1986 Daytona 500. In 1987, he won the IROC Championship while competing against some of the best racers in the world.
Al Unser Jr. will serve as a color commentator for the national television broadcast on MAVTV, as well as for the livestream. Unser Jr. is a two-time IndyCar champion (1990, 1994), as well as a two-time winner of the renowned Indianapolis 500 (1992, 1994). A versatile racer, he’s stood atop the podium everywhere from the Long Beach Grand Prix (six times), to the Rolex 24 at Daytona (twice), the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, and in World of Outlaws races. In addition to his two IndyCar titles, his championship accolades include the 1981 SCCA Super Vee Gold Cup, 1982 Can-Am Championship and two IROC Championships (1986, 1988).
In addition to the SpeedTour All-Star Race, those in attendance this weekend will get to see the first IROC event in nearly 20 years, with a 30-minute exhibition event on Saturday afternoon. Many of the drivers will be reunited with their original race cars from the different eras of the series, which originally ran from 1973-2006. Headlining the IROC entry list is Mark Martin, who has a record 13 IROC victories and five championships, more than any other driver in series history. Martin also competed in the NASCAR Cup Series for more than 30 years, earning 40 victories and 56 poles.
Another pair of pros
Two more current pro drivers have been added to the entry list, bringing the All-Star Race field up to 40 drivers in 20 cars. 25-year-old Connor Mosack is now paired with Ken Schrader. Mosack has been competing in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series since 2020 and has scored two-career victories, 18 top fives and 23 top-10 finishes.
15-year-old Ben Maier will team up with Hailie Deegan in his own No. 80 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang. Maier earned his first-career TA2 victory and pole earlier this season at World Wide Technology Raceway and currently sits fourth in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series National Championship standings.
Fan activities
This weekend’s SpeedTour All-Star Race will give fans unprecedented access to the All-Star drivers and Trans Am’s stars. In addition to SpeedTour’s open paddock, spectators will have four opportunities to meet their favorite drivers and get autographs:
Friday, July 19
1:30-1:45 p.m. ET: IROC Panel Discussion
2:10-3:10 p.m. ET: SpeedTour All-Star Race Autograph Session at IROC Tent in Paddock
Saturday, July 20
9:00-9:30 a.m. ET: SpeedTour All-Star Race Autograph Session at IROC Tent in Paddock
12:00-12:40 p.m. ET: SpeedTour All-Star Race Fan Walk on Pit Lane
Past winners at Lime Rock
There are a number of drivers in this weekend’s SpeedTour All-Star Race who have found success at Lime Rock Park in various forms of motorsports.
The most recent winner of this weekend’s entrants is Paul Menard, who earned a win in Trans Am’s TA class at the track on Memorial Day.
Thomas Merrill has three victories at the track (2019, 2022, 2023) in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, tying him with Chris Dyson and Dorsey Schrader for the most victories in the Trans Am Series at Lime Rock Park.
Andy Lally has four victories at Lime Rock Park, including Grand-Am wins at the track in 2001 and 2006, an American Le Mans Series victory in 2010, and an IMSA win in 2016.
Boris Said won an SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge T Class race in 1996 and a Trans Am TA class race in 2002.
Ken Schrader earned a NASCAR Xfinity Series win in 1993.
Ron Fellows earned a victory in Trans Am’s TA class in 1992.
Geoff Brabham has back-to-back wins at Lime Rock in the IMSA GT Championship in 1988 and 1989.
Several drivers in this weekend’s field are from close to Lime Rock Park and the surrounding New England area.
Andy Lally (Northport, N.Y.)
Todd Bodine (Chemung, N.Y.)
Adrian Wlostowski (Maspeth, N.Y.)
Thomas Annunziata (Colts Neck, N.J.)
Tom Sheehan (Bow, N.H.)
This weekend’s race has three female drivers entered, with one all-female pairing, and between the three of them, a number of records have been broken.
Pippa Mann is a seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor and the first female driver to set a lap time over 230 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A winner in Indy NXT, she has finished on the podium at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring three times in a GT4 car. She is also the CEO of Shift Up Now, an organization which focuses on the advancement of women in motorsports. Mann is paired with Amy Ruman, the first female Trans Am champion, going back-to-back to take the National Championship title in the TA class in 2015 and 2016. She has made 157 starts in the TA series, the third-most of any active driver in Trans Am. She has scored 16 victories and 97 top-five finishes in the series.
Hailie Deegan is a three-time champion in the Lucas Oil Off Road Pro Series, and is the only female driver to ever accomplish that feat. She is also the only youth driver to win the Lucas Oil Off Road Pro Series Driver of the Year award, an honor she took at the age of 15. Since 2018, Deegan has been climbing up the stock car and sports car ladder. Winning in the ARCA Menards Series West, Deegan recorded top fives and top 10s as she moved through the ranks in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. She kicked off the 2023 season by leading laps en route to her first sports car podium in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. By 2024, she moved up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where she’s recorded a career-best 12th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.
Generation gap
Pairing motorsports’ biggest names with emerging talents has led to large age gaps between some of the driver pairings, which will make for interesting matchups. The biggest gap between driver pairings is 46 years, which is the difference between Ron Fellows and Ethan Barker.
The youngest combined age of any two competitors is the pairing of Hailie Deegan (23) and Ben Maier (15), who are a combined total of 38. Deegan turns 23 just two days before the race.
Ron Fellows (64) and Ethan Barker (18): 46 years
Ken Schrader (69) and Connor Mosack (25): 44 years
Boris Said (61) and Boris Said Jr. (20): 41 years
Andy Lally (49) and Brent Crews (16): 33 years
The pair of drivers that will win the SpeedTour All-Star Race is anyone’s guess, but there’s some drivers in the field who have the advantage of seat time in the 530-horsepower CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series cars. Tom Sheehan has the most starts of any TA2 driver in history with 146, nine of which have come at Lime Rock Park. Thomas Merrill is the only entrant who has actually driven to Victory Lane at the track in a TA2 car, which he has done three times. Below are the drivers with the most TA2 experience at Lime Rock’s 1.478-mile circuit:
Tom Sheehan: 146 starts, 9 starts at Lime Rock
Adam Andretti: 69 starts, 3 starts at Lime Rock
Thomas Merrill: 60 starts, 5 starts and 3 wins at Lime Rock
Barry Boes: 57 starts, 4 starts at Lime Rock
Adrian Wlostowski: 45 starts, 4 starts at Lime Rock
Jim Gallaugher: 43 starts, 3 starts at Lime Rock
Connor Mosack: 39 starts, 3 starts at Lime Rock
Boris Said Jr. 20 starts, 2 starts at Lime Rock
Brent Crews: 28 starts, 2 starts at Lime Rock
Ben Maier: 19 starts, 2 starts at Lime Rock
AJ Henriksen: 16 starts, 2 starts at Lime Rock
Teammates
Sharing a race car becomes easier with a bit of chemistry, and two pairings come into the SpeedTour All-Star Race with a little bit of an advantage. Adam Andretti and AJ Henriksen spent a number of years racing as teammates at ECC Motorsports in both the TA and TA2 classes.
Boris Said has served as an example and a mentor to his son, Boris Said Jr., racing professionally since long before the younger Said was born. However, they have only driven side-by-side as teammates in the same race once: At VIRginia International Raceway in 2022, the two Saids drove together in a CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race, both fielded by Peterson Racing.
