Veteran sports car team Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian is participating in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race as part of the Continental Road Race Showcase this weekend, but the team actually first began as a Toyota Atlantics team 20 years ago. And one of the tracks on the schedule for the group back then? You guessed it. Road America.
In fact, Michael Shank Racing team owner Mike Shank's first experiences at Road America were as a driver and not a team owner. He raced at the track in Toyota Atlantics, but reflected back even further as he fondly recalled his very first race at the circuit.
"It was in 1989 and I qualified second in a club race," remembered Shank. "It's a great track, I loved it. Of course being a Midwestern guy, I raced at Road America in club racing all of my life. I raced in Toyota Atlantics at the track in 1996. And then again as a team owner, we ran several different guys there and podiumed a few times."
Michael Shank racing Atlantics in the '90's
After several years of Atlantics competition, Michael Shank Racing transitioned into the sports car ranks in 2004. But it wasn't until 2011 that Mike Shank's team finally returned to Elkhart Lake with the then GRAND-AM series before it merged with the American Le Mans Series and became what's now known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Since then, Michael Shank Racing co-drivers John Pew and Ozz Negri have finished among the top-five in each Road America event - the first four events in a Daytona Prototype before debuting a Honda-Ligier JS P2 at Road America last year. The team returns with the LMP2 car this year.
Both Negri and Pew also have deep roots at Road America that extend back to their open wheel days.
Pew took his first-ever laps in a racecar at Road America when he did a Skip Barber Racing event with his son Travis in 2001. It was then that he caught the racing bug and has since raced Star Mazda, Porsche Cup, Daytona Prototypes, and LMP2 machinery at the track.
"Road America is unique - it's very long and has very unique famous corners," offered Pew, who has raced for Michael Shank Racing since 2007. "It's an old track and has a lot of history. It's one of my favorite tracks on the IMSA schedule."
Similarly, Negri recalls his first experience at Road America as a test driver for the Barber Dodge Pro Series.
"We went out in qualifying and that was my first time there and by the end of the session I was on the pole by quite a bit," mused Negri. "As a test driver, I didn't actually participate in the race. I would go out in the car and assess it and then the engineer would make the change to fix it and then I would go back out in the next session and see if it was fixed. It didn't matter where I qualified, because I didn't actually race, but we went out in every on track session that wasn't a race."
While Shank, Pew, and Negri recall fond memories from their first visits to Road America, when asked to reflect on their best Road America memories, each mention much more recent years.
For Shank and Negri, it was Michael Shank Racing's runner-up finish in 2014.
"2014 was the first year of the new IMSA series and we went there and we were struggling with speed," remembered Shank. "During the race we made just an incredible strategy call and ended up finishing second. And we almost won the thing after struggling all weekend! So that felt really good."
For Pew, last year's race tops his list at Road America.
"Last year was my best memory," said Pew. "We discovered a leak in the fuel bladder on the morning of the race and had to basically take the entire car apart to fix it. It was a massive repair and the guys managed to fix it within hours in time for the race. But we were late for the grid which meant that we not only had to start from pit lane while everybody else took the green flag, but we also had to do an extra stop in the pit lane once the race had started. It was an unfortunate situation and I pushed really hard. It was one of the best drives I've ever had through all of the GT traffic. I gave the car to Ozz (Negri) in good position, so that's my best memory."
And as Michael Shank Racing returns to Road America in 2016, the team is looking forward to adding even more positive Road America memories to the already long list.
"I think we're better than last year," added Shank. "So I'm anxious to see where we sit. We have a whole year with the Honda-Ligier under our belts now, but the rules are a little different from last year, so it's hard to say where we'll ultimately be. But typically we run pretty well at Road America, so we have high hopes of a good finish."
Everything for the Continental Road Race Showcase begins on Thursday with test sessions for all the classes from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be open karting all weekend at the Road America Motorplex plus the Road America Zip Line will be open daily.