Kickoff of IARG/Project6 Racing Official Blog

Greetings and Salutations!

Welcome to the International Autosport Racing Group/Project6 Racing Team blog. Let me introduce myself. During the work week I am Mike Statnick, Ph.D. a research scientist working to discover new medications for the treatment of metabolic diseases including diabetes. Outside of the laboratory, I am Mike Statnick a club racer in pursuit of a motorsports dream - to compete in the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona. This blog will chronicle my journey, and take you along for the ride. I intend to focus posts on everything from driver and car development, to race weekend reviews, to events hosted by IARG/Project6 Racing, and of course to the sponsors supporting our program.

So put on your helmet and tighten your safety belts, it may get a little rough at times...

The journey begins at the start of the 2010 NASA Racing Season where I race in the Great Lakes/Midwest Chapter competing in the German Touring Series. However, the quest to compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona began to reveal itself to me toward the end of my rookie season in 2009.

I have been a long-time fan of German sports cars, and as such had a bone stock 2000 BMW Z3 MCoupe converted over the years into a fully prepared race car. The race car design and build is the creation of Doug Livingston, owner of International Autosport Racing Group, who represents the other half of the IARG/Project6 Racing Program. Along with development, maintenance, and setup of the car, Doug is my crew-chief who makes the calls on race weekends. Doug has an extensive background in professional sports car racing that started in 1994 when he was a member on Ferrari's American LeMans Series racing crew, and continues today with teams in the Grand Am Racing Series. He has been a valuable friend and guide on my development in racing. Yes indeed, we are a bare bones, small budget, two man team, but we have big goals and play hard when the flag drops.

The first race weekend of the 2010 season is April 9-11 at the famous Mid-Ohio Sports Car Park. We have exactly 26 days, 5 hours, and 58 minutes to finish the off-season rebuild of the car, load up and head out to Lexington, OH. Its going to be an action packed month!

This winter our efforts were focused on four goals: forming the race team, securing sponsorships (which of course is ongoing), continuing car development, and improving driver fitness. We made some pretty good progress on all of these goals. First, we incorporated the team and called the program Project 6, since the effort will require the support of everyone we know, and as you know there are only "six degrees of separation" between anyone on earth. So we would like to start off by "buying the world a coke" (or should I say beer?) and connecting with everyone. The past several months we met some great people and businesses that were interested in sponsoring our program. A number of great people have purchased and signed 3" x 5" decals that are on the car (we have these available to anyone). Current businesses supporting IARG/Project6 Racing include Zionsville Autosport, Sun King Brewery, CARi RAY, MCoupe.com and Clear Skies Consulting. In conjunction with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (Indiana Chapter) we have developed a campaign to raise money and awareness for the treatment of childhood diabetes (more on the JDRF program in the next post). Thanks to this support we have been able to continue car development. I am very happy to announce that as a result of sponsorships we will kick off the season with a rebuilt engine, improved engine cooling system, new suspension components, and data acquisition system.

The last achievement was improving driver fitness and sensitivity to heat stress. My personal trainer Abby Fox, owner of Abby Fox Fitness, has pushed me to my physical limits. Our training started in September '09 with a focus on improving body strength, aerobic conditioning and resistance to heat stress. Training with Abby twice per week then additional days on my own has transformed me, and made me as fit as I can be at the age of 44. Now just 26 days, 4 hours, and 38 min until we find out where we stand against the competition.

So that is where we start the adventure of IARG/Project6 Racing. Many thanks to all of you out there that have helped us make this possible!

Cheers... M