Everything went extremely well for our testing of the Riley Technologies Camaro in Savannah on March 1st and then at the race at Homstead on March 6th! It was our first time we racing with the Mitchum Motorsports Team and everyone worked very well together. We could not have been more pleased with how it all went for our first event together. Even more importantly, we met some very important team and driver goals for this, our second race in the Grand-Am CTSCC (Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge) GS Series. We did in fact take a few very meaningful steps forward!

1. Joey & Devin drove strong, consistent and carefully – This was their first REAL time racing in a competitive car, with a competent crew and racing ‘up there in the lead pack’ position during the race. They did not wreck the car and kept it on the track.
2. Joey & Devin finished the race – 11 cars DID NOT finish the race including three Camaros. We finished in 24th position out of 66 cars, which was not as strong as we would have liked, but better than Daytona and that is the goal – better each time.
3. Joey’s driving skills were absolutely outstanding and he definitely got himself ‘noticed’ at the track: Joey had the fastest lap time of all the Camaros for; the practice session before qualifying, the qualifying session and, even during the race!
4. Joey started the race in 13th position – he drove the first 66 laps (91 total) and despite being assessed a ‘stop & go’ penalty (a call that could have gone either way, but being that we are the new kid on the block, we took the call without argument). That penalty dropped him back to 30th but Joey was undeterred and he fought his way all the way up back up to 14th when he finally came in and pitted on lap 66.
5. The tires became less than stellar approaching lap 50 – none the less, Joey actually drove as fast, or faster, lap times the last 15 laps he was out there than he had the previous 15 laps. He was steadily gaining and moving up the pack hoping for a full course yellow to come into the pits for a driver change, four new tires and re-fuel. That yellow never came and we had to pit under green which cost us a lap and took us out of the top 15 positions.
6. The accomplishments of this race were far and above our expectations and the testing and race prepared us well for our next race at Barber Motorsports the second weekend in April. We also moved forward toward the goal of winning the Grand-Am Rookie of the Year Award for Joey & Devin.

Wanna go for a ride for a couple of laps at Homestead with Joey driving in the #6.2 Camaro? Buckle your seat belts before you press the play button, he is going nearly 160mph on the back straight and onto the high bank sweeping turns into the front straight!

Atterbury and Cates became good friends while racing against each other in the 2009 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series. In that series Atterbury won the opening race at VIR, and garnered ‘Rookie of the Year’ honors by finishing in the top five in 6 out of the 10 races. He finished 4th overall in the final point standings. Cates was awarded ‘Most Improved Driver’, won the 9th race of the series at NJ Motorsports Park and finished in the top 10 in points overall. Cates also captured the iRacing Driver award by having both the fastest time and the most hours logged racing the Jetta TDI on iRacing during the season.

Both rookie drivers earned their SCCA Pro Racing Licenses through the VW Jetta TDI Cup Series. They both proclaim this series as a great way to start your career as a race driver. Despite living on opposite ends of the country, Atterbury and Cates race each other daily on iRacing as they prepare for next season in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Both drivers own and race a Spec Miata in their local SCCA Regions.

Learn more about these exciting new drivers and follow them through the 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS Series next year at joeyatterbury.com and devin.catesracing.com

The 4.048 mile race track is world famous for it’s 14 challenging turns, 3 high-speed straights and its many dramatic elevation changes as the track follows the sweeping, rolling hills of the glacially-formed terrain of south central Wisconsin.

It should be noted that this was the first twilight race in years at Road America with the green flag waving for the start less than a half hour before sunset and all the drivers had their headlights on for the entire race.

The race was extremely exciting right from the green flag as Joey moved up from 10th to 6th on the first lap, to 5th on the second lap, and then held onto 5th for the third and fourth laps. A full course yellow kept everyone in those positions for the next two laps and on the restart, Joey moved up into 4th and held on to that position for another two laps. Another crash brought out a full course yellow for two more laps, bringing the entire field back into a tight single file formation.

With only three laps remaining on the restart (less than 9 minutes), Joey had to make a move now and do it carefully. Out of turn 5, he was able to move into 3rd position on lap 9, however, he couldn’t hold onto it and slipped back into 4th place on lap 10. On the last lap, as the top five cars rounded turn 12, the leader went wide allowing an opportunity for the next three cars to make a move. Joey found himself side by side with Andy Lee as they came out of turn 13 racing upthe hill and into turn 14. Neither driver blinked and they came out of turn 14 still side by side, racing neck & neck for the finish line! It looked like a drag race as they went up the hill onto the final straight and the checkered flag! The finish was so close that the race officials had to review the cameras to confirm that Joey had captured 3rd by barely 3 feet ahead of Andy! What an incredible finish to a really great race!

With this 3rd place finish, Joey is now tied for 2nd place in the points standings for VW Jetta TDI Cup Series with four races remaining.

 
Joey had a terrific record setting over the July 4th weekend at PIR by winning his first two SCCA National Races. In addition to his two National Race Wins, he earned one National Pole, the Fastest Lap in class for BOTH races, and the fastest recorded Spec Miata lap of the weekend. Once again, Joey’s driving was strong and consistent and his car performed absolutely flawlessly on both days of racing.

During the first race, Joey and Ken Sutherland had quite a battle as they fought for the
lead. A little more than half way through the 1st race, after swapping positions nearly every lap or two, Joey gained the lead for good and raced away for the checkered flag and Joey’s first National Race win.

The track was configured without the ‘chicane’ or ‘festival curves’ for these two races (turns 1, 2, & 3 are blocked off creating a very long front straight. The more faster powerful cars in other classes will take full advantage of the long straight away and the fans love to see those high horsepower cars zoom by.

For the second race on Sunday, Joey once again had a great inside starting position in the Spec Miata class and started 10th overall with the faster and more powerful cars all in front of him. Joey worked his way very carefully through traffic to keep his lead in the Spec Miata Class and moved away from all the other Spec Miatas with each lap of the race.

As is often the case in mixed class racing, other traffic creates real challenges on the track and later in the race, traffic slowed up Joey giving Will an opportunity to close up the gap behind him. Joey drove smartly
and he was able to use the traffic to his advantage and deny Will the opportunity to challenge Joey and make a pass on him.

Joey lead Sunday’s race from start to finish in the Spec Miata and collects his 2nd checkered flag of the weekend! Once again we want to thank Pat McFall and FMR for the great job they have done on the set-up of Joey’s car this year! With two races remaining at PIR, Joey is 3rd in the points, only 2 points behind Ken and 6 points behind Will. It is going to go right down to the wire for the championship of the Oregon Spec Miata Class.

The 3rd race of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series was held on the West Course of the beautiful Miller MotorSports Park Raceway in Tooele, UT, some 25 mile southwest of Salt Lake City. The weather was excellent and the facility at Miller was absolutely incredible. Joey had the 5th fastest time in practice and then took another half a second off his practice time during the qualifying session, but the eleven fastest cars were separated by only 1.24 seconds which placed Joey in 10th for the start.

The West Course at Miller is 2.183 miles in length and is notable for a sequence of very fast corners (Turns 1, 2, 3, & 4) that lead into the heaviest braking and slowest corner (Turn 5). The remainder of the West Course features several multiple-radius and complex turns designed to challenge drivers’ skills. Joey had a very strong start, moving up to 8th place by the completion of the first turn. Joey drove the track very well and within a few laps, took full advantage of the wide entrance into Turn 5 by taking the inside line and passing two more cars to take possession of 6th place.

As the race continued, the top six cars moved farther out ahead of the rest. Joey was moving up to overtake the 5th place car of Taylor Broekemeier when problems with both of his front tires motivated Joey to back off and make sure to finish the race. His decision was made easier by the fact that he had built a large gap between him and the 7th place car of Mark Pombo. Joey drove very conservatively for the remaining laps and the tires held giving Joey a 6th place finish for the race. This puts Joey in 3rd place for the total points standings this year, a great start for the 10-race series.

Joey’s next VW Jetta TDI Cup Race is at Mid-Ohio on 20-21 June.

Joey began his SCCA PRO RACING career in quite an impressive manner by first qualifying for the pole position and then WINNING the first race of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series. This was Joey’s FIRST time ever racing on the 3.27 mile long track at VIR and on Friday, he captured the pole position by qualifying with a 2:14.xxx which broke the existing track record for the VW Jetta TDI. The Saturday morning race thrilling to watch with the lead changing four times before Joey took back the lead on the 7th lap and held on to take the checkered flag on the 12th lap with a winning margin of just 0.524 seconds. Joey’s car, the #14 Red Bull VW Jetta TDI ran perfectly and the Pirelli tires performed great on the 120°F track temperature as Joey negotiated all of the 17 turns and two straightaways of this beautiful track. Paul Newman (actor and race car driver) described VIR as ‘Heaven on Earth.’ The skies were sunny and clear, the weather was HOT (about 90°F) and the action on the track was absolutely awesome!

There are 28 drivers (ages 16-26) on the 2009 team coming from all over the USA, Canada and Mexico, the field is exceptionally tight and fast. For the 2nd race qualifier, Joey took nearly half a second off his pole time for the 1st race, but so did many of the other drivers. In fact, only 0.8 of a second separated the first 9 cars for the start of the 2nd race on Sunday! In fact, the top 7 cars qualified under the existing track record! Midway through Sunday’s race, Joey slipped off the track in turn 3 and fell back to 14th… Unfazed (Joey says ‘Hey, stuff happens on the track and you deal with it) and so he did, racing his way all the way back up to finish in 8th place. Joey finished up the weekend tied for 1st place in the series points championship! A great start for Joey in the 2009 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series!

If all of this were not exciting enough, Joey got to meet and race with one of his idols from the world of skiing, Simon Dumont. Simon is a world renowned professional skier who was a guest driver at the 1st race at VIR this weekend. Joey got to spend some time with Simon teaching him all about the car and how to drive the track. By sheer coincidence, Joey and Simon were assigned the two Red Bull Jettas which made for a great photo op for sponsor Red Bull, as Simon is a Red Bull athlete. Here Joey shows him the optimum line through Turn 12 (Oak Tree) on the track (located at the bottom of the track map). Simon started last (28th) and with the knowledge gained from working with Joey, he finished 19 th – an excellent effort for a 1st time race car driver!

Joey gets the lead story on the SCCA Website after his win during the first race of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series on Saturday. You can read the entire press release at: http://scca.com/newsarticle.aspx?hub=4&news=3620

Joey and four other cars from the Oregon Region of the SCCA ventured down to race in the Double National Races being held at the beautiful Thunderhill, CA Racetrack located about 125 miles north of San Francisco. This track is 3 miles long and a very exciting track to drive with its 15 turns and several elevation changes including the famous ‘Cyclone’ hill at turn 5.

For the first time driving on this track in competition, Joey did a great job. During the five 20 min practice sessions on Thursday, Joey took a considerable amount of time off his lap times and then qualified 6th in class for the first race on Saturday. Unfortunately during the race, Joey had to avoid a collision with a driver who cut him off going into a turn, and as a result Joey went off track and ‘kissed’ the wall which bent the front suspension enough so that he could not safely continue racing or finish the race. With the help of Will Schrader, Pat McFall and Gary Bockman, Joey’s car was back up running by the end of the day!

Here Joey accelerates onto the front straight out of turn 15 during his qualifying run for Sunday’s race. He qualified 5th in class by shaving yet another second off his lap time. Joey comes out of turn 12 accelerating toward turn 13 and onto the back straight.

We invite you to take a ride along with Joey as he races the entire 6th lap of the race on Sunday. At the time of this video, Joey was in 3rd place in class with just Ken Sutherland and Will Schrader in front of him.

Joey got a great start for the race on Sunday and moved up to 3rd in class in the first lap. Will, Joey and Bruce race down the back straight into turn 14. Unfortunately at the end of lap 6, as Joey came out of turn 15, a couple of cars got tangled up right beside him and one of them clipped the right rear panel of Joey’s car and caused him to spin out as he came onto the front straight (see video). Joey was able to recover from the spinout without being tagged by anyone else, but he had lost 8 positions – he spent the rest of the race working his way all the way back up from 11th to take the checkered flag with a 6th place finish in class.

Will, Gary & Joey accelerate down the front straight during a practice lap. Check out the cows (those black spots behind the cars) grazing out beside turn 7!!! Joey accelerates onto the front straight while other cars come over the Cyclone Hill in the background. What a great weekend of racing on such a challenging and exciting track!

The 2009 Racing Season began here in the Pacific Northwest with some nasty weather: Cold & Windy with Snow & Rain Showers. Joey Atterbury, who had worked on his car all winter, arrived at the track with a new paint scheme and an intense determination to win. During the practice session on Saturday, Joey topped the field with a fastest time of 1:31:436. But that was just a practice. For the Sunday morning qualifier, the rain and snow showers shortened the qualifying run a few minutes and Joey missed the capturing the pole position by a mere 0.05 seconds.

As they lined up for the race on Sunday afternoon, the sun came out just in time – promising great weather for the race. Gary Bockman started first, then Joey, Will Schrader and Ken Sutherland and the remainder of [ the Spec Miatas. Ken, in the silver #94 car got a great jump on the start and moved up on the outside from the #4 spot to take the lead as they entered into turns #1 and #2 of the chicane. Joey held on to his #2 spot through the chicane and the race was on between Ken & Joey. At the end of the second lap, Joey took the inside coming down the end of the front straight and edged out Ken into turn #1 of the chicane. Joey then drove a good smart race, with strong consistent times that ran in the low to mid 1:31s. By the mid-point of the race, Joey was well out in front of Ken and all the other Spec Miatas. Joey ran all but the first two laps of the race in 1st place, steadily increasing his lead with every lap, and winning the race with a lead of well over 6 seconds at the finish.

Joey’s smile says what this victory meant to him and he and his crew chief Shaun Bailey take a well earned victory lap.

Stayed tuned for more racing news as Joey races both the Spec Miata & the VW Jetta TDI this season! It should be an exciting adventure! Pictures by Camden Thrasher Photography.