Car No.41's amazing new livery

For the 3^rd year running the team will partner with Dempsey Racing in a Mazda RX8 GT car. This year’s race promises to be one of the most competitive and exciting ever and the Dempsey Racing package is tipped to be a dark horse for a good finish based upon the growing strength of the team and their 3^rd place podium in 2011.

Driving this year in car No.41 will be Team Seattle founder Don Kitch Jr, returning Dempsey Racing drivers Ian James and Scott Maxwell and for the first time running the 24, Dan Rogers and Rick Johnson.

As with all previous efforts, the goal remains to raise valuable funds for the Team Seattle Guild, which benefits the Cardiac Care Unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Since partnering with Dempsey, the team has raised well over $1M dollars and in the 16 years has now topped $5M. The premise remains simple: get a car to a 24-hour race and use it as a catalyst to raise money. Philanthropic efforts have ranged from pledge donations per lap, to photographs of donors (or their loved ones) appearing on the car.

Last year, the team introduced the “Buy a Heart. Save a Life” campaign that in its first running raised $70,000. This year, the team returns with a similar idea but a revised ‘heart’ to commemorate the 50^th year of the Seattle Space Needle as well as the 50^th running of the race. Donors have, once again, embraced the idea and while the total amount will remain secret until the race, really made a significant contribution.

To keep up to date and interact with Team Seattle, there are a series of options available to fans both at the track and online. The following are ways of tracking Car No.41s progress throughout the weekend:

AT THE TRACK

• Come and visit Dempsey Racing and meet the driver team for car 41
• Buy a heart at the track and we’ll have you sign and stick it on the car
• Buy Team Seattle merchandise at the garage or make a donation
• Timing and scoring will be available on mobile devices from m.grand-am.com
• Visit the team during the autograph session and get a signed hero card

ONLINE

• We’ll post photographs, videos and daily recaps on Facebook
• We will be tweeting so follow us @teamseattle
• Grand-Am will have live timing and scoring throughout the race
• Speed TV are covering all 24 hours (between online and TV)

If you haven’t done so already, you can “Buy a Heart. Save a Life” until Friday night where we’ll stick the final hearts to the car. Even if you don’t want to buy a heart, any donation will be most welcomed.

As the team gets the final preparations taken care it goes without saying that a big THANK YOU must be extended to each and every supporter who makes such a huge difference to our campaign.

First FishingCaptial.com/Bass 2 Billfish Run For Espenlaub & Putman; Rogers & Johnson Join Team Seattle

ATLANTA (December 13, 2011) – Dempsey Racing will race in support of Team Seattle at the 50^th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 26 – 28, and throughout the 2011 season for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing, with both the No. 40 VISIT FLORIDA Mazda RX-8 GT and No. 41 FishingCapital.com/Bass2 Billfish Mazda RX-8 GT and a full lineup of drivers that includes full-season pilots Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster, Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman, Dempsey’s designated stand-in Tom Long, and Team Seattle Rolex 24 specialists Don Kitch Jr., Rick Johnson and Dan Rogers.

All but Long and team owner/driver Dempsey tested the No. 41 Mazda last week at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) where a productive session saw Foster, Espenlaub, Putman, Kitch, Johnson and Rogers drive a combined 225 laps – more than 800 miles – over the two days.

“It was great to have the 41 car out, going around, making laps,” said Foster, Dempsey’s co-driver and motorsports business partner. “We just announced earlier this month the VISIT FLORIDA, FishingCapital.com, Bass 2 Billfish portion of the 41’s backing for next year, which is great, and the Team Seattle guys are getting ready for our usual January Rolex 24 program.  Don Kitch was there with Rick Johnson and Dan Rogers and on Tuesday alone we did 108 laps with those guys in the car, and they didn’t put a foot wrong all day. We just focused a lot on spotting, traffic, coaching and getting these guys used to the car even though they are all experienced racers, and Don has won this race before.”

Team Seattle is returning to its Rolex 24 roots for the 50^th Anniversary running of the Daytona endurance classic after fielding the No. 41 as a season-long fundraising entry with Dempsey Racing in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series the last two years.  Kitch, who founded the Team Seattle Guild in support of Seattle Children’s Hospital in 1997, will be among the team drivers from the Northwest U.S. driving the No. 41 at Daytona next month.

“I am really excited to be back,” Kitch said. “This will be the biggest Rolex 24 we have ever seen, any of us, and you can feel it building. Great to be back with our partners Dempsey Racing, the chemistry here is very good, and it has been very good for three years now. I love working with these guys, it’s a good marriage and it only gets bigger and better. Dempsey Racing was very well prepared and staffed at the recent test and Team Seattle wanted for nothing these two days.”

Although the 2012 partnership is more Rolex 24 focused than the efforts of the previous two seasons, Dempsey Racing remains deeply committed to the Team Seattle cause.

“Even though we have had a changing of the guard a bit in terms of the way the Team Seattle program is packaged for us, Patrick and I definitely want to continue to support that effort,” Foster said. “We want to continue to have Seattle Children’s Hospital and Team Seattle as part of what we do at Dempsey Racing.  We had a good couple of days testing and we are looking forward to the race.”

Johnson and Rogers are Team Seattle’s newest drivers in the No. 41 Mazda in next month’s race.

“I am so excited for Rick and Dan to come and participate in this event and they did a good job in testing,” Kitch said. “This is a big step for a guy to come to this facility and this event, and they have done great getting comfortable in the car. They were quicker and quicker each time they went out and I am really proud to have them representing Team Seattle and the city of Seattle for our Seattle Children’s Hospital.  Dan and Rick are going to be great teammates and, of course, Dempsey Racing is throwing a couple of other very quick guys with us, so it is going to be good.”

Espenlaub, a Demspey Racing regular, will join Putman as the full-season co-drivers of the No. 41 in 2012.

“It’s fantastic, for one, to be back with the Dempsey guys for 2012, and then to be fulltime and get to drive with Charlie – we have had a lot of success together – makes it even better,” Espenlaub said. “It was his first time in a Rolex GT car at the test so we kind of spent the morning getting him acclimated to the differences of the car, and he adapted well.  He seems to be enjoying it and we are looking forward to a great year.”

Espenlaub and Putman co-drove to the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS (Grand Sport) Championship.

“Daytona has got a lot of mystique about it, and this being the 50^th anniversary, it is just a special year for the Rolex 24,” Putman said. “I am pretty at home with Daytona because we have run the Continental cars here a bit, but when you get in a new car and a higher horsepower car, it’s always an experience to go out there.  I was really pleased with how well the car handles and what it feels like out there.  The only thing I am not used to is that it goes into the corners a lot faster than I think it will, but I am getting used to it.  There’s still some adjustments to make as far as getting accustomed to it, but we are off to a good start, and the car is very nice to drive.”

Johnson and Rogers joined Putman in making Rolex GT debuts at the test, the first laps ever for Johnson on the legendary DIS road course.  Johnson is the Porsche General Sales Manager at Carrera Motors Porsche in Bend, Oregon, where he also runs Club Carrera, the dealership’s high-performance division.

“It’s a little different than what I am used to,” Johnson said. “This was my first time ever at Daytona and first time ever in a Mazda. The first lap at Daytona is something I will never forget.  It wasn’t as difficult as I thought but it was certainly inspiring to come back after the first session and realize that you are at the hotbed of endurance racing in this country.  It’s a good feeling, great team, everybody at Dempsey Racing is a joy to work with and the car is way different than I thought. It is so well balanced, they may not have an advantage this year, but for sure it is very light, very nimble and extremely quick around the banks.”

Rogers is from Anchorage, Alaska, where he owns a construction company and engineering firm that focuses on large power systems.  Seattle Children’s Hospital has an extension in Alaska, doing work not only in Anchorage but also in some of the more rural communities.

“It was great,” Rogers said after his first GT laps at Daytona. “Last year I ran with Compass 360 in ST and stepping up to a GT was just wonderful.  I couldn’t have done it with a better group of guys, like Joe and Charles, and, of course, the Team Seattle guys, it was great.”

Dempsey Racing will also support once again next season the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing, which is located in Dempsey’s hometown of Lewiston, Maine.  A primary focus of these efforts will center on building funding and awareness for the Dempsey Challenge, a cycling event held each year to benefit the Dempsey Center.

“In the off season we had a fantastic cycling event up in Maine at the Dempsey Challenge, which really went well and we generated well over $1 million dollars in one day for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing,” Foster said. “One of the amazing things was that at the awards banquet we had up there for the fundraising, all of the awards were handed out by patients from the Dempsey Center.  So everyone there, including Patrick, myself and my wife Claudette, and all of our Dempsey Racing teammates that supported the Dempsey Challenge, got to actually see and hear firsthand what the fundraising does for patients and their families.”

Dempsey Racing’s support efforts for both Team Seattle and the Dempsey Center will get an extra boost at the Daytona opener for the second consecutive year at next month’s 50^th Anniversary Rolex 24.  A special ticket offer to be announced shortly, which includes a group meet and greet with the Dempsey Racing drivers, will see a portion of the sales donated equally to Team Seattle and the Dempsey Center.

“At Daytona we are looking forward to doing another ticket package this year,” Foster said. “We are going to do a charity promotional event for race fans to benefit Seattle Children’s Hospital through Team Seattle as well the Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing.  Working with our friends at Daytona International Speedway, we are going to give fans the chance to be part of a group meet and greet with the drivers so these folks can hear what they have to say while providing some equal support for both charity groups.”

Next up for Dempsey Racing is the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 Test Days at Daytona, January 6 – 8. Both the No. 40 VISIT FLORIDA Mazda RX-8 GT and No. 41 FishingCapital.com/Bass2 Billfish with Team Seattle Mazda RX-8 GT are scheduled to participate.  The 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona will be run January 26 – 29

Noteworthy

Although his busy Hollywood schedule usually makes Dempsey’s participation in any racing activity a last-minute situation, January’s Roar Test Days event is currently on his calendar. “Patrick is definitely scheduled, from what we understand, to be back for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 to test the VISIT FLORIDA/ShareaLittleSunshine.org No. 40 Mazda,” Foster said.  “That event will kind of be the unveiling as well of the livery for both cars for the season. We are further enhancing and extending our partnership with VISIT FLORIDA and Mazda this year and really look forward to it.”

After being coached and instructed in driving schools by both Espenlaub and Foster early in his career, one of Putman’s first victories came nearly a decade ago co-driving a spec Miata with Espenlaub in a 13-hour endurance race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Espenlaub later helped Putman make the step up to World Challenge competition where he was also first welcomed into the Mazda racing family. After three seasons in World Challenge, Putman turned to the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge where he resumed co-driving with Espenlaub. They captured the 2010 GS Championship in their third full season of Continental Tire competition.

Racing full season for FishingCapital.com and Bass 2 Billfish is ideal for Espenlaub. “It couldn’t be a more perfect match for me, obviously, being a lifelong Florida resident and avid sportsman in just about everything that I can find to get myself in a little bit of trouble and have some fun with in the Sunshine State,” Espenlaub said. “Working with VISIT FLORIDA, FishingCapital.com and Bass 2 Billfish again is like a match made in heaven.”

Rogers has a personal connection to Team Seattle. “I have been working with Team Seattle for about five years now, doing fundraising and coming to Daytona and spotting for them, so we have just kind of escalated the effort,” Rogers said.  “As a racer, this is obviously a lot of people’s dreams. It is a great opportunity to run with Team Seattle and raise money for the hospital.”

Although he is driving for the team for the first time, Johnson has also been a strong proponent of Team Seattle the last few years.  “I am extremely proud to be a part of Team Seattle and everything they are doing for Seattle Children’s Hospital,” Johnson said. “My involvement started from a relationship that I formed with Don Kitch to educate people on driving through his performance racing school and Carrera Motors Porsche and Club Carrera since 2009. This has always been on the radar and this year we made it happen.  Team Seattle is really made up of a lot of interesting people trying to raise a lot of money for Seattle Children’s, and this year will probably be one of the bigger years.”

About Dempsey Racing

A fulltime and year-round enterprise, Dempsey Racing (www.dempseyracing.net) is a professional sports car auto racing team based in the greater Atlanta area in Norcross, Georgia. Owned by actor/driver Patrick Dempsey, the team races in support of the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing (www.dempseycenter.org) in Dempsey’s hometown of Lewiston, Maine, and the Team Seattle Guild (www.teamseattle.com) to benefit the Seattle Children’s Hospital Heart Center (www.seattlechildrens.org).

Successful Inaugural Event Was Hosted by James Gué and Dane Cameron for Team Seattle Guild Cause

SEATTLE, Wash. (November 22, 2011) – The Inaugural 6 Hours of Seattle Go-Kart race, held Sunday, November 13 at SyKart, in Tukwila, Washington, was a record-setter on and off the track with more than $25,000 in donations raised from the fun and first-time event that was organized by GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series drivers James Gué and Dane Cameron to benefit The Team Seattle Guild for Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Photo Credit: Chris Mason

“It was a great event,” Gué said. “We had a much bigger turnout than we thought, we met and even exceeded our goal of raising $25,000 and some additional donations may still be coming in.  All in all it was really successful and a lot of fun. I hope we can continue to make it bigger and better next year.  I really think we have something here that we can build on for the future.”

Overall winners Team SyKart used their local track knowledge to score a comfortable six lap victory, completing a total of 595 laps, but not far behind a tight group of competitors made the inaugural 6 Hours of Seattle one for the record books.

“It was really amazing how close the race was,” Gué said. “The local Sykart team obviously had a little home field advantage but the second, third and fourth place teams were all within 30 seconds of each other after six hours.”

John Meredith, Javier Cantu, Randy Olivarez, Davin Roberts Sturdivant, TJ Henson and Nathanial Lewis made up SyKart’s winning team. Team Seattle’s own squad, that included Don Kitch Jr., finished second while Team DirtFish, from the nearby off-road racing school, finished third. Cameron raced with both Team Seattle and Team Global.

Global took the prize as the highest donating team.  Global’s Bruce Humberstone was the top earner and enlisted his employees for per-lap pledges and lump-sum donations.

Global also fit right in with the fun spirit of the event by wearing team shirts featuring a Global crest on the back, “Scuderia Global” logos and even Italian nicknames – Cameron was “Luigi” – for all drivers and crew.

The more than $25,000 in total donations for the event included proceeds from the silent auction that featured Dempsey Racing memorabilia and collectibles and other quality items.  Among the big ticket items were a racing suits donated by Patrick Dempsey and Gué.    

Additional funds were also raised from a trackside XBOX system that gave everyone in attendance the chance to race Forza 4 for a donation, regardless of their participation in the 6 Hours.  At the end of the event, the entire system – the XBOX, a copy of Forza 4, a wireless wheel and pedal set and a new Forza 4 Simulator seat donated by www.playseatamerica.com – was won by Ryan Hieronymus who posted the day’s fastest lap time on the system.

A hot-lap go-kart was also available throughout the race for any driver that wanted to make a donation and take a stab at the day’s overall fastest lap time.  That honor went to SyKart General Manager Todd Baker who also raced with the second-place Team Seattle squad.

The silent auction, hot laps and Forza 4 contest accounted for nearly $10,000 of the event’s earned proceeds.

Gué and Cameron raced together this year as teammates this year in the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving  & Salvage/Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT, closing out the season with three third-place finishes in the year’s final four races.  After racing with Team Seattle to raise awareness and funding for Seattle Children’s all season, Gué and Cameron scheduled the 6 Hour event for one final fundraising push as well as some year-end fun and camaraderie with friends and colleagues.

Learn more about the Team Seattle Guild at www.teamseattle.com

SEATTLE, Wash. (October 28, 2011) – For the 2^nd year in a row, Team Seattle is asking fans and supporters to ‘Buy a Heart. Save a Life!’. Continuing the success of the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona effort, where the program raised over $70,000, this year the Heart has been developed to not only represent the team but also the commemorative tie in between the 50^th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 50^th year of the Seattle Space Needle.

In late 2010, the ‘Hearts’ program was an adaptation of prior year efforts by Team Seattle to allow fans to get something tangible in return for their contribution to the charity and subsequent donation to Seattle Children’s Hospital. The program had taken a few formats, ranging from having a photograph added to the car as per the 2009 Le Mans effort through to having your name printed and stuck to the roof of the car as was done at the 2010 Daytona campaign. Each proved successful, raising valuable dollar amounts for the Guild, however, these programs came with some challenges of which the ‘Buy a Heart. Save a Life!’ campaign not only addressed but after $70,000 of donated funds proved tweak all prior efforts into a winning formula.

2012 Heart Design

For 2012, the Heart was again designed by Rich Werner, a graphic designer with a definite talent and who is responsible for characters in popular games (such as Plants vs. Zombies) by the company PopCap. Team Seattle was delighted to see this year’s iteration, which ties together both the charitable efforts of the program with the 50th year of the Space Needle, and, of course, the development of the Heart character that now has arms and legs and a touch more attitude.

One of the successes of the Heart program in 2010/11 campaign was the price point. At $50 per ‘Heart’ purchased, the dollar amount reduced the barriers to entry for many who found previous programs to be cost prohibitive. In 2011/12, Team Seattle will maintain that $50 price point but this year has upped the ante with a goal of raising $100k from this program alone.

The Heart’s program went live in mid October and the Hearts have started selling at an even quicker pace that in previous years. Team Seattle supporters young and old are enjoying the quirky charm of the Heart character and the fact that any dollar amount raised goes to a fantastic cause.

The ‘Buy a Heart. Save a Life!’ program will run all the way until the green flag drops on the 50^th Running of the 24 hours at Daytona on the 28^th of January 2012. Until that point, fans and supporters are encouraged to visit http://www.teamseattle.com/hearts and make their pledge. Regular Team Seattle updates will be available on Twitter and Facebook.

2010/11 ‘Buy a Heart. Save a Life’ Photo Gallery.

2011 Team Seattle Drivers Continue Seattle Children’s Hospital Fundraising with November 13^th Event (Visit the official 6 Hour Page here)

James Gue at a previous Team Seattle karting event at Sykart

SEATTLE, Wash. (September 30, 2011) – The 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season wrapped up earlier this month but Team Seattle drivers James Gué and Dane Cameron are doing their part to make sure that the fundraising efforts for Seattle Children’s Hospital continue well into the off-season with the inaugural 6 Hours of Seattle Go-Kart race, Sunday, November 13th, at SkyKart, in Tukwila, Washington.

The team endurance race is now accepting entries for the six-hour go-kart enduro that starts at Noon local time at the state-of-the-art indoor SkyKart facility.  The fundraising event benefitting the Team Seattle Guild is open only to the first nine teams to register, although individuals may also join in the action.  Donations are $500 per competing driver, and a minimum of six drivers must be assigned to each team.  Entered drivers without teams will be randomly assigned until each team meets the minimum six-driver requirement.

“I am really excited about putting on the 6 Hours of Seattle,” Cameron said. “James and I have been working on this for a few months now trying to iron out all the details and arrange something that we think will be a great event. We both wanted to do something a bit extra to raise more awareness and money for Seattle Children’s so we figured what better way than to have a go-kart endurance race.”

Gué and Cameron announced the inaugural 6 Hours of Seattle at the fifth annual Global Diving Benefit Golf Tournament for the Team Seattle Guild, which was held at the Plateau Club in Sammamish, Wash. on Monday, September 19^th, just after season-ending race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that previous weekend.  The full-day of golfing fun and fundraising generated $50,000 for the Team Seattle Guild.

“The Global Golf Tournament was a blast,” said Cameron, a first-time golfer. “I discovered I am completely useless at golf but still had a great time. It was a nice way to unwind and have a bit of fun after the season. It was a good thing that it was a team effort, just like the 6 Hours will be, because one of us could usually get one pointed in the general direction and not in the woods.”

Gué participated in the Global Golf Tournament for the second straight year.

“I had a great time at the golf tournament, the weather was perfect,” Gué said. “It was a really great event, I really need to thank John and Jeri Graham and everyone from Global for having us out again.  We were also able to announce the Team Seattle Charity karting event that Dane and I have been working on, and we had a really great response so far.  I think it will be a really fun event, and we hope to raise a lot of additional money for Seattle Children’s.”

In addition to the traditional spoils of victory for the outright 6 Hours of Seattle winning team, additional prizes will include an award for the team that raises the most donations. Other event activities will include a silent auction of Dempsey Racing memorabilia and other quality items.

“We are also going to have an auction and some prizes and giveaways as well from our partners,” Cameron said.  “More details to come in the coming weeks, but this will be a really fun event, and we can’t wait to see everyone come out and race for a very worth cause.”

Registration and event details can be found at www.teamseattle.com/Seattle6hour/ while general inquiries can be sent to dane@danecameron.com. Individuals or organizations interested in supporting the 6 Hours, or the Team Seattle Guild in general, can make a donation at www.teamseattle.com/donate.

As first-year teammates in 2011, Gué and Cameron took the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving & Salvage Mazda RX-8 GT through its second consecutive year of season-long fundraising for Seattle Children’s Hospital.  A strong stretch run of three third-place finishes in the year’s final four races moved the No. 41 Team Seattle team to a fourth-place GT finish in the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, matching last year’s rookie season result.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (September 17, 2011)

The strong stretch run boosted the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving team to a fourth-place GT finish in the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, matching last year’s rookie season result.

“I am really pleased to end up on the podium again,” Cameron said. “It’s a great result for Team Seattle, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Dempsey Racing and everybody involved. It was a fantastic run. Being fourth in the points at the end of the day, with three podiums, a pole, leading some laps and finishing out the year strong, I think everyone can walk away pretty satisfied from our year here.”

Several times in the race it appeared that the No. 40 might join its sister No. 41 entry in victory lane. Dempsey and Foster led their team to a career-best third-place finish in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona this past January.

Saturday’s race had as much to do with strategy as overall pace.

“A lot of times these races come down to not who has the quickest car but who has the best strategy,” Gué said. “We didn’t have a terrible car, but it certainly wasn’t the best car we have had this season. The track progressively got a little quicker and quicker and maybe our car came in a little bit at the end, but we didn’t pass many cars today. It was more a matter of getting track position and strategy. I am very pleased to get on the podium again and finish the year on a high note, Dane did a really awesome job there at the end, the car wasn’t that good and there were a lot of really good cars around us. He put in a pretty mega drive there, so thanks to him and all of the Team Seattle/Dempsey Racing guys.”

Cameron had his fair share of excitement.

“It was a pretty wild race,” Cameron said. “The whole way through it was one of the hardest races I have ever driven, especially toward the end there it was just kind of nose-to-tail, bumping and banging, and parts and pieces and dirt flying everywhere, so it was a pretty crazy race. I am not quite sure if we would have been able to win, but we gave it a go the whole way through, we never gave up.”

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada (August 20, 2011)

Following Gué’s solid fourth-place qualifying effort on Friday, the No. 41 started on the outside of row two and stayed in lead-pack contention the entire race. After falling to fifth in the opening laps as the team worked in some brakes, Gué ultimately raced to as high as second place as the No. 41 and its GT competition began the first round of pit stops in green flag conditions around 45 minutes into the timed two-hour sprint.

“We had a really good car,” Gué said. “We got a little behind on setup stuff, and I ended up having to try and bed a set of brake pads on the recon laps. We kind of got halfway there so I was a little off the pace on the first three laps just trying to get settled in. The car was really good and I just tried to give it to Dane in as good as shape as possible.”

Cameron made the No. 41’s final pit stop just over 45 minutes from the finish, continued in the top five, and cycled up to third when other challengers made their final stops.

“We had a really good run today,” Cameron said. “We are very pleased with the end result; it’s been a long week and the whole Dempsey Racing team has worked very hard to turn this car around from its state in first practice. We didn’t show up very good but we kept our heads down and worked really hard and made it better and better.”

Gué and Cameron finished third for the first time this season three races ago at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP), where Cameron also qualified fourth.

“I am obviously very pleased as it’s always a good day when you are on the podium,” Gué said. “We are certainly getting our act together now, and I can’t thank the crew and everyone at Dempsey Racing Team Seattle for all of the hard work. This was a long stretch of back-to-back races with not going home and coming right here from Watkins Glen.”

The Continental Tire 200 at The Glen was run just last Saturday night and the majority of the Dempsey crew went straight to Montreal between races.

“Our car was really coming on strong and seemed to go faster, faster and faster the whole race,” Cameron said. “We started the weekend two or more seconds off the pace and ended up one or two tenths from the pace and having a car that could race with anyone. That in itself is a small victory. We are still pushing extremely hard and have one more shot at getting the big ‘W’ for the year.”

“We are really happy for the 41 car, getting on the podium again, that’s fantastic for them,” Dempsey said. “They have been struggling all year but in the last few races they have really put it together, so I am happy for them.”

Saturday’s third place was the third podium finish for Dempsey Racing this year. Three races ago, Gué and Cameron finished third for the first time as teammates last month at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). Dempsey, Foster, Charles Espenlaub and Tom Long also made it to victory lane in the No. 40 in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. Dempsey Racing’s previous best career result in the Montreal 200 was in 2009 when Foster and Espenlaub – Dempsey’s usual high-speed stand-in driver – drove the No. 40 to a fourth-place finish.

The Montreal 200 will be followed by the season-ending race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course next month. The No. 41 Mazda RX-8 GT team, and Gué and Cameron, have moved up from seventh to sixth in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series GT Team and Driver championships with 276 points. They are just one point behind the fifth place team and drivers and only three points shy of fourth, the No. 41 team’s final ranking in last year’s championship. The No. 40 Mazda RX-8 GT is 11^th in the team championship with 222 points.

Photo Credit: Margie Gerard

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (August 14, 2011) Dempsey Racing’s No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving & Salvage Mazda RX-8 GT was leading Saturday evening’s Canadian Tire 200 at The Glen with little over five minutes to go in the timed two-hour sprint race but a late pit stop for a splash of fuel resulted in a sixth-place finish for drivers James Gué and Dane Cameron while their teammates Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster finished 11^th in the Dempsey Racing No. 40 VISIT FLORIDA/ModSpace/Construct Corps/Trina Solar Mazda RX-8 GT.

Both Dempsey Racing Mazda teams gambled on fuel-stretching strategies that needed more than just the race’s lone caution period to work.  Instead, it was clean-and-green for the final one-hour and forty-five minutes in a race that went into the record books as the fastest in GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series history, with an overall winning average speed of 122.308 mph.

“We definitely had the right decisions and the right calls,” Cameron said. “Everything worked out as we had anticipated. At this point, all we want to do is get the car on the podium and get a victory before the year is out, so we need to take some bigger risks. We took a big risk today and we knew we were going to be really tight on fuel, but we just figured that we’d go for it and hope for a yellow.”

Cameron led laps 86 and 87, and joined Gué in driving to the front several times in the fast and flat-out race, but the No. 41 was the last car to lead before pitting under green and giving the top spot to the GT race-winning Porsche.

“I think we did the best with what we had to do today,” Gué said. “Looking back, I wouldn’t have done anything different.  We can certainly leave here knowing that we did our best and the car was good.  We ran near the front for awhile and Dane led a few laps, which is always good.  We’ll try to keep this momentum going and carry it over to Montreal.”

The Glen race kicked off a tight back-to-back stretch of races that sees the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series head to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve next week for the Montreal 200.

The No. 41 team’s second-straight competitive showing – they finished third two races ago at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) – was a morale boost for everybody on the Dempsey Racing team.

“I’m just super happy for the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving Mazda team that almost won the race,” Foster said. “Dane and James drove fantastic, and honestly, it was a great pit strategy.  They almost won, but they had to stop for fuel as well.  Big picture, I think it was a great day for both cars.”

Even the No. 41 team’s late splash-and-go pit stop was executed perfectly, allowing the team to still come out of the race with the sixth-place finish.

“We were on reserve again on the in-lap after the checkered flag,” Cameron said. “That was the perfect timing and amount of fuel to get us to the end, which was just what we needed.  It got us back out ahead of one or two other guys. The pit stops were fantastic.  We did a really good job on timing our fuel fills and making sure that we set ourselves up in a good position.  It was a big team effort the whole day and it very nearly paid off in a big way for us.”

Next up for Dempsey Racing and the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is next weekend’s Montreal 200 on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The race can be seen in same-day coverage on SPEED, Saturday, August 20th, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

MILLVILLE, N.J. (July 24, 2011)

The New Jersey raced marked the first time since early June’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen that both Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GTs finished in the top 10.  The No. 41’s podium was also the first victory lane appearance for Team Seattle since the team scored Dempsey Racing’s first and only win last August in the NASCAR short course race at Watkins Glen International.

“We still want to get a victory before the year is over, but getting a podium is a big boost and a big help in that direction,” said Cameron, who drove both the opening and closing stints of the race. “As hard as we have worked, and everything we have kind of been through this year, this is almost – not quite – but almost as good as winning a race.  It was just nice to have a good car, we qualified well, ran consistently toward the front of the field, we were on pace throughout the day, and the guys did a really, really good job in the pits.  I am super excited to be on the podium and hopefully this will be the beginning of a very strong close to the year for the team.”

After starting fourth, Cameron had the No. 41 in the lead when he handed off to Gué who in turn raced to as high as second in his shift in the middle of the race. Along with the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving Mazda, both drivers seemed to be at their best late in their respective driving stints.

“We really worked hard on trying to make the car good over a long run,” Gué said. “It is a very difficult track, conditions were hot, it’s hard to find grip, so the car gets very greasy and slides around a lot, but the car was still very good.  As I have been saying all year, we are a contending team, we just haven’t been able to put it all together, and I think this is just sort of the first step. We have gained some momentum to finish out the season on a high note and we will see if we can finish the year off with a win.”     

Prior to the New Jersey podium showing, fourth-place finishes at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and Lime Rock Park were the best results for Gué and Cameron as first-year co-drivers in the No. 41.

“What’s most pleasing about this weekend is that this is probably the first time all year that I feel we have kind of maximized everything,” Cameron said. “Everything has sort of fallen into place a little bit more for us, we had the strategy we needed to have, we had the relative pace we needed to have, we were good on the long runs. This is the first weekend where I really feel like we have done about the best that we could, which is all you can do.  We had a little bit of a sniff of the guys for second and first, but we just didn’t quite have enough today, but I am very pleased.”

Next up for Dempsey Racing is the Watkins Glen 200, August 12 – 13, on the NASCAR short course at The Glen. The race can be seen live on SPEED at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.

The New Jersey result should provide some solid momentum for the No. 41 team at the Watkins Glen 200 where the team scored Dempsey Racing’s first and only race win last year. Gué drove in the winning effort and sees no reason why he and Cameron can’t score a repeat victory this year.

“We know we can do it,” Gué said. “The short-course race has always been a favorite of mine.  We can win it again, it’s just a matter of having the perfect race. We made some good progress with the car this weekend, we have a good direction and I am very optimistic for The Glen and all three races remaining this season.”

MONTEREY, Calif. (July 9 2011)

Although the No. 41 team had its most competitive car in the last three races, Gué and Cameron ended up finishing ninth after following a different pit stop strategy in the No. 41. Dempsey and Espenlaub, filling in for Dempsey’s regular co-driver Joe Foster, were pleased to just make it to the finish in a No. 40 Mazda that was on loan to the team after their primary car was heavily damaged in an accident two weeks ago at Road America. Dempsey, who drove two different stints in the No. 40, crossed the finish line in 13th.

Both drivers ran competitively in the No. 41, even after opening-driver Gué spun along with several other GT cars when they hit oil spilled on the track when another competitor had a mechanical problem. Gué continued, managed to stay on the lead lap, and turned the car over to Cameron.

“We probably had one of our best cars all year,” said Cameron, who ran as high as fourth. “We made huge progress, I am really pleased and we are heading in the right direction. James got caught out on somebody else’s oil while running good early on. He didn’t lose a lap, but I got in and basically started in last. I pushed and shoved my way through the field and made it all the way back up to the top five, fourth really.”

Despite the fast car and charge to the front, the No. 41’s result didn’t reflect the team’s competitive performance after the pit strategy missed the mark. Cameron was in fourth when he was forced to pit for fuel less than 30 minutes from the finish.

“We had the pace but maybe were slightly conservative on pit strategy,” Cameron said. “We had to pit late for fuel and really got caught out. Some guys gambled and it may have paid off for them but we had a yellow that was a little longer than we anticipated. As disappointing as the result is, though, it is encouraging how the car is now. I will be disappointed if we end the year without winning one of these things, but we have made some progress and hopefully we will finish out the year strong.”

Next up for Dempsey Racing is the American Red Cross 250, July 22 – 24, at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). The race can be seen live on SPEED at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on Sunday, July 24.