September 2004 - Pro Formula Mazda - Atlanta GA

Road Atlanta Pro Mazda

9-21-2004 to 9-24-2004

This was a big weekend for Colin.  He has been testing the Pro Mazda in the promoters test days for some events this year.  As the days are not sanctioned by IMSA or Star Mazda you don't need a license to run the test days. 

On the Tuesday of Road Atlanta Colin was still 15 but he was 5th quickest in the test day and things were going well.  He had his good friend Gord Bentley as his crew chief and Gord's son, Morgan as crew.

Here is Colin on Wednesday with Gord.  They have their birthdays only 1 day apart.  Colin turning 16 and Gord turning..................well another year older.  Picture your self as Colin.......just got done driving a 150 mph race car, turning 16 with the race weekend ahead, was 5th quickest, already has 2 pro car championships under his belt, working with a great crew, not hard to see why he has that big smile.

Colin was driving the Pro Mazda owned by Forest Barber.  Here is the car exiting turn 10b at Atlanta. 

It was good to get exposure on national TV for Latus Motors, Speed Secrets, Silkolene, Bell, Gatorz, and Performance Friction.

That last one caused some controversy.  The series is sponsored by Hawk brakes but Colin has a personal deal with Performance Friction.  We put the stickers on the car and ran them for a day.

The series said we had to take the stickers off.  But one car owned by the series has a competing brake sticker on the car.  So after some discussion both cars had to remove the stickers.  Still it is always to get brake advice from Derrik at PFC.  There is no one better.

Practice went well with Colin working on the test plan.  We did our simulated qualifying and ended up 3rd quick for the session.  The next session we did a race simulation and were 15th on full tanks and old tires.

The car was great and Colin knew we had a good race car.  Some competitors could not figure out what happened to his times.

They just needed to wait for qualifying.  Colin ended up the talk for the paddock after qualifying.  He was 4th just .o5 from 2nd.  People were surprised that in his first Pro Mazda race he was starting 4th.

Here is Colin before the start.  You can see a fan on the dash area keeping him cool before the start. 

There would be 32 cars on the grid.  Colin was interviewed by Brian Till for the Speed Channel broadcast.  There was quite a buzz about the 16 year old in the Pro Mazda series.

Forest Barber was so good to let Colin use his car this year.  he uses it to keep sharp for his Daytona Prototype driving.  Thanks Forrest.........you never got to use your car all summer.

Here is the start.  Colin is on the far edge of the track (our right).  He is already in 3rd with McDowell (#2) and Jenkins (#31) ahead.

Colin was 3rd into turn 10 on lap 1 when Brian Frisell forced Colin off the road on the exit of 10b and Colin spun.  A full track yellow for another accident bunched the pack with Colin in 16th plane in the 32 car field.

On the restart Colin went to 13 on lap one, was 10th on lap 2 and 7th on lap 3 when the engine quit. 

A rock had punctured the oil cooler and it lost oil.  The engine shut down and Colin coasted to a stop.  In any event it was a great way to start his official professional racing career.  They all knew he was fast.  So it was on to a Formula Renault 2000 race in the Race Team Promotions series at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.