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3-23-2006 - Homestead 06 - Colin prevented from driving
Homestead Grand Am
Daytona Prototype 2006
March 23,24,25 - 2006
Despite Not Being Able to Drive at Homestead,
Braun Remains aTeam Player
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 23, 2006) --
As a teenage race car driver who has won championships
before
he could even take the family sedan down the street for a quart
of milk, Colin Braun is used to
overcoming some obstacles that the adult race car drivers he
competes against don't face.
The 17-year-old driver from Ovalo, Texas didn't see this one
coming, however.
Braun, who shares the lead in the Daytona Prototype driver point
standings for the Grand American
Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve
with one of his co-drivers at Krohn
Racing, Jorg Bergmeister, learned yesterday that he won't be
able to compete in Saturday's Rolex Series
race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., because
he's too young.
Although Braun raced in some events in the series last year and
had planned to do the entire schedule
in 2006, a problem developed due to contractual agreements
between the track, the sanctioning body
that will stage races at the same track on Sunday, and a tobacco
company that sponsors a prominent
team in one of Sunday's races. The tobacco company is committed
to being sensitive to young people,
and its contracts stipulate there must be no participation by
drivers under 18 at any events in which it
participates. Those contracts forced track officials to ask
Braun to sit this race out, and although Braun
has no ties with the other sanctioning body, that team or that
sponsor, he will comply.
It is not yet clear if ongoing negotiations will allow Braun to
compete in two other events this year
where the Rolex Series shares the card with the other
sanctioning body. But, with the competition as
close as it is in the Rolex Series, Braun's quest for the 2006
Rolex Series Daytona Prototype drivers'
championship will in all practicality be over when he misses
Saturday's race. Braun and his teammate
currently are tied for the point lead out of 107 Daytona
Prototype drivers who have participated in the
first two of 14 events scheduled for 2006.
Braun is obviously very disappointed, but he continues to show
the maturity that has impressed series
officials, track officials, sponsors, the media, his teammates
and his fellow drivers.
He won't stay home and pout, but will instead be at the track
helping his team and the driver who will
substitute for him at Homestead, Max Papis.
"I don't really understand all the issues that the tobacco
industry must deal with but I do know that a
lot of people were trying to work things out so that I could
compete at Homestead this weekend," Braun
said. "I was going to try my best to have a good finish and earn
enough points to maintain my lead in
the championship, but it doesn't look like that will happen. All
I can do is go on to the next race at Long
Beach, Calif., and try my best there. At least I had the point
lead before this happened. I don't know of
any driver who lost a title due to something like this before.
But I've already learned that in racing you
just have to regroup from adversity and keep on trying and
things will work out for the best in the end,
so that's what I'm going to try to do."
Braun said he'll be glad when he's old enough so that his age
won't be an issue.
"I'm not old enough to rent a car to get from the airport to the
racetrack either," he added, still smiling
bravely.
Krohn Racing’s Colin Braun to Miss Homestead-Miami Race
HOMESTEAD, Fla., March 23, 2006 –
Due to arrangements that are in place to prevent
a
competitor under 18 years-old from competing at this venue while
tobacco sponsorship is present,
Krohn Racing driver Colin Braun (Ovalo, Texas) will not be
participating in Saturday’s Grand
American Rolex Sports Car Series’ Linder Industrial Komatsu
Grand Prix of Miami here at
Homestead-Miami Speedway. Krohn Racing is obviously disappointed
in this position and its
impact on team driver and Rolex Series Daytona Prototype point
leader, Colin Braun, 17. The
team, which at no time was in advance possession of information
that would have made them
aware of this stipulation, has sought advice on the matter and
has looked at the possible solutions
available to us at this time. With that, as well as the
repercussions to Colin’s future in mind, Krohn
Racing has decided it is in the best interest of our driver to
accept these restrictions.
In light of this, the team has secured the services of Max Papis
(Miami Beach, Fla.) to stand in for
Braun at this event. Papis will join fulltime Krohn Racing
driver Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld,
Germany) in the No. 76 Ford-Riley. Bergmeister and Braun are
currently tied for the point lead in
the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special
Reserve following the pairing’s
fifth-place finish at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and second-place
finish at Mexico City.
Tracy Krohn, Team Owner: “To say we aren’t disappointed
would be grave injustice to Colin and
to the No. 76 prototype entry. Entering this race we had no
reason to believe that there would be a
problem in Colin’s participation in this event. Nothing in our
experience or in the Grand American
competition rules suggested that there would be any issue with
Colin’s age. We were informed of
this unique scenario just days ago and, upon reviewing every
avenue available to us in effort to
come to an acceptable resolution, we have decided it is in the
best interest of Colin’s career for
him to sit out this event. This is a great blow to Colin, to his
championship aspirations and to Krohn
Racing. However, we will return in force at Long Beach.”
Colin Braun, Driver: “I am obviously very disappointed that
I will not race this weekend and
defend the championship lead. I am more disappointed for Krohn
Racing and my guys. They have
put in a tremendous effort to prepare for this race. We had a
great test here a few weeks ago and I
was really looking forward to driving at Homestead. Everyone
involved did everything possible to
work this out and, in the end, this was the best choice for my
future. I'll be helping Krohn Racing as
much as I can this weekend and then start preparing for Long
Beach."
Miami Herald
PAPIS IS ADDED
Miami resident Max Papis agreed Thursday to race in the Grand Prix of
Miami, teaming with Jorg Bergmeister of Germany.
Papis, a late addition to Saturday's race, will replace Colin Braun,
17, who cannot compete because a contract between Homestead-Miami Speedway and
the IRL stipulates that all participants in weekend events must be at least 18.
The contract stems from a federal law regarding tobacco companies that have
sponsorships at sporting events. Marlboro is the primary sponsor of the Penske
IndyCar team.
''It's going to be hard to watch,'' said Braun, who is helping his team
prepare for the race at Homestead.
Despite being under age, both Braun and Brad Coleman (then 17) raced
in last season's Miami Grand Prix.
Bergmeister and Braun are in first place in the Grand American Rolex Series.
Press
Snoop
GRAND-AM DP POINTS CO-LEADER TO MISS HMS RACE BECAUSE HE'S UNDERAGE
COLIN BRAUN of Ovala TX is tied for the points lead in the Daytona Prototype
class of the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve,
which is sanctioned by Grand American Road Racing. His co-driver and teammate in
No.76 Krohn Racing Ford Riley DP is JORG BERGMEISTER of Germany. But Braun won't
be racing with Bergmeister this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the
Linder Industrial Komatsu Grand Prix of Miami...because he is a minor.
I can't think of any prior instance in Motorsports of a points leader not being
allowed to compete to defend his position due to age.
Team Owner, TRACY KROHN, was told that Braun's age was contradictory to the
Tobacco Agreement guidelines, which prevent minors from competing in venues
while tobacco sponsorship is present. There are no tobacco sponsors involved
with the Krohn team or with any Grand-Am team. The problem lies with the
Marlboro sponsorship of Team Penske in the Indy Racing League IndyCar series.
ROGER PENSKE has had Marlboro sponsorship for years, and Marlboro is owned by
Phillip Morris, a tobacco company bound by the guidelines.
The problem was just recently brought to Krohn's attention, and came as a
surprise. In the two years Braun has been racing in Grand-Am, there never has
been an age problem. The news that Braun is underage has never been a secret. On
the contrary - it has been widely publicized, including Grand-Am profiles of
Braun.
Last year at the HMS Grand-Am race, which ran with IRL, sixteen-year old Braun
co-drove with another sixteen year old - BRAD COLEMAN, in No.64 Team Sixteen
Porsche GT3 Cup GT. They retired with mechanical problems after 63 of the 109
laps. Marlboro Team Penske ran two cars with SAM HORNISH, JR, who finished
second, and HELIO CASTRONEVES, who finished fifth. The age of Braun and Coleman
was never discussed or an issue.
No one has yet explained why Braun's age is a problem this year when it wasn't
last year.
Also at stake for Braun is his status at two other joint Grand-Am/IRL weekends
this season: the Sahlen's Six Hours of Watkins Glen on 3 June 2006, and Infineon
Raceway on 27 August 2006.
This is not the first time at Marlboro sponsorship has caused last minute
problems at a race track. In 2001 at California Speedway, CART ran the Marlboro
500 race, with two Marlboro Team Penske drivers. Running the same weekend was
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Auto Club 200 race. While in his Truck waiting
to go on course for his first practice session, young KYLE BUSCH was not allowed
to drive then or for the rest of the weekend because of his age and the conflict
with the tobacco sponsorship. Although Busch had already raced several times in
the Roush Racing Ford that year, it wasn't a problem until that Friday morning
practice. After that, NASCAR instituted a minimum age limit of 18 years and
Busch had to wait another year and a half to race NASCAR.
Bergmeister will co-drive with MAX PAPIS of Italy. Papis drove with Bergmeister
and Krohn Racing in last year's HMS race. Braun will be there, cheering them on.
He also will be featured on the SPEED TV broadcast and could be a guest
commentator in the booth. The race will be telecast same day tape delay at 8pm
EST.
Tommy's Notebook
By Tommy Brolsma
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Colin Braun: Hosed.
Okay, I should really be working right now, but I
have to riff on this. Let me start off by saying that my personal opinion of
smoking is that it is gross, and I can't understand why anyone would want to
put a burning weed in their mouth and inhale the smoke from it, ruining
their lungs. I personally support laws restricting tobacco advertising, too.
Like I said, that's my personal opinion…but that's just some background on
what I'm about to talk about below.
What the heck does Penske's tobacco sponsorship
have to do with our 17 year old points leader (Colin Braun) racing on the
same weekend in a different series? Before this asinine ruling, there
probably would not have been any mention of tobacco products in either the
Grand American race telecast or on site. But now that they decided that our
young points leader cannot race, so the media coverage about tobacco will be
heavy for our series. This ruling is about the dumbest thing I've seen in
motorsports since USAC's new Silver Crown Cars.
The thing that really doesn't make sense is that
Colin raced the same weekend last year! In addition, there have been
other under 18 drivers that have raced on a weekend where another series has
tobacco issues (F1 and Formula BMW comes to mind). How about some
consistency?
Colin is handling this very well in public, and
should be commended as such. I haven't had the chance to meet him yet, but
from everything I've seen in the media Colin and his dad are class acts.
Someone with some sense and power (even though the
two seem to rarely go hand-in-hand) needs to step in and do something here.
We are lucky to have people who possess both in Grand American, and it would
be nice to see it be used in this case. It would be great to see the same
people who have sat drivers for FIVE LAPS for rough driving step up and
defend thier points leader.
I think Grand American is to the point that they
do not need to race at Homestead or with the IRL, so maybe that's some
leverage to pay with. Either way, something needs to be done. It's a black
eye to have your points leader not racing for something as dumb as this.
Colin's getting hosed.
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