6-14-2007 - Colin and Max at Le Mans - Miami paper

BY SARAH ROTHSCHILD

Max Papis recently held his 11-month-old son, Marco, and wondered what it would be like to carry him onto the podium Sunday at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.

The 37-year-old Miami resident has two runner-up finishes with Corvette Racing in the endurance race, but this would be the first time he could share a top-three finish with his child, and it would be the first since his father died of cancer.

Colin Braun, who co-drives with Papis in the Grand-Am Rolex Series, also is aiming for a solid finish with his Krohn Racing team -- but he just hopes to avoid any mistakes in his debut. He's only 18.

''It's neat to be able to drive this race at such a young age; I'm trying to try to take in the surroundings, and soak it all up,'' Braun said.

Papis, who will be competing against Braun this weekend, said experience could play a factor in how each of their teams fares, but added, ``You've got to be pretty good, damn good, to be racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at his age. He has good racing experience, but he doesn't have Le Mans experience. Colin is more mature than drivers twice his age, and sometimes he's scary to me, honestly.''

Braun, who recently signed a development deal with NASCAR's Roush Fenway Racing, already has raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona three times, but he hasn't competed on the more than 8.4-mile long Circuit de la Sarthe. In comparison, the longest NASCAR track is the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. At Le Mans, the drivers run on local roads, as the endurance race is on a nonpermanent track.

''It has a lot of mystique,'' said Papis, who has raced at Le Mans five times. ``It's definitely a place that intimidates you a lot. I always get goosebumps the first lap I take at Le Mans -- not because you are scared but because you know you are part of something huge.''

The race is especially taxing, in part because during a typical sports car race a driver reaches his fastest speed once during a lap, but at Le Mans that happens five times, Papis said. The track also has a long straightaway, and the backstretch twists and turns.

Papis compared the race to competing in a marathon or a triathlon.

''Sometimes you are out there and you think you can't do it, and you're out of energy and you still have halfway to go,'' Papis said.

Said Braun, who will share driving duties with Tracy Krohn and Niclas Jonsson: ``It's tough to be able to focus for that long.''

But Papis said competing in the prestigious race is only part of the experience. The Italy native has busloads of fans, between about 80 to 120, who were planning to drive to France.

Papis, a five-time veteran of Le Mans, said he still gets overwhelmed by the atmosphere and the race. That sentiment prompted him to tell Braun, ``Enjoy this moment.''