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American LeMans
FEINBERG: Eat What You Kill
Its been a while since we've gotten a good rant from Joel Feinberg -- enjoy his latest where he takes aim at everyone but Santa Claus.
Joel Feinberg  |  Posted August 07, 2009   Fort Lauderdale, FL
Winning IMSA Lites races has kept Feinberg appetite for success fed to a slight degree. Getting to the front in his ALMS GT2 Dodge viper would be the best meal of all. (PRG)
Dear Lord Baby Jesus, it has been nearly three months since my last confession…

Yep, another Ricky Bobby mention, I usually throw these out as needed depending on the situation. The past few months have been interesting to say the least. While a handful of teams crossed the pond for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, we enjoyed some downtime away from the juggling act that racing has become this year.

In June we ran an IMSA Lites double header at New Jersey Motorsports Park where I personally experienced the depths of hell via my over aggressive driving style which caused me to spin four times in one race… yet was still able to land on the bottom step of the podium.

After being bent over my crew chief’s knee and scolded like a 12 year old, I came back with what was viewed by many as a “perfect race” and dominated my way to the top of the podium in race two.

With another month off before the ALMS would resume, we kicked around some development ideas for our Viper and really spent a lot of time looking at our options for the remainder of the season and beyond. When July rolled around, it was time to put the circle track setup on the Viper and head to the track that handicaps our car the most -- Lime Rock Park -- for the Northeast Grand Prix.

Talk about a short track, the schedule was even shorter. Show up on Thursday, practice and qualify on Friday, followed by three races on Saturday. Needless to say, we were busy. The team worked flawlessly and I was able to follow up my New Jersey results with a 1st and a 3rd in Lites wrapped around a respectable 14th overall finish with the Viper.

Enough of the warm and fuzzy stuff and on to the dark side!

As I sit here typing my “confessions” I’m not where I really would like to be. While the rest of the American Le Mans Series is planning their race strategy for this week’s event at Mid-Ohio I’m home in Florida scratching my head trying to figure out how GM (who filed for bankruptcy) can still afford to debut their “2” new GT cars, and I can’t afford be there myself.

Government bailout my a**! It’s my tax dollars that are paying for two brand new Corvettes to go out and sandbag while we swallow our pride and sit this one out. I guess President Obama forgot to put my bailout check in the mail because I find it very hard to comprehend how GM can justify spending several million dollars on what they have admittedly called “testing for 2010.”

If I didn’t already shave my head I’d be pulling my hair out. I’m sure when we show up next week at Road America I’ll get yelled at for saying that, but I know I’m not the first person to raise this question.

Now that I’m really sharing and getting it all off my chest, I may as well give a shout out to the folks at Dodge while I’m at it.

Pay attention, I case you didn’t notice, the only team running a production-based Dodge in pro racing is PRIMETIME, and it has been done thus far without the slightest acknowledgment from Chrysler. How does that make sense? Why not have two bailout teams in GT2? Chrysler...you listening?
14th overall for Feinberg at Lime Rock was a steady result for the privateer team. (PRG)

We’re talking about a V10 Muscle Car that looks as good or better on track as it does on the showroom, how can they not see value in promoting or developing that? Nonetheless, we have shown up for nearly two years straight in the American Le Mans Series as a privateer competitor fighting for our lives.

We have managed to get this far on our own by way of minimal sponsorships, my entire personal finances, and by running track support programs within the IMSA Lites feeder series. As we reach the halfway point in the season and those resources become less and less dependable, the fight has become even more challenging and has put us on a “race by race” status.

Stayed tuned to see where this all plays out – I’ll be on the lookout for some scowls in the next driver’s meeting, for sure. More to come from Road America!

~Joel

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Joel Feinberg is the owner of Primetime Race Group and races the #11 ALMS GT2 Dodge Viper. His professional career began at the age of 17 when he decided to play professional golf instead of going to college. At the age of 23, with six years under his belt competing in golf tours across the US against the country’s top players, Feinberg decided his time was better spent focusing on the South Florida real estate market.

He later moved into sports marketing and sports entertainment, launching 790 ESPN Radio as the South Florida affiliate of ESPN Radio, before turning his hobby of go karting into a formal business with the formation of Primetime Racing Group and undertaking his current challenge in the American Le Mans Series and the IMSA Lites series. Feinberg resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

To learn more about Joel and his team, visit www.primetimeracegroup.com
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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