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GRAND-AM: Thunder Awaits in New Jersey
Written by: Grand-Am Communications   http://www.grand-am.com
08/27/2008
Daytona Beach, Fla.
 
New Jersey Motorsports Park ยป More Photos

This weekend’s Supercar Life 250 at New Jersey Motorsports Park will be a new experience for nearly every competitor in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. Matt Plumb is one of the few exceptions in the Daytona Prototype paddock. The driver of the No. 7 RumBum.com BMW Riley has already logged plenty of laps on both the Thunderbolt and Lightning circuits at the new facility, in a number of different disciplines.

In addition to coaching in the Ferrari Challenge, Plumb is an instructor for Supercar Life, the sponsor for the inaugural event.

“It is a one-day driving experience using five supercars,” Plumb said of the program. “We hire six professional coaches, all current drivers in the Rolex Series, IndyCar Series, or other major series. In the program, we have 15 customers show up for the day and they basically get to test five supercars. We have a Ferrari 430, Lamborghini, Porsche 911 Turbo, Aston Martin and Mercedes CLK63, and the customers get to put each of them through their paces. By the end of the day, they’re driving them at speed, all with the help of professional coaches over a one-day program.”

New Jersey Motorsports Park is the base for the program. Other programs are at Homestead-Miami Speedway and California Speedway.

Plumb is very impressed with the work that has been done at the park, which holds its first professional event this weekend.

“It is a spectacular facility,” Plumb said. “It’s enormous, so it will be able to support large amounts of Grand-Am fans. The facility has brand-new, state-of-the-art garages, there’s nothing they didn’t think of to hold a big race. The infrastructure’s all there. The track is very cool. It’s fast, with a lot of interesting corners. Obviously, there’s been some thought been put into it, and obviously, an
incredible amount of money. It looks like hundreds and hundreds of acres. They certainly spared no expense.”

However, most of his actual driving experience is on the second circuit.
“Most of my experience is on Lightning, which is the other track,” Plumb said. “I did get to coach in the Ferrari Challenge and get some extra laps at Thunderbolt.

“Thunderbolt is a fast, third-fourth gear corner type track,” Plumb said. “It’s got a lot of long, sweeping corners. It should be good from the spectator point of view. However, I have no idea of what it will be like in a Daytona Prototype.”

For Plumb, racing at the Millville facility is almost like going home.

“My mom lives within an hour of the place in Unionville, Pa., but I never had been to Millville before,” Plumb said. “I’m looking forward to it. I like the fact that we’re going to a track that no one else has been to. Finally, we will have a little bit better playing field.”

Plumb and co-driver Gene Sigal have three top-five finishes this season. They were third at Mid-Ohio, in addition to finishing fifth at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Virginia International Raceway.

Plumb won’t be getting much rest this weekend, though. In addition to racing the Daytona Prototype, he also has his duties with the Ferrari Challenge and Supercar Life. If that’s not enough, he’ll also race in the KONI Challenge Series, sharing Bill Fenton’s No. 29 Honda with Bob Beede.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Plumb said. “The fact that we’ve got the New York, Philly and the whole East Coast to tap into, I can’t see it not being a huge success. It’s the end of summer and everybody’s looking for something to do. I have no doubt it will be a huge success.”
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