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ALMS EXCLUSIVE: Johnny O’Connell Recounts His Record Breaking Sebring 12hr
Written by:
Johnny Oconnell
03/30/2008 - 05:56 AM
Charlotte, NC
O'Connell (right) celebrates a record 7th Sebring victory. (Photo: GM) » More Photos
Corvette Racing driver Johnny O'Connell shares his thoughts on another 12hr win and breaking a tie with Phil Hill for the most Sebring victories in this exclusive SPEEDtv.com story.
I’ve been very fortunate in my life to meet lots of my hero’s. Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Danny Sullivan, all are very cool guys. Danny especially so. One guy that I never thought I would meet was Phil Hill. It was about ten years ago, and after spending almost an hour with just him and John Morton, well he became my favorite guy in racing. The stories that he told us about racing back in his day, the cars, Sebring, racing for Ferrari, well was amazing. If you didn’t know any different, you would never have guessed that this was the first American to win the Formula one world championship. To have my name along with his at Sebring for having six wins was for the past 3 years a huge honor. This week getting the seventh win for me there and moving past him, well I feel pretty blessed to have had such good luck at that track… and to be a part of it’s great history in racing.
Corvette Racing is an amazing team. In my mind Doug Fehan has built the best sportscar team in American Racing History. The wins in the ALMS, and at Le Mans are proof of this. So going into Sebring this year, I knew that once again we would have the chance at getting win number 7. We were close last year, this year I really felt was our turn. We had a new engineer in Ken Flory, but the same guys preparing the car as we have for several years now, being led by Dan Binks. Once again we are racing on Michelins, so tires would not be an issue.
O'Connell (right) celebrates a record 7th Sebring victory. (Photo: GM) » More Photos
Practice during the week went well, but pretty much everyone was struggling for grip, and the track was very inconsistent. A great challenge for Ken engineering the car, but come qualifying he got the car really good and my teammate Jan Magnussen was able to get us the pole. Then that night in night practice I had the fastest laps, and really felt good in the car. Things were looking really good for us, and the energy with the guys was very positive.
I did something Friday night that I’ve never done before in 18 years racing at Sebring, and that was go down and visit my friends at turn ten the night before the race. Lots of friends watching a slide show and telling funny stories. It was very cool, and was a reminder to me of the history of the track, and why it is so special to so many fans. I walked back to my motor home around
Race day things went great. Jan led for his entire stint, but Gavin was only about a second behind when they pitted. The guys on the three car did a great job however, and I came out of the pits just in front of Beretta in the 4 car. For most of our stint we maintained a lead of about 6 seconds, but near the end of our stints, Dan Binks got on the radio and told me to back off some as the 4 car had a problem, and that from that point on we would really need to look after the car.
It’s a funny thing, but really driving around just being safe and not pushing as hard as you can is often more difficult than pushing ten tenths. You are more likely to get sloppy, more likely to make a mistake. Luckily all of us had trouble free runs, and for me getting to do the final stint was very cool. Our Corvette ran perfectly the entire race, and our pit stops were perfect as well. Winning at any event is a team deal. And over the years I’ve had very good teams behind me.
In any endurance event, the driver is only a part of the equation. I’ve been very lucky to have strong teammates in most of my races at Sebring, and well the best thing about this win was who I shared it with. Jan Magnussen and I scored our first ALMS victory together as teammates back in 1999 for Don Panoz. So sharing this win with him, well means a lot. Then also sharing it with Ron Fellows, with whom I shared 25 wins in the ALMS, well I can’t think of two other guys in racing that I would want to be paired with. Doug Fehan and Steve Wesoloski, they make everything possible for the team to exist, and succeed, as does Gary Pratt and everyone at Corvette racing.
I haven’t spoken with Phil Hill since that day at Sebring when John Morton and I listened to him paint a picture of an amazing time in racing history. I’m guessing that it took him less time to get to 6 wins than it did me getting to 7, but like I mentioned at the start, just being associated with someone like him is a huge honor. All records fall and I know the day will come when mine does as well. And when it does, I’m sure it will be to a driver who has been lucky enough to be with the right team, at the right time.
Be sure to visit http://www.johnnyoconnell.com/ for future updates from the ace American pilot.
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