Driving into the Thunderhill paddock on the setup day for the event, I noticed a few disturbing team names on the sides of support vehicles. "Roush" was the first scary notion I'd seen. The factory Honda R&D team had wisely opted to contract Roush to run their high profile 25 Hour entry--"smart move," I thought.

I then noticed the support transporter from Flying Lizard, contracted to use their front running ALMS GT Porsche team to run the GT Porsche of a wealthy local racer. Not good--while I knew the all-volunteer team I'd assembled had no peers, we weren't the battle tested Roush crew, a crew assembled specifically to respond to short-term subcontracting event management and operations. Jack Roush, being smarter than most in our beloved profession, takes a handy sum hiring out his hitmen to help any company or team cherry-pick an event.

Flying Lizard, also equally as impressive, but on a quieter scale, brought the same team, tools, and infrastructure for their customer's Porsche to vie for the overall win. Noting the appearance of overkill on my competitor's part, I found a calming peace in knowing that no matter the pedigree of the big name teams we had to overcome, the group of people that decided to join me on our own 25 hour adventure had all the makings of a dark horse entry. More than succeeding in the race with our incredible drivers, seeing those Roush stickers as I drove in moved me to prove our volunteer team was capable of just as much as the hitmen, but with far fewer resources.

I start out my story by telling of the bigger teams we faced for a reason: our 2005 25 hour event ended up as a triumph of team, of an intelligently designed but untested assemblage of personalities and abilities. While I've always had a strong commitment to fashioning my teams in my own image, many partners and contributors tossed in names of volunteers I wouldn't have thought of as fitting into my normal mold.

That's the point where "Marshall's team" started to become "Our team;" a group of people that didn't so much need direction as a purpose and platform to express their talents. More than our 3rd place finish, more than the highly unexpected result of being the highest finishing team on street tires, I prize the team that emerged in the throws of an endurance race.

Almost a week after our top-3 finish, I still struggle to accept the reality of our accomplishment--from the "big picture" thinking from Tony and Joe Colicchio that kept all aspects of our car in check and always moving forward, the emergence of Jaime Montesalvo to think on his feet, rally our crew, and bring his pitstop innovations to the fore, to the team of managers that were always thinking ahead, beyond, and behind to never let the smallest detail go unchecked, to our drivers that did everything that was asked of them even when those expectations changed from lap to lap, to the rest of our team that found a need, filled it, and multi-tasked with abandon.

We didn't have the luxury of time or funding to allow weeks of crew practice, pitstop practice, and great refinement of roles and duties. Many of those items, for a variety of frustrating reason, had to be pushed back to being handled over the course of the race weekend. Never the manner in which I want to run a team, our crew dealt with the added pressure and burdensome workload to compensate for their lack of time and preparation to show up for the race completely up to speed. Not given the best environment by me to succeed, our team refused to cede to that environment, and did whatever was necessary to improve themselves and the team.

It was this belief and pride in knowing my team could adapt, could modify, and could bond faster than any other in the paddock that made me quietly assured that Roush and the Flying Lizard team had a fight on their hands. While it's easy to call this "my team" by function of me being the team owner, really, the squad that impressed everyone so much at the 2005 25 hour came together themselves--they created their success, our success, and for that, I am in awe. To those outside our team, most would assume we were just as drilled and developed as a Roush; internally, we know the reality.

This event was my first as a team owner, along with my partner Navid Kahangi. For me, I come to this new team of mine having spent almost two decades as a professional--I've run Indy teams that have qualified on the front row and led dominantly, been on the pole elsewhere, worked with some of the best drivers and teams in road racing, won championships, endurance races, and a host of other accolades and personal achievements.

Knowing the 6 months of toil and being in a constant state of near-nervous breakdown to make this 25 hour event happen, I can say without any hesitation that this team, the people, the attitude, the bond, the spirit, the laughs, and our top-3 finish we achieved is by part the proudest moment of my motor racing career.

This old dog didn't know I would still find the challenge and excitement of going racing in 2005 the same as it was when I started in 1986; when I watched Gary Sheehan take my car across the finish line, the tears I'd hoped to keep private wouldn't obey and stay inside. To my surprise, and with those tears streaming down my face, I didn't mind. I was reminded of the little boy that helped his dad to pick rock off of his tires when he was three, the racing toolbox my dad bought for me when I turned 16--the same toolbox that was used during this event, and all the people that invested countless hours to fill me with what I know today. Greater than any result I've had while running somebody else's team, this event was one of tears and emotion, praise and thanks--thanks to all those that helped me to assemble a team that could earn a top-3 in our first race.

For me, this was the first time in my career where I got to pay back all those that got me to where I am. For them, those are tears I'll gladly shed again.

Marshall Pruett
mpruett@advantageracetech.com

ART/ESX/C&D/TC Design/JustRacing.com takes 3rd place overall after a hard-fought 25 Hour battle!

Check back later this evening for notes and more details about this amazing achievement!

Team ART just cracked off a 03 minute 43 second pit stop to change drivers, change all four tires, add oil, adjust a brake pedal stop, swap radios, tape the hood because of a front tap, and fuel the car (25 gallons). 16 people over the wall (4 jack, 4 tire, 2 fuel, 2 driver assist, 2 drivers, 2 team managers)

We're currently in a solid P3, trailing P1 by 6 laps and P2 by 2 laps. Our only real threat from behind, the Seattle Enduro Team 944 Turbo, just got towed in and went behind the wall. And we're putting 6 seconds/lap on P2.

Gary Sheehan is now back onboard to bring the car home. To help him out, we've equipped the car with a new set of shaved RA-1s and will adjusting the boost upward from it's current 9psi setting.

Dave McEntee has taken over the car and we've upped the boost from 9psi to 14psi. There's more where that came from, too.

The P1 Porsche has been in the pits for 15 laps - we're looking into whether they're out (the rumor is "transmission"), which would leave the SSF and Lost N Space teams within striking distance.

Stand by.

Csaba is in the car and is lapping in P4. Team Hankook spent 25+ laps in pit lane or the back paddock and finally succumbed to their rear wheel bearing failure.

We are 5 laps behind P2, 4 laps behind P3, and 15 laps behind P1 (a Porsche 993). There are just over 7 hours left.

The battle is joined.

The ESX Motorsports toterhome packed up around 1am and headed out for Los Angeles for a Sunday commitment. We very much appreciate their support during the 25 Hour Enduro.

We'd also like to thank Red Bull ($70 for two cases?? F1 teams must be expensive), Kirkland coffee, Nestle Hot Chocolate, PG&E, anyone who makes thermal underwear, and the makers of Pepcid.

Dale Sievwright handed the car off to Marco Romani, who finished a flawless double-stint in the car while cruising along at ultra-smooth 2:08.xx while conserving the car for later in the race. Auston Harris is in the car as we speak and is cracking off 2:03s on a consistent basis.

Marco says: "That was more fun than a night launch off a pitching carrier deck."

Uhh, yeah. Whatever, dude.

Anyway, it's damned cold out here.

The car is still performing perfectly and we have a full brake pad change scheduled for the next pit stop, which will leave us good to go to the finish (except for tires). Gary Sheehan will take the car over from Auston, then Csaba Csere will drive the next stint. Dave McEntee then takes over from Csaba and Gary Sheehan will double-stint to the end at noon.

We are currently in P5 overall after the P1 Porsche ended up somewhere up on the hillside above Turn 12, upside down. Team Hankook is now in P1 and we're eyeing their lead.

Car and Driver's Csaba Csere was the lucky man to drive the STi into the dark portion of this event. While strapping him into the car in place of Auston Harris, we attached the totally amazing PIAA lighting rig to the hood and sent him forth into the night.

The end of his stint, however, saw him complain of a lack of braking ("I've got no brakes!") on his in-lap and when the car came to a complete stop smoke was pouring from the front wheel wells. We pulled the wheels and found the brake pads in the front StopTech calipers to be completely gone. The backing plates were quickly bonding to the rotors as the brakes cooled and were proving very difficult to remove.

Some frantic hammering, prying, and pounding finally released the old pads and new ones were slotted into their place. Dale was buckling in at the same time and we quickly got him back into the fracas.

At the current time, we are circulating in 6 place overall and 5th in class. Other than the tire issues and a seeming lack of brake cooling, the car is performing admirably and is showing no signs of slowing down. Even in the dark, Csaba was running consistent laps in the 2:05.xx range - hell of an accomplishment on a track he sees once a year!

• Ohlin 3-way struts
• Stoptech 355 front brakes
• Stoptech custom 325 rear rotors
• Pagid Endurance pads
• Cosworth motor
• 3 preset on-the-fly driver selectable fuel maps
• 32 gallon fuel cell
• custom touring car cage by TC Design
• big Perrin front mount intercooler
• Cusco aluminum bellypan with custom aluminum splitter
• custom rear swaybar
• removable PIAA rally lights
• lots of odds and ends from everywhere