News
> News
Archive > April 2008Consistent
Performance Pays Off for Muniz, Skerlong Bumped
to the Back
The Imperial Capital Bank Challenge
April 21, 2008 - It looked to be a promising day
for Carl Skerlong. The 19-year old from Seattle
sat on row two as the green flag fell for the
Imperial Capital Bank Challenge at the Long Beach
Grand Prix. His hopes for a podium finish in the
season opener were destroyed as fellow American
and pole-sitter Jonathan Bomarito pushed Carl
into the tire barrier in turn one. The incident
forced Carl to return to the pitlane for a new
nose. He anticipated a strong race, where he
could show the potential of this US RaceTronics
prepared PCM race car, but instead, he had to
demonstrate from one lap down. He did get the
chance to make his point setting the fastest lap
of the race, for which he was rewarded with a
bonus point.
Frankie Muniz made a big improvement over his
Long Beach debut last year by starting ten
positions ahead in the field and finishing four
over his 2007 result. Frankie turned in the 15th
fastest qualifying lap of the 23 drivers
yesterday, less than a second over Simona de
Silvestro, the pole and eventual race winner.
Muniz drove an incident free race, held on to his
position, and left the Beach pleased with his
improvement.
CARL SKERLONG, #14 King
Taco/Mazda/Swift/Cooper Tires
Started
3rd |
|
Finished
23rd |
Carl on qualifying: Without
question, we had the car to win. Unfortunately
Bomarito made an unsafe and unnecessary move
which cost me my race. I had to come in for a new
nose and we lost a lap. After that we chased the
field, and the fact that I set the fastest time
of the race, proves we had a great car.
Were leaving with one point, which
certainly is not what I had in mind, but I am
going to turn my focus to Laguna, where I am sure
we will have a better weekend. Thanks to King
Taco for all of their support, I really wanted to
win for them at their home race, it wasnt
meant to be this weekend, but well do it
for them in California next month.
Frankie Muniz #41 PCM/Mazda/Swift/Cooper Tires
Started
15th |
|
Finished
15th |
Frankie on qualifying: I am very
happy with how the race went. We had a good start
and we didnt lose any positions. We stayed
consistent with the pack and the pace. I wish we
were faster but I drove a safe race, I
didnt make many mistakes and I didnt
let anyone pass me, so I am pleased. I cant
wait for Laguna Seca.
Tyler Tadevic, Team Owner: In regard to
Carl, he had a tough day through no fault of his
own. We think Bomaritos move was
unreasonable, it cost us the podium as well as
potentially a victory. No sour grapes about it,
the King Taco car is going to be rewarded at
Laguna Seca. Very proud, of the team,
unfortunately they couldnt get the results
that they were capable of achieving.
Frankie struggled initially, but by the end of
the second qualifying session, he was less than a
second off of the pole, and we think that is
pretty good for a driver who is only in his third
year of racing. It is a big improvement over last
year when he was three seconds off of the pole. I
am really proud of him. Thanks to Mazda and
Cooper Tires for making sure the Atlantic series
exists. Shane (Seneviratne, team manager), Lee
(Bentham, driver coach), Tim (Lewis, engineer
#41) and Burke (Harrison, engineer #14) and all
the boys did a great job all weekend.
Visit the Pacific Coast Motorsports website at
www.pcmracing.com
Skerlong Rebounds from Fridays
Challenges to Start Third, Muniz Jumps to 15th
The Imperial Capital Bank Challenge
April 18, 2008 - CARL SKERLONG, #14 King
Taco/Mazda/Swift/Cooper Tires
Session
Position
Time
Speed |
|
Friday Practice
3rd
1:16.402
92.731 |
|
Friday Qualifying
3rd
1:16.127
93.066 |
Carl on qualifying: I am pleased
to be in the top-three, but disappointed because
I was up three-tenths on my last lap and Andreas
Wirth parked his car in the last corner on the
last lap. That should not happen. We have a
consistent car and I think it is going to be a
very good race car. The important thing tomorrow
will be to keep it clean going into turn one. I
really want to give King Taco a win at their home
race and we are going to give it our best
tomorrow.
Frankie Muniz #41 PCM/Mazda/Swift/Cooper Tires
Session
Position
Time
Speed |
|
Friday Practice
20th
1:18.020
90.807 |
|
Friday qualifying
15th
1:16.915
92.112 |
Frankie on qualifying: Awesome! I
really struggled mentally this morning. Ive
put a lot of pressure on myself and I wasnt
driving well. This afternoon for final
qualifying, I went out there with the mentality
of go out and drive and have fun.
During the warm-up lap, I was smiling in my
helmet and I looked at the crowd around the track
and I thought to myself, this is
awesome! I relaxed, had fun and focused and
I watched the times click down. That was a great
feeling. I am less than a second off the pole,
which is not too bad considering Ive been a
race car driver for two years and one
month!
Visit the Pacific Coast Motorsports website at
www.pcmracing.com
Skerlong Scores a Top-Five in Provisional
Qualifying, Muniz 17th
The Imperial Capital Bank Challenge
April 18, 2008 - CARL SKERLONG, #14 King
Taco/Mazda/Swift/Cooper Tires
Session
Position
Time
Speed |
|
Friday Practice
8th
1:17.567
91.338 |
|
Friday Qualifying
5th
1:17.355
91.588 |
Carl on qualifying: We were a bit
down on the luck today. Every red seemed to fall
on my fliers. Also, I lost a lot of time with
various other issues. We had a fuel pressure
problem and caused the read when we had the
second quick time. The boys did a great job of
fixing that quickly, but causing the red cost my
fast lap at that time. We turned it around though
and got back out on track in time for a few laps,
unfortunately those were slowed by traffic. I am
happy with the car, I dont think we were
able to demonstrate our speed today and I am
looking forward to a top-three tomorrow in the
King Taco car.
Frankie Muniz #41 PCM/Mazda/Swift/Cooper Tires
Session
Position
Time
Speed |
|
Friday Practice
17th
1:18.599
90.139 |
|
Friday qualifying
17th
1:18.302
90.480 |
Frankie on qualifying: I am
disappointed I am not higher up the charts, but I
am pleased with my car and every change we made
was an improvement. The last six laps I was
blocked by cars gapping, that is part of the deal
here on street circuits when you have a big
field, but it sure is frustrating. I had good
momentum through turns nine, 10 and 11; I think
we are consistent there. I am relieved that I
still have tomorrow and final qualifying, I know
what I need to do, I just need to get out there
and do it.
Visit the Pacific Coast Motorsports website at
www.pcmracing.com
PCM Set to Debut All-American Atlantic
Line-Up with Carl Skerlong and Frankie Muniz
(April 15, 2008)
Event: The Imperial Capital Grand Prix of Long
Beach
Series: Cooper Tires Presents the Atlantic
Championship Powered by Mazda
Where: Streets of downtown Long Beach, CA 1.968
mile temporary street circuit
Date: Sunday, April 20, 2008
2008 Preview: If testing is any
indication of whats to come, the 2008
season is looking good for the PCM drivers. Carl
and Frankie completed nearly 3000 test miles each
over the winter and both ran strong throughout.
Carl was second quick through most of the
pre-season tests, while Frankie hovered close to
the top-ten. Since joining PCM, both drivers have
gelled quickly with their Atlantic Championship
race winning engineers Burke Harrison (Skerlong)
and Tim Lewis (Muniz).
Long Beach 2007: Carl earned his first
top-ten of his Atlantic career at the Beach last
year. It was the second Atlantic race in his
rookie season. He started 13th and finished
ninth. Frankie, who was also a rookie, started
the race 25th and finished 19th.
PCMs Return: For the first time
since their 2004 Championship winning season with
Jon Fogarty, Pacific Coast Motorsports will be
back on the Atlantic grid. The Southern
California based team has spent the last few
years running Sports Cars and Champ Cars, but
anticipates a successful return to the series
where they started.
Local School Visits: Carl Skerlong and
Frankie Muniz will visit three local schools on
Wednesday. Students from Lafayette Elementary,
Stevens Middle School and Rodgers Middle School
will meet the PCM drivers. Carl and Frankie will
talk with the children about the importance of
setting goals and working towards them, in
addition to racing and safety.
Tune into Loveline: Frankie Muniz will
be a guest in-studio tonight on the nationally
syndicated radio show Loveline hosted
by Stryker and Dr. Drew. Tune into the world
famous KROQ 106.7 fm at 10:00 pm (PT) tonight to
hear the show, or listen live at www.kroq.com.
OC Blog: Each week leading up to
and following an Atlantic race, Frankie will
submit a diary to the online edition of the
Orange County Register. The blog will accompany
veteran motorsports writer Damian Dottores
motorsports column.
CARL SKERLONG #14 King
Taco/PCM/Mazda/Swift/Cooper Tires: I am
really, really excited to kick off the 2008
season this weekend at Long Beach. We had a
successful winter of testing and now I am ready
to apply everything we learned to the race
weekends. I am so excited for the 2008 season, I
think we should be very competitive and I plan to
fight for the Championship in the King Taco Car.
Its such and honor to race at Long Beach.
This track has so much history; its the
perfect place to start our season.
Frankie Muniz #41 PCM/Mazda/Swift/Cooper
Tires: I am super excited, I cant
believe the first race is actually about to
happen! I feel like weve been testing for a
long time. I learned so much this winter and I
have so much more confidence heading into the
2008 season. I am excited to show everyone that I
am for real this year. I love the Long Beach
track. My first race ever was here in Long Beach,
it was the pro-celebrity race in 2004. Here I am
four years later, racing with a championship
winning team, hopefully gunning for a top-ten
finish at one of the most celebrated races in the
United States...very cool, I cant
wait.
Visit the Pacific Coast Motorsports website at
www.pcmracing.com
Q&A with Frankie
April 6, 2008 - A few months ago, we asked you to
submit your questions that you would like Frankie
to answer. Earlier this month, we sent Frankie
those questions, and his answers are listed
below. Thank you to everyone who submitted a
question, and apologies to those whose question
we didn't get to ask.
Steve - How have the training
sessions with PCM gone so far, and how are you
finding the team?
Frankie - So far, all of the testing I have done
with the PCM Team this off season has been
incredible. I have continued to learn so much,
and built so much more confidence as a driver
that I feel that I have a legitimate shot to run
consistently in the TOP 10 this season. My pace
compared to my teammate Carl Skerlong is getting
closer and closer to his times which is a very
nice feeling for me knowing that he is going to
be contending to win the Championship this year.
Working with my new engineer Tim Lewis has been
amazing. We have built a great relationship so
far and continue to learn more and more about the
car. I look forward to the first race in Long
Beach and a very successful season with PCM this
year.
Daniel - Besides open wheel
racing, what other form of motorsport would you
be interested in racing?
Frankie - I love all forms of racing. It's in my
blood. At times, I even catch myself racing
people when I'm walking. It's insane. I'm not
sure there is any forms of motorsports that I
would not want to race, but right now my heart is
in open wheel racing.
Arianne - Your racing career
has been quick and intense, but, if you could go
back, would you have refused to be an actor in
order to start earlier this career?
Frankie - I DO wish I could have started racing a
few years earlier. Basically everyone I am racing
against has been racing since they were very
young so I have had to play a lot of catch up.
Although, if I was not an actor, I don't think
that I would have been given the opportunity to
become a race car driver. After all, I learned my
love for racing after competing in the Toyota
Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/ Celebrity Race.
Joshua - Which one do you
enjoy the most - acting or racing?
Frankie - I did enjoy acting a lot, but racing
hands down is more enjoyable. There is a lot of
self gratification in racing, and it's one sport
that depending on how hard you work and how much
time you put into the preparation, it will show
in your results, and I really like the challenge.
Izwan - As a professional
driver, I'm aware that you need to keep in shape
with strict diet and exercise. My questions is,
what is your daily work out and diet routine?
And, what is someone with your body structure,
ideal weight in this motor sport?
Frankie - I train every single day. No days off.
A lot of people don't know that racing is
probably one of the most physically demanding
sports in the World. As drivers, during the
races, our heart rates never really drop below
160 BPM. That's like sprinting uphill non-stop
for an hour with no breaks. So I run about 5
miles per day through the hills to help build my
endurance. I also lift weights at a gym everyday
to gain muscle. Holding the steering wheel in he
corners is very tough. We pull 3 to 4 g's in the
corners, so everything feels very heavy. At the
end of a race, your body feels as if it's been
run over by a truck. EVERYTHING is sore. It's
crazy. So training is very important. In racing,
I think that it is ideal to be small. With me for
example, being only 120 pounds, the team can add
weight to the car where it will better help the
performance of the car. If the driver is bigger
and heavier, the teams do not have that option.
Not to mention the cockpits of open wheel race
cars are tiny! So I basically fit in every car.
haha
Brandii - What do you like
about Racing?
Frankie - The speed... the lifestyle...
everything!
James - What have you found
is the hardest part of racing?
Frankie - Racing is not as easy as it looks. I
had no idea that there was so much that went into
being a race car driver. If you saw the amount of
work that goes into the race cars just to get
them to run for a practice session is insane. One
thing that is very hard is to stay focused.
Racing is very mental. If you are not in the
right state of mind, it is very hard to preform
well in the car. So getting into the right state
of mind before every session is very difficult
because there are also a lot of distractions
during the race weekend.
Robert Rebar - Would you be
interested in making a movie about auto racing
someday?
Frankie - I think it could be fun, but only if
they let me do all of the driving!
Matthias - Do you like
Formula 1 and is there a chance that you will one
day drive in this series?
Frankie - I love Formula 1! I have not missed a
race in years and i think it is every open wheel
racers dream to be a F1 driver. I'm working as
hard as I can to learn and become as quick as
possible. I think if I continue to work hard and
dedicate my life to racing, I may make it to that
level. Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports,
so it will be difficult. The challenge excites
me. I think I have enough passion for racing to
make it to Formula 1!
Robert Oranchuk - What is
your favorite track to race on?
Frankie - I love Road Atlanta. I have not been
there in an Atlantic car yet, but I did a test
day there in the Formula BMW and it was awesome.
Formula Atlantics are going to have a race there
this year, so I am really looking forward to
that..
Amanda - In one word can you
describe what racing to you feels like?
Frankie - I feel ALIVE.
Astin - What makes racing so
much better than acting?
Frankie - You never stop learning. In
racing, you can set goals and work for them. When
you achieve your goal, it feels sooo amazing.
Racing makes me the happiest I have ever been.
Brandii - What do you do on
your Free Time?
Frankie - I relax. Racing takes a lot out of
you, and in racing, I do a lot of traveling. So,
when I have free time I like to relax at home.
Boring, I know.
John - What lead you into
racing to begin with?
Frankie - Winning the Toyota Grand Prix of
Long Beach Pro/ Celebrity Race was honestly the
most amazing feeling in the whole World. I want
to experience that happiness some more!
Skerlong Wraps Pre-Season Testing Up
Front, PCM Duo Prepared for Competition
April 3, 2008 - OXNARD, CA - With the 2008 season
opener just two weeks away, Pacific Coast
Motorsports drivers Carl Skerlong and Frankie
Muniz wrapped up their pre-season testing program
last week with nearly 700 miles combined at the
MSR Houston Motorsports Ranch. The duo have
completed nearly 4000 testing miles this winter,
on various tracks including Laguna Seca, MSR
Houston, Firebird and Buttonwillow Raceway.
Both drivers are entering their
sophomore season in the Atlantic series and head
into the challenging and diverse 11-race
championship with high expectations. Pacific
Coast Motorsports will return to Atlantic
competition for the first time since 2004 when
they won the series title with American driver,
Jon Fogarty. We are proud to return to
Atlantic competition with two very talented,
young American drivers, said PCM Team
Owner, Tyler Tadevic. Both Frankie and Carl
maximized their pre-season testing opportunities
with strong feedback and competitive pace and
theyve developed good working relationships
with their new engineers and team-mates. Carl has
proven he is going to be very competitive this
year and Frankies developments are
exciting, I am looking forward to a strong season
ahead.
Carl Skerlong, 19, of Mukilteo,
WA, is the driver of the #14 King
Taco/Mazda/Swift; he scored two podium finishes
in his rookie season and finished tenth in the
series championship.
Skerlong drove for US RaceTronics
in 2007 and will enjoy the comforts of a familiar
environment as PCM merged with US RaceTronics in
January. His most crucial relationship however,
is new. Skerlong will be paired with two-time
Atlantic championship winning engineer, Burke
Harrison. The pairing has proven to be strong in
pre-season testing, Skerlong was second quick at
the last two tests, I am so excited to get
racing, said Skerlong. We have made
several gains throughout testing and I am really
enjoying working with Burke. I have learned a lot
already this year and I think we should be
extremely competitive this season. Id love
nothing more than to give PCM their second
Atlantic championship and that is what my goal
is. It is going to be a lot of hard work, but I
think Ive got the tools to get it done with
the King Taco car and I know I have the willpower
to win.
Frankie Muniz, 22 of Wood-Ridge,
New Jersey is equally excited for his sophomore
season. Competing in a series with the
worlds best up and coming drivers, Muniz is
entering just his third season of professional
racing. While his fellow racers grew-up spending
their weekends competing on the racetrack, Muniz
was competing for work in the television studios!
Best known for his role as Malcolm in
the Fox hit Malcolm in the Middle,
Muniz is an Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor
with several television and film roles on his
resume. It is amazing the strides Frankie
has made this winter, he has very little
experience and competing at this level with such
little experience is ambitious, but he has the
natural talent and we believe he will fight for
top-ten finishes this season, said Tadevic.
Muniz, driver of the #41 car joined the PCM squad
in January and has jumped up the time charts with
each test, This is really the best possible
situation for me, said Muniz. For the
first time I am working with a big team, who
knows how to win championships and has the
resources I need at this stage of my racing
career. I have a great relationship already with
my engineer (Tim Lewis) and he and Lee (Bentham,
driver coach) give me pointers that I can apply
and benefit from immediately. My driving has
improved and I have so much more confidence going
into the season opener. I think that has shown
through improvement on the time sheets in testing
and I plan to prove it this season.
Visit the Pacific Coast
Motorsports website at www.pcmracing.com
|