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| Click to enlarge |  | | Team Seattle has partnered again with Synergy Racing to compete in the 2007 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Photo: Bruce Whitaker | | | Click to enlarge |  | | The 2006 Rolex 24 was tough for Team Seattle on the track, but they still raised over $300,000 for Seattle Children's Hospital. Photo: Rick Dole/ LAT | | | advertisement | | | | Click to enlarge |  | | Team Seattle teamed with Synergy Racing for 2006 to compete in the GT class with two brand-new Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars. Photo: Rick Dole / LAT | |
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| Click to enlarge |  | | Team Seattle raced two Porsche GT3 Cup cars in the 2005 Rolex 24 at Daytona, painted in red, white, and blue livery. Photo: Mike Meredith | | | Click to enlarge |  | | Team Seattle entered two Ford Multimatic Daytona Prototypes in the 2004 Rolex 24 at Daytona. | | | Click to enlarge |  | | In 2003 Team Seattle won the Sports Racing Prototype II class and finished second in class with two identically prepared Nissan Lolas in the Sports Racing Prototype II class. | | | Click to enlarge |  | | In the 2002 Rolex 24, Team Seattle used the parts from the two Saleen S7Rs to get one car to the finish. | | | Click to enlarge |  | | For the first five years Team Seattle competed at Daytona in GT class Porsches like this GT3 R. | | | Click to enlarge |  | | One of the Team Seattle Porsche GT3 Rs during the 2001 Rolex 24. | | | Click to enlarge |  | | The number 51 Team Seattle Saleen S7R finished the 2002 Rolex 24 with the nose from the 53 car. | |
In 2006, Team Seattle's tenth year competing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, it was a tough battle on the track, but once again the team returned to Seattle with $300,000 raised for Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. With the funds raised in 2006, Team Seattle surpassed the $2 million threshold in funds raised for the hospital over the ten years period.
For the past two years, Team Seattle has competed in the Rolex 24 in Porsche GT3 Cup cars and 2005 was the most successful year ever in terms of fund raising, totaling a record $380,000 for Seattle's Children's Hospital while competing in the famous sports car endurance race.
Team Seattle has competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the last ten years and has raised a total of $2.2 million for Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center of Seattle in the process.
Last year, interest in Team Seattle was at an all-time high and the momentum continues into the 2007 Rolex 24, which will be held on January 27-28th at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. In past years the cars have competed with pledges to Children's Hospital at race time totaling as much as $527 per lap. The total is already at $425 per lap for this year and the team goal is to have pledges of $700 per lap by race time.
For the 2007 event, Microsoft's Live Search and MSN Autos Web services have teamed up as sponsors of the Team Seattle Daytona effort. MSN Autos will be covering the entire race weekend, while Live Search makes it easy to submit a pledge for Children's Hospital of Seattle, simply by using Live Search.
Ohter great ways to support the Team Seattle fundraising effort for Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, include visiting the Team Seattle Web site or e-mailing Barbara Koler directly at the Children's Hospital Guild Association. Team Seattle members have raised the funds from corporate and private sponsors to cover the expenses of the race, so all pledges go directly to Children's Hospital.
Two years ago Team Seattle made a new $2 million commitment to Children's Hospital to fund the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, which was named and dedicated in honor of Children's Hospital spokesperson and Team Seattle member Kami Renee Sutton.
"This is the year Team Seattle has put it all together," Team Seattle co-founder Don Kitch, Jr. explained to MSN Autos. "The package is the best it has ever been. We are in our third year of working with the GT championship team, Synergy Racing, and we are in the GT weapon of choice cars, the new Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. We had an excellent test the first week of January at Daytona, the chemistry is excellent, and we are expecting a record year in fundraising for our Children's Hospital in Seattle.
High Expectations For 2007
"We expect to be lapping at somewhere between $600 and $700 by the time the race gets here," said Team Seattle co-founder Don Kitch, who is one of eight Team Seattle drivers competing in Synergy Racing's No. 82 and No. 83 Porsche GT3 Cup cars.
Seven of the eight 2007 Team Seattle drivers are from the Seattle area, and in addition to being ahead in pledges, the group of drivers is also ahead of where they were last year on the track.
This year's three-day test at Daytona the first week of January ran so smoothly the team opted to forgo some of the final practices on Saturday. Based on the first two days of practice, the team felt the drivers and cars were where they needed to be in preparation for the race and it was best to preserve the cars for the grueling 24 hours that await them later this month.
David Gaylord (Graham, WA), Don Pickering (Seattle, WA), Hal Hilton (Issaquah, WA) and Ben McCrackin (Corpus Christi, TX) are the drivers of the No. 83 Porsche, which turned a lap at an average speed of 108.305 mph with a time of 1:58.305 on Friday. Chris Pennington (Redmond, WA), Chris Pallis (Mercer Island, WA) and Tony Bawcutt (Kirkland, WA) join Kitch in the No. 82 Porsche, which had a best lap of 1:59.769 at 107.006 mph.
Racing fans can follow Team Seattle's progress at Daytona on FOX Sports and SPEED Channel. Beginning on January 27th at 1:00 p.m. ET, FOX Sports will air 90 minutes of coverage including pre-race activities and the first hour of racing action. SPEED Channel will provide a total of 13.5 hours of coverage in three segments, beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET and running until 6:00 p.m. ET, followed by the second segment from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. ET that evening. The final segment on SPEED Channel will begin at 6:00 a.m. ET Sunday January 28th, running through the conclusion of the race and including post-race interviews.
Live timing and scoring will also be offered on the Grand Am Rolex Series site.
Racing to Help Kids
"We are racers and when we go to Daytona every January it is to race in the Rolex 24, but we never forget that every lap completed means more money for the kids at Children's Hospital," Kitch explained.
While last year's fundraising result was excellent, Team Seattle had a tough year on the track and had to keep the fundraising effort in mind throughout the event. The challenges on the track began early for Team Seattle when both of the team's Porsche GT3 Cup cars were involved in serious crashes during the first two hours of the race, resulting in significant damage to both cars. The No. 86 Team Seattle Porsche crashed after just 13 laps at the entrance to the bus stop chicane, hitting the wall and seriously damaging the front end of the car.
While the No. 86 was in the garage, the No. 87 Team Seattle Porsche got together with another Porsche at 160 mph exiting the NASCAR 4 turn, also hitting the wall and seriously damaging the rear end of the car.
Since the drivers were unhurt, the Synergy Racing crew went to work on both cars as soon as they were returned to the garage. The crew worked relentlessly to repair the damage, getting both Porsches back into the race.
After four hours of repair, the No. 87 Team Seattle Porsche returned to the race, minus the rear bumper, and David Gaylord, Ken Hill, Wes Hill and Will Diefenbach went on to complete a total of 503 laps, helping the team to raise $300,000 for Children's Hospital.
The No. 86 also returned to the race after five hours of repair, but the car was only able to complete four additional laps because of an issue with the cooling system that caused extensive engine damage.
For 2007 Team Seattle has teamed with Synergy Racing for the third consecutive year to compete in the GT class with two Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars, the latest racing version of the production Porsche 911 Carrera. Don Kitch told MSN Autos that returning to Porsches two years ago was great for the Team Seattle program, because team supporters can more easily identify with the Porsche since it is based on the Porsche 911 production car.
"The past three months have absolutely been the best testing program and preparation that we have ever been able to muster for a 24Hr race, and all indications are that this will be a banner year for both the competitive level of the team and the donations to the hospital," explained Cole Scrogham, Synergy Racing partner. " When you get to look into the eyes of the parents, sponsors and children that have been helped by the hospital, it just turns your focus back to giving your absolute best for this event. We have won a lot of Championships and Races in past years, but being the most decorated team in Rolex history pales in comparison to the changed lives in Seattle."
Team Seattle History: A Variety of Race Cars
For the first five years Team Seattle contested the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the latest version of the Porsche 911, winning the GT class honors in 1999.
Three years ago, Team Seattle teamed with 2001 Grand American Rolex Series GTS Champion Chris Bingham to field a pair of Saleen S7Rs for the 40th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
But Team Seattle faced significant adversity during the 2002 race, with both cars suffering damage that would normally have put the machines out of the race.
But the Team Seattle crew pushed on and created one car from the pieces of the two broken cars to finish the race. The result: the team raised $200,000 for Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center.
In 2003 Team Seattle recorded its most successful year ever on the track at the Rolex 24, winning the SRP II class and placing seventh overall, with the second team car finishing second in class and ninth overall.
The following year in 2004, with the move up to the top Daytona Prototype class, Team Seattle faced a potential opportunity for the overall win. But it was a very difficult year with adverse weather and the exotic Daytona Prototype. The team still won for the kids, raising more than $176,000 for Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. Given the adversity of the race in 2004, the team returned to its GT Porsche roots for 2005.
World's Toughest Endurance Race Requires Discipline
The Rolex 24 at Daytona is first and foremost an endurance race, and Don Kitch knows the discipline required to win this grueling event.
"To win the Rolex 24 at Daytona, you first have to finish the race," explained Kitch. While on the surface this statement seems obvious, its simplicity has been lost on many racers who have entered this event, raced hard and failed to see the light of day.
The Rolex 24 will require everything physically and mentally that the drivers and the cars have to give. After the race the drivers are exhausted and the cars will need to be rebuilt from the ground up.
The Team Seattle drivers will maintain a pre-determined pace for the race, in the neighborhood of five to six seconds per lap slower than an all-out qualifying lap. This pace is designed to preserve the car and eliminate repairs that eat up precious time while the car sits in the pits. Many times during the race the Team Seattle drivers will need discipline to resist racing head-to-head with another competitor who is lapping at a quicker pace.
But the goal is to finish the entire 24 hours, and complete as many laps as possible. "To help us finish, we have adopted a motto over the years," explains Kitch. The motto: "Don't Hit. Don't Get Hit. Make No Mistakes. Drive To Daylight."
If you would like to learn more and pledge your donation to race for the kids, visit the Team Seattle Web site, or e-mail Barbara Koler at the Children's Hospital Guild Association.
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