Wednesday, September 5, 2001.
Lunchtime visitors to Caesar Chavez Park in downtown San Jose were greeted to
the sights and sounds of the American Le Mans Series competitors in a prelude
of the upcoming event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Joining the race winning Audi and Panoz prototype cars was the #14 Polycom/Shames
Construction Star Mazda of current Star Mazda Series points leader Scott Bradley
for a 10 minute “Mini Le Mans” demonstration around the park followed by an
autograph session for the gathered fans.
“It
was a great opportunity to get out in my hometown and promote the Star Mazda
Series and my sponsor Polycom,” Bradley said of the event.
“I always enjoy additional opportunities to get more exposure for Polycom
and if we continue to make the effort to promote ourselves we can continue to
build interest in the Star Mazda Series as people were very excited to see the
car.”
Bradley
was also enthusiastic about being able to take his race car out on the city
streets from a driving standpoint. “It is every driver’s dream to drive on city
streets with the police officers sitting and watching.”
In fact Bradley did make one appearance in front of the gathered law
enforcement officers, however, it was in the guise of a photo opportunity.
Following
the downtown event Bradley was joined by fellow series drivers Marc De Vellis,
Oliver Rowen, Bob Negron and Ed Zabinski at Speedring Indoor
Karting Track for competition between drivers from all the different
series, as well as local media and fans. The ALMS series was represented by
former Formula One driver Emmanuelle Pirro and Le Mans winning driver Tom Christiansen,
Randy Pobst and Justin Bell from the Speedvision GT Series, Porsche driver and
former Star Mazda driver Robert Orcutt, as well as competitors in the Speedvision
Cup.
The
Star Mazda competitors were up to speed quickly and nipping at the heals of
the other series drivers with De Vellis, Rowen and Bradley all leading the way.
“It was great to jump back into a go-kart and feel the same sensations
that have built my driving foundations,” De Vellis remarked afterwards.
“Since I out qualified and out ran the prototype drivers I’ll be waiting
for my test in one of their cars.”
Bradley
echoed Marc’s comments regarding the event, adding
“I’m glad that we upheld the honor of the series and showed the other
drivers that we could match them for speed, and I think that might have got
some of them worked up as De Vellis almost set the track record and I was able
to win one heat away from them.”