By John Thawley of Trackbytes, October 1, 2006

"While all the talk might be focused on the Audi R10, the brightest development for the American Le Mans Series has to be the growth of Autocon’s LMP1 program. With a renewed effort for 2006 Autocon will be piloted by Mike Lewis, American Le Mans Series prototype regular Chris McMurry and Bryan Willman, who drove a number of races with Autocon in 2005. Willman also drove with McMurry while at Team Bucknum from 2001-2004.

Personally, what I like about this team is the potential of the Mike Lewis and Chris McMurry combination, and Bryan Willman's ever-present wit and wisdom.

The team says it has secured all of the necessary funding for 2006, and will announce the name of its Sebring sponsor in the coming days. Autocon will not be present at the series test at Sebring, but does have slated three days of practice in California on Feb. 1-3.

This week, Mike Lewis released details of team’s Lola EX257 that will run in the growing P1 class championship in the American Le Mans Series throughout 2006. ESBG Design (www.esbgdesign.com), a firm quickly becoming one of the leading designers of race car paint schemes, created the design and renderings behind the watchful eyes of artist David Borkowski.

I spoke with Mike and Chris this week to get a few more details about the Autocon program and their expectations."

TRACKBYTES: Chris, having known Mike for quite some time now, and having had interaction with you this past season, this seems like a great fit... you both appear to have a pretty level disposition and calm approach to racing. How is it going so far? Talk about the relationship so far.

Chris McMurry: Bryan Willman raced with Mike in 2005, and since Bryan and I raced together for three years from Petit Le Mans 2001 through 2004, I figured that if Bryan and Mike worked well together, then Mike and I could work well together, too. I was impressed with Mike's flexibility in our initial conversations and willingness to consider alternatives: that ultimately led to the team acquiring the Lola from Dyson so that it was assured of having a car that could run at the front. Ever since our fateful meeting at Laguna, it has been nothing short of one of the most collegial, egoless, all-for-one, one-for-all relationships I've ever experienced. It reminds me a lot of the chemistry that existed at Team Bucknum between Bryan, Jeff Bucknum and myself. I'm looking forward to seeing Mike and Bryan tomorrow (Wednesday, January11) in San Diego for our seat fitting."


TRACKBYTES: Mike, we've seen the new livery .... which looks great, by the way.... but what can we expect in changes that will affect the performance of the car. Last year we witnessed the Pacific Coast team take a perfectly competitive C5 and completely dial themselves out. How will you guys insure you remain competitive against Dyson's new efforts.. and, maybe the R10? Isn't that a pretty tall order?

Mike Lewis: Many cars were considered before we decided on the ex-Dyson car. With the main reason being its 'an ex-Dyson car'! We are a small team with limited budget and not a lot of time for a proper test program. So being able to unload at almost every track with a proven set-up is invaluable. This car sat on two poles last year. We'd be fools not to take advantage of the wealth of info existing. These cars are VERY complex and sensitive. So as far as 'dialing ourselves out' we will try very hard to avoid that. There is differences, we will not have Michelin like Dyson did last year. But we will have an excellent tire from Dunlop that has done well in Europe. Additionally, the Dunlop is very close to the Goodyear Dyson ran in '04. So we have notes to start with.

As far as keeping up with the new Dyson Lolas and R10, who knows at this point? They may be fast but fragile. I don't think the R10 will even run the entire season. We will have some slight improvements in the AER engine program. Our hope would be to get a fast start to the season and with a little luck maybe jump out to a bit of a points lead and see if we can hold on. The R10 and new Lola will be fast (as will the LMP2 Porsche!!) but perhaps some teething pains will give us a chance if we do our jobs and get a little lucky...

TRACKBYTES: You've reported bringing over a lot of resources from the former effort with Team Bucknum. What about human resources... have you selected a crew chief? Can you talk about the team?

Mike Lewis: The car will be run by AutoCon with all the usual suspects from the past 3 years with the old Riley. Dave Steele is crew chief (he's like a cockroach, he can't be killed.. LOL!!) and Joe Geldert is head mechanic. The crew is IMO the best in the paddock with doing a lot with a little. There are very few Bucknum 'resources' with the exception of the trailer that Bryan Willman owns.


TRACKBYTES: You indicate that funding is in place for 2006... Chris, is this a program with a partner that you can grow with or is this a deal that you hope will lead to the next deal?

Chris McMurry: "Sometime in the next few days we'll announce our first sponsor. It will be a name familiar to ALMS fans. This particular sponsor will be one of a number of sponsors we will run during the year, similar to how things appeared at Miracle and Team Bucknum where different sponsors took different positions for certain races. It's really tough to sell one sponsor on funding an entire program, but we have had good fortune in selling races or partial funding from a series of sponsors."

TRACKBYTES: Guys, thanks for taking the time and thorough response..... it’s appreciated and I know fans are really excited about your participation in the series and the coming season. So are we.

Chris, I still owe you a PodCast session .... so maybe we'll have you and Mike sit down together. I know we won’t see you at the test later this month, but if it's not to hectic at the race, we'll give it a shot there. I'll check with you then... we don't want to get in the way.

Chris McMurry: Podcast at Sebring is a great idea, and we'd be happy to participate at your convenience.

TRACKBYTES: It’s a deal… thanks again!