MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – This coming weekend, JDC MotorSports will take part in the first-ever Grand Prix of Indianapolis and will provide the support and tools for a quartet of drivers across two different divisions of racing. In the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, JDC will field three entries for Michael Johnson, Kyle Connery, and Ryan Booth. In the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Texas racer Clark Toppe will be the lone driver to fly the JDC MotorSports flag. The four pilots will make history come Thursday, as they will venture out on to the historic Grand Prix circuit nestled inside the sprawling infield of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a circuit that means everything to open wheel racers, the world round. JDC’s line-up of young open wheel talents will contest the fifth and sixth rounds of their respective championship series.
The JDC MotorSports team was most recently in Birmingham, Alabama where the Mazda Road to Indy programs visited the Barber Motorsports Park for rounds three and four of the season.
Charleston, South Carolina’s Ryan Booth will pull into the paddock of IMS looking to extend his streak of four straight top-10 finishes. Booth started with a seventh place finish in St. Petersburg, which was followed up by an eighth place run in Race #2. Ryan matched his best result of the young season in Round Three in Birmingham. The second race of the Alabama weekend kept the streak alive, thanks to a 10th place finish to end the event. Booth leads the JDC stable in Pro Mazda points, as he currently sits seventh in the standings after four rounds of racing.
“I’m really looking forward to Indy,” said Booth, echoing the sentiments of his teammates. “The facility is so cool and it will be exciting to be on the new layout. The year is going a little how I expected. We put everything together at the last minute, so I am playing catch up since we had no pre-season testing and jumped straight into race weekends. Right now, all I can hope for is to keep improving and keep pushing hard. JDC MotorSports has been working hard for me and I am working just as hard for them to find the right package that suits me as well as the style of the car. It is my first year back in competitive, open-wheeled racing, so we still have some work to do to get the results we want. I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s race.”
Not far behind Booth in the Pro Mazda points picture is Florida racer Kyle Connery. Currently occupying the ninth spot in the standings, Connery kicked off the 2014 season with a strong race one in St. Petersburg. Connery negotiated the 1.8-mile long street course brilliantly in Race #1 as he drove to an impressive fifth place finish. After a 12th place finish in Race #2 in Florida, Connery headed for Alabama in April. The third round in Birmingham nearly ended with a top-10 finish, but he narrowly missed out by one spot, finishing 11th. The second race of the weekend did not go as good for Connery as he settled for a 17th place finish.
"People say Indy is special, but you never truly understand until you walk through the tunnel and into the pits, look up and see the IMS tower…it gave me chills,” Connery enthused. “Barber is now behind us and I'm very excited to get right back to work. I had a short break between my spring and summer classes, so I took the time to start rebuilding my shifter kart for summer training, which brought much needed relaxation. I'm approaching Indy in a more relaxed, methodical manner, unlike Barber, where I placed too much pressure on myself. That being said, I'm thrilled to be back and with the possibility of showers on Friday, I'm even more pumped because we have a stout car in the wet. All and all, it's going to be a great weekend.”
Michael Johnson will complete the Pro Mazda line-up for JDC MotorSports in Indianapolis. Thus far in 2014, Johnson has enjoyed a strong rookie showing in the series. The inspiring young man is not letting anything slow him down on his road to the Indianapolis 500. Johnson was paralyzed from the chest down while racing motorcycles in 2005, and he is proving that he still has the tremendous natural ability and unparalleled competitive fire. The opening round in St. Petersburg was a challenge for all the drivers, especially the class freshmen. Johnson drove to a 15th place finish in Race #1, and then improved his pace and posted a 10th place finish in Race #2. In Birmingham, Johnson searched for aerodynamic grip and the opportunities to pass, as did the rest of the field. After a 12th place finish in the first race in Alabama, Johnson was relegated to a 20th place finish in Round Four after an electrical issue sidelined him on Sunday morning. Johnson will enter rounds five and six in Indy occupying the 15th position in the points battle.
“This year has been going pretty good,” Johnson offered, ready to continue the development of his skills. “I've struggled a bit, but every race weekend I'm improving. I'm excited to get the races underway here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Should be very fun!”
JDC MotorSports races with associate sponsorship from RedLineOil.com and HR-Sportswear Additional information on JDC MotorSports can be obtained from the team’s website @ jdcmotorsport.com.
JDC MOTORSPORTS DRIVER SOCIAL MEDIA INFORMATION:
Ryan Booth:
Twitter - @RyanBooth21
Facebook - Ryan Booth Racing
Kyle Connery:
Web - KyleConnery.com
Twitter - @K_Connery91
Facebook - Kyle Connery
Michael Johnson:
Web - MichaelJohnsonRacing.com
Twitter - @Racer54isCool
Facebook - Michael Johnson Racing
YouTube - Michael Johnson Racing
About JDC MotorSports:
Involved in formula car racing since its inception in 1994, JDC MotorSports has established itself as one of the leading junior open-wheel teams in North America. Initially making its mark in the F2000 class of club racing competition, JDC MotorSports was soon a team worth watching in the pro ranks. Competing in the Formula Ford 2000 Zetec Championship, the team not only won races, but also helped develop multiple young drivers. In 2005, JDC MotorSports expanded its efforts, entering the Star Mazda Championship. Quickly becoming one of the top teams in the series, JDC captured both the driver and team titles in 2007, as well as Rookie of the Year honors, with Dane Cameron scoring a series-high three wins. In 2008, JDC MotorSports was the runner-up in the Star Mazda Championship and finished fourth in its inaugural season of F2000 Championship Series competition. The Minnesota-based team won the Star Mazda Championship title with Rookie of the Year Adam Christodoulou, and the F2000 Championship Series title with Chris Miller in 2009. The following year, JDC continued its winning ways, earning the Rookie of the Year award in the Star Mazda Championship with Connor De Phillippi, and scoring a non-points win in the USF2000 National Championship. In 2011, the Minneapolis-based squad captured its third Star Mazda Championship title with Tristan Vautier, scored a win in the USF2000 National Championship, and made its Prototype Lites Championship debut, earning five podium finishes. JDC MotorSports added to its Star Mazda Championship win tally, USF2000 Championship podium total, and finished as the Prototype Lites Championship runner-up in 2012. Last year, the squad continued its run of Pro Mazda and USF2000 podium finishes, and was third in the Prototype Lites title fight.