John Allen Special ChampCar Team

07/12/2025

Justin and guys putting to car on the pointy end this morning. Keep it up boys. We're watching.

11/19/2022

Link to our in-car live stream from NOLA

This is the Mini cooperS JAS Champ carSaturday 11/18/2022 Race starts at 9am cstEnjoy, comment. It's already a bit wet!

02/22/2022

A few of our favorites from Road Atlanta a few weeks back. Thanks to Taylor Haney for the shots!

14 hours... 112 gallons of fuel, 1.5qts of oil, and another trophy.

02/09/2022

This is Lester Epps (call him Les, it sounds faster) and he is an absolute beast behind the wheel. We have been fortunate to have Les join us multiple times over the last two years racing the John Allen Special Mini Cooper S. When Les shows up we leave the track with trophies in hand. Last week Les joined the Track Walking Podcast along with fellow driver James Morgan to speak about how he is working hard to break the mold and make the motorsports community more inclusive.

We encourage everyone to take time out of their day to give it a listen.

http://www.tracktuned.com/feed/2020/9/2/track-walking-episode-62-betterthangoodlestereppsjamesmorgan

02/05/2022

Holding Steady. Less than 4hrs to go. Can we get another class win?

02/05/2022

The kid says he isn't nervous, but he's fully dressed and stretched 40 minutes early.

06/09/2021

You will be missed, Doc.

04/13/2021

John Allen Special ChampCar Team Endures 14 Hours for Victory at Daytona

Daytona International Speedway has long been known for endurance sports car racing and the John Allen Special ChampCar Team claimed victory in one of those races this past Saturday.

Competing in the RVA Graphics and Wraps Daytona Beach 14-Hour, the quintet driver lineup – consisting of Lester “Les” Epps Jr., Zdarvko “Z” Miric, Halston Pitman, Justin Lipson and Christian Listro – persevered in the B Class of the ChampCar Endurance Series to finish first in the category and 13th
overall.

The No. 80 2007 Mini Cooper S overcame what was a concerning issue around the six-hour mark when safety sensors in the car began setting off during Les’ stint. However, with the help of Z – an engineer bringing experience from BMW and MINI USA – the yaw sensor and corresponding lights in the car were
reset after detecting no issues.

“When Lester got in the car, he ended up getting a warning message on the dashboard and when he came in, I was able to plug in and check what the faults were,” said Z. “It seemed there was just a temporary glitch with the lateral acceleration sensor in the car and we were able to clear the fault and send him on his way.”

For Les, who was competing in only his second ChampCar race and for the first time at Daytona, he stayed calm throughout the situation. “Justin handed the car over to me and he had done some really quick times,” said Les. “Before I got in the car, my mom asked me ‘Are you worried, are you scared, are you nervous?’ I’m not new to competition, so I told her ‘No, I’m 100 percent exactly in my moment. I know I’m exactly what I’m
supposed to be doing in the universe right now.’ “I like to be the clutch player and come in and do exactly what I need to do, so it was nerve wracking. We came in and ended up fixing it, we hammered down and kept going.”

Continuing on, the team posted a best lap of two minutes, 25.398 seconds over the course of the enduro. The time was nearly ten seconds behind the quickest overall lap of the second-place finisher, proving that the team’s endurance truly prevailed over speed.

“I believe strongly that success in life, generally and in motorsport, is all about your process and sticking to it, taking a backseat to some of it and viewing it,” said Z, who also gives credit to his family’s support. “Everyone stayed calm the whole time and every time the car came in for a pit stop, it was executed exactly the same. Just like baking a cookie, just follow the recipe and get the same results. The team found the recipe that works and they stuck to it and I think consistency is the key to their success.”

Additional credit from the team goes to sponsorship from FCP Euro, PowerflexUSA, Flyin Wrench and Sentinel by Candelaria Racing Products, and also support from MINI Master Tech and team mechanic Jahir Saavedrr for a role in the team’s victory.

Photo: Chris Green for MotorSportMedia

04/12/2021

04/10/2021

Didn't realize we set a stream time limit. New Link!

Currently P2!

04/10/2021

Live in-car. Race start at 9am. Justin is starting. We also have an in-car camera on ChampCar Live Stream.