06/29/2026
How do we even begin to describe The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli, Formula Race Promotions, and International GT from Road America this past weekend?
The only way we can think of...it was wild!
Normally in these posts I thank the crew at the end. Today, the crew gets the top brass treatment! They were the stars of the weekend without a shadow of a doubt!
Aaron, Rodney, Cara, Alex, Paul, Gary, Stephan, and Joe all deserve a huge amount of appreciation for all the hard work!
From a late night engine change on the Swift Thursday to a clutch repair on the GT1 car Friday night, they hung in there and got the work done so our drivers could wheel! Thank you, thank you! A job well done guys!
Now, let's get into the on-track action starting with FRP!
Jeff Antonelli and James French were running Atlantic Open; Jeff in his Pro Formula Mazda and James in the Swift.
Jeff had a great test day and got back down to his lap times from last year. He hadn't been in the car for a while so that was super impressive!
Jeff continued to build over Friday and Saturday and finished on the podium for race 1!
Sunday race 2 was looking good until a little incident in the kink ended the weekend. Jeff is fine and the car isn't too beat up, so he'll be back before ya know it!
James and the team were having a great weekend dialing in the car from some changes to the dampers and aero. During the last practice session on Thursday the engine oil pressure fell like a ship from heaven, which lead to the previously mentioned late night engine change.
We were back on track Friday and were honing in on the balance we needed to go fast.
In race 1 James was flying and we clocked a lap that would get us in the conversation for the SCCA National Championship. Mission accomplished there, despite being 2lbs under weight and getting DQ'd. Rolling into Sunday we were happy though.
Sunday race 2, about two laps in we lost the fuel pump and that ended the weekend for us, unfortunately.
We came away with what we needed though so we can bring the fight to the 016 cars this fall. Still some work to do but we'll show up with a bullet.
In addition to the two series we ran last weekend, I decided to give IGT a try with the old Fancy Volkswagen, and that, ladies and gentlemen, ensured we ran every series that was featured over the weekend!
It was fun, we learned some things, I ran some fast laps and fought with a lot of the GT4RS Clubsports. They have about 80hp more than my little 3.8 but we made sure to give them as much hell as we could muster.
Probably the best part of the IGT experience was having Alex and Rodney take the Clubsport down to Plymouth in the racecar parade! Lots of time spent with the fans and some good memories made!
So, that just leaves.... Robert Dickey and the big show!
Robert hadn't driven his car, the Catfish, since it's untimely destruction at VIR last year. He who shall not be named sailed it off in the esses and left us with a ton of work to do.
With the car rebuilt, Robert was pumped to keep chasing his Trans Am dream!
Friday we had a good couple test sessions with the car. Had a couple little gremlins but nothing major. Robert was feeling so confident in the car that he opted to drive the car into Plymouth for the parade. And that's about when the Catfish threw a fit and decided we need to pull the engine and have a good look at the clutch.
Upon the crews removal of the entire drive line, we found the clutch to be fine but the input shaft buried in the back of the crank, causing a lot of bad stuff to happen. The Forty 48 Competition crew worked their asses off the get it fixed and get the engine back in the car for the race on Sunday!
They did it, and Robert took the green flag for 100 miles of racing on Sunday morning! Robert was running conservatively but very well during the race, clocking off some laps not far off his personal best. With about 9 laps to go, the car started to get hot and Robert had to back way off to keep the temps down and make the finish. Robert did a great job in those last few laps managing the hurt Catfish and the traffic.
When the checker flag fell Robert was in second place in class and grabbed his second Trans Am podium finish!
It was great to see him finish the race and stand up there with all of his now close friends in Trans Am. They now all know the name, Robert Dickey!
That's how the cards fell for the team on one of our biggest weekends of non-WRL racing for 2026.
We now turn our attention to getting these cars turned around for VIR and the Runoffs, and get back into the WRL swing for Road Atlanta!
Thank you to all our friends and family who stopped out and wished us luck! We love you guys!
Let's rip!
Elan Power Products
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Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies
PAGID Racing
Mazda Motorsports
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Carbliss
Photo Credit: Paul Abel and Cara Kazda
