Written by Luis Martinez
This story begins in 2011 when I was invited to work as a Staff Track Instructor at Monticello Motor Club (MMC), in Monticello, NY. But this story is not about me. It is about a group of very young and talented drivers who have clawed their way to podium finishes in competition against the world’s finest sports car racers.
During the six seasons I worked at Monticello I had the opportunity to meet many gifted young drivers. Who are these people that occupy mind share when I’m in places like Daytona, Watkins Glen or Sebring? Some who come to mind include Patrick Gallaher, Jason Lare, Corey Lewis, Stevan McAleer, Jason Rabe, Aurora Straus, Alex Wolenski and more. I find it remarkable that this car club has become a developmental platform, able to launch such a good group of drivers into professional racing ranks. Over the course of several years since I worked with them, these drivers have registered for races under various sanctioning bodies, including IMSA, Mazda MX-5 Cup, Continental Tire Challenge, Weathertech, Michelin Endurance Cup, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and others.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Twelve Hours of Sebring. The Sebring 12- Hours entry list for 2022 consisted of 53 cars in five categories. Replacing GTLM (factory-affiliated racers) this year is the GTPro. These are professional drivers in highly tuned but recognizable cars, some with factory assistance. There were 11 GTPro cars on the grid this year, including Acura NSX GT3, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, BMW M4 GT3 (2 entries), Corvette C8.R, Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, Lexus RC F GT3, Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 Evo and Porsche 911 GT3.R (2 entries).
Another sports car class is the GT Daytona, which invites developing drivers – but many make a living racing and coaching racers – so it’s still a very select group. There were 17 GTD privateer entries piloting Acura NSX GT3, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, BMW M4 GT3, Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, Lexus RC F GT3, McLaren 720S GT3, Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 Evo and Porsche 911 GT3.R. For marketing reasons, entries in the GTD category purposely retain visual characteristics as close to showroom stock as possible.
In total, 28 of the 53 entries were recognizable sports cars running in GTPro and GTD. The other 25 entries are never seen outside a racetrack.
Resembling spaceships – there were seven entries in Daytona Prototype International (DPi) powered by a Cadillac V-8, Acura V-6 or Mazda V-4 Turbo which can take them up to 200mph. The second class consisted of eight Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) with similar weight, powered by a Gibson V-8 which lets them see about 190 mph. In the third tier there were 10 Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) which can reach 180mph powered by a Nissan V-8. These closed cockpit cars are the most sophisticated closed-wheel racers in the IMSA series.
At this event, my focus was on three drivers that I worked with at Monticello – Pat Gallagher, Corey Lewis and Stevan McAleer. Responding to questions about their racing history to date, this is what they had to say about their journey to the top tiers of professional sports car racing.
In 2013, when he was only 20 years old, Patrick’s job at Monticello was Staff Track Instructor. One could reasonably ask – how can a 20-year-old be hired as Track Instructor at a venue where the members are wealthy – and much older than Pat? Ari Straus, CEO and Manager of Monticello Motor Club responded: “The nature of track instruction at Monticello is primarily to help with novice drivers. The benefit is that these same instructors also continue to coach and move club members and their guests from novice to solo, then to intermediate, and even to ‘gentleman racers’ who receive coaching services from our instructor team. As a result of our race coaching, Monticello has become the number one incubator for gentleman drivers at pro-level competition and reciprocally the number one organization for racing coaches to find opportunities to coach as they are surrounded by gentleman drivers.”
Piloting the copper-colored McLaren 720S, the 59-car at The Bumps, Patrick Gallagher’s driving skills started to shine 15 years earlier in the Mid-State Ohio Kart Club where he won the 2007 Championship. Fast forward to 2022, Pat had notched a Mazda MX-5 Cup championship. He also won the IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Series in a GT4 Ford Mustang for Multimatic Motorsports at Watkins Glen International. After co-driving a Ferrari 458 in a Historic Sportscar Racing event at Sebring in 2019, Pat was now in Sebring with co-drivers Jon Miller and Paul Holton in the Crucial Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3. Helping his passion for sports car racing, Patrick brings his degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio State University to bear on the track.
Pat drove the same McLaren 720S at the Daytona 24 in January and now he was piloting at the Sebring 12, so how is that McLaren holding up? “The GT3 car has so much more grip and power, and it’s lighter [than a GT4 car] so it brakes better. Everything is turned up 20% better than a GT4 car. The McLaren is really good in the high-speed corners like Turn 1 at Sebring and the bus stop at Daytona. If your car’s strong suit is high-speed corners that’s where you have to attack.”
Endurance racing requires extraordinary stamina. To run a 2-hour stint, what levels of fitness are needed? Pat replies: “It’s like 140 [Fahrenheit] inside the car. I’ve been working with a trainer in North Carolina. It doesn’t make me any faster over a lap, but the fresher you are at the end when it’s 10 laps to go and it’s kill-time – you got to be ready to rock.”
As Pat seeks to inspire younger men and women considering racing, he wants them to remember this: “I’m a racer, a real racer, my Dad was a racer, my grandfather was a racer. I grew up racing, that’s all I am doing.” Pat emphasizes the need to have an all-consuming affinity and focus in order to make it. “It’s a ladder system. I went through the Mazda Motorsports ladder system. I wouldn’t be where I was without them.” Pat lets readers know that it’s a small world in racing so it’s important to meet people. “I knew I could drive IMSA for a long time. It’s getting everyone else to believe it. I’ve known I could do that but getting yourself in that position [to be seen] is the hard part. I knew I could do it because I was racing some really, really good guys. When I started racing Michelin Pilot Challenge and you’re racing a lot of the same guys who are running in Weathertech in IMSA, when you’re in a GT4 car racing against those guys [in GT3, a higher class] and running up front, being super competitive – all I needed is to get a chance to get in the big show.”
What is Pat’s goal post at this point? “Winning at the Weathertech level is step number one. Winning the Rolex 24 [Hours of Daytona] is step number two. I want to check off all the big races – the Sebring 12 Hour, the Petit Le Mans, and then obviously a Weathertech championship.”
Does Pat have advice for young racers? “Ask yourself if you really, really, want to do it, and if the answer is yes, then do whatever it takes. You [Luis] saw how we lived when we were at the crash house [in Monticello]. It was the best time I never want to have again! Then you have to do better at making relationships. It’s relationships, relationships, relationships. If there’s a car that doesn’t have a driver, and they don’t know who you are then they’re not going to call you.”
When we see kids playing basketball – what percentage of those kids will end up playing for the NBA? Corey Lewis explains how he rose from go-karts to the top threshold of professional sports car racing. Growing up in Nazareth, PA, as a teenager, Corey won the 2002 and 2003 Stars of Karting Regional Series Championship. In 2007 and 2008 he did exceptionally well in the Skip Barber Regional series, and then on to the Star Mazda Championship Series. At age 20, Corey began a stint as staff instructor at Monticello, where we met. Soon he was promoted to Senior Driving Instructor. Corey explains the importance of working at Monticello: “Ari Straus [CEO of Monticello Motor Club] had given me the opportunity to run in the Continental Tire Series. So that was my first taste of getting into IMSA sanctioned racing. From there, Joe Courtney had a Lamborghini Super Trofeo race car at Monticello, so he gave me the opportunity to drive it in the second half of 2014. Then in 2015, in my first full season in IMSA when I landed the Monster Energy Drink sponsorship, that’s when we won the Super Trofeo world championship and North American championship, both in 2015. In 2016, I made the jump into GTD with Change Racing, which was my first taste of the premier series in Weathertech. But if it wasn’t for working at Monticello, and meeting Joe Courtney, I don’t know if I would have ever had that opportunity to drive in the Trofeo series.”
Was having worked at Monticello a key ingredient for Corey’s progress? “Honestly, we all had the natural ability to drive the cars fast at Monticello. We were all learning. Monticello helped hone our driving skills and to go to the level where we were able to find those seats [in the professional series]. I had met Stevan [McAleer] at Skip Barber racing school when he came over from Scotland. At Monticello we trusted each other, helping each other out. At Monticello they gave us the opportunity to learn, to build, to meet the people that had the means to allow us to go racing.”
As a racetrack, did Monticello help or hinder driver development? “Monticello is a tricky track. The seven, eight years I was there driving all kinds of cars, from open wheel to street to formula, using different techniques with what each car does it all helped. I still use the tools of those days – thinking how the cars behave under different conditions.”
Does Corey practice any fitness regimen for this sport? “Absolutely! It’s crucial. The biggest thing for me in racing is endurance, dealing with the heat. We don’t have A/C in our car [Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo], it’s an oven, 130-140 degrees inside the car. It’s just brutal. Plus the heat acclimation necessary from living up north in the winter and then it was 91 degrees and muggy in Sebring.”
What objectives does Corey have at this point in his career? “For me, I want to win some endurance races. I’d love to get the 6 Hours at Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans. But the competition every year gets harder and harder because guys from overseas are wanting to race here, and if you can win you’ve done it against the best. I’d love to have a national full-blown season championship in GTD in the next couple of years. I’d love to race and win Le Mans, and in Spa in the next couple of years. I want to be the first American full-fledged factory Lamborghini driver.”
Does Corey have inspirational advice for young drivers? “I would say: you never know what tomorrow will bring. So persevere, try to be in the right place at the right time. Make the most of the opportunity. Get in the car, and bring it back in one piece. Have fun!”
Stevan McAleer also started with go-karts – in rainy Scotland. Stevan shares his memories: “My Dad was big into racing, with a 1.2 Liter Ford. It was the smell of the fuel and the tires squealing with guys coming around corners – you could tell who could drive and who was crazy. Dad gave me a go-kart when I was 11.”
Was it all wine and roses getting started? “In the beginning I was not good at racing karts, finishing way in the back. But then [after an accident] my Dad entered me in a race, a Juniors race, and I won. So that was the beginning and here we are.”
What came after karting? “To get into IMSA, first I went to Mazda; I did the Mazda MX-5 Cup in 2012 and I won the championship. During those times, the season champion would get a full season in Continental Tire Series in Street Tuner class with a choice of teams – and $200,000. I chose CJ Wilson racing. I told them, your cars need development and we’re going to win races. We made a lot of setup changes, a lot of data management. I won my first time out at COTA [Circuit of the Americas]. Then three years later we won the championship in 2015. That’s how I got to Continental.”
Is there a special magic at Monticello? “At Monticello, like in any sport, people see the highs. What people miss on the backside are the long days, the tough times when you feel you’re not catching a break. At Monticello, as an Instructor, the more coaching I’ve done, the more I continued learning, when a car is not working right that has got me in a position where I can adapt to anything. I’m driving six or seven different cars so when something is not right I have to fix it. That helps my progression as a driver. Being in the seat as much as I can, just talking to someone in the intercom [between helmets], I’m still working even in the right seat [as a racing coach].”
Those LMP3’s – what’s it like racing those rockets? “LMP3 are prototype carbon fiber cars with 450hp from a Nissan big 341 cubic inch V8. I’ve been in everything – the Porsche GT4, the BMW GT4, the Mercedes GT3 car – and the reason I’m able to do that is I do drive a lot of different cars. I am asked to put in a reference lap for a team and then I bring it back [in one piece].”
What are some objectives that Stevan has for his racing career? “I want to win the Rolex 24, like in the Mercedes GTD. But most of all I want to win the championship. Winning championships shows a driver has it all. You can win races by being fast, but if you’re fast and reckless you can’t win the championship. I wanted to be in the big show, IMSA, and here we are leading the championship [as of this writing]!”
How would Stevan inspire younger drivers? “The road to racing is so hard, and you have to work for a seat. If others have significant money to support them, then they can buy a seat, so you have to work so you can ask for a salary, [a distinct disadvantage] when others are putting up their own money. But my goal is to make my [coaching] clients better drivers, faster and safer. I’m looking after the client’s best interests.”
Known as “The Bumps,” there is something visceral, loud, in-your-face about Sebring Raceway. Racing fans can get close enough to the racers to feel the pulsations of their engines and hear the tires struggling for grip. The ghosts of racers past must come back to visit, watch and marvel at these Three Guys from Monticello.