- Former Watkins Glen International track president Michael Printup died Wednesday at the age of 60. No cause of death has been released.
Printup served as the president of WGI from 2007-2021, a period that saw the track significantly overhauled. Permanent grandstands were installed, the current media center was built and the facility had significant growth.
Prior to running WGI, Printup ran Americrown, a division of the former International Speedway Corporation that ran concessions. He was also involved in NASCAR's leg work towards building a track in Staten Island. While that ultimately didn't happen, there were a number of stories that came out of it. For more on that topic, check out Printup's interview on the Dinner With Racers podcast from 2021.
After retiring from NASCAR, Printup became the CEO of the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, a historics series that races with Trans-Am. From there, he rose up to the COO of Racing America.
Printup is survived by his wife Stephanie, two sons and two granddaughters. We at
Frontstretch send our condolences to the Printup family.
- Era Motorsport announced Friday that Logan Sargeant will join the team in a one-off appearance in the Rolex 24 at Daytona later this month. He'll be joined by full-time driver Naveen Rao and Ferdinand Habsburg.
Rao and Sargeant drove last year for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Rao in three races and Sargeant in two. Their best finish together was fourth in class at the Motul Petit Le Mans in October. The team's overall best finish of the year was third in the Rolex 24.
Habsburg has four career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship starts, all of
which have come in the Rolex 24 in LMP2 cars. His best finish was third in class for Tower Motorsport in 2022.
As of this writing, the team is still looking for a Silver-rated driver to run in all five Michelin Endurance Cup races.
- Rennsport One announced Thursday that the trio of Jan Heylen, Dillon Machavern, Sven Mueller and Eric Zitza will drive their No. 28 Porsche 911 GT3 R in the Rolex 24 at Daytona later this month. It will be the team's first IMSA
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start.
Heylen drove for the team last year alongside Alex Sedgwick in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS. He finished third in Pro points there with a weekend sweep at VIR. In addition, Heylen won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge championship with Luca Mars on the strength of three wins and six podium finishes.
Machavern is also a past champion in Pilot Challenge with the team, winning the title in 2017 with Dylan Murcott.
- This past weekend was the 41st Annual Hyper Racing Tulsa Shootout, where more than 2000 teams converged on the SageNet Center in Tulsa. In the main Outlaw Non-Wing feature, Daison Pursley started from the pole and
led all 55 laps to win. Steven Snyder Jr. was second, then Jeffrey Newell, Kyle Larson and Emerson Axsom. Larson was Pursley's primary competition in the race, but he jumped the cushion midway through the race and was unable to recover.
The Busches (Kyle and Brexton) raced in the Stock Non+Wing class. Brexton's night ended early when he was unable to start C-Main No. 8. Meanwhile, Kyle was
eliminated with a ninth-place finish in B-Main No. 6.