Catching up with Jonathan Scarallo
Hello again everybody!
With only two weeks away until VIR, many things have happened since I last wrote this blog. I found out that Group A Racing hired Joe Stimola to do the engineering for my teammate and me. I have known Joe since I was about 5 years old, so it’s really cool to be working with him this year. He knows these cars inside and out and will definitely be giving me some great race cars. Plus we will have a lot of fun off the track with each other also.
My team has also received its third Van Diemen Zetec. This third car is available for rental. When not rented we will occasionally have a guest driver like my older brother Joey in the car on test days, to help us with the learning curve. Along with that the Bertil Roos Racing School will be sending instructors to our races to help me and Colin. It’s really great that Colin and I have gone to their school and race series, and that they are continuing to support us like this.
As a young teenage rookie, it has been cool to see this team develop from the inside out. In just a short amount of time we have gone from having nothing, to a pretty solid team. We have been able to hire two great full time mechanics (Sam Elliot and Steve Thexton). These guys are extremely experienced with these cars.
About two weeks ago I had the privilege of being the guest speaker at the 2009 Royal Rangers Pine Wood Derby. Royal Rangers is basically boy scouts for Christian churches around Long Island. Every year all the groups make their own little cars and race them against one another. Due to me being a young race car driver they contacted me to be the guest speaker. It was really a lot of fun, hanging out with all the kids, seeing the races, signing autographs for the kids, and most importantly being able to show them the love that God has for them. It seems like yesterday I was one of those kids getting autographs from the guest race car driver, and this year it was me! You wish for something all your life and when it starts to happen it seems like a dream. I hope I can present myself on and off the track that really brings respect to the series, sport, and my family.
This winter I have been counting down the days for the season to start. This past week I went to Sebring to help crew for my brother’s race during the ALMS 12 Hour weekend. Over those five days I never worked so hard and for so many hours but still have so much fun at the same time…..but one thing is for sure and that is I realized how much I like driving race cars more then working on them!
Well the countdown is on, my guys have two weeks to get our cars ready. I look forward to seeing you all there and hopefully I won’t do anything stupid!
See Ya!
Jonathan Scarallo