< Back to News Home Joe Sahlen nominated for 2011 Rolex Bob Snodgrass Award of Excellence

Posted (10/27/2011) -

DAYTONA, Fla. (October 26, 2011) - With the recent conclusion of the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series comes the announcement that, from a field of 25 teams, four team owners have been named as candidates for the 2011 Rolex Bob Snodgrass Award of Excellence, presented by Gorsline Company.  The award recipient will be chosen by a panel of motorsports professionals and named on Friday, January 27, 2012, during the Grand Marshal dinner which is the traditional prelude to the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The 2011 honoree will be presented with a specially-engraved Rolex Stainless Steel and Platinum Yacht-Master timepiece.


The Rolex Bob Snodgrass Award of Excellence was created to recognize the team owner or team manager who has demonstrated the qualities of integrity, passion for the sport and the love of cars for which Bob Snodgrass was known during his life and career. In 2010 Bob Stallings was the first-ever recipient of the award which is supported by Gorsline Company, the premier insurer of high-risk professionals. The four team owners who are candidates for the 2011 Rolex Bob Snodgrass Award of Excellence are:


Peter Baron of Starworks Motorsport (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
Baron’s Starworks Motorsport fielded two DP entries for all 12 races in the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. The No. 8 Ford/Riley had four podium finishes which included placing third at both Barber Motorsports Park and Watkins Glen International, and capping the season with the win of the EMCO Gears Classic presented by KeyBank at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The team’s primary driver Ryan Dalziel (Orlando, Fla.), was joined by Venezuelan rookies Enzo Potolicchio and Alex Popow. After spending a decade working his way up the ladder in both driving and business software through the 1990s, Baron concentrated on running a race team beginning in 2004 with TRG East. In 2005 he formed his own racing team - SAMAX, after sons Sam and Max - that was renamed Starworks Motorsport in 2010.

Joe Sahlen of Team Sahlen Racing (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Team Sahlen campaigned its No. 42 and No. 43 Mazdas for all 12 of the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series races in the GT class, and ran an additional entry in all but four events. The No. 42 finished eighth overall in the 2011 GT class standings after placing second at both Road America and the New Jersey Motorsports Park after John Edwards joined Wayne Nonnamaker behind the wheel. The team’s season highlights included Nonnamaker and Edwards earning pole positions, respectively, at Road America and New Jersey Motorsports Park. Sahlen himself drove the No. 49 in four races with his best result a 12th at Homestead Miami Speedway. Sahlen Packing Company, Inc. has been the title sponsor of the June GRAND-AM race at Watkins Glen since 2003.

John Stevenson of Stevenson Motorsports (Jacksonville, N.C.)
Stevenson Motorsports ran its No. 57 Camaro in all 12 races of the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series in the GT class. After Jan Magnussen earned the team its first-ever pole position at Homestead Miami Speedway, Robin Liddell took pole at Lime Rock Park, and, with Magnussen (driving the final 79 laps), claimed the first victory of the season for Stevenson Motorsports. Liddell and Magnussen each took pole again, at Watkins Glen and Virginia International Raceway respectively, before Ronnie Bremer earned his first career pole at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and saw that converted to a win. The No. 57 car also won at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Leading the GT class with five pole positions for the season, the team finished ninth overall in the 2011 class standings.  Stevenson is the driving force behind the Stevenson Automotive Group, a leading automotive influence in southeastern North Carolina since 1983.

Sylvain Tremblay of SpeedSource (Sunrise, Fla.)
SpeedSource had two entries in the 12-race 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series in the GT class. The No. 70, driven by Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito, scored three podium finishes along with a win at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Finishing the 2011 season standings in third overall, they narrowly missed taking the series championship by four points. The No. 69, driven by Emil Assentato and Jeff Segal, scored three second-place finishes at Homestead Miami Speedway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course but missed defending the class title by 17 points. The No. 69 finished the season fifth in the overall standings. SpeedSource also prepared the Mazdas raced by Team Sahlen and Dempsey Racing.

About Bob Snodgrass - Snodgrass, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 64, was president of Brumos Racing, and president and CEO of the Brumos auto dealerships in Jacksonville, Fla., where he lived for 35 years. As a team owner he had three Rolex 24 At Daytona wins (Brumos Racing has eight) and a total of 10 wins at Daytona.  He was a driving force behind the formation of the Grand American Road Racing Association and the Daytona Prototype class. Born in Elmira, N.Y., he saw his first race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., and was hooked. Famous for his humor and wit and an accomplished vintage-car racer, Snodgrass (and Peter Gregg, who owned Brumos Porsche from 1965 until his death in 1980) was instrumental in Brumos' entry into motorsports.

About Rolex Motorsports - Rolex's presence in motorsports began in the 1930s with Malcolm Campbell. While wearing a Rolex Oyster in 1935, he was the first person to drive an automobile over 300 miles per hour, setting a new land speed record. Rolex truly solidified its position in the sport in 1959 when it began an association with the Daytona International Speedway in Florida and later became the title sponsor of its pre-eminent endurance race, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, in 1992. It was shortly after its initial affiliation with the race track that Rolex introduced a watch designed for lovers of speed, the Cosmograph Daytona, which allowed its wearer to clock elapsed times and calculate average speeds.

Rolex is involved in sponsorships of some of the most prestigious events in the motorsport industry. Endurance races such as the Rolex 24 At Daytona, The 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the Rolex Sports Car Series have been a critical piece of the Rolex portfolio. In addition,
Rolex supports the tradition of auto racing through events that celebrate design, speed and passion including the Goodwood Revival (UK), the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (USA), the Pebble Beach Tour D’Elegance presented by Rolex (USA) and the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance and The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering (USA).  Rolex affiliation also extends to two key figures in the sport: Sir Jackie Stewart from Scotland, one of the greatest drivers of his generation, and Danish driver Tom Kristensen, record eight-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

About Gorsline Company - Gorsline Company, headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., pioneered the business of providing insurance for high-risk professionals. The company specializes in providing racing drivers and owners creative, custom designed insurance packages and estate planning strategies.


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