O'Connell Still Traveling on Road of Success - ZR-1 Net Registry Forums

gaijin · 09-21-2006

O'CONNELL STILL TRAVELING ON ROAD OF SUCCESS

"You win a few, lose a few, some get rained out, but ya gotta suit up for all of them." The oldest of baseball adages applies quite nicely to Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell. Unlike other endeavors, sports car racing competes in the rain, and O'Connell can attest to the validity of the other three truisms.

He has won races, and he has lost races. He also is the only American Le Mans Series driver to be in uniform for its 75 events. At Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda CX-7, O'Connell will aim to start his 72nd Series race. The Flowery Branch, Ga. resident has not missed a start since the 2001 season.

In fact, O'Connell would have driven in every Series event ever run except for some early-on bad racing luck. In 1999 O'Connell, then driving for Panoz with partner Jan Magnussen, watched helplessly as a broken drive shaft at Road Atlanta eliminated the car before it was O'Connell's turn to drive.

The next year, 2000, at Adelaide, O'Connell and two other drivers completed the race, but all three were expunged from the official race result because one of the pilots had not been nominated for the car per ACO regulations. Finally, at the 2001 Petit Le Mans, O'Connell - by now with Corvette Racing - saw then-and-now teammate Ron Fellows bow out of competition after just two laps with Fellows in the car.

O'Connell and Fellows, in fact, own more wins than anyone in Series history. Their victory at Road America last month gave each of them 25, second only to Olivier Beretta.

O'Connell's career took an upswing when he joined Corvette five years ago. "I owe a lot to everyone at Corvette Racing," the 44-year-old says. "The opportunity was there to drive a great car for great people, and I will never forget how fortunate I've been.

"We've won a lot of races, and Corvette expects us to win races," he added. "There is pressure, sure, but it's a good kind of pressure to have. You see other drivers, and no matter how good they are or how well they drive, they can't win because they don't have the right equipment (to win). Corvette's given all of us - Ron, Olivier (Beretta), Oliver (Gavin), anyone who ever sits in that seat - the very best car that it's possible to have."

O'Connell's now in his 20th professional racing season, and there isn't a paddock anywhere in which he's not popular. "Johnny brings so much to our team aside from his driving," said Gavin, who often competes door-to-door with him. "You remember the good people in this business, and he's one of them."

O'Connell's raced sports cars and open-wheel during his career, competing in the Indianapolis 500 in both 1996-97. A 1997 crash that caused extensive foot injuries helped steer the native New Yorker back to sports car cockpits, a decision he has never regretted. Doug Fehan, racing manager for Corvette Racing, recalls seeing O'Connell when he raced for other teams in the early part of this decade.

"I'd watched Johnny for a number of years," Fehan says. "A bit in Indy Cars and then he raced for Nissan in World Sports Car against our Aurora program. Some of those battles were rather interesting, and I made a mental note."

Chris Kneifel's decision to climb out of the car and work for another series led to O'Connell's biggest career opportunity, which came via a phone call out of the blue. "Johnny told me, 'I just want to put my name in the hat if anything is going to come up,'"Â Fehan said. "I told him, 'We haven't announced this yet, but Chris is leaving.' Shortly afterward, we hired Johnny."

A Fehan strength is his ability to determine which drivers will mesh seamlessly into the Corvette philosophy. "Any personal agendas you have are last on our list," he said. "It's a team program. It's important that a Corvette wins the race, not necessarily your Corvette, and not necessarily you. To us, the manufacturer's championship is the most important."

O'Connell knows the value of demonstrating the Corvette brand. "Johnny's a very competitive personality,"Â Fehan said. "He has a great sense of humor and the unique ability to work the entire system. For instance, he has untold value in our engineering group."

But it's O'Connell's ability to register with Corvette owners that furthers his popularity away from the track.

"Every race we have, the Corvette Corrals have anywhere from 100-400 Corvettes on site," Fehan said. "The owners of these cars, these are the people we race for, and they just love this guy. Johnny is blue collar, bread and butter, meat and potatoes, and that's very identifiable. Our customers find him very engaging. Johnny knows that learning to be a racecar driver isn't just about driving the car. He's learned the importance of knowing what goes on off the racetrack is as important as what happens on the track."

09-21-2006	#1
gaijin Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Road Atlanta Posts: 371	O'Connell Still Traveling on Road of Success O'CONNELL STILL TRAVELING ON ROAD OF SUCCESS "You win a few, lose a few, some get rained out, but ya gotta suit up for all of them." The oldest of baseball adages applies quite nicely to Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell. Unlike other endeavors, sports car racing competes in the rain, and O'Connell can attest to the validity of the other three truisms. He has won races, and he has lost races. He also is the only American Le Mans Series driver to be in uniform for its 75 events. At Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda CX-7, O'Connell will aim to start his 72nd Series race. The Flowery Branch, Ga. resident has not missed a start since the 2001 season. In fact, O'Connell would have driven in every Series event ever run except for some early-on bad racing luck. In 1999 O'Connell, then driving for Panoz with partner Jan Magnussen, watched helplessly as a broken drive shaft at Road Atlanta eliminated the car before it was O'Connell's turn to drive. The next year, 2000, at Adelaide, O'Connell and two other drivers completed the race, but all three were expunged from the official race result because one of the pilots had not been nominated for the car per ACO regulations. Finally, at the 2001 Petit Le Mans, O'Connell - by now with Corvette Racing - saw then-and-now teammate Ron Fellows bow out of competition after just two laps with Fellows in the car. O'Connell and Fellows, in fact, own more wins than anyone in Series history. Their victory at Road America last month gave each of them 25, second only to Olivier Beretta. O'Connell's career took an upswing when he joined Corvette five years ago. "I owe a lot to everyone at Corvette Racing," the 44-year-old says. "The opportunity was there to drive a great car for great people, and I will never forget how fortunate I've been. "We've won a lot of races, and Corvette expects us to win races," he added. "There is pressure, sure, but it's a good kind of pressure to have. You see other drivers, and no matter how good they are or how well they drive, they can't win because they don't have the right equipment (to win). Corvette's given all of us - Ron, Olivier (Beretta), Oliver (Gavin), anyone who ever sits in that seat - the very best car that it's possible to have." O'Connell's now in his 20th professional racing season, and there isn't a paddock anywhere in which he's not popular. "Johnny brings so much to our team aside from his driving," said Gavin, who often competes door-to-door with him. "You remember the good people in this business, and he's one of them." O'Connell's raced sports cars and open-wheel during his career, competing in the Indianapolis 500 in both 1996-97. A 1997 crash that caused extensive foot injuries helped steer the native New Yorker back to sports car cockpits, a decision he has never regretted. Doug Fehan, racing manager for Corvette Racing, recalls seeing O'Connell when he raced for other teams in the early part of this decade. "I'd watched Johnny for a number of years," Fehan says. "A bit in Indy Cars and then he raced for Nissan in World Sports Car against our Aurora program. Some of those battles were rather interesting, and I made a mental note." Chris Kneifel's decision to climb out of the car and work for another series led to O'Connell's biggest career opportunity, which came via a phone call out of the blue. "Johnny told me, 'I just want to put my name in the hat if anything is going to come up,'"Â Fehan said. "I told him, 'We haven't announced this yet, but Chris is leaving.' Shortly afterward, we hired Johnny." A Fehan strength is his ability to determine which drivers will mesh seamlessly into the Corvette philosophy. "Any personal agendas you have are last on our list," he said. "It's a team program. It's important that a Corvette wins the race, not necessarily your Corvette, and not necessarily you. To us, the manufacturer's championship is the most important." O'Connell knows the value of demonstrating the Corvette brand. "Johnny's a very competitive personality,"Â Fehan said. "He has a great sense of humor and the unique ability to work the entire system. For instance, he has untold value in our engineering group." But it's O'Connell's ability to register with Corvette owners that furthers his popularity away from the track. "Every race we have, the Corvette Corrals have anywhere from 100-400 Corvettes on site," Fehan said. "The owners of these cars, these are the people we race for, and they just love this guy. Johnny is blue collar, bread and butter, meat and potatoes, and that's very identifiable. Our customers find him very engaging. Johnny knows that learning to be a racecar driver isn't just about driving the car. He's learned the importance of knowing what goes on off the racetrack is as important as what happens on the track."