MOTOR SPORTS: One-on-one With Scott Bove

TheRaceSite.com You finished second in the Rookie of the year honors this year with three top tens and a second place. What were some of the keys of the success of your team?

Scott Bove We came off a great year in Grand Am in 1999 (USRRC) as top Rookie of the year, being new to the WCGT in 2000 we took a conservative approach to our goal of "Rookie of the year" and focused on preparation of the car and top ten finishes.

We lost a few points in the first three races to Justin [Jackson this year's WCGT Rookie of the Year], mostly due to us having to get used to the car and the set up (like all GT3 teams had to this year). So Justin got off to a good size lead in the beginning of the year. He also had the advantage of running three WCGT races last year so he was more familiar with the drivers and the series as a whole.

Once we settled in to our groove, we were very competitive for the following six races. We were the unfortunate victim to several Corvettes throughout the season, Reese Cox #98 at Road Atlanta hit us twice, once at turn 12 almost ending my year and another time 5 laps later at turn 7 putting back from 5th to 17th. I managed to pick up 5 positions in the next 3 laps and finished 12th. With Justin finishing 4th at RA we lost valuable points.

We were again hit by a Corvette at Laguna, this time by Bill Cooper #01, taking us out of the race in the first lap at turn 3. We qualified 10th after never being there before and made a set up change that could have led us to our first win but instead we finished out of the points (several laps down) after repairing the car in pit lane. We changed the entire right rear suspension in 18 minutes.

All in all we are proud of our accomplishments in our first year and look forward to running for the Championship in 2001.

TheRaceSite.com Your second place at Texas helped Porsche to win the Manufacturer's Championship. What was it like to be part of winning that Championship?

Scott Bove We have always supported the Porsche marquee and are proud of being a part of their 2000 Speedvision World Challenge Manufacturers Championship. We received a nice letter from Mr Alwin Springer, congratulating us on our year and thanking us for our valuable contribution.

TheRaceSite.com You have done a lot of work for charities over your rookie season in World Challenge. What were some of those charities, and what was the any reason to work with them?

Scott Bove We were asked by Gary Christopher Director of the "We make a difference foundation" to represent the Motorsports industry and assist them in raising $250,000 for the University Rainbow Babies Hospital. We donated winnings from our SVWC year and sold $50,000 in tickets for the charities raffle. There will be 2000 tickets sold at $100 each, 11 for $1000 and we plan to raffle the 2001 Porsche (or $50,000 cash) off after the Sebring WC race weekend in March.

I have two healthy children and after visiting the hospital I was convinced that I need to help the kids there any way I could. I am proud to be participating in this wonderful cause and of our accomplishments this year. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the WC teams for participating in our Charity and call on those who we have missed to contact us to purchase a ticket or two.

Call us at 888-890-8940 x15 or visit www.racingfortherainbow.com

TheRaceSite.com How does it feel to have you name added to the long list of distinguished racers that have won the Jim Cook Memorial Award?

Scott Bove Words can not describe how I felt the night I was selected for such a outstanding award. When I read the list of the past winners I felt very honored and pleased that Team Tech Motorsports was recognized at such a high level.

I told the team that this award meant more to me than the "Rookie of the Year" Title or a Championship because it was awarded based on the Character of the team and for our philosophy not based on points or wins that are mechanically measured.

TheRaceSite.com As is always the case in racing, there were concerns from other manufacturers throughout the year about the Porsche having an advantage, and likewise there were concerns from some of the Porsche contingent that the Porsche was at a disadvantage to the higher horsepower cars. What was your take on the equality of the series?

Scott Bove Well my take on this is very simple. The only opinion that matters is that of Mitch Wright (Technical Director). Most of the teams complain about one thing or another but the reality is that the cars are fairly equal. There is no doubt that the Corvettes, Vipers, and Saleen's have the HP advantage, however Porsche and BMW have a braking advantage.

Since our engines are all built by Porsche Motorsports, we as teams do not have any way of increasing our HP. We can only focus on the set up and the driver. I know as a matter of fact what one of the Corvette's have for HP and Torque and I can only imagine that the other fast Corvettes are similar. Scotty White for instance advertises on his Hero Card 480 HP, well since we are at 400 and Dave Schardt only advertises 380 you can draw you own conclusion what the Corvettes really have.

The other disadvantage for the Porsches and BMW's is that our cars are very delicate. Over this past year, you can go back and confirm that 90% of all accidents, and or yellow flags were caused by Corvettes and many of those involved them hitting Porsches. The Corvette always came out on the better side of that situation and the Porsche usually suffered with a DNF or was put way back in the field.

The last issue on that subject is the most important one, this year proved that the cars are for the most part equal since well over half of the races were won by the best drivers in the field, those with the most seat time. Namely Cunningham, Borcheller and Fitzgerald. Fitz raced in 43 Pro races in 2000, more than any driver in the field [ed. Note - and more than any other professional driver in N. American sports car racing] and 3 times more than most. Each of them raced in ALMS and other series on the same weekend as WC races. They had more seat time and more track time and could use the set up from their ALMS cars and transfer some of that back to their respective little brother WC cars. Each of those drivers would have won their races if they were driving a Saleen a BMW or a Porsche. So it is wrong of anyone to say that any car has an advantage over another when it shows very clearly that the top three drivers in the series won the majority of the races.

I'm sure that if you put Ron Fellows in any top Corvette you would see how fast the Vettes really are, the same is true if you put Dirk Muller in a top Porsche or Tommy Archer in a top Viper or Terry Borcheller in a top Saleen (we saw it this year), the best driver in a top car will usually win.

As for Texas, well it is also clear that when it comes to difficult conditions and durability that Porsche builds the best race car in the world PERIOD and that is why they swept the ALMS and WCGT races under the extreme conditions and heat in Texas.

TheRaceSite.com With one season of experience in World Challenge, are there any plans for you and / or your team next year?

Scott Bove Our plans for next season are not clear at this time. I do plan on running my third Rolex 24 in 2001 and the Moroso 24 in December 2000. I plan on running a few Grand Am races with our WCGT car and have contracted to run one Super Cup race in Europe and the Supercup race at Indy in 2001.

Besides that I only have sponsorship commitments for 5 WCGT races in 2001 (Tx, FL, Mosport, Lime Rock and Atlanta) so we will see if sponsorship comes through to allow us to run the full 11 race season. If we do run the full season we plan on building on our experience gained in 2000 and being a Championship contender in 2001 as we were a Rookie Contender in 2000.