Rick Ware Racing

Working on the LMP2 car on pit road at Daytona. (Photo Credit: Daylon Barr, Daylon Barr Photography)

Introduction

Back in December of 2019, Brad Perez (one of my motorsports friends and a great Spec Miata driver) invited me to a test that Rick Ware Racing (RWR) was having at Carolina Motorsports Park. They were testing a Multimatic Riley MK30 LMP2 car, scheduled to run in the Rolex 24 and other endurance races for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. At the time, I was only somewhat familiar with sportscars - I had watched IMSA events and just went to my first Petit Le Mans- but I had never gotten to get that close to a prototype car before. Seeing the technology associated with the car made me excited and eager to spend more time around it, and within the next week, I was officially working as an engineer for RWR. This was a great opportunity to not only gain experience with sportscars but also to gain exposure to RWR’s NASCAR Cup Series teams; I had been primarily targeting NASCAR beforehand, and this was a way to experience both worlds simultaneously.

At a first glance, the sportscar technology I noticed on the LMP2 car looked a bit intimidating, but as I got more familiar with it, I quickly realized that a lot of the fundamentals from my solar car and FSAE background transferred quite well to it. A lot of the design and manufacturing methods (such as suspension design and composite components) as well as car systems (such as the CAN bus and general data acquisition) seen in the sportscar world are quite similar to what student design teams will incorporate and emulate in their own collegiate projects. This made me get comfortable and acclimated to the sports car environment much more quickly than I expected.

On the other hand, learning the NASCAR side of vehicle setup and preparation has been more challenging than I thought, mainly due to the unique nature and downplayed complexity of the cars. It’s common to hear “left turns only” jokes about NASCAR, yet people overlook the technical challenges that teams are presented when competing with stock cars. With some limitations on data acquisition and technical aspects that are commonplace in other forms of motorsports, it makes it more crucial to be able to understand driver feedback and quickly diagnose the characteristics of the car without as much data to validate with.

So far in 2020, I have been able to support RWR’s efforts in both IMSA and NASCAR Cup Series events, and I have been able to witness the similarities and differences between the sports car and stock car worlds.

Waiting in the tech line during the Roar 24 test session. (Photo Credit: John Dagys, Sportscar 365)

2020: Double Duty at Daytona

Prior to working at RWR, I had never even been to Daytona International Speedway before. When I joined the team, a lot of focus was being put into Daytona, as both the IMSA and NASCAR seasons would have their season openers there in the coming months. The first event coming up was the Roar Before the 24, an IMSA sanctioned preseason test as a precursor to the 24-hour endurance race that kicks the season off.

Much of my work then revolved around troubleshooting and improving the DAQ and telemetry systems used on the LMP2 car before this test. With sports cars, especially the prototypes, there are dozens of sensors and channels that can provide real-time data about the car and how it is performing. In any race, the goal is to keep the car on track as long as possible - to finish first, you must first finish. However, this is exemplified much more in endurance racing where a team may fall out of contention early but bounce back after fixing problems. As a result, it is crucial to be able to constantly monitor car and driver performance in order to assess and address any issues that come up during a session.

During the first week of 2020, we went down to Daytona in order to participate in the Roar 24. This would be my first Daytona experience in my life, and I was really grateful that I was able to experience it as a competitor. When entering the infield, it was surreal to be able to see the high banks, the horseshoes, and Lake Lloyd in person. It meant a lot to be there as part of a team and participating in an event at the World Center of Racing.

The Roar test was not easy for us, however. We battled newfound issues throughout the week and ultimately got caught up in an accident causing decent damage to the LMP2. It was a reminder that even in professional racing, there will be challenges that are unpredictable and difficult to overcome. That being said, seeing the car log laps during some of the sessions and realizing the scope of the event made it even more encouraging and motivating to keep working through the challenges we faced. However, due to the severity of some of the issues, we were unfortunately unable to make it back to the track for the Rolex 24 later in the month.

On top of the pit box before the 2020 Daytona 500.

In February, I came down to Daytona again with RWR for Speedweeks - the events that lead up to and include the Daytona 500. For a small team such as RWR, performing well at the Daytona 500 can make a huge difference for the team - making the show itself can present great returns on the cost of running a car, and finishing high in the race itself can help bring a larger chunk of the race purse home and start the season off on a good note. At superspeedways such as Daytona, the amount of drafting that occurs between cars is thought to be a great equalizer in performance, and small teams with fewer resources can often run up front with the larger ones (provided that they miss any of “The Big Ones” throughout the race).

With the 500 being so important, my main responsibilities were to help make sure we maximized our performance from the pit box and help our crew chiefs make the right calls. During the Daytona Duels (the qualifying races that set the lineup for the 500), I assisted the 51 and 52 teams with fuel mileage and getting some overall practice with the crews before the main event. As this was the first time for me to directly help on top of a pit box, it made me realize how efficiently engineers and crew chiefs have to think in order to avoid any mistakes and make the right decisions. The math itself can be simple, but being able to trust your own calculations can quickly become a stressful task.

After the Duels, I stayed with the 52 team for the 500. It didn’t really sink in that I was helping a team compete in the 500 until pre-race ceremonies ended and the cars started up. It was a form of validation, as this was the first time I was actually at the Daytona 500 instead of watching it from home on TV. Throughout the race, I learned a lot about how the picture of a race can change quickly and how a team has to be able to react properly to it. There is a lot of information constantly being presented, and it is up to the crew to be able to filter what is important and react accordingly. While our race ended prematurely due to a wreck (which was almost expected with the nature of superspeedways), the Daytona 500 was one of the largest learning opportunities I have had so far, and I am really grateful that Speedweeks was my first time working in the Cup Series.

The Audi R8 LMS GTD car in the VIR garage before our first test. We ended up getting the SCCA track record in “PX” class that weekend, as few have traditionally run in that class.

Unprecedented (and Unwanted) History

After the Daytona 500, my role at RWR was continued to be split between preparing for our next IMSA events while supporting our NASCAR teams at-track. However, with a new IMSA entry in the works, my work began to prioritize it a bit more - this time with a Audi R8 LMS GTD that was slated to run in the IMSA Sprint Cup races for the remainder of the year.

As this entry had more of a “customer racing” feel to it, it was encouraging to work on this R8 LMS with our team and with the Audi engineers to prepare it for its first anticipated race at Long Beach. It was an enjoyable car to work on, and after learning more about setting up and using the DAQ/telemetry systems from the LMP2 car, it was a relatively easier time to get everything set up and squared away on this car (the German engineering definitely did not disappoint). We had our first real test at VIR during the SCCA “March Into Spring” weekend, and with Cody Ware behind the wheel, we finally got to see the R8 rip around a track. The most entertaining part of that test was getting the car through SCCA tech - we still had to conform to their numbering and lettering regs!

Some basic data analysis in MoTec i2 while testing with Cody Ware for an iRacing IMSA Invitational race.

Unfortunately, this was also the weekend where the whole country entered an unprecedented and unwanted part of living history. The global COVID-19 pandemic had made its swings throughout the US, and everything began shutting down to help prevent further spread - including all major sports and entertainment groups. While we were at our test at VIR, our NASCAR counterparts had just been turned back away from Atlanta Motor Speedway. Shortly thereafter, as with many other major leagues, NASCAR and IMSA followed with a shutdown of undetermined length. Beyond the worries of general wellbeing and health for those across the country and the world, many of us in the industry had to worry about our careers and livelihoods as well.

While at home during these weeks, I, much like many of us, tried to find ways to keep busy and stay engaged with racing and engineering. A lot of us turned to iRacing during the shutdown, and with various invitational series popping up, it kept us pretty competitive, albeit virtually. To keep our IMSA spirits up, I worked with Cody Ware in some of the IMSA Invitational races we got to be a part of at virtual Laguna Seca and virtual Mid-Ohio. It was fun to try to test and tune in the time we had available; iRacing generally follows setup fundamentals, so it was good to be able to practice some setup methods with him. Nothing replaced the real deal though, and we all were longing to see how the pandemic would continue and whether or not we would even see the track again in 2020.

On the 51 pit box with Crew Chief Jason Houghtaling at Loudon. I underestimated our fuel mileage that day.

Getting Back on Track

After a 10 week hiatus, NASCAR launched some new protocols and methods in an attempt to get back racing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes were pretty drastic - two and three day shows were now completely gone. Rather than having hours of practice and qualifying sessions before the races, the teams would now unload their vehicles straight for the race, something that was never done before. With limited time at the track, it helped teams reduce the amount of time spent on the road and in different towns. No fans were allowed for many of the races since NASCAR’s return.

NASCAR’s return was a relief to many in the industry. Unfortunately, with the financial hits many in the racing industry took throughout the pandemic, our IMSA entry with the R8 LMS had to be put away once again. However, this meant that I would now be working full-time with our NASCAR teams. My first race weekend back was at the Pocono doubleheaders, and I continued to be a part of our NASCAR road crew for the rest of the season.

As I’ve said before: while at first glance, NASCAR tech can look simple when compared to sports cars or other types of racing, there is a lot more complexity to it than at first glance. With the unique geometry and philosophies with stock cars come specific methods and nuances as to how these cars are prepped and raced. With this being my first year truly working on stock cars, it was good to be able to get the hands-on experience to see how these cars are prepared on a fundamental level. The hands-on aspect was much more exemplified at a place such as RWR as well - as a small team, it takes a significantly higher amount of work done by a much fewer amount of people in order to get these cars ready to race. While larger teams have the capabilities to perfect their setups with part design, simulation validation, high-end manufacturer support, and so forth, we would have to rely on experience, the parts we had available, and extremely quick turnarounds on the few cars that we had in our inventory in order to get to the track every single week.

Trying to plug into the 27 car ECU before rolling into tech at the Bristol All-Star Open.

While primarily helping the 51 and 53 car teams at the track for in-race strategy and support, most of my work at the shop was at an organizational level between all of our teams. With the little time and small pool of resources, it was important that we attempted to document what we were doing as best as we could, and much of my work on the NASCAR side came in assisting with that. It was crucial to understand what each team was doing on the setup plate, what the differences were between our vehicles, and how they performed at the track on a week-to-week basis.

Another aspect of small teams that may get overlooked is the amount of drivers that can come through a team within a season. in 2020, the RWR drivers ranged from stock car veterans such as JJ Yeley to international drivers such as James Davison. With such a range of talents and experience coming through our cars, we wanted to make sure that our talent pool could build off of each other. Using tools such as SMT (the standardized telemetry across all cars provided in NASCAR) and managing our driver debrief and preview meetings, I was able to help assist our drivers in being able to discuss and bounce ideas off of each other while getting a better evaluation of our setup ideologies and performance as a whole.

I got to learn about NASCAR engine mapping and tuning over the course of the season as well. As a small team, we all have to pitch in together in many ways in order to get our cars to the track. Without having a full-time engine tuner for our Ford powered vehicles for a few races, I was coordinating with Roush Yates Engines (RYE) in order to make sure we were getting our ECU maps properly, having our sensors calibrated, and making sure that there were no glaring issues with our powertrain before heading to the track. With no practice for the rest of the year, it was important to make sure we weren’t causing any self-inflicted issues at the start of our races.

Even though COVID-19 restrictions made it harder on travel, I really enjoyed being able to check off a lot of tracks and races as a competitor. When competing in the Cup Series, you’re racing against the best of the best, and it meant a lot to be able to race against the top people in the industry. While it was extremely difficult for us to be directly competitive against the frontrunners, we always had our own battles to fight against the people we raced in the back of the field. It was nice to be able to enjoy good runs at places like Indianapolis and Talladega given the resources and budgets we were always racing against.

Segment from the 2020 Charlotte Roval broadcast where NASCAR on NBC talked about my background and role at Rick Ware Racing.

Parting Thoughts

At the end of the 2020 season, I decided to leave RWR in order to pursue some engineering opportunities with Venturini Motorsports and TRD. However, working at RWR provided me a lot of hands-on opportunities to learn and explore both sports cars and stock cars. It’s rare to be able to work on both at the same time, and I was able to learn a lot of fundamentals with regards to data analysis, telemetry, vehicle setup, and general mechanic skills that have helped further round my skills out. RWR truly is the “biggest little team” - there’s always a lot going on in the shop, and it’s pretty incredible to see what they are able to accomplish with the little resources they have to work with. Rick Ware himself has a lot of grit and passion in what he does, and I hope that people can see how hard he has worked to get himself and his team to where it is today. I’m really appreciative that he and his team took a chance on me and allowed me to work with them for my rookie year in pro racing. It was an honor to be a part of the IMSA and Cup Series garages in what was ultimately a pretty historical and unprecedented year in motorsports.

For more information about Rick Ware Racing, please click here.