MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA -- Canby Oregon based Northwest Autosport Inc., capped off their 2005 Star Mazda Championship Season this past week with a top 5 finish from both of its team drivers.
The team started the week off on Wednesday with two team members, Ronnie Swyers and driver Ryan Justice making appearance’s at the Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, with the organization Racing For Kids®. Like many other visits the team makes, this one enhanced the spirits of many children and teens that were temporary residents of the hospital. “We got a comment from a doctor on this visit that I will never forget, said Ryan”. She told me that this is the first time in several days that this particular patient has spoken, and when he heard that a racecar driver was coming to visit him…well, he spoke to me. That’s what these visits are about, bringing up the spirits of the kids, said Ryan! Also in attendance at the visit was Co-Founder of Racing For Kids®, J. Patrick Wright and event manager, Debby Muzingo.
Racing For Kids®. Founded in 1989 at Children's Hospital of Michigan, Racing For Kids® is designed to use the increasing popularity of motorsports to bring public attention and funding to the health care needs of children. The hospital visits form the heart of the program. Each Racing For Kids® driver and rider visits children in Children's Hospitals where they race. They spend time with each sick youngster answering questions about their sport, handing out the distinctive Racing For Kids®/Aventis hats and signing autographs.
Racing For Kids® representatives have visited with more than 15,000 young patients in over 240 hospitals in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Australia. In addition, over $2.5 million has been raised through donations and specific fund raising events for children's hospitals across the country.
Thursday the on track events started with team drivers Ryan Justice and Phil Fogg Jr. rejoining the team after a 3 race sit-out. Both drivers were up to speed quickly with Fogg Jr. running in the top 5 of the expert division and Justice running in the top 3 of the 41 car field. As rain set in the evening before qualifying, the drivers were faced with a very slippery and difficult qualifying session Saturday morning. With Fogg Jr. starting from the 20th position and Justice starting 11th, the drivers had their work cut out for them as the 28 lap; 66.5 mile race would not leave much time for them to achieve a respective finishing spots.
The main event was plagued with caution laps starting on lap one. With incredible starts from both Phil and Ryan, the task of finishing up front quickly became obtainable. But with over half the race being ran under yellow Phil Fogg Jr. had to settle for a season best of 13th overall, 5th in the expert division and lead driver Ryan Justice finishing an overall 5th in round 12 of the Star Mazda Championship Series. The top 5 finishing position from Justice jumped him from 9th in the overall championship point standings to 6th respectively. Those 3 positions in the championship were worth nearly $10,000.00 in prize money. Ryan finished the 2006 season with 7 top 10’s and 2 top 5’s in the Pro division and Phil Fogg Jr. with 5 top 5’s in just 6 starts in the expert division.
As round 12 of the championship series was ending, within an hour, Northwest Autosport’s Ryan Justice was on a plane heading to Southern California’s Orange Speedway to qualify for his 4th event in his ASA Speed Truck Challenge Series. A police escort delivered Ryan in time for him to put his #38 Rich’s Motosports Dodge in the second row of the 28 truck field. “This challenging, flat ¼ mile course just suited my driving style”, said Ryan Justice. You really have to be aggressive with the truck and other drivers around you. On a track with no banking, it puts much more work onto the driver. After a mid race collision and going to the back of the field, Ryan fought his way back into the top 5. Officials at that point declared Ryan a lap down and sent him to the back again. With nothing left but determination and 15 laps, the aggressive Justice vaulted back into the 10th spot by race end.
The team heads back to its satellite shop in Buttonwillow California now to begin its focus on winter testing and the 2006 Championship Season. Check their website at www.northwestautosport.com for a complete 2006 schedule. Also view the remaining 3 races of the 2005 championship season on Speed Channel, October 23rd at 1:00pm from Mosport Canada, October 30th at 5:00pm from Atlanta Georgia and November 6th at 1:00pm from Monterey California. All times listed are Eastern Standard Time.
Listed below are the Top 10 of 47 drivers that competed in the 2005 Star Mazda Championship Series.
1.) Rafael Matos, Brazil
2.) Robbie Pecorari, PA
3.) James Hinchcliffe, Canada
4.) Graham Rahal, PA
5.) Marco Andretti, PA
6.) Ryan Justice, OR
7.) Adrian Cario, CO
8.) Ross Smith, TX
9.) Pablo Donoso, Chile
10.) Mark Wilkins, Canada
For more information about the individual drivers see their attached bios.
NWAS Media Center
Ryan Justice
Canby, Oregon
D.O.B. July 3rd, 1985
2003 Canby High School Graduate
Occupation: Student at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA / Professional Driver
Team: Northwest Autosport Inc. www.northwestautosport.com
#38 NORTHWEST AUTOSPORT Pro Formula Mazda
#38 RICH’S MOTORSPORTS Dodge ASA Speed Truck
Ryan Justice known on the team and to people around him as RJ, started his driving career at the age of 14. Now 20, he has worked his way through several forms of open wheel racing. After campaigning on the SKUSA ProMoto Tour racing shifter karts, Ryan jumped into the famed open wheeled series of the Star Mazda’s. His first year he finished 11 in points. The next year was a change as the series announced their new “Pro Car”. Ryan immediately progressed and developed his abilities along with a new car. In 2005 Ryan immerged as a contender for the championship. After his front row qualifying and race leading performance back in April, Ryan has consistently moved towards the top of the championship contention. Along with the busy schedule of a professional racecar driver, Ryan also attends Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles California. Ryan’s desire to attend Loyola Marymount University and start a professional career simultaneously shows the dedication and talent of this young driver.
Phil Fogg Jr.
Wilsonville, Oregon
D.O.B. June 9th, 1964
Racing goals: To stay married
Team: Northwest Autosport Inc. www.northwestautosport.com
#29 CONSONUS HEALTH SERVICES Pro Formula Mazda.
Phil Fogg Jr. accredited driver from the Northwest, started his driving career in 1997. Since then he has driven several different types of cars. Starting in 1998 running in the hyper competitive SCCA class SRF, then onto Pro Sports Toyota and onto the West Coast Star Mazda Series in 2002 and 2003. 2004 brought Phil to the Star Mazda Championship Pro Series where in Portland last year he finished 12th. Phil Fogg returns to the Pro series this year running a limited number of races. After running just 4 of the 7 races so far this season, Phil sits 8th in points with 3 top 5 finishes in the Expert class of the Star Mazda Championship Series presented by Goodyear.
