This weekend’s Championship Weekend at Lime Rock Park will see history being made. As the Daytona Prototype era is set to transition to a new set of rules and added competition in the Prototype Class starting in 2014, Saturday’s season-finale marks the final race of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.
Appropriately enough as the category prepares for a new future, one of the sport’s most affable characters prepares to reach a career benchmark as Action Express Racing pilot Brian Frisselle looks forward to making his 100th career Rolex Series race start. Frisselle, who will share the No. 9 TOTAL Lubricants Corvette DP with his brother Burt, made his first-ever GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series start in the 2005 Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“It is exciting to be doing my 100th start this weekend, I feel extremely grateful,” said Frisselle, who has four overall Rolex Series victories to his credit. “It is a blessing to get a chance to even do a single GRAND-AM race, so I feel extremely fortunate to be knocking on 100. I can’t thank my family and all the teams I have driven for enough. I think it’s fitting that my first race was with my brother and my 100th is with him as well.”
Frisselle has a wide range of experience through his 100 starts, having piloted DP designs from Doran, Riley, and Coyote with power from Porsche, Ford, and Chevrolet. The Colorado resident was part of the closest racing finish in GRAND-AM history as he and Mark Wilkins won by just a few feet over now-teammate Christian Fittipaldi at Montreal in 2008.
“There have been a lot of great moments along the way,” said Frisselle when asked to pick his career highlights. “The breakthrough season with AIM Autosport (2008) was filled with some of my very favorite moments. Sharing the podium with Burt at Road America this year was also very special to me.”
But even with so many laps and so many memories, it is not his on-track accomplishments that Frisselle remembers most fondly.
“My favorite achievement is helping grow GRAND-AM day at Camp Boggy Creek! It started out very small but has grown into a great event, and has only helped strengthen a very special bond between GRAND-AM and Camp Boggy Creek.”
So as one chapter in the sport is set to close this weekend, Frisselle will already be looking forward to the next chapter, both on and off the track.