McMurry Reunited With Farnbacher in Compass Acura

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Reigning IMSA GT Daytona class champions Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher will reunite for this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in Compass Racing’s Acura NSX GT3 Evo.

McMurry, an Acura junior factory driver, will make his second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start of the season, and first in an Acura with Farnbacher since winning the 2020 GTD title with Meyer Shank Racing.

The 23-year-old has been part of Compass’ Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS effort this season, also at the wheel of a GT3-spec Acura.

The program has been brought together through a collaboration in support of Hurricane Ida victims between Acura and CMR Construction & Roofing, the nation’s 10th largest roofing company.

“Before Ida was even a thing, I heard there might be a possibility of something coming together,” said McMurry. “I was really excited about it.

“Then Ida hit and created a mess that we’re hoping to help fix with donations and a great performance at Acura’s home race.”

Farnbacher, who has been the team’s full-time WeatherTech Sprint Cup driver, has experience with recovery efforts. He recently raised funds for last month’s massive flooding in western Germany.

“Around 200 people died and whole towns were destroyed in my country,” said the German. “So many people stepped up to help and I wanted to be one of them then and now with the hurricane.”

CMR CEO Steve Soule and team have been providing relief work in hard-hit South Central Louisiana is an all-hands-on-deck endeavor that began less than 48 hours after the storm hit.

CMR specializes in emergency response, as well as high-end, specialty, historic restoration, and new-build roofing projects for commercial and residential properties across the U.S.

“Within 12 days of Ida hitting we had responded to 30 schools, homes and government facilities with mitigation services. We deployed a major operation and our staff have literally camped without electricity, and they’ve even assisted in getting food to victims,” said Soule.

“In the next few days, we’ll announce a major fundraising effort to take our response to another level.”

The main path of devastation left by Ida – a Category 4 hurricane and the fifth most powerful storm to ever hit the U.S. – occurred between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in largely lower-resourced, rural areas like Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes.

The fundraiser will be promoted across all of CMR’s racing sponsorships for a total of 18 events through Oct. 17 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including RSS Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Kalitta Motorsports in the NHRA, Shaun Torrente Racing in Powerboat P1, Compass Racing in GT World Challenge America and Forbush Performance in GT4 America.

“The platform that the racing community provides, and its history of coming together to help others is well documented,” said Soule. “We knew that reuniting Matt and Mario would garner attention that we hope motivates fans to help people in rural Louisiana.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John