Watkins Glen Saturday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***After more than 18 months, Jordan Taylor’s mullet was chopped off Saturday evening during a ceremony in the Watkins Glen International media center. The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship points leader raised more than $13,000 for Camp Boggy Creek and Camp Anokijig.

***Both the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports and No. 08 RSR Racing Oreca FLM09 are being repaired for tomorrow’s race following a heavy accident in Saturday’s final practice between Chris Miller and Alex Tagliani. The JDC car sustained considerable damage to all four corners, including minor tub damage and is being repaired on site, while the RSR entry escaped with considerably less damage, despite triggering the collision.

***A last-minute deal has seen David Calvert-Jones join Patrick-Otto Madsen and Peter Ludwig in the No. 18 Muehlner Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America this weekend. Calvert-Jones pulled double-duty between his duties in the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup for Competition Motorsports.

***Both the second entries from Muehlner Motorsports and Park Place Motorsports have withdrawn, resulting in an expected 53-car starting field, should both of the damaged PC cars from Saturday make the grid for the third round of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.

***New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo made an appearance today, driving a Corvette around the historic 3.4-mile circuit prior to Saturday afternoon’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race. The Governor also announced a new advertising campaign to take the “Ultimate Road Trip” featuring Robert DeNiro and spotlights Watkins Glen International.

***The ACO has recently approved Motegi wheels for LMP2 competition worldwide. SpeedSource’s Mazda SKYACTIV-D prototypes will become the primary team to run the new wheels in the TUDOR Championship, possibly as early as the Circuit of The Americas round in September.

***The 2015 BMW M3 sedan will serve as the pace car for Sunday’s race, with BMW having invited a special driver to be the event’s Grand Marshal. Steven Holcomb, 2010 four-man Olympic gold medalist and 2014 two-man and four-man Olympic bronze medalist, will serve as the Grand Marshal of the race and give the “Start Your Engines” command.

***The No. 5 CJ Wilson Racing Mazda MX-5 of Stevan McAleer and Chad McCumbee, which finished second in class in today’s Continental Tire 150, has been excluded from the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge round due to unapproved bushings. It came as a bitter blow after an impressive charge from the rear of the field, and completing the entire 2.5 hour race on a single set of Continental tires.

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