Matt's September Update: A Month to Remember

Matt Million’s September Update: A Month to Remember

San Marcos, CA | September 2022

On paper, September was bound to be the busiest month of my racing year. In reality, it turned out to be true. But reality also proved to be more memorable than I could’ve imagined.

The month started at Virginia International Raceway as I unexpectedly joined team Chattanooga Tourenwagen for World Racing League (WRL) at VIR, to then head straight to Monterey’s Laguna Seca for US Touring Car Championship with Palomar Racing, followed immediately by our first major event of the year at Palomar Racing; NASA Championships at the same venue

The experience in Virginia didn’t go as hoped as mechanical issues kept us from our true potential. It was still a fantastic time meeting the team, qualifying their fast #348 BMW E46 on GP2 class pole, and running a long double stint in the lead on Saturday morning. A few days later and I was the support race for INDYCAR at Laguna Seca! I took the #24 (#07 for the event) to win both USTCC races in the 11-car Sportsman class. Next, we stayed in Monterey to take on the NASA Championships. Ultimately, I came away with the ST5 national championship in #24 after four days of relentless qualifiers and races. The day afterwards was the 6.5-hour Seaside Cup NASA WERC enduro, which I ended up driving over three hours combined in both our E1 (#25) and E2 (#24) entries and came away win the class win in E2 and podium in E1.

A full recap of each experience follows below, along with some incredible photography. This turned out to be longer than anticipated, so visit my website to read the shorter race reports from each event if desired! Thank you for reading and supporting my journey.

The ‘Palomar Racing E2/ST5 Challenge’ is in full song and I’m immensely grateful to play my role alongside Nik Romano as the team’s primary drivers. It’s a treat to help grow the organization behind-the-scenes too as its located near my home in San Marcos.


MY STORY

A quick bio; my name is Matt Million, I’m a 22-year-old professional racing driver and recent college graduate San Marcos, California. I’ve been racing since the age of five spending the next eight years karting across the southwest. In 2014, I transitioned to sports cars in Spec Miata developing within the Mazda Motorsports ladder through Teen Mazda Challenge up to winning in Spec MX-5 Challenge in 2018. In 2019, I became a 25 Hours of Thunderhill class winner and in 2020 a long-held aspiration of racing touring cars in Germany was finally achieved. In 2021, I became E2 class champion in the NASA WERC series in a BMW Spec E46. For 2022, I am a full-time driver for Palomar Racing in their ‘NASA E2/ST5 Challenge’ which you can read about below and on mattmillionracing.com/home. Having recently finished my degree in Global Business at CSU San Marcos, I continue to make strides toward professional motorsport seeking the right opportunities and support.

I love sharing my racing career experiences with hopes that those who read them can find value in following my journey. Thank you for reading!


BACKGROUND

In an effort to keep this month’s update shorter, I encourage a visit to mattmillionracing.com to learn about my schedule and commitments.


STORY ONE: WORLD RACING LEAGUE AT VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

Alton, Virginia | September 2-4, 2022

The month kicked off in a much more ‘green’ place than California. For the second year running, I’d be racing World Racing League’s double header round in the sweeping hills of Virginia International Raceway. While not originally planned on my calendar, I couldn’t be happier to revisit my favorite circuit (so far) in the United States.

The opportunity arose in late July. The team, Chattanooga Tourenwagen, was searching for a driver in their GP2-class BMW E46. Speaking to my best friend and racer Elliott Skeer about this, it didn’t take long for him to say “oh I know those guys, they’re awesome. You’d have a great time!” Fair to say Elliott sold the deal before a deal was even considered.

While I’m in the midst of an incredible opportunity with Palomar Racing this year, I felt it necessary to keep active in other championships. To grow my name in the sport, performing and showing potential in different cars/championships in front of new people is crucial. Never know where the next opportunity could stem from, or what you might learn from one like this!

Meeting the team on the morning of Friday testing, we got straight to business. A handful of morning laps in the #348 and I was immediately impressed. The development put into this car in the recent few years had shown.

In the couple of laps I turned toward the end of Friday, a 2:08:5 was enough to put our #348 on GP2 pole! Two tenths separated the top three positions on time. I had tons of confidence in our pace after seeing this. I left time in reserve as I learned the nuances of the car. I’d have many, many more laps to get comfortable.

I’d be starting Saturday’s race for the opening two stints. Part of becoming a true professional lies in holding serious amounts of responsibility. I’d be in the midst of 70 cars, tasked with delivering a clean and fast double stint with a team I’d not met before yesterday! It has come to feel more normal by now. I’ve learned to become more confident in my abilities.

‘Like clockwork’ is the best way to describe the opening two stints Saturday morning. The start was busy. I fell back a few spots avoiding games of aggression on lap one of the eight hour race. It took about 15 minutes to reclaim the GP2 lead and we maintained the position for the following two hours.

Truthfully one of the more ‘complete’ performances I’ve had. No close calls or contact, no off-track’s, nothing but maximizing lap time in the dance of thick endurance racing traffic. At the two hour thirty minute mark, I boxed with a minute lead and handed the car off to Jason Smith.

Such a fun double stint. Lots of ‘give and take’ is required with 70 entries across five classes and not much speed differential between them. Crucial to make certain you are seen, pass quickly and respectfully, and not place you and/or anyone else in a risky position. Avoiding the two or three wide moves up VIR’s world famous esses was essential! Although 30-40% of my stint was under Code 35 caution procedures for incidents and stricken cars often not cooperating with one another. Personally, I had little to no issue with the driving standards shown to me. It takes two to tango!

The good fortune of our event would soon end, however. Two laps into his stint, Jason reported the power had vanished as he sat stationary awaiting a tow. The engine was no more! Through analysis and discussions, we came to the conclusion that it was simply the engine’s time to go. No poor treatment, mistakes, or lack of preparation were to blame. The cruelness of endurance racing.

Miraculously, we spent the remainder of Saturday fitting another M54 engine into the car for an attempt to make Sunday’s race! These guys worked tirelessly from early afternoon until a few minutes before midnight ensuring we had a functioning race car again. Truly impressive.

Through achieving fasted lap on Saturday, we started Sunday’s eight hour on pole yet again with Justin Ford the starting driver. Justin is a fantastic personality and I was grateful to have met him! He gave us another strong start, keeping us at the top or within touching distance of the GP2 lead. Two hours in and pitting from the lead with a fast and clean stop, car owner Zach Mortimer got behind the wheel for effectively his first laps of the event.

An issue? Again? What did we do to deserve this! Deja Vu came over us as the gearbox appeared to failed underneath Zach within his opening two laps. Through analysis, it seemed to have just had enough living in it’s presumably multiple years as a gearbox. Racing is a cruel sport sometimes.

The crew did eventually get the car back running with a spare gearbox for the final two hours. Jason ran that stint with the mission of completing 50% of the class leader’s lap count in order to score points, which he accomplished! It turned into a soggy ending as rain increased and caused an issue for the series’ timing loops, resulting in a short red period. Luckily the rain dried up in time for the finish and podium celebration. We weren’t on it but made sure to support everyone who was nevertheless!

Thank you Chattanooga Tourenwagen for the opportunity to come race for you in this great series. It surely wasn’t the end result we wanted but continued to work hard and have a good time through it all. The #348 is a fantastic BMW E46 race car, one of the best I’ve yet to drive. I look forward to whenever the next event is for us to meet again!


STORY TWO: THE US TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP EXPERIENCE

Monterey, CA | September 9-11, 2022

Landing back in San Diego on Monday afternoon, the next journey began three days later as I drove through the Central Valley to Monterey.

The start to Palomar Racing’s tight September schedule had begun. We’d be on track at Laguna Seca for eight of the next eleven days starting on Friday for US Touring Car Championship.

The team’s idea to compete in this round of the championship had a few reasons. First, it would prepare us in the best way possible for the following week’s NASA Championships. Second, being included as an INDYCAR support race would be a fun, high visibility setting to promote Palomar Racing in. Our #24 and #25 fit into this championship’s regulations very well so minimal modifications were needed. Oh, we had to renumber my entry to #07! A significant number to the team.

Friday was a neat introduction to the INDYCAR paddock. We had two practice sessions and a qualifier at the end of the day. Driving down pit lane seeing the impressive INDYCAR setups was a surreal experience. We didn’t get a lot of on-track time however as frequent session stoppages kept us from getting any more than a few laps. At the end of the day, I’d qualified 2nd from 11 entries in the Sportsman class. Nik in our #25 was fighting an uphill battle in the ST class competing against far quicker cars but still managed a great 2nd place as well.

Saturday was another unique day. Our 35-minute race was preceded by a live grid at the start/finish line! Surely made the occasion feel a bit special. With the roughly 30 cars entered across four classes, two separate starts would occur. The first was GT and ST with the second being TC and SP (my class). US Touring Car Championship utilizes standing starts, a cherry on top of the atmosphere and tension. Of course, I’d need to remember how to perform one. The last time I did was back in 2020 at Germany’s Oschersleben circuit in a BMW 318ti Cup! Seeded in 1st next to me was friend Lucas Weisenberg, a driver for our endurance races at Palomar and a genuine young talent. My advantage was that he’d be driving the #24 alongside me in next weekend’s NASA WERC race. Fear is the best way to ensure a clean race (joking)!

The race got underway and I had the best standing start of my life. Entering T2 on the outside, I passed Lucas and four of the seven Touring Car class entries (pictured above). By the end of lap one I’d made it through the remaining three TC entries and set sail full speed ahead. Lucas got through the class as well but I sustained a slightly better pace, ultimately having a pretty boring race. In the cockpit, I was working hard to extract everything #24 had as preparation for next week. Best way to simulate an outcome is by performing the intended performance ahead of time! We set best lap in class, took the checkered, and I exited the car in a pool of sweat. Mechanically, I couldn’t be more happy. It held steady temperatures and pressures as well as a half-hour at high pace. We did a neat celebration on the Indy Lights podium and were called to the media center for video interviews. I could get used to these…

Sunday was another fun day. Nik, Lucas, and I got to take place in the official series autograph session in the middle of the paddock pre-race! I’m not used to competing at large spectator events so chatting with fans was another surreal experience. After INDYCAR completed its season finale, it was time for our second and last race. Given lane choice as the polesitter, I decided the outside since it worked well yesterday. If anyone in the TC class stalled, the outside gave you more options than the inside!

Green flag flew and the slim margins for launch didn’t fall in my favor. For whatever reason, be it now-worn tires or INDYCAR rubber, I couldn’t find traction and ended up losing the lead early. Lucas and I juggled the TC class traffic for a few laps and finally pulled away. When I felt close enough, I focused on executing the best T11 of my life and late braking into T2. It worked and I was through, but not without a very friendly wave which was reciprocated. It’s good racing against friends… a bummer he’s so fast though (makes me have to give my best!) From that point it became a mirror image of Saturday. Pulling away to a nice lead, a quick full-course yellow nearly put a wrench into the winning plans. Ultimately it didn’t change much and went 2-for-2 on the weekend.

We celebrated with the longest podium celebration of my career. Lots of confetti, trophies, prizes, and champagne sprayed directly into my eyes.

Thank you to everyone at Palomar Racing who helped make this experience possible! Special thank you to our team owner Andy, with the help of past USTCC champion and my teammate Nik, who thought doing this event would be valuable to the program. Ultimately, it gave us plenty of data to work with headed into NASA Championships and was quite memorable. Getting to see Will Power take the post-championship photos of his new INDYCAR trophy directly next to us made it worthwhile!


STORY THREE: THE NASA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Monterey, CA | September 15-19, 2022

It was finally here. Ten months after being introduced to this program and our 2022 goals, it was time for the first major event together. NASA Championships, the most prestigious U.S. club racing event of the year (along with SCCA Runoffs), was making its return to the West Coast in the location of Monterey’s world famous facility. I’d be contending for the ST5 National Championship title in Palomar Racing’s #24 BMW E36 M3.

This week came full circle for me. The first NASA Championships I competed in was here back in 2015. My second year in Spec Miata at age 15, I was clawing on the door of a top 10 from 30 entries. I can honestly say I’ve come a long, long way in those seven years. A young driver fresh out of karts at the time frustrated and motivated to become a better all-around athlete. I worked at my abilities to reach 5th in the following year’s event and 3rd in 2017. It’s a ‘slow and steady’ approach to my development I feel is paramount to becoming the best driver I can be in the long term.

The NASA Championships week takes a marathon-minded mentality. Paddock setup on Wednesday, practice on Thursday, qualifying on Friday, qualifying race on Saturday, and the 45-minute title decider on Sunday. It takes immense stamina to reach Sunday in good shape.

Thursday was as close to ‘running like clockwork’ as could’ve hoped. The car had an excellent neutral balance from the jump. Setup wasn’t perfect so we made small sway bar adjustments in an effort to help turn-in but leave the balance mostly unaffected. A couple of subtle tweaks made #24 more compliant to the unique topography of Laguna Seca and nothing substantial to worry about in the engine or chassis. She was a sturdy piece of kit after small maintenance checks from the prior weekend. Our most pressing challenge was ensuring we made enough horsepower! The #24 has a higher minimum weight than we’d ideally like (around 2825lbs) so we worked to optimize our power allowance per the regulations.

Friday began with a conundrum over paperwork. 50% of the ST5 and ST4 entries had some issue with their papers and both of our entries were included. While it quickly became resolved, it meant that the time set in Q1 would only set the grid for Q2 and not count as a lap time for Saturday’s grid. With the morning warm-up setting the grid for Q1, it felt like time attack all day!

Friday also gave us the first true indication of our competitor’s pace. Two entries stood out; the #72 Moorewood Creative BMW E46 of Larry Moore and the #8 Honda S2000 of Tommy Lo. Both have had more development on their ST5 packages and were strong drivers. It was a motivation boost to go fastest in warm-up to grid for Q1 in the top spot. With 5 classes running together in our race group, I knew my lap had to be set on the opening flyer or risk catching slower traffic.

Ultimately, we ended up 1st in all three Friday sessions. Q1 was tight seeing how my 1:40:4 was only two tenths up on the #8. But saving our new Toyo Tires for a late-in-the-day Q2 worked well for us. A 1:39:7 set us on Saturday’s pole position by a number of tenths. It was a challenging lap to nail. Even on new tires, the track had faded later in the day and I risked quite a bit! Unfortunately for Nik in the #25 ST4 entry, the engine expired in morning warm-up and our team worked on sourcing a replacement S52 powerplant.

Saturday was a bright, sunny day on the Monterey peninsula. At 1:30 PM local, our race group got underway with the qualifying race for Sunday’s championship. Starting on class and overall pole for the group, traffic would become the uncontrolled factor. It was a clean start and I led from the #8 Honda S2000 who engagement me in a tight battle for the opening few laps. While my pace remained within tenths, he dropped back by a second per lap and I set up a decisive lead. I extended the lead little by little before reaching Honda Challenge and ST6 traffic after 15 minutes in the 35-minute session.

It felt like a high paced endurance race! I was having to smartly judge gaps and runs as I passed more than a dozen lower class entries. Honestly it was a lot of fun. By the end my margin-of-victory had grown to 25 seconds over 2nd in ST5, an increase of about 19 seconds once we hit traffic. My recent multi-class experience taught me well. It was neat to give a live broadcast interview in the tech area afterwards. In Nik’s ST4 race, he started last and gained over ten spots to finish 6th! Fantastic charge.

Sunday was not a bright, sunny day. A chance of scattered showers loomed overhead. We prepared our set of rain tires but ended up not needing them. My race group went green around 12:00 PM and it quickly became a similar situation to Saturday. I engaged in a short tussle with the #72 BMW E46 before steadily building a gap. With the full fuel load for a 45-minute race, the car felt more sluggish and I adjusted my driving style accordingly. It would’ve looked identical to the prior day’s race if the full course yellow didn’t come out! An ST6 car stuck in the gravel at Corkscrew bunch up the field. Upon the restart, an out-of-class pair of Legends entries became involved in the ST5 race! It brought the #72 BMW E46 entry of Moorewood Creative within a second of my bumper as I did everything possible to manage the traffic and keep ahead. But at the checkered flag, I took the #24 BMW E36 of Palomar Racing to the land of ST5 national champions!

It’s a wild thought to consider only nine months ago this whole program was an idea on paper. Being approached to join this yet-to-exist project last December, I said to myself “this is a crazy idea to go for winning the sprint, endurance, and national NASA championships with a pair of BMW E36’s yet to be built… where do I sign?”

To hoist the championship trophy up high, spray the crowd, be hoisted up by the team, to take various photos with the crew and my parents afterwards… all a blur now. I’m just happy that Larry, Tony, and myself on the podium agreed to not spray each other. We had to race the enduro in these suits tomorrow! So, so cool and I’m immensely grateful to have such an opportunity to keeping showcasing my abilities and become a more complete racing driver.

In an effort to spare words, I’ll say that Nik’s ST4 championship race in the afternoon was an outrageously impressive spectacle of his driving that met an unfortunate ending. He’d moved from 6th to podium contention before a late incident. That evening became a shining moment of our hardworking crew. They worked until around midnight ensuring the #25 was fit for the 6.5-hour endurance race in the morning as well as tidying up loose ends on the #24.


NASA WERC RD.5 - SEASIDE CUP 6.5 HOUR AT LAGUNA SECA

If you thought a 4-day national championship weekend is a lot of racing… there’s more! Round 5 of 6 in the NASA Western Endurance Racing Championship took place the following day on Monday. The 6.5-hour ‘Seaside Cup’ saw 35 entries split across six classes with the most populous being E1 and E2. Our #25 BMW E36 was entered in E1 with the #24 entered in E2. Our E2 entry was the priority in an effort to make our points lead stronger headed into the last race. The #25 lineup would be me starting, then Ryan Keeley, and Sonny Watanasirisuk to finish. The #24 lineup was Sonny Watanasirisuk, Lucas Weisenberg, and myself in that order. Sonny and I prepared for racing half the race across both team cars! Neat opportunity.

Starting in the #25, we ran into a number of setbacks. A tire pressure concern brought me to the pit box on lap one followed by a sound issue forcing a trip to the black-flag station. After another unscheduled stop in the opening hour to remedy our exhaust, I was sitting multiple laps behind.

The following two hours was, without question, the best personal performance I had during the month. To claw back any hope to finding the lead lap in E1, I had to put on a relentless drive through the field and hope for full course yellows to regain the laps. It nearly worked! With numerous FCY periods, I worked through the 35-car grid and 8-car E1 field at least twice. I was pleased to set the best E1 race lap somewhere in that charge and by the end of three total hours I was completely and entirely spent. Swapping to Ryan Keeley in the next fuel stop, I promptly set my gear aside and collapsed to the ground for a half hour. My calves had been cramping in the final half hour and I nearly tripped exiting the car. Our photographer Chance Hales was there to capture my moment of awful pain. Worth it!

After a hearty amount of liquid rejuvenation, I caught up on the story of our race. The #24 was leading E2 strongly after a few of our competitors went back laps due to mechanic issues with the #25 indeed now closer to the leader but still behind by a few laps. One thing I’ll note here that remained true to the end; the most impressive our Palomar Racing crew has been on pit stops yet. Little to no issues, no hesitation, simply getting the job done as quick as possible. So proud of the progress made in this area. Six hours with two cars is not easy!

I was fortunate to lead NASA WERC’s broadcast reporting crew to our tent for a quick interview. Explaining the program ambition, year we’ve had, and race so far was a great experience! Good interview practice as well. Before long, I was swapping out with Lucas to jump into the #24 for the final hour. The work that Sonny, Lucas, and the crew performed for the past five hours made my work simple. With over a lap lead, it was simply to ‘bring it home’. I found my groove and settled in.

As serendipity would have it, the #25 appeared in front of me with a half hour remaining. With #25 now firmly into 3rd place and no real chance of 2nd in E1, I requested to run in tandem and stage a team photo finish. After a final 30 minutes of running together, both Palomar Racing entries came to the checkered with flashers waving. Everyone came out to the pit wall and we got incredible photos and video of the occasion. Talk about a bucket list Le Mans-style finish! If that picture isn’t hanging on the wall at Palomar Racing headquarters soon… I’ll do it myself.

What the wrap-up to the month we had. With 194 laps complete, the #24 finished only one lap behind the E1 winner! A testament to the quality of drivers, crew, and preparation Palomar Racing has exhibited in such a short amount of time. With 191 laps complete, the #25 would have been in the E1 hunt without the early setbacks and ran a near flawless race to the end. We will continue to learn, grow, and refine our team before diving into the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill in December. Super fun day! Thank you Andy, Mike, Kevin, Blair, David, Dawson, Nik, Sonny, Ryan, Lucas, Grant, Kristen (with Vash, our spirit dog) and whoever I might be missing. The performance we exhibited this month isn’t possible without any one of you.


UP NEXT

By the time this update releases, my next event has already happened. Round 6 of 6 for NASA Western Endurance Racing Championship and Rounds 13 and 14 for NASA SoCal ST5 Championship will take place at Buttonwillow Raceway from October 8th to 9th. Nik Romano and I will race the #24 BMW E36 in the 4.5-hour finale aiming to bring home the E2 championship. On the ST5 front, we hope to extend our points lead into Chuckwalla next month. (Spoiler: The photo above indicates how the weekend went!)

At the end of October, I am excited to announce I’ll be rejoining team Chattanooga Tourenwagen for the two World Racing League (WRL) eight hour races at Sebring International Raceway! The team and their BMW E46 are serious contenders in the GP2 class. I’m very much looking forward to visiting (and racing) the iconic airfield circuit for the first time.

This year’s season wouldn’t be possible without our partners. Thank you Andy Anderson and the rest of Palomar Solar and Roofing. Partners in FastSideways, Apex Race Parts, BimmerWorld, Red Line Synthetic Oil, PFC Brakes, AGA Tools, StopTech, KinematicSpeed, Toyo Tires, Motion Control Suspension, Swift Springs, Frozen Rotors, Enphase, Panasonic Solar, SignArtGraphix, and others help make the Palomar Racing 2022 Challenge possible.

Photography in this update by Chances Hales, Mike Anderson, and others. Please contact me if I used your photo without mention and wish to be included!


In Closing

Thank you for reading and supporting my motorsport journey. Whether it be through these updates, social channels, or in-person, the small interactions truly make a difference. Using my motorsport path as a means to create value for others is very important for me. If you enjoy these reports or are interested in supporting steps toward professional racing, please get in touch! Stay up-to-date on mattmillionracing.com and my social media. Until next time…

Matt Million

San Marcos, CA - 10/20/2022