Matt’s 2023 March Update: Sweet Home Alabama!
Birmingham, AL | March 2023
A great way to start the season in a new championship ‘challenge’… on the podium!
A major component of my 2023 racing endeavor has been recommitting to team Palomar Racing for a second year. They’ve continue to provide a special opportunity to move my racing career ahead while simultaneously building Palomar Racing into a true race team.
Using what we accomplished together in California’s NASA club endurance and sprint championships in 2022, we set a higher target for 2023 in the shape of national World Racing League competition. ‘WRL’ has grown to become the premier U.S. club-level endurance championship. It’s the right arena to bring the team’s two BMW E36’s to the highest caliber as the group moves forward.
I will pilot the team’s primary #14 BMW E36 M3 entry in the competitive GP1 class. Of the 12 race weekends the series puts on annually, we will enter eight. All five events in the Mid-West Championship as well as an additional two Eastern Championship events. The final event will be the National Championship weekend at Circuit of the America’s in December.
While the Mid-West GP1 title is our target, we will be in contention for the National GP1 title through WRL’s points system. Though, our season will need to be very good for this to be a possibility.
Our first event took place in early March at Barber Motorsports Park… and this is the story.
Thank you to Palomar Racing (especially Andy, Mike, and Nik) for continuing to support my pursuit to becoming a true professional of this sport. Thank you to the rest of our team this season and to friends/family as always. Your support does not go unrecognized.
Thank you for reading and supporting my journey.
Photography provided by Chance Hales and Scottie Elkins
MY STORY
A quick bio; my name is Matt Million, I’m a 22-year-old aspiring professional racing driver and recent university graduate from San Marcos, California. I began at 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 achieved. In 2021, I became a class champion in the NASA WERC series in a BMW Spec E46. In 2022, I became NASA ST5 National Champion along with regional sprint and endurance titles. Having finished a degree in Global Business at CSUSM, I’m focused solely toward professional motorsport in 2023 given 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
To keep these updates shorter, visit mattmillionracing.com to learn about my current schedule, biography, and more.
ACROSS THE COUNTRY: PALOMAR RACING’S ALABAMA DEBUT IN WORLD RACING LEAGUE
Birmingham, AL | March 2023
It feels like only last week I wrapped up the year at NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill.
That event, and the entire season in 2022, built the foundations for another ambitious team pursuit this year.
The Event Ahead
On the rainy evening of Monday the 27th of February, the black Palomar Racing semi was sent on its way east. 2,000 miles to the beautifully manicured grounds of Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
With the next furthest team coming from Colorado, we certainty won the ‘long haul’ award. At least my co-driver and professional semi driver Ryan Keeley was driving the rig there. Full confidence in him!
Only one Palomar Racing E36 would enter the Barber rounds. The ‘primary’ car for the season currently consists of Nik Romano, Ryan Keeley, and I. We’d share duties of Saturday’s 9 hour and Sunday’s 7 hour between us.
It’s a huge benefit to have teammates (and great friends) you’ve worked with in the past. With the three of us working together for most of 2022, the transition was fairly seamless. Tendencies, driving styles, communication, driver changes aspects, etc. are already known. With a new series and rulebook to adapt with, the less ‘new’ elements the better.
In the crew, team owner Andy Anderson and brother Mike are joined by familiar faces in main roles; Blair, David, and Grant as main crew and fuelers with Dawson and Ricardo as helpers. We welcome friend-of-the-team Owen as our new data acquisition role! Mechanical support was provided by Ryan and Pete of BimmerSpeed.
Friday should’ve been a day for us to acclimate to the circuit, discuss setup, and allow the crew to setting into roles. But in racing, rarely do big leaps go as expected off-the-bat.
A combination of minor mechanical inconveniences, annual tech, and a true Southern rain storm hitting the circuit, we weren’t able to get on track to qualify or practice until 3:30 PM. It was just enough time to get familiar with the track and car changes from last year (brakes, tire compound, etc).
I took the final 25 minutes of the day on track. It wasn’t a lot of time to feel 100% dialed-in but would be enough. I felt confident in my preparation. My level of fitness, time I spent in this chassis last season, prior starts in the series, and a good amount of simulator training eased my mind. Special mention to Sabelt America and Hagerty Motorsports for the perfect new race suit!
On the team’s side, #14 was running quite well to close the day! We all attended the weekend race meeting that evening. The WRL team and competitors are serious and professional but very approachable and a fun bunch. The small Southern Californian group felt welcome!
Saturday: On the Podium After 9 Hours
Early mornings in this series. A 6AM team meet at the circuit is necessary to get everything ready for the 7AM grid opening and 8AM race start. A more substantial investment in coffee will be required this season!
After yesterday’s storms, the weather couldn’t be much better. Not a single cloud and low 70’s. I love rain racing, but after shoveling a hundred pounds of mud from the car in our last event, this was preferred.
Nik Romano would start our weekend off as the first driver with Ryan Keeley in second and myself to close the final three hours of the nine hour race. Though we didn’t get a large sample size of laps yesterday, it was clear we’d be fighting an uphill battle in GP1. We all knew we would be given this was all new supplemental and technical rules for the crew and car to be adapted to. Despite what I considered to be a very strong personal performance in the event, the current package for our #14 was only adjusted slightly from NASA ST5 rules and saw an average lap time deficit of two or three seconds to the top.
Knowing this combined with being the team’s debut, we had to run our own race the best we knew how and see checkered. With 50 entries split across four categories (GTO, GP1, GP2, GP3), anything could happen and we’d be as prepared as possible.
GP1 led the pack of ‘General Production’ classes to the second flying start behind GTO. Nik slotted into where we qualified (9th of 16) and played smart. Soon he picked up one or two positions and ran well for the first few hours.
It was a fairly tame race with only the occasional Code 35 period to break up the running (all cars slowing to 35 MPH instead of following a pace car during full course yellows).
Vividly I recall being in the hauler suiting up as Nik entered box for our first fuel stop. The crew adjusted very well to the new regulations. Three cans of fuel instead of two being the most notable difference from their prior endurance experience. Nik was back on his way for another hour and a half before Ryan was swapping into the driver’s seat. Again, another clean stop.
Somewhere late in Nik’s stint, a GP1 front runner fell out of contention with an issue. We ran 5th during Ryan’s stint until a very opportune moment. Two teammates running ahead of us had separate mechanical issues within a span of minutes. By the time Ryan brought me the #14 for a driver change and fuel with three and a half hours remaining, we were in podium contention!
With sizeable gaps separating me from both 2nd and 4th positions, I had to be especially sharp and heads-up. I wasn’t directly chasing or defending position, but needed to maintain my edge to remain quick, alert, and make the best decisions with traffic. Working to apply the mentality of the world’s best sports car racing drivers.
Wow had I missed this championship! Very competitive racing across the field, busy traffic management, the pushing for quick laps within range, managing changing track temperature on quite slippery DOT-rated tires. A full-immersion endurance series with lots of moving parts and professional approach. A joy to compete in and it made me unbelievably excited for this year.
I accomplished what I set out to do and kept the nose clean with smart decisions and notable pace. Learning the circuit and tire better, I continued to lower the #14’s best times and find a rhythm. Not many ‘close’ moments and a lot of mutual respect shown by competitors. Good thing we have a digital clock on our AIM dash because three hours is enough time to loose your sense of duration!
I’d taken our final fuel stop of the day with about an hour an a half remaining. What a team effort. No mistakes or penalties on pit road! I remained sharp, although feeling a bit sore toward the end, with the track temperature decreasing. Although we neared the finish and my fuel was getting low, the team promised me ice cream if I could put in our first 1:39 lap of the race. Complying to the request with 15 minutes remaining and then went straight into fuel management, we crossed the line 3rd in GP1!
Across the inspection weigh bridge and we were cleared. One hell of an effort from the team against all the unknowns and unanswered questions! The podium was a warranted moment for us all and ultimately helped prove that the WRL decision might’ve been a very good one. Palomar Racing has their work cut out for them this season as we discovered, but we will be in the fight!
Grateful for the opportunity as always. Each performance like this day makes the dream of professional racing feel a bit closer. Closer to being completely confident and ready for that moment.
Sunday: 7 Hours Complete, Lots of Takeaways
Sunday’s procedures had a few differences. Two fewer racing hours was met with an hour-long 11AM break for the local church to conduct its service without race cars noises. You’d think even the church could appreciate a wonderful sympathy of sports car racing… apparently not!
The team reversed stint order for the day meaning I’d start, Ryan second, and Nik to the finish. With three hours between start and the mandatory break, it was the best strategy to leave me in until then. Team photographer Chance snapped grid photos before I left to start 9th in GP1. Starting order was based on the prior day’s best times. Our wonderful 3rd place wasn’t enough to save us this time!
Engaging the mindset to take on a high intensity, high pressure start is something I love. But this was not one of those days. Relaxed (relatively), I knew our best shot again was to outlast and out-strategy our competition.
Running in 7th for a good amount of the first hour, it took a handful of laps for our Continental rubber to reach a point of ‘push’ confidence. A great battle with the Ginger Racing BMW E46 was had until I took advantage of a Code 35 restart to leap ahead. From that point on, it felt like the day prior. Clicking off super consistent laps, reporting fuel numbers, and minimizing time loss through traffic. A couple significant incidents occurred leading to some longer Code 35 periods. I was called in for an excellent fuel stop by the Palomar Racing team and off I went for the last hour. Fantastic pit entry at Barber. Fast and high commitment, just like the rest of the amazing circuit!
My times were, on average, looking a bit quicker than the day prior by the tune of tenths. I set the car’s best lap of the event somewhere in the middle stages while the track was still fresh. Track temperature soared quickly at a point in the last hour and the #14 became a handful to hit the same marks.
Still, we reached the 11AM break in 6th. Unfortunately, the overall GTO leading Supra GT4 passed me one corner before the mandatory caution causing us to loose an extra lap. Oh well, this style of racing has ebbs and flows.
I returned to the pits under ‘parc ferme’ conditions and debriefed with the crew before having a bite of lunch. About as good of a start as we could take (besides the one lost lap). Loved my time flying around the unique, fast bends of Barber Motorsports Park. Truly hope to get back here sooner than later. A top three favorite U.S. circuit in my books. Click the YouTube video link below to watch a clean lap with me!
Ryan took over the #14 once we got back to racing and completed his final stint of the weekend cleanly. He’d been feeling under the weather all week and I was proud of the heart he showed in the car. Another clean handover to Nik who continued to hold down our 6th place comfortably for two hours. A small issue popped up in the final hour and he needed to box. We spent five minutes in the repairing an electrical-related problem that the team had been keeping their eye on and sent him back on his way. We lost our comfortable gap but remained 6th to the finish!
Not the small fairytale of the day prior, but a very competent showing and overall great team effort. It was a ‘representative’ event to know we were capable to punch above our weight if factors aligned, as well as knowing we’d be closer to the front after our updates get completed. Again, super proud of the entire Palomar Racing group. No small feat to have 15 people travel from across the country and complete their first ‘semi-pro’ style weekend with lots of potential and intent shown.
Alabama was a beautiful state, Barber was a jaw-droppingly good circuit, and the people of the championship treated us with class. All of Palomar Racing’s equipment returned safely to Escondido, California and the improvements are being made as I type. Onwards to Mid-Ohio’s 9 + 7 Hour in April!
UP NEXT
I’m very excited for season ahead with Palomar Racing in World Racing League.
Our next WRL event is April 7-9th at famous Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for eight hours of racing Saturday and another eight hours on Sunday. Another packed 50+ car entry with 15+ in GP1 will surely be a great event.
Every WRL race is streamed live on YouTube with professional commentary and broadcast. Be sure to tune in and support us! Palomar Racing will be broadcasting a livestream from onboard the #14 on their YouTube channel as well.
This season isn’t possible without the support of Palomar Solar and Roofing and the volunteers of Palomar Racing. They allow my racing career to push forward.
Thank you Andy Anderson and the rest of Palomar Solar and Roofing. Team partners in Apex Race Parts, Red Line Synthetic Oil, AP Racing Brakes, Essex Part Services, Ferodo Racing, BimmerWorld, FastSideways, AGA Tools, KinematicSpeed, Swift Springs, Enphase, Panasonic Solar, SignArtGraphix, and others allow the team to compete.
Photography in this update by Chances Hales and Scottie Elkins.
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 - 03/21/2023