Alan Sciuto Racing formed for full Atlantic season
Over the last weekend, while he was competing in a shifter kart race at the CalSpeed Karting Center in Fontana, Calif., Alan Sciuto learned his signed deal to contest his second season in Champ Car Atlantic had fallen apart – one week before the season kicked off at the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix Fueled by VISA.
Most people would have immediately begun working the phones, and Alan and his team did, but this wasn’t to call other teams and see if another ride could be secured. By Tuesday evening, Alan Sciuto Racing had been formed, a car purchased, sponsorship arranged, personnel hired, and the team was ready to compete in Las Vegas. In addition, the team secured the services of renowned engineer Gerald Tyler for the season.
Sponsorship will come from the RoomStore, Arizona’s leading furniture retailer, as well as Sparco USA, and W.S. Deans, makers of the Deans Ultra Plug.
Sciuto competed in his first full season in Champ Car Atlantic competition with Polestar Racing Group in 2006, finishing eighth in the season championship on the strength of eight top-10 results. He debuted in the series at San Jose in 2005, finishing fourth, after which he scored a pole position at Denver for PR1 Motorsports.
Sciuto is a product of American karting, with a career that began at his local indoor karting facility, Dromo One in his hometown of Orange, Calif., and progressed to becoming a multi-time SuperKarts USA champion, Stars of Karting champion, and a Red Bull F1 Driver’s Search selection, before making his way into cars via the Skip Barber Formula Dodge Scholarship.
A former member of the space shuttle program with NASA, Tyler has been a significant force in North American road racing, with seven championships, 69 victories, 68 pole positions, and 174 podium finishes in Daytona Prototype, IMSA, A1GP, Indy Lights, Champ Car, and Champ Car Atlantic competition.
Alan Sciuto on Alan Sciuto Racing
Well, starting a racing team only a week before the first race wasn’t quite how I pictured my season beginning – but I’m excited to be on the grid in Las Vegas. We’ve been fortunate to assemble a good group this season, and we plan to put our best foot forward when we show up at my home race in Long Beach in a week and a half.
It’s certainly not a situation that any of us have ever found ourselves in before, but we’re up to the challenge.
Engineer Gerald Tyler on Alan Sciuto Racing
Well, certainly things have come together very quickly. We obviously have not been able to test, and it will take a while for Alan and I to gel as we have not worked together before. That being said, we’re hoping to work together for a long time.
Based on the ability that he’s demonstrated, we know what we can do, and what the team is capable of, I am optimistic and enthusiastic for this season. We’ll have to go through a lot of steps of figuring each other out, and learning the new tires, but I am confident we’ll get things right.