It takes great focus, determination, natural talent and enormous time spent in the practice ring for an athlete to master his or her sport to the point of being one of the top competitors in the world. It takes double that recipe for an athlete to reach mastery of two different playing positions within that sport. So what has it taken for Level 5 Motorsports owner and driver Scott Tucker to reach world class status in four different sports car racing series-all at the same time? Only Scott Tucker knows that.
Not only has Tucker maintained an improbable schedule of races in the American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am series, Ferrari Challenge series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series, but he has actually succeeded in all of them. Not to mention several of his wins came on the same weekends as other wins, since Tucker was often double, triple or quadruple-scheduled.
Tucker's latest podium finish was with a brand new car, last weekend at the American Le Mans Series Monterey at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. The Microsoft Office-sponsored car was the product of a partnership between Honda Performance Development and Wirth Research. The HPD ARX-01g helped the team reach its highest overall finish of the season, at fourth. The vehicle was brand new for the team and for Tucker, but being in the same LMP2 category, it wasn't the severest vehicle discrepancy Tucker had ever faced.
Tucker helped drive Level 5 Motorsports to a win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, a grueling endurance race in Florida at the Sebring International Raceway. That same weekend, he was also schedule to drive in the Porsche GT3 Cup. He drove, and he won-his second win of the weekend in as many races.
These achievements would be slightly less impressive if the cars were anything alike. Every time a driver competes in a race, he sustains significant g-forces, extremely hot temperatures, hours of intense focus and effort, and constant critical thought. In endurance racing especially, to endure these conditions and come out on top seems a superhuman feat-but to leave the podium finish and do it all over again, only to end up on another podium-seems downright impossible.
"I lose five to seven pounds every race," Tucker has said. In order to maintain his overstocked race schedule, he must maintain extreme discipline in his physical regimen as well as his nutritional. To condition for less intense schedules, he has woken up at 4:30 a.m. to do an hour of cardiovascular exercise before performing other training. His current 2011 schedule is even more demanding.
"Driving a Porsche and a prototype couldn't be anything more different," Tucker said while at Sebring. "I've done it in the past, and I've kind of gotten used to it, but it's still a pretty difficult thing to do."
The cars require different driving styles, Tucker said. His success in all four series has proven his versatility and endurance as a driver, as well as his profound determination to win. But above all, it illustrates his passion for the sport. Having entered the industry as a rookie in 2006 at the age of 44, Tucker didn't have a lot of time to waste. He has consistently entered every race he possibly can and treated each one as if it were his last chance for a championship. His success not only as a relatively new driver but also as a multi-car driver is proof that in sports, anything is possible.
Not only has Tucker maintained an improbable schedule of races in the American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am series, Ferrari Challenge series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series, but he has actually succeeded in all of them. Not to mention several of his wins came on the same weekends as other wins, since Tucker was often double, triple or quadruple-scheduled.
Tucker's latest podium finish was with a brand new car, last weekend at the American Le Mans Series Monterey at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. The Microsoft Office-sponsored car was the product of a partnership between Honda Performance Development and Wirth Research. The HPD ARX-01g helped the team reach its highest overall finish of the season, at fourth. The vehicle was brand new for the team and for Tucker, but being in the same LMP2 category, it wasn't the severest vehicle discrepancy Tucker had ever faced.
Tucker helped drive Level 5 Motorsports to a win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, a grueling endurance race in Florida at the Sebring International Raceway. That same weekend, he was also schedule to drive in the Porsche GT3 Cup. He drove, and he won-his second win of the weekend in as many races.
These achievements would be slightly less impressive if the cars were anything alike. Every time a driver competes in a race, he sustains significant g-forces, extremely hot temperatures, hours of intense focus and effort, and constant critical thought. In endurance racing especially, to endure these conditions and come out on top seems a superhuman feat-but to leave the podium finish and do it all over again, only to end up on another podium-seems downright impossible.
"I lose five to seven pounds every race," Tucker has said. In order to maintain his overstocked race schedule, he must maintain extreme discipline in his physical regimen as well as his nutritional. To condition for less intense schedules, he has woken up at 4:30 a.m. to do an hour of cardiovascular exercise before performing other training. His current 2011 schedule is even more demanding.
"Driving a Porsche and a prototype couldn't be anything more different," Tucker said while at Sebring. "I've done it in the past, and I've kind of gotten used to it, but it's still a pretty difficult thing to do."
The cars require different driving styles, Tucker said. His success in all four series has proven his versatility and endurance as a driver, as well as his profound determination to win. But above all, it illustrates his passion for the sport. Having entered the industry as a rookie in 2006 at the age of 44, Tucker didn't have a lot of time to waste. He has consistently entered every race he possibly can and treated each one as if it were his last chance for a championship. His success not only as a relatively new driver but also as a multi-car driver is proof that in sports, anything is possible.
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