Kelly-Moss Road and Race Builds Champion Drivers


Wednesday, February 8, 2017









When Colin Thompson was deciding what team to race for, it wasn’t a phone call from the team owner that helped him make his decision. Instead, it was the countless calls from drivers who had previously raced for the team that got Thompson thinking about signing with Kelly-Moss Road and Race.
And two years later, he was adding a second championship trophy to his mantle on his way to being picked up as a factory shoe.
The team, which won its very first race (IMSA Firehawk event at Sebring International Raceway in 1989) is based in Madison, Wisconsin and has established a reputation for not only developing race cars, but also the drivers that pilot them.
Last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, another Kelly-Moss Road and Race graduate added a career accolade to his resume as Jesse Lazare won the Rolex 24 At Daytona in his first-ever run in the huge IMSA endurance classic.
The win capped an incredible run of success for Lazare, who won the 2016 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama with Kelly-Moss Road and Race and positioned himself as a top pick for the 24-hour race on board a potent Porsche GT3R machine.
Steered by Jeff Stone, Kelly-Moss Road and Race has stayed true to its Porsche roots through the decades - having competed in every single GT3 Cup Challenge USA event since the series first formed in 2005.
Beyond well-prepared and engineered Porsche machines, Stone has also established a reputation for his fierce support of and guidance for his drivers under the Kelly-Moss tent. For Stone, he has a very clear curriculum for his young charges when it comes to installing a professional approach to the sport.
“The first thing is focus, followed by patience,” says Stone. “They have to have 100% trust in the team and the machine we place them in and always follow our plan. It's easy for young drivers to have aggression but they have to learn the long game and always understand and maintain a championship mindset, not a single race goal. Most important is to keep their mind right when things don't go perfectly and understand that the fight is never over until the last checkered flag.”
The driver roster at Kelly-Moss has traditionally featured drivers with different ages, different goals, and different backgrounds. That mix of talent, fostered by Stone’s design, is one that helps to pay dividends for all involved.
One driver who has proudly worn the Kelly-Moss suit for years is Bill Peluchiwski, who met Stone during a PCA driver event and eventually grew his pursuit of driving into becoming a racer.
“When I was first at the events with my street 911, Jeff was always helpful and generous with this time—if I had problems with the car they would happily help me figure it out,” said Peluchiwski. “That then grew into me getting my first race car and now I’ve been with the team for several years. You have to be able to trust the team with your life, really, and with Jeff I feel fully comfortable doing that. He’s phenomenally honest-when you are doing the right thing, and when you are doing it wrong! And that is the quality that you are looking for in that role.”
While Peluchiski has different goals each weekend than Lazare, he still feels as though having young chargers on the team is helpful.
“Jeff (Stone) is keen to have these young drivers on the team and works a lot of magic for that to happen. It really raises the level of camaraderie on the team—they can give you a lot of confidence. If you are looking at their data and thinking ‘oh, there is no way that I could do that,’ they are right there to show you how it can be done. So I’m grateful to have that kind of reference point and for those interactions. It makes for a great team spirit.”
That forward progress doesn’t always just happen behind the wheel, and with the mix of ages, the learning can go in both directions.
“I’ve known Jesse (Lazare) since he first came to the team a couple of years ago and he was kind of just a normal teenager-focused on the internet and a little more absorbed in his own experience,” observed Peluchiski. “But you could really see him develop and mature substantially since then, he’s asking me about the business world, and he’s just taking in so much more of what is going on around him. This year, he showed so much maturity--he’s a smart kid and he’s going to go places-in racing, and in life.”
That progression, both in and out of the car, is one that drives Stone forward.
“After nearly 30 years of racing at all levels around the world there is nothing that brings more satisfaction to me and our whole team than seeing our drivers succeed and achieve their goals no matter their age or skill level,” added Stone. “Working in a development series like IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge is especially rewarding as you see drivers progress quickly due to such close competition. Whether the goal is to become a professional driver by earning a living in racing or just to become the best driver they can be as a hobby, it's always our goal to push them to their best.”