What can I say? Mike Shank is a great guy and even with his busy schedule has taken the time to answer these few questions! Thanks Mike! Good Luck at Fontana!

Derek:
Can you tell us what has been the highlight of the 2004 season for MSR?

Mike:
The highlight has got to be the two podiums so far. But being able to run in the top 5 EVERY weekend is the best feeling in the world. Considering what we have spent this year it is really amazing.

Derek:
What was the low point?

Mike:
Low point: Got to be VIR crash then to repair car in three days and get taken out of Barber while running third was devastating. It really,really compromised our championship postition from real good chance at 3rd. to holding on to 5th.

Derek:
What changes have you made during the season to make the car better? Do you develop changes on your own or does Doran make them for you?

Mike:
We have changed our car a good amount. The bad part is since we do not have a budget to test with, we are always trying new things in the first two practice sessions of the weekends. Putting us at least one session behind. One of the main reasons we are doing well this year is because I have a very,very clever engineer . He really pushes the envelope on making the car better, his success rate on making positive changes to the car is probally around 90%. Meaning 90% of the time his updates to car yieled a better car. Alot of time we work with Doran on changes but mostly we create our own updates.

Derek:
Would you like to see seperate races in 2005 for the non 24 hour and 6 hour races?

Mike:
Seperate classes: Yes I would like to see seperate classes as soon as possible. Especially at tracks like PIR, Barber etc.

Derek:
What can we expect from MSR in 2005?

Mike:
2005: We will have an announcement at Fontana on Friday about our team situation. We are hoping to have two cars. We will announce one for sure at Fontana and the second shortly thereafter.

Mike:
Please let everyone know that they are welcome to stop and visit our team anytime. For 2005 we will start selling team merchandise on our website ,clothing etc. So come by there and visit us.

Got comments on this article? Discuss it on the message board!