| Supreme Fan
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,236
| Race is over... They finished 11th...  Not great.
Paddy did great. He took the first stint as usual. He was in 5th for a long time.
But then there was the pit stop and Joe got in. They were 12th then...
After a caution, Joe got tapped by a DP and spun off on the grass.
No harm done, thank God! Joe handled the car really well!
They were in 12th and 13th place for the rest of the race. And they finished 11th.
They just had some bad luck. But the team did great as usual! 
ETA: Oh and there wasn't an interview after he got out of the car 
...Can't remember the last time we didn't get one...
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More pics from yesterday
(See all of them HERE. I just posted a few...)
GAH!  He looks DAMN FINE !!! 
The scruff is perfect, the hair is perfect... He looks perfect !
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TV's McDreamy offers excitement for star-struck fans
Quote:
DAYTONA BEACH -- Shyly grinning and barely able to speak, 8-year-old Sydney Thornton of Georgia got an autograph Friday from actor and race car driver Patrick Dempsey.
She watched him in the Disney movie "Enchanted," and her mom is a fan of the ABC hit series "Grey's Anatomy," where he plays Dr. Derek Shepherd, aka McDreamy.
"Mamma, get his picture, get his picture," she said.
The guests at The Shores Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach got a special treat to mingle with Dempsey, owner of Dempsey Racing, at one of his sponsors' parties.
El Grado Spirits was debuting its first product, El Grado Tequila.
Dempsey is in town to compete in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Brumos Porsche 250 today at 2 p.m. in the No. 40 Mazda RX-8 car.
Dempsey, 43, who grew up watching the Indy 500 races and has three children, said, "It's great to see the age of the fans" whether it's grandparents who took their grandchildren to see "Enchanted" or younger generations who watch him now on "Grey's."
"I'm really fortunate to be working in this business," he said.
Lois Thornton, 41, said her husband was at the race Friday night, so she and her two kids came to see Dempsey.
"We've never been this close to a movie star," she said.
Dempsey talked briefly in an interview about racing and touched on his character Derek and love interest, Meredith. He said fans likely won't see an actual wedding in the sixth season because he said the head writer feels, technically, that the characters are already married since they signed a paper that they wrote committing to each other.
"I think that is the wedding," he said. "They are married. I think a lot of people don't think they are."
As far as racing, Dempsey said he "loves the camaraderie and the fellowship." Dempsey said he and his team are gaining more credibility, having five top 10 finishes in a row this year, and he hopes they'll win today.
With the economy and teams struggling, Dempsey said it's more important than ever to have good sponsors such as Mazda and El Grado Spirits.
Ashly Kubicek, one of the El Grado owners from Texas, said Dempsey brings "a lot of integrity" to his racing team.
Fellow team driver Joe Foster said Dempsey has been getting better each race in the past two years and other drivers are starting to take notice.
"It just takes practice like anything," Foster said.
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And here's the video of this interview: YouTube - Patrick Dempsey in Daytona
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Dempsey Racing Shooting To Keep Hot Streak Going
Quote:
Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster Coming Off of Duo’s Career Best Sixth at Mid-Ohio
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 3, 2009) – Riding a hot streak that has seen the duo score five straight top-10 showings and back-to-back career-best finishes in the last two races, Dempsey Racing and lead drivers Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster will be looking for their first top-10 finish at Daytona International Speedway this Fourth of July Saturday in the Brumos Porsche 250 At Daytona. Round 7 of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, the Brumos Porsche 250 marks the beginning of the second half of the 2009 season. The race can be seen live tomorrow on SPEED at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT).
Dempsey and Foster will share the No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 that will be racing with lead sponsorship from El Grado Tequila once again this weekend. The duo drove the Mazda to a career-best sixth-place finish one race ago in the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and a top-five result is the goal at Daytona.
A challenge will be a hot and possibly even wet race track in the Fourth of July afternoon heat. January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona is run in usually cooler temperatures and partly at night.
“The track will be completely different than the January race and the sprint-race set up and mentality are different as well,” Foster said. “Instead of preserving the equipment it will be ‘kill or be killed’ for 70 laps.”
One Rolex Series race before Mid-Ohio, Dempsey, Foster and the team’s third driver Charles Espenlaub matched their then career-best result of seventh in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen. They also finished seventh in the Verizon Wireless 250 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in May to start the current streak, which includes 10th place in the Verizon Festival of Speed at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca later in May.
The solid run of results also saw a top-10 finish in last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans that fell between the Sahlen’s Six Hours and the EMCO Gears Classic. Dempsey and Foster combined to drive more than 20 hours of the race and, along with teammate Don Kitch Jr., finished ninth in the GT2 class in the No. 81 Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Ferrari F430 GT. Dempsey has also raced twice in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“Both events are so unique,” Dempsey said. “More dense traffic and yet better lighting make Daytona mentally more challenging yet easier at the same time. The ultra high speed, incredible speed differential between classes and ‘public road’ aspects of Le Mans generate their own unique challenges.”
A challenge in tomorrow’s race could be the heavy rain that has plagued the Daytona area recently, but the No. 40 Mazda team may find a wet track advantageous.
“We like the rain,” said Foster who also joined Espenlaub in the No. 40 to finish seventh in April’s race at Virginia International Raceway. “Patrick and I had a great run in the rain in New Jersey and the wet practice session at Mid-Ohio also indicates some progress in this area.”
Racing on the Fourth of July also means that Dempsey and Foster will spend another holiday away from their families, but they do have some built in support at the track.
“Our wives and children have been so supportive during this season, which has been our busiest and yet most successful in the Rolex Series,” Dempsey said. “We are going to miss them tomorrow but our extended family at El Grado is certainly making it all possible, and we are glad to share this holiday with them as well.”
Support for Dempsey Racing comes from Mazda, El Grado Spirits and Specialized Bicycles.
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ETA: Pics from today
More HERE. I didn't post them all...
Last edited by Eve_ : 07-04-2009 at 01:56 PM.
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