Five Questions With ... John Weisberg

Subtitle:Owner/Driver For Berg Racing

John Weisberg’s Berg Racing achieved a milestone at Indianapolis, winning the Street Tuner (ST) class to give the team its first victory in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

Cody Ellsworth started the No. 50 Berg Racing REDCOM Labs/Vintage Seats/Monticello Motor Club Porsche Cayman, with Weisberg stepping aside for the closing stint in favor of Corey Lewis, who took the lead on the final lap and beat Wayne Nonnamaker by 2.641 seconds.Berg Racing made its Continental Tire Challenge debut in 2011 at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Weisberg ran 15 races with the team prior to this season, with his best finish eighth at Lime Rock Park in 2012. Prior to joining the series, Weisberg won back-to-back L2 titles in the IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship powered by Mazda.After having the team housed in an old lumber yard that was built in 1953, Berg Racing is currently moving into a brand-new 13,000 square foot shop, three miles from the former location in Webster, N.Y., in the Rochester suburbs.John met his wife – Dinah Gueldenpfennig Weisberg – at a club event at Watkins Glen International. The couple has co-driven several times in Continental Tire Challenge competition, beginning with the 2012 race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.How does it feel for your team to score its first Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge victory – and how big was it to achieve that milestone at Indianapolis?“I can’t believe it happened! It was absolutely tremendous. It’s something we’ve been working towards for four years participating in this series. To

 have it happen at Indy was icing on the cake. It’s huge to be able to say we’ve won a race at Indianapolis. It’s really quite an accomplishment to win in this series. It is well known as being the most competitive series in North America. I think some of the drivers in this series are every bit as talented as the guys on the other side of the paddock. I’d like to thank crew chief Dan Thiel and the entire Berg Racing crew, and also thank our sponsors who have stuck with us through the rough spots so that we could share this win with them – REDCOM, ColorTrack, Monticello Motor Club, Vintage Seats, Red Line Oil, Mann’s Jewelers.”How did you get together with Cody Ellsworth, who qualified second at Watkins Glen and was part of the winning lineup at Indianapolis?“Cody came to us last year and raced with us at Watkins Glen. He also raced with us in another series, but The Glen was the only race he ran in this series. He contacted me again over the winter and expressed his interested in driving with us again. He saw the potential of the team and the cars, and signed on for five races this season. Cody qualified second and we led almost the first half of the race at Watkins Glen. We had the field covered, but unfortunately I got caught up in someone else’s accident. That broke the hood pins, the hood came up and smashed the windshield. We’ve taken a lot of measures to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”How did Corey Lewis join the team as a late addition at Indy?“Corey is another driver who was with us last year. He did COTA (Circuit of The Americas) and Mid-Ohio with us last year. Berg Racing has had a long association with Monticello Motor Club, where Corey is a senior instructor. Unfortunately, when this year came around I didn’t have a seat for him, so he went to Rebel Rock. We’re pretty happy we got him back. He was available at Indy, he has past experience with us, so we snatched him up. He’s an absolutely fantastic talent.”How did it feel watching your car win at Indy without actually driving? “Dinah asked me if I was going to be mad if the car did well and I wasn’t driving. I said, either way, if I’m not driving I’m still getting a trophy and it’s still going to be very sweet. I can’t say I’m not disappointed that I wasn’t driving, but who knows what would have happened if I was in the car – it might not have come out the same way. It was Corey’s incredible driving talent that got us from seventh to the lead. Dinah watched the race on IMSA.com, and was crying in her office because she wasn’t there. She was definitely disappointed, but also very proud of the team.”What are the plans for the team for the remainder of the season and beyond?“Our No. 40 Porsche Boxster was raced at Indy by Murillo Racing as their No. 65 entry. That car is available to rent for the rest of the year. People are looking at it, and hopefully we can have two cars out there. Unfortunately, Road America is scheduled to be Cody’s last race in the No. 50, but we are working on getting additional sponsorship to keep him and Corey in the car for the rest of the season. The car and the team really have great momentum, and we’d hate to stop it now. Looking to the future, the TUDOR Championship is always a goal, but we’d like to win an ST championship first, and then maybe move to a GS car. But if opportunity knocks, by all means we’d do it.”