Michelin The Alley asked a number of ALMS drivers and a few team principals about how they got started in racing, big breaks and favorite racing memories. Here is what we found:

How did you get started in racing?

Lucas Luhr
“My Dad used to race semi-professional and he was racing at the Nürburgring. Close to the paddock was a kart track, so I asked him if I could try. I was eight years old at the time and he said no. So when he did his stint in the racecar, I went into the truck, took his wallet and went to the go-kart place. The guy told me that I couldn’t drive by myself, so I replied that my father knew him and that he said it would be alright. So I ended up being allowed to drive.”

Bryan Sellers
“I started racing at the age of nine. My Dad felt like I needed some motivation to keep my grades up in school and our deal was I needed to maintain a B average and if I could, I could race. He remained true to his promise and the one time my grades slipped, he reminded me. Racing was the best thing that could have happened in my life.”

Kuno Wittmer
“I did not start racing in karts. I chose the Open wheel path at age 15 (1998), racing in the Canadian Formula Ford championship. I placed very well (2^nd overall) at a Jim Russell international run off in England. This gave me a partial scholarship for 1999.”

Colin Braun
“I was three years old when I started driving my first go-kart around our house. It was a five horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine that my Dad gave me for my third birthday. He had an old go-kart that he used to race and we put the engine on that.”

Jon Bennett
“I got started in racing by my neighbor, Ray Stone, taking me as “crew” to SCCA races when I was 10 years old. He would share his AutoWeek and Speed Sport News magazines with me by leaving them in my mailbox and I would pick them up on my way home from school. I don’t think this impacted my school grades in a positive way.”

Derrick Walker
“I applied for a job in a small amateur race team; I was 21 years old, dumb and happy.”

Ed Brown
“Scott Sharp invited me to a race track in West Palm Beach, Florida where there was a MX5 race car all prepared. He told me that instructors were going to teach me how to drive a race car for the next three days. Two weeks later I was racing in Cleveland in my first professional race.”

Wolf Henzler
“I started go-kart racing when I was 14 years old.”