A second wind: Breathless Racing gears up for final stretch with second Championship in sight
September 21, 2015
Team announces expansion into TA3 International for 2016
MIAMI, Fla. (September 21, 2015) –As the Trans Am Series enters the final stretch, a multitude of teams are preparing for the last few events of the 2015 season—none more so than Breathless Racing as the team heads north from its Miami home to Virginia International Raceway, for Round 9 of the 2015 Trans Am Championship.
The team is entirely focused on a second consecutive TA3 American Muscle win on the scenic course, a victory that would go a long way towards retaining the Championship for Ernie Francis, Jr., and the No. 98 Breathless Racing Chevrolet Camaro.
For Francis, 2015 has been a year of endurance, despite racing in two sprint format series, the Trans Am Series and World Challenge. Francis and all of Breathless Performance Racing elected to participate in every Trans Am and World Challenge event of the year, under the TA3 and TC class banners.
“It’s been a lot of hard work,” said Ernie Francis, Sr., team owner, “for both our drivers and crew. There have been plenty of back-to-back weekends and multiple events where we were running both Series simultaneously with a multitude of cars—it makes for a lot of juggling and uses a ton of focus, but we’re pretty pleased with the results. We secured second in the Touring Car championship in World Challenge and saw our team awarded “Crew of the Year”— a pretty amazing accomplishment when you consider the work they’ve gone through this year.”
The Breathless Racing crew recently completed their World Challenge campaign with a strong second place finish in the championship point standings and are now poised to continue their strong run in Trans Am as well. Francis Jr., heads into VIR as the TA3 American Muscle championship leader with 249 points to his name looking for a repeat of his victory last year.
Ernie Francis, Jr., remains the youngest Champion in Trans Am history and is still only 17 years old despite his current success.
“Working with him as a driver is an amazing experience,” said Francis, Sr. “He continues to surprise me every event with his focus on improvement and dedication to his craft—but as a father, being able to experience this with him and watch him succeed, there really aren’t words to describe what I feel, it’s an incredible sensation. His future is open, he just loves racing and we’re getting interest from a lot of different people. I’m excited to see where it takes him, but for now we’re focused on VIR and retaining the TA3 Championship.”
Breathless Racing plans on repeating the two series feat again in 2016 but will also take on an even bigger challenge as they begin to add TA3 International cars to their paddock as well.
“We’re working on making a one stop shop for production racers who want to take their craft to the next level,” said Francis, Sr. “We’ve seen incredible growth and interest in TA3 and want to make sure we’re providing the resources to any drivers who want to test their abilities or want to challenge further up the grid. Breathless Racing is uniquely positioned in that we can handle; everything for a competitor who wants to take on both Trans Am and World Challenge, better yet, we’ve show we have the pedigree it takes to perform at the highest level in both Series.”
Breathless Racing will offer a multitude of programs in 2016, including arrive and drive, at track prep and driver coaching services in both Series. Interested parties can contact Ernie Francis, Sr., directly at Ernie@BreathlessRacing.com.
