From Go-Carting To Making Auto Racing History
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Sep 23, 2008
Memo Rojas’ journey has taken him from the go-cart tracks of his youth in Mexico City to the brink of auto racing history.
On Saturday in the SunRichGourmet.com 1,000 at Miller Motorsports Park, Rojas is likely to become the first native Mexican driver to win a major international series championship.
“It is very important to me,” Rojas said. “It makes me very happy to think how close we are the clinching this championship.”
Rojas and teammate Scott Pruett have accumulated a big enough lead in the Grand-Am Rolex Series season standings that they can’t be caught.
If Rojas and Pruett drive at least 30 minutes during the seven-hour SunRichGourmet.com 1,000, which highlights a three-day, five-race season finale at Miller Motorsports Park, they will officially share the series championship.
“We started with a strong win at the 24 Hours of Daytona,” Rojas said, “and we’ve kept winning throughout the year.”
Rojas and Pruett have won six of their 13 starts in the Daytona Prototype class, and they built their insurmountable lead in the standings by running ninth in last month’s Super Car Life 250 at the New Jersey Motorsports Park.
It was a race Rojas and Pruett nearly missed, however, after a practice crash nearly tore the Chip Ganassi’s Racing team’s No. 1 car in half.
Pruett, who was driving at the time, was “a little sore” but not seriously injured in the wreck. But there was a wild scramble to get another car in condition to run.
