Auto Racing: Sierra Sierra hires two new drivers

It's been said that one of the toughest things to do in sports is to defend your title.

Losing your starting lineup never makes it any easier.

But Minden-based open-wheel racing team Sierra Sierra Enterprises found itself battling all of the above at the end of last season.

Their lead driver, Raphael Matos, won the Champ Car Atlantic Series title and used the accompanying scholarship money to move up to the Champ Car World Series in 2008. Their No. 2 driver, James Hinchcliffe, left to pursue an opportunity with his home country's A1 Team Canada.

Coming off a winning season, however, tends to fill up those open seats with plenty of interested and qualified drivers.

What Sierra Sierra found was the exact combination they were looking for to head into the 2008 season -- a strong experienced driver and a talented up-and-coming rookie.

Sierra Sierra announced the signing of Champ Car Atlantic veteran Jonathan Bomarito and Mazda Star series champion Dane Cameron last week.

"With a championship title to defend, there is definitely more pressure to perform," Sierra Sierra team manager Richard Raeder said. "Having a team with both an experienced driver and a rookie is a great way to develop talent and build on our success."

Sierra Sierra, which is based out of a large hangar near the Minden Tahoe Airport and is owned by Carson Valley residents Dennis and Dianne Kottke, has competed in the Champ Car Atlantic Series for the last five years.

Champ Car Atlantic is largely recognized to be the best open-wheel development series in North America, with an ESPN television deal and venues across the continent in a season that spans upwards of six months. The series has produced some of the top drivers in the Indy Racing League, including Danica Patrick.

Former "Malcom in the Middle" star Frankie Muniz is one of the drivers currently in Champ Car Atlantic.

Sierra Sierra came into contact with Bomarito over the last two years as one of his top competitors while he drove for PR1 Motorsports.

He has 31 career Atlantic starts, two victories, one pole position and eight podium finishes. He is considered to be one of the front-runners heading into 2008.

"I was trying to put a solid program together for the upcoming year and I felt like I had unfinished business in the series," Bomarito said. "I was hounding (Sierra Sierra driving coach) Dave Empringham for a while because I knew Raphael was leaving and I guess one thing led to another.

"I got a good phone call the night before Thanksgiving that made my day, maybe the rest of my year. I'm very excited to be working with this team."

Raeder said the team is equally excited to have Bomarito on board.

"Jonathan is a situation of Dennis and Dianne wanting to give someone an opportunity," Raeder said. "Just looking at the criteria that fits into this team, he had the whole package. He has the right personality, talent and appreciation of the sport that we were looking for."

Bomarito, 25, lives in Monterey, Calif, near Laguna Seca -- one of the stops on the series.

"I think, both Dane and I, our goals heading into the season are probably a lot the same," Bomarito said. "We are both hoping to win a lot of races and take our shot at that championship."

Cameron, 19, who lives in Sonoma, Calif., took a slightly different path to Sierra Sierra. He was awarded a scholarship for winning the Star Mazda series, which he'll put to use in the Champ Car Atlantic series.

"Dane picked us, that was easy," Raeder said. "We were fortunate to get the Mazda scholarship. He had his choice of teams and apparently we stood out to him."

It should be noted that Matos also won the Star Mazda series in 2005 before coming to Sierra Sierra.

Cameron, though, won the series in his rookie season and accordingly took home rookie of the year honors as well.

"Toward the end of the Mazda series, it looked like I would win the championship," Cameron said. "I knew there would be that funding to jump to the next level, so I started looking around at my options.

"I started to talk to some teams and once I won the championship things progressed rapidly. I was able to make an announcement about signing with Sierra Sierra at my last Mazda race."

Cameron signed in October and went out to the team's first test of the new season in Fernley later that month.

"The first test went really well," Cameron said. "It was positive, but as far as what everyone else in the series will have, I don't really know a whole lot of what to expect.

"We'll see where we stand as the season goes on. I want to try to be right there challenging for the championship, but I'm also going to be shooting for rookie of the year."

The duo makes the first all-American lineup for Sierra Sierra after several year of success with an international lineup.

"We're looking forward to hearing the National Anthem playing from the podium -- hopefully after every race," Dianne Kottke said. "We are very proud to be in a position to work with talented drivers like Jonathan and Dane."

Although both drivers will be new, Raeder said the team will return with the remainder of its crew intact.

"That's one of the nice things about this team is we're entering the year extremely solid once again," Raeder said. "Every member of the crew is back, the engineers, the mechanics and the coach.

"We're fortunate to keep going the way we have, it makes the transition for the drivers a lot easier. A lot of the other teams are still trying to get set up. We are the first team in the series to register with a complete lineup. That helps out immensely."

Sierra Sierra is running two more tests before the season, one at the Motor Sports Ranch in Houston and one at the Firebird in Phoenix.

The season-opener is in Long Beach, Calif., April 19.

Sierra Sierra is still looking for several corperate sponsors to help out next season. Anyone interested can contact the team at 783-1900.