2005 a year of ups and downs for Francis Racing

Jeff Francis’ 2005 SCCA racing season proved to be the most
challenging and frustrating for the Fresno, California based driver
and his Francis Racing Team. While chalking up five i mpressive
wins, Francis endured a number of unfortunate incidents that not
only took him out of the lead of two more races, but also derailed
his shot at a fifth SCCA championship. The season got off to a
great start at Laguna Seca’s April event, even though Francis
missed qualifying and started from the back of the 40-car field.

It didn’t take long after the green flag fell for Francis to start
carving his way through the impressive field and eventually took
the lead for good, taking the checkered flag and his first win of
the season.

The Double Regional event at Thunderhill Raceway Park in April,
however, proved to be a preview of things to come for Francis, as
he T-boned a spinning car entering the first turn and severely
damaged the front end of Francis’ BMW racer. After struggling
t hrough the next few laps with his damaged racecar, Francis
finally pulled off the track with a cut tire while his season-long
rival went on to claim the win. After a heroic effort by Francis’ crew
chief, John Cook, to get the Sherwin Williams/Reliv sponsored
BMW back in race condition; Francis took to the track to compete
in the second race of the day. Starting from dead last place,
Francis methodically weaved and sliced through the field as soon
as the green flag fell. Francis was on a mission as he tried to
erase the bad memories of the first race and stormed to a well-
earned and satisfying victory. “Not bad for a damaged BMW”
exclaimed Francis, who gave credit to his crew chief for getting
the Sherwin Williams/Reliv BMW back on the track.

The season culminated in more of the same, as it was feast
or famine for the 4-time SCCA champion. The August event at
Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca saw Francis once again get
caught up in a multi-car pile-up on top of the famous “Cork-
screw”, severely damaging his BMW racer. The October Laguna
event saw Francis set a new track record in winning the first event
of the weekend in impressive fashion, but took a turn for the
worse in the second race. Francis was in a heated battle when a
group of cars spun off the track in front of him. As one of the
errant racers rolled back out on the track, Francis could not see
the car through the thick cloud of dust and hit the wayward racecar
with a tremendous impact, severely damaging both cars and
knocking Francis out of the race. Both drivers thankfully walked
away without injury.

The final event of the season, the 4hr Enduro at Thunderhill
Raceway Park, saw Francis team up with Wikersham Racing to
field a Mazda Miata in the long-distance race. Francis took the
first stint in the unfamiliar car and within a few laps, started a
battle with 2 other Miata’s that would last Francis’ entire 80-
minute drive. You could throw a blanket on all three cars as they
took turns passing each other and swapping the lead between
them lap after lap. Unfortunately, a mechanical problem took
the team out of the race and dashed Francis’ hopes of a first-
ever enduro victory.