Blaze Racing

Happy New Year... Thank you for following Blaze Racing and your continued enthusiastic support for our growing team. Here's our wrap-up story and video for 2025! It's worth the read:
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2025 World Racing League GP1 Champions...Blaze Racing!!!
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When your pre-season starts off with a catastrophic crash 5 days before the first race, the only direction you can move the team is UP. And…that’s what we did in 2025!

Mike says, “I think we can fix it!” as we stand at the accident scene that Sunday evening surrounded by a gaggle of track workers, fellow racers, and a flat-bed. All I could think about was the line in Fast Times, “My Dad has an awesome set of tools…I can fix it!” as the headache went from a ‘7’ to an ‘8’.

Time does slow down just before impact. At the fastest point on our test track, just as I leaned on the brakes for the very technical turn 1, the front suspension failed. No steering and little braking…just a passenger saying to myself, “Don’t hit the wall! Don’t hit the wall!” The good news was, I didn’t hit the wall. The bad news; I hit an embankment and launched the car straight up, then it landed and slid back down. You can imagine the damage…and the eventual source of my headache.

As Team Principal, set-up guy, and one of four active drivers in our endurance team, this was a season-ending scenario even before our first race. During the earlier lunch break on that test day, I sent a few messages out to the team with pics and promises of a great season. The car was solid, it looked sharp with a fresh vinyl package, and it was quick……..Until it wasn’t.

On our way home, I asked Mike, our Chief Mechanic, “How the heck do you think we can rebuild the front half of the car in under 5 days, AND drive all the way to Texas for our season opener?” He wasn’t sure, but he was anxious to drag the bloodied beast out of the trailer and get it on a lift.

Within 18 hours, Mike and I were on our way to Texas in a hurry, tag-teaming the long drive from Vegas, and making calls to all of our vendors to rush parts. We had made a panicked call to our friends at Texas Track Works asking for their help and a lift. Somehow, we were going to make the season opener at Eagles Canyon Texas, even if it killed us.

Friday evening, just 5 days from impact and minutes from the entry deadline, our Blaze Racing #118 BMW was given a tech sticker and permission to start the World Racing League season the next morning!

That massive effort galvanized the team...gave us strength…and prepared us for the 2025 battle. In the previous 18 months, every major set-back in which there were many, we left the event with a discouraging DNF, a wounded car, and a broken team. This year started with a potential defeat that we turned into a march toward the National Championship with points in the bank! Little did we know, these precious few points earned at the Eagles Canyon opener, would be the deciding factor at the end of the year!

2025 was not without some extreme difficulties and epic challenges. BUT, that’s racing! Especially, Endurance Racing!! I always say, 50% of the race is contested OFF the track in the quiet shops, garages, offices, and team members living rooms. It’s here where our season opener really began. In all honesty, we had an unfair advantage over the other teams in our class. We started racing 1 week earlier than the rest with our epic ‘fix’, and we kept it going all year!!

Blaze Racing #118 BMW for 2025 WRL:
GP1 National Championship
GP1 Mid West Championship
GP1 SEC Championship

Our core team of crew, drivers, myself, and the team owner Jason, could not have done ‘it’ without the massive support from the following in no particular order (and I am sure I forgot some):

Power Cool Manufacturing - David
Texas Track Works – EVERYONE there
Bimmerworld – Patrick
HBR – Rick and Jeremy
Motion Control Systems - Wyatt
Carbotech – Mike Jr.
GT Body Shop – Boomer Travis
Discount Tire - Brandon
Eibach – Michele Abate
Ground Control – Jay
Rebuild Exchange - Borris
Longacres
Wine Country
Core 4 - Tom
Hard Motorsports
The Auto Group - Anthony
Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch
JSX - Ian
Rogue Engineering
Renegade Hybrids – Gizmo
World Racing League – RJ and Co.

…AND, to all the teams that helped us (and we helped them when we could), a huge thank you goes out to:

Palomar
Morehead Speedworks
Round 3 Racing
Open Throttle
Screaming Goat
Blitzkrieg Racing
TC Kline Racing
…AND, many more!

All the best for 2026! Thanks again for your support!!!

BLAZE RACING 2025 RECAP 2025 GP1 WRL National Champion, SEC Champion, and Mid West Champion! Small team, BIG WINS! Enjoy the good, the bad, and the ugly in this short visual recap...

WE DID IT!!! Blaze Racing IS THE NEW World Racing League GP1 NATIONAL CHAMPION!!!

Power Cool Manufacturing
Texas Track Works
Boomer Travis GT Body Shop

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Blown head gasket. Noooooooo... I guess we are pulling an all-nighter. BUT...thanks to some fantastic support from Texas Track Works, we've got parts, muscle, and a little libations to keep us working!

With a decent Friday quali', Saturday was looking promising! The Blaze Racing, Power Cool Manufacturing, #118 GP1, is ready to go racing with World Racing League!

It's time to Qualify! Best spotter location FOUND! Let's GO!!

This is it! Circuit Of The Americas World Racing League Season Finale!! The Blaze Racing, Power Cool Manufacturing, #118 BMW M3 transporter and advance-team, is staged and ready to GO! We get access around 3PM, then the work begins!! Meanwhile it's sandwiches, strategy, and a siesta! We've got this!!! Let's go win a Championship!!!

#118 Power Cool Manufacturing Blaze Racing BMW M3 just got ANOTHER podium!!! 2nd at Sebring!!!! We just gapped our competition for the national championship as well!!!

Sebring FLORIDA! Yep, we get around following the World Racing League circus! This weekend, Blaze Racing is battling one of the roughest tracks of the season. Last year, our Power Cool Manufacturing BMW M3 in GP1 fought its way to a podium after several teams, including us, had reliably issues. We just fixed it faster!!!

This year, we come to Sebring FIRST IN CLASS and looking to build our lead going into the last two race weekends of the year.

We've got a great start with a 3rd place qualifying position today (Friday). Saturday morning we tick-off 8 hours of racing from close to the top of the field!!! Let's GO!!!

Behind with updates...sorry. It's intense right now!!

Watkins Glen was stunningly beautiful. The WRL drivers...not so much.

Friday quali' was just ok. We are convinced, some teams have a magic button! No matter, except...

Saturday, race 1, green flag, first corner, first lap, mid pack where we qualified...we become the meat-in-the-sandwich. Massive rear suspension damage...DNF. We need a "magic button too!"

Our team has flown to multiple states, driven through the night, and spent copious time and money on some epic repairs. This particular repair followed suit AND took roughly 14 hours to bandage together. It was a massive team effort with our new guy, James, being an MVP!

Sunday, second race, green flag with a limping car...we managed to get past turn 1 in one piece! The car wasn't perfect, but with bent parts, some rusty replacements, and some shiny new stuff from Morehead Speed Works, our late-night string-aligned #118 Blaze Racing BMW was still surprisingly competitive!

WE PODIUMED IN 3RD!!!

Here is where the magic that alluded us for so long, finally played into our hands. The DNF on Saturday was a killer. We thought for sure our momentum toward the National Championship had shifted back to a few other very talented teams. BUT, on Saturday, they also DID-NOT-FINISH. No change in our point differential!!! What a crazy story!

Sunday, we all got our cars back on track, bandaids and all.

I wouldn't believe this next part if I didn't live it... When the checker flag fell, we lost only 1 point to the second place team in class. The Blaze Racing, Power Cool Manufacturing, #118 M3 is STILL in the lead for the World Racing League National Championship!!

Pics of the State Park we took just before race weekend included!

Scott Mann