Racing Owls featured on CMT

Racing Owls featured on CMT

BY JESSICA JOHNS POOL   
Rice News Staff

Country Music Television was so taken with the Racing Owls of Rice University that they recently featured the team in their coverage of the Cannonball One Lap of America race.

COURTESY OF CMT

The Racing Owls were featured recently on Country Music Television for their participation in the Cannonball One Lap of America race. Pictured, left to right, are Will Pryor, Damen Hattori and Lucas Marr.

The Cannonball One Lap of America is the race made famous by the 1980s movie Cannonball Run. Now, rather than race across the country on public highways, the race takes place over eight days in 11 states on 18 different racetracks.

Team members included students David Carr ’07, a former Will Rice College resident;  Damen Hattori, a Will Rice College senior; Nikolay Kostov, a Brown College sophomore; Lucas Marr, a Lovett College senior; and Kevin Hirshberg and Will Pryor, both Sid Richardson College juniors. They invested more than 2,000 hours in their car during the 2006-’07 school year.

“This was our opportunity to enjoy our work and see if and how it improve the race car,” said Hattori. “Before we even made it back to Houston we were already talking about how we can make the car better for next year.”

The Rice team drove a donated ’89 Alfa Romeo and finished in 54th place. In 2005, the team finished 85th, so this year’s ranking was quite an accomplishment.

Andrew Barron, the Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science, sponsors the club and began the One Lap tradition three years ago. His many contributions include finding donated cars, providing car insurance, letting club members work in his private garage, and working on the cars himself.

“His industry contacts and consistent high level of involvement have been some of the key reasons for the club’s success,” said Hattori. “Without him, we wouldn’t even be near the level we’re at now.”

One Lap competitors may be professional drivers or amateurs with some racing experience. Each team is allowed one set of tires for the whole event and no support crew. Scoring is based on performance at the racetracks, but the vehicles and their drivers must survive more than 5,000 miles of driving on little sleep and gas station food.

The Racing Owls are looking for more people to join their club and work on or drive the two race cars owned by the club. Learn more on the Racing Owls Web site, watch the video on the CMT site, or watch in-car track video.