One
of the unique things about my racing career is how it started. The first night I
drove a Racecar professionally was in October 1979 at Hialeah Speedway (a 1/3
mile semi-banked oval track). The car I was driving finished second the week
before and was very quick. Hialeah Speedway had a rule that any new driver had
to start last for their first 3 races in order to get used to the track.
When the
race started, I immediately felt like the cars in front of me were holding me
back. After 1 lap of following them, I decided to make a move to the outside
down the backstretch. As we were reaching the end of the straight I got hit in
the driver’s door and I went directly into the wall at over 100 mph. I climbed
out of my new “wrecked” car and I was very upset. I suddenly realized that I
was OK and that seat belts really work.
In
hindsight, this was possibly the best thing that could have happened. It was
like christening a boat. After that moment, I never had a fear of crashing. This
allowed me to drive at the “Edge” without hesitation and has led to
continued success in every form of racing that I have been involved with.
I went on
to win “Rookie of the Year” that season. I also finished 2nd in
the point standings out of 45 drivers. This success encouraged me to pursue my
goal of becoming a full time professional Race Car Driver. I continued racing
Short Track Stock Cars, moving up through the divisions until in 1984 when I won
the Limited Late Model Championship at Hialeah Speedway. This led to me being
elected to represent the United States in the 1985 Hot Rod World Championship
held in Ipswich, England.
Hialeah
Speedway was also where I got my nickname. Many people pronounced my last name
as Leevee. It is pronounced and spelled like Heavy with a “L” as the first
letter. Well, one night someone called me Leevee and one of my crew guys said,
It’s pronounced Leavy like “Chevy” and ever since I have been “Chevy
Leavy”
After
winning the Stock Car Championship I decided to switch to Road Racing. I had
always liked the SCCA Pro Trans-Am series and I wanted to begin heading in that
direction. To further my skills, I attended the Bob Boundurant School of High
Performance Driving Pro Search Program in 1993. I also started racing a Camaro
in the SCCA ITGT division. In 1993, I won 13 of 15 races, the ITGT Southeast
Region Championship and set an ITGT track record at Moroso Motorsports Park in
West Palm Beach, Florida.
In 1994, I
moved up to the GT-1 Division. I finished 3rd in my first race, 2nd
in my second race and I finished 1st in the third race that I
entered. On the way home from the race it was raining. When I went to turn the
trailer around, it got stuck in the mud. I decided that the only way to get it
out was to unload the racecar to reduce the weight in the trailer. We got the
racecar out and parked it on the side of the road. While I was working on
getting the trailer out of the mud, a drunk driver came down the street and
plowed into my racecar. The damage was devastating. Talk about the thrill of
victory and the agony of defeat!
I rebuilt
the car in the next 4 months and in the 1995/1996 season, out of 13 races, I
scored 5 - 1st place, 4 - 2nd place and 2 - 3rd
place finishes. I also entered my first SCCA Pro Trans-Am race on March 15,1996
at Homestead, Florida. I finished 15th which was the highest finish
for an independent Owner/Driver. On November 10, 1996, I set a GT-1 Track Record
at the Homestead Motorsports Complex. I then started doing spot SCCA Pro
Trans-Am races and continued to race in the GT-1 division. In 1997, I raced in
the SCCA Pro Trans-Am race at Watkins Glen and did some NASCAR Truck events. In
the 1998 Homestead SCCA Pro Trans-Am race, I finished 11th and won
the NTB Sunshine Challenge by being the highest finisher from Florida in that
Race.
In 1999, I
opened the season by winning the 2 National races held at Moroso Motorsports
Park in West Palm Beach, Florida for the GT-1 division. Also in May of 1999, I
set a new GT-1 Track Record at the Homestead track, beating my old record by
almost a full second. I now realized that it was time to “Just Do IT”. So I
sold my GT-1 car after the Road Atlanta SCCA Pro Trans-Am race in July of 1999
and purchased a Rocketsports Camaro SCCA Pro Trans-Am Car.
I raced the
car for the first time in the October 1999 SCCA Pro Trans-Am race at Sebring,
Florida. I qualified 25th and drove to an 11th place
finish. I then entered the SCCA Pro Trans-Am season opener in March 2000 at
Sebring, Florida and qualified a very respectable 16th out of 43
cars. On the first lap of the race I moved up from 16th to 10th.
Unfortunately, mechanical failure struck and the transmission broke on the 2nd
lap. It was very disappointing but we moved on to the next race on April 1, 2000
at Charlotte, North Carolina. At that race, I qualified 15th out of
42 cars but the engine ran hot. We decided that rather than take a chance of
falling out of another race, due to mechanical failure, we would install the
back up engine. We swapped engines the morning of the race and finished only 20
minutes before the race started. I finished 10th. I felt we were
making progress with the new car and I was very optimistic.
When I got
home from the Charlotte race, the unthinkable happened. My sponsor’s company
went bankrupt. Suddenly I was without funding. While I was regrouping, there was
a race on May 7th 2000 in my backyard at the Homestead Motorsports
Complex in Homestead, Florida that was sanctioned by the new Grand American Road
Racing Series. The year 2000 was the inaugural season for this Road Racing
series that is backed by NASCAR. I decided that since it was so close and at my
home track, I would enter The Nextel 250 for the fun of it. After battling the
mechanical gremlins, we got the car ready for the race. I wound up taking the
lead with 10 laps to go. A caution flag came out with 5 laps to go which bunched
up the pack of cars. With 2 laps to go the 2nd place car bumped me
off the track but he got a flat tire when he ran into me and I won the race!
What a change of luck.
I felt like I was on a roll, so I went to the Dodge Dealers Grand Prix
Grand American Road Race on May 31, 2000 at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut. I
qualified 3rd and was running well but on the 8th lap the
engine failed. Mechanical failure again! Two steps forward and one step back. It
was frustrating. Anyway, I continued running the Grand American Road Racing
series for the remainder of the 2000 season. I finished 2nd in the
U.S. Road Racing Classic at Mid Ohio, 3rd at the Road America 500,
got the Pole & won the Informix Way Fast Award at the Players Grand Prix in
Three Rivers, Canada and finished 2nd in the Bosch Summerfest at
Watkins Glen, NY. This led to me getting 5th in the Driver’s points
and 3rd in the Owner’s Points.
I was pleased with the Grand American Road Racing series so I decided
compete in the full season of races for 2001. I originally intended to campaign
my own team but during the end of the 2000 season I was contacted by a team that
was intending to campaign a brand new Corvette. They approached me and we came
to an agreement to combine our efforts.
Our first race was the 24 hours of Daytona. The car had quite a few
problems. Some are to be expected with a new car but it seemed like the car
wasn’t prepared up to the standard that I was accustomed. During practice, a
wheel bearing came loose, the steering was rubbing and the transmission didn’t
shift right. On Race day, it was cold and rainy. I didn’t have much experience
driving in wet conditions but by the end of this race, I was very experienced. I
drove 2 back to back fuel cycles totaling about 8 hours of seat time. Ultimately
the transmission broke about 6 hours from the end and we didn’t finish.
The next race was the Nextel 250 at Homestead, FL. This race was very
special to me as I was the defending champion. I was nervous about the crew and
the new car after the problems at the Daytona race so on a hunch; I prepared my
car as a back up. The Race weekend didn’t start well. In the first session,
the transmission was sticking and still not shifting properly. In the second
session, the transmission broke again. Apparently the crew fixed the
transmission but not what was causing the problem. The team had parts sent in
overnight to repair the transmission. I questioned if they figured out what was
causing the problem and I was told to just worry about driving. Having been an
Owner/Driver my entire career, I was not used to that kind of answer but I
decided to accept that this is how it is when you drive for another team. The
parts arrived just in time for qualifying. Needless to say, the transmission
broke again on the first lap! Now we had no qualifying lap and the car was not
going to be fixed in time for the race. I really wanted to do well at this event
as it is my home track so I offered the use of my car. There was still one warm
up left so I asked the crew chief to let me take my car out and he refused. He
said he was going to fix the transmission again. After the last practice was
over and he still couldn’t fix their car, it was decided we would race my car.
Unfortunately, we would have to start last due to no qualifying time and going
to a back up car. Also, we would not have even one practice lap in my car which
would prove to be a serious problem. When the green flag dropped, I was on the
move. The car felt great and it was very fast. I passed 11 cars in the first
three laps. Then on the fourth lap the throttle got stuck going into a corner
causing me to spin. I was able to stop the car just inches from the wall. I got
going again but the throttle getting stuck must have damaged the engine and on
the next lap the engine blew up. It exploded like no engine I ever broke before.
Oil went on the exhaust and the car erupted into flames. I was able to stop the
car and get out but by the time the safety crew arrived, my car was destroyed. I
was so disappointed at the way things went with this team that I told them I
wasn’t going to continue with their team.
Now I had a destroyed Racecar and no team to race with. During the week
after the race my phone started to ring with people asking what happened at the
race and how bad was my car. One team in particular that contacted me was Kenny
Bupp’s Hamilton Safe Motorsports team. After a very brief discussion, Kenny
offered for me to continue the rest of the season with him. It turned out to be
a much better situation. We were competitive in every race and even won the Road
America 500.
Even though thing were pretty good with Kenny’s team, I realized that I
do much better as an Owner/Driver. So, in between races, we dismantled my car to
the bare frame. We stripped it to bare metal and had it powder coated. Every
Nut, Bolt and Rivet was replaced. It took over 6 months to completely rebuild
the car but we had the car ready for the 2002 Nextel 250.
The race
weekend didn’t start so good because in the first practice we had a bad oil
leak. I was especially concerned because oil is what caused the car to burn up
last year. We finally fixed the oil leak before the race but it really affected
our use of the practice time. In the race, we were running in the top five about
midway through the race and ironically the transmission broke. We were still
very satisfied with all we accomplished.
Making it back to the Nextel 250 after the Thrill of Victory in 2000 and
the agony of defeat in 2001 was one of the greatest accomplishments in my life.
I was interviewed by all the local papers. One paper wrote a half page article
in the sports section. I that interview I commented that as a little boy I
always wanted to build and drive Racecars. It turned that I got what I wished
for.
After the 2002 Nextel 250 race, I needed to focus on my printing
business. It was severely affected by the 9/11 tragedy. Much of my printing
business came from the travel industry as many people were not traveling after
9/11. Fortunately the summer of 2002 people started to travel again. My printing
business has rebounded and things seem to be going well again.
With that in mind, I decided to “Just Do It” again. Many years ago I
went to the Miami Grand Prix as a spectator to watch the SCCA Pro Trans-Am Race
through the streets of Miami. I was especially excited as Miami is my home town
and SCCA Pro Trans-Am has always been my favorite form of racing. That day I
said, “One day I will be in this race”. Well that day came. I entered the
October 6, 2002 Grand Prix of Miami.
The Grand Prix of Miami turned out to be a fantastic return to SCCA Pro
Trans-Am racing for me. Qualifying was rained out so the race started by
driver’s points. Since this was my first Trans-Am race in 2002, I didn’t
have any driver’s points. This meant I had to start 23rd in a field
of 26 cars. I drove very consistently and finished 7th. I also won
the Hard Charger of the race award for improving the most positions during the
race. Seventh was the highest finishing position of any independent team in the
race. This high finish led to the team deciding to go to the next race at Road
Atlanta the following weekend.
The Road Atlanta race was another Rollercoaster. The weather was bad all
weekend but it cleared up for the race. Unfortunately, I only went 1 lap before
the engine broke. I guess I got all I could out of it at Miami. It seemed again
like we were on a roll but it was two steps forward and one step back. The team
felt shortchanged at Atlanta so we decided to do the last race of the season at
Virginia International Raceway.
Virginia was a FAST racetrack with many elevation changes. After getting
used to the track we were running pretty good. We qualified 17th
which was a decent qualifying effort considering that we were still working on
the handling setup. We made some suspension adjustments before the race and the
car was perfect in the race. I had moved into the top 10 midway into the race
when I came up to lap some slower cars. As I was coming off the corner to pass
the slower cars, I was hit hard in the rear by another impatient driver. The
impact caused me to spin off the track. By the time I regained control and
rejoined the race, I lost many positions. I was able to salvage a 14th
place finish.
After competing in the last 3 SCCA Pro Trans-Am races of the season, it
felt GREAT to be back racing full time. I scored 2 very respectable finishes for
an independent driver with no sponsorship assistance. My goal now is to obtain
sponsorship assistance and compete in the full SCCA Pro Trans-Am season in 2003
for the BF Goodrich Tires Cup award.
Well, that
tells my story for now. More to come as it happens in 2003.
Driver Resume
Jon Leavy
Birthdate: December 21, 1958
Residence: Miami, Florida
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 188 lbs.
Top Career Highlights
· United States representative in the Hot Rod World Championship race
held in Ipswich, England
· Winner of the Nextel 250 Grand American Road Race at the Homestead
Motorsports Complex on May 7, 2000
· Winner of the Informix Way Fast Pole Position award at the Players
Grand Prix in the Trois Rivieres, Canada street race on
July 30, 2000
· Track record at the Homestead Motorsports Complex for theSCCA GT-1
division set May 16, 1999
· Track record at Moroso Motorsports Park for the SCCA ITGT division
set March 21, 1993
Championships
· 1993 SCCA ITGT Southeast Region Champion
· 1984 Hialeah Speedway Limited Late Model Champion
Professional Driving Schools
· Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving (ProSearch Program)
· SCCA Road Racing School
· Precision School of Racing
Recent Race Results
Grand American/SCCA Trans-Am/GT-1 Division
Date Location Finish
8/00 Watkins Glen Grand Am Bosch Summerfest 6
Hour Race 2nd
7/00 Road America 500 Grand American Race
3rd
6/00 Mid Ohio Grand American Race
2nd
5/00 Homestead Nextel 250 Grand American Race
1st
4/00 Charlotte Pro Trans-Am Championship Race
10th
11/99 Sebring Pro Trans-Am Championship Race
11th
7/99 Road Atlanta Pro Trans-Am Race
16th
5/99 Homestead Motorsports Complex
1st
2/99 Moroso Last Chance National Race
1st
1/99 Moroso Winter National Race
1st
11/98 Homestead Motorsports Complex
1st
8/98 Watkins Glen Pro Trans-Am Championship Race
15th
5/98 Homestead Pro Trans-Am Championship Race
11th
3/98 Moroso Motorsports Park
1st
1997 Raced NASCAR Truck Series
---
11/96 Homestead Motorsports Complex
1st
9/96 Sebring International Raceway
2nd
8/96 Daytona International Speedway
1st
7/96 Moroso Motorsports Park
2nd
4/96 Moroso Last Chance National Race
1st
Other Hobbies
Water Skiing, Racquetball, Martial Arts
Why Do You Race
To be a role model for the fans and a positive influence for my sponsors.
Achieving the concentration and precision required to drive a race car.
The challenge to win and the excitement of winning.