Russell Wittenberg was a key part of DSC’s US squad for many years from the very start. His first scoop came in the pre-DSC era when the Ormond Beach resident was driving by Daytona International Speedway in 1999 and heard something unusual on the high banks – that turned out to be an early test of the Cadillac LMP with Ron Fellows at the wheel.
From there on in, a growing friendship with Malcolm Cracknell saw Russell invited along for the Rolex 24, Sebring 12 Hours and, on the odd occasion, other ALMS races too – plus an outing at Le Mans in 2002.
His reputation for getting just the right quotes in a busy pitlane was matchless, but work and family commitments meant that very sadly for us, he had to curtail his journalistic efforts at around the time of the ALMS/Grand-Am merger.
Since then though, he has been busy not only raising a growing family and doing well in business but also fuelling his motorsport passion by….taking part in motorsport. A Porsche Cayman and Ginetta G55 were followed by a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, in which he competes in club events.
More recently still he has taken another step and, in 2024 and in preparation for 2025 , Russell has had a key role in a two-car team in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented By Michelin.
Having met Kimberlee Hendricks – owner/ operator of the Hendricks Motorsport team (no, not THAT one!) and her engineer Erik Madsen, Russell and a business partner decided (as TurboCat Racing) to buy two brand new MX5 Cup cars from Flis Performance (old friends from his reporting days) in March 2024.
Kimberlee is an impressive young lady, schooled in the sport from the age of six by her parents. Family legend has it that her very first word was “camshaft”.
Mom was adamant that her daughter wasn’t going to be involved in the sport and has underlined that firmly entrenched position by assisting in any way she can with the team’s hospitality offer.
Dad Buddy Hendricks, meanwhile, is now in a typically busy semi-retirement and works in the team’s machine shop, as well as serving as transportation manager for High Class Racing’s IMSA effort (the team are hosted in the Hendricks shop) – a truly family affair but with a laser focus on a commercially sustainable future.
That vision gained momentum when Russell Wittenberg walked in off the street to what is his local race shop looking for assistance with the Ginetta G55 that he and three friends owned and raced; the UK-built machine was presenting some issues that were beyond them.
“Kimberlee’s response was so clear, so structured and so fair that I knew I’d lucked into the right move,” Russ told the DSC Editor.
“The Ginetta has moved on now but Kimberlee and her guys now look after my 911 GT3 Cup car.”
It was business-led, but the relationship-cultivated link that saw a conversation bloom. It led, pretty quickly and directly by all accounts, to the purchase of the new Mazdas. Both cars will be exclusively campaigned by Hendricks with 2024 a year of preparation.
One new car competed at the 2024 Sebring event with former ARCA series champion and current NASCAR Xfinity Cup driver Jesse Love as driver, a 12th place in Race 2 was a great effort in such a deep and experienced field with a Series Rookie.
Since then there’s been testing and building for 2025 and a planned two-car full season with some potentially very interesting names on the ‘maybe’ list!!
“We’re currently involved with a well-established IMSA LMP team, assisting them to test and evaluate potential customers for their future programmes without exposing them too early to the challenges and risks of an LMP test.”
That’s a smart way of monetising the asset, and a presence in testing is also helping Kimberlee and her team to build quite a contact database ahead of the looming decision for 2025.
“We want to be competitive and we want to be very visible. We have new cars, great and cooperative owners and a really tight team around the effort. We’re good to go for 2025.”
There is though set to be a two-car effort for the first oval race for the Mazda MX-5 series at Martinsville Speedway on 26 Oct 26. Current NASCAR ‘ladder’ driver Andy Jankowaik and up-and-coming racer Rueben Caceres Jr. with a background in both circle track and spec Miata road racing will race the Hendricks Mazdas.
DSC will be keeping an eye on the team at Martinsville, as we close in on the new season and, we expect, as some of the best racing in North America revs up for another season!
If you are interested in testing, or racing Hendricks Motorsport can be contacted via:
- IG: HendricksMotorsport
- FB: Hendricks Motorsports
- Website: Hendricks-Motorsports.com
