Terry Borcheller Struggles in Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Race

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was a struggle for 2003 Rolex Series champion Terry Borcheller.

Race Car Driver Terry Borcheller
Race Car Driver Terry Borcheller
From the onset, defending race and series champion Sebastien Bourdais dominated throughout the weekend, leading nearly every practice and winning both sessions of qualifying before his record win.

The race is on a 1.986-mile, 11-turn circuit that goes through city streets between downtown Long Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Borcheller’s co-driver, Harrison Brix was behind the wheel for the first part of 74 laps.

As Bourdais led the field into the first turn of the Champ Car World Series, five cars behind him crashed while trying to get through a tight corner. Mario Dominguez hit teammate Paul Tracy from behind. Tracy was turned around and then got slammed again as Oriol Servia, Bourdais’ teammate Bruno Junqueira and A.J. Allmendinger were collected in the aftermath.

“I was standing in the pit watching,” said Borcheller. “Harrison, my co-driver was behind the crash, it was a scary moment.” The only injury in the five car crash was a bruised knee, said Borcheller. Four of the contenders were knocked out of the city’s seaside street course. Dominguez’s was able to continue, however, and finished 4th.

Harrison Brix returned to the pits. “It was my turn after the pit stop. I started 7th or 8th and moved up to 5th or 6th place,” said Borcheller. “I immediately starting dealing with handling issues and knew I was going to get passed. I was trying to maintain my position.”

Borcheller was driving his Doran Ford No. 77 in the event. “I ended up grabbing the tire wall with the wing and pulled the wing off,” he said. “In the end we finished 22nd out of 26.”

We were part of Saturday evening’s 90-minute Daytona Prototype-only race on the streets of Long Beach, California for the first time in the Champ Car Series, said Borcheller. The winner, Sebastien Bourdais went on to a record-setting performance averaging 87.268 mph in the win.

“That’s behind us,” said Borcheller. “Next is VIRginia International Raceway where we hope to do a lot better.”

Borcheller has 6 professional Series Drivers Championships and 57 Professional Race wins in 7 series at 20 tracks. He uses the stock K&N Engineering air filter on his vehicles when he races. “I’ve never had a problem with the K&N filter, K&N products have always been part of my racing life,” said Borcheller. “The air filters always give me more power and better fuel economy.”

Also check out the Terry Borcheller at Laguna Seca video and the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona video.

Follow Terry Borcheller's progress throughout the racing season at the K&N news site.  Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.