Team Polizei is entering professional motorsports.
Yes. Team Polizei is entering professional motorsports.
It’s utterly surreal. Even for me.
…yet on May 17th, Polizei Interceptor 144P will roll past the start line at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
Making the jump from road rallies to the Grand Am Series - which includes the vaunted 24 Hours of Daytona - is one I deemed less even less likely than a successful attempt to break the Transcontinental Cannonball Record.
I thought both impossible - at least given my skills & experience - and yet, even after the record was broken, I never expected to race a race car on a race track, let alone show my face among proper race drivers, and yet I sought to prove that I knew as much about endurance racing as the 24 hour drivers, and that few of them were capable of breaking 31:04…at least not without a teammate like myself.
Then - in a chance meeting that almost made me believe in a higher power - I met veteran racer & Skip Barber instructor Rene Villeneuve. Not only did he praise my application of endurance racing strategies (which I learned from watching Le Mans) in breaking the NY-LA record, he also pointed out that I sucked at driving manual. Really. Then he began explaining the meaning of teamwork, about which I knew less than I’d thought.
Logically, I asked him to become Team Captain. He agreed, on the condition I become part of the team, which - on my rallies and cross country runs - had usually been some crazy bald man with some very patient friends…whereas with Rene running operations and teaching me to drive…
…and now, between Rene, our unflappable ur-CEO Liz Moses, and Ferrari Challenge veteran/gentleman driver Henri “The-French-Sean-Connery” Richard, we’ve come along way even in the last four weeks.
I thought I knew a thing or two about cars, racing, repairs costs, stress, ego, fear and the convenience of Meineke, but already it’s clear I knew but fragments of the professional race driver’s stress. Alas, I also suffer team owner’s stress, which isn’t nearly as funny.
From now through the May 17th race, we will be sharing daily our as-yet unrevealed plans for video and mapping coverage of our test and race days, and too many things only I or those who get Polizei will want to hear, see or buy.
Racing content - if not the experience - is about to get better, as is the Polizei clothing line…which is going up in quality, down in price, up in customization and…up in coolness, at least based on the number of customizable options, which are about to increase…a lot.
We ALSO have an as-yet unrevealed new car, new technologies and real sponsors, each of whom play a critical role in this project.
And we have TRG, our team partner and logistical backbone, and Everytrail and Facecake, our content/software/marketing partners. If you haven’t heard of them, well, a lot of Nascar folks haven’t heard of Polizei. At least not yet. (Don’t worry, we’re not going to Nascar.)
Download Google Earth 5 if you haven’t already, for I’ll be releasing a MOUNTAIN of GPS track histories and video, 6-7 years worth, as we approach the May race. We’re still holding a lot of cards tight, and if I say our team has a few surprises, more events and bigger plans, well…I was telling the truth last time.
Thanks for all your support.
Alex Roy
I can tell the pic is from Forza Motorsport but PLEASE tell me you’re serious. Show those damn Saxons in their Dodge Compensators what an ass-engined Nazi sled can do, YOU’RE MY FUCKING HERO!!
Wow ! We’re used to the unexpected, but Alex running in endurance series on a Team Polizei 144 Porsche (it seems) is now the official benchmark for unexpected. Cool. Sub-zero cool.
I didn’t think Team Polizei could get any better but now I’m blown away. Fantastic news and good luck I can’t wait to see what the race car will be.
WOW! Congrats Alex + Team. I will be watching as much as I can, Good Luck!
Mr.Roy- Congrats on the brilliant move to grand am cup. All you need know is myself, young fast blood to co drive the car. Let me know your thoughts give me a call we can discuss and talk about this and what road racing im doing now with scca 908 472 5988
I’ve learned to expect the unexepected but I never saw this coming. Good luck!
Does this sound boring, or what? I thought Team Polizei 144 was all about the adventure, the excitement of taking us on a outrageous road trip, giving us the chance to view a genuine traveller on his quest for fun, freedom of spirit and adventure. Anyway, good luck with it.