World Speed Motorsports Alumni

WSM Alumni continue to show up on podiums all over the world. In sports cars, open wheel, stock cars and prototypes these drivers have taken their WSM experience and parlayed it into top-level results. World Speed graduates have competed in ALMS, Grand American, NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula One.

World Speed continues to train and develop future champions, and is hard at work winning with their future alumnus.

(photo: Michael McDowell in the 2010 Red Line Oil Nationwide car)

World Speed owns and operates the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear. Click here to view what those Alumni have been up to!

Michael McDowell who won multiple races in World Speed's FormulaTR 1600 car went from winning in Grand American Daytona Prototypes, and Grand Am Cup to winning races and the Rookie of the Year title in the 2007 ARCA Racing Series. McDowell is currently running NASCAR's top series the Sprint Cup, and the Nationwide Series.

Mario Moraes who competed and won in the World Speed Formula Renault in 2004, is now an IndyCar series veteran.

World Speed's 2003 FormulaTR driver Brad Coleman was competing in the ARCA series in 2006, and won in only his second race of the season. In 2007 he moved into the NASCAR Nationwide Series for Joe Gibbs Racing and was at the front of the pack all season including a pole position at Talladega. By late 2009 Coleman had 51 Nationwide starts with a best finish of 2nd at Kentucky and one Sprint Cup start at Michigan. He is still racing for Joe Gibbs' NASCAR Nationwide team.

Jeff Bucknum, Indy Racing League driver, is the son of sports car legend Ronnie Bucknum, and a former ALMS champion Jeff competed for two seasons in the WSM Star Mazda car and won numerous races. Jeff finished 3rd overall in 1998 and placed 2nd overall in 1999 in the Star Mazda Series with World Speed Motorsports support.

2001 World Speed Star Mazda Champion Scott Bradley is currently managing Standing Start a driver development company that is producing some very talented professionals, and is also assisting dedicated hobbyists reach the podium.

Michael Guasch first started racing in 2005 in the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear. He came to World Speed with a long history of racing dirt bikes, and jet skis. World Speed tested Guasch for a few months in the Formula Renault while he awaited the arrival of his Pro FM. Guasch was quick in the series right away and finished second overall in the championship in his rookie season. Guasch went on to start his own team Phenom Racing where he took his Pro FM to the Star Series and won the Star Mazda Master's Championship. Guasch is currently running in the European FIA GT3 series. He is also the founder of Molecule Nomex Care Products.

Guy Cosmo was a World Speed Champ Car Atlantic driver during the 2001 season has become a prolific sportscar racer. It is typical to find Guy behind the wheel of GT and Prototype cars in ALMS and Grand Am.

Pierre Ehret competed and won multiple races in the Porsche Sports Cup Series in Europe, and finished third in the 24 Hours of LeMans, and won the 24 Hours of Daytona. Pierre spent two seasons with World Speed racing in the Star Mazda Series.

Andy Lally who raced the WSM Atlantic car twice and had two top tens with it is currently racing in sportscars and NASCAR. In addition to three Championships and two Daytona 24 Hour wins Andy currently holds the record for most top 3 and top 5 finishes in Grand American Rolex Series history as well as the record for most podium finishes in a single season.

Jean-François Veilleux, who was a strong contender in the WSM Atlantic car, works for a variety of Canadian motorsports programs, and is a professional coach for BMW Motorsport. Veilleux has also appeared numerous times on television and radio as a motorsports specialist and has published motorsports related articles in a variety of magazines.

Grant Ryley who secured WSM's first pole position in the Atlantic series, and also won numerous Star Mazda Series races for the team is a professional racing coach. Ryley works with a variety of programs including Standing Start.

Alex Figge who won races in World Speed's Formula Mazda in 2000, and competed with WSM in Champ Car Atlantic ran the entire 2007 season in the Champ Car series and has been competing in the American LeMans Series GT class.

Mikel Miller competed in the Star Mazda Series with WSM and in 1998 he finished 2nd Overall with four wins and four track records. Miller works for Standing Start and coached WSM driver Chris Cumming to his three Star Mazda championships, and multiple podiums in the World Speed Porsche GT3.

Jim Hall finished second overall in the Star Mazda Series with World Speed in 1997. Hall chose WSM after he won more than 250 first place karting trophies, and was an IndyCar Team Manager. Today Hall owns and operates Jim Hall Karting in Oxnard California.

Nicolas Rondet who podiumed multiple times in the Champ Car Atlantic Series with WSM is currently working with the Russell Racing School as lead instructor.

World Speed Rising Star Award
The World Speed Motorsports Rising Star Awards have been helping young racers move up the open wheel racing ladder for years. The award includes a free test with WSM, and is presented to an up and coming racer that WSM believes has what it takes to become a pro driver. Many of the past winners of the award have gone on to great successes in racing. Some of the past winners have included:

• Scott Speed
• Joey Hand
• Sage Karam
• Joel Miller
• Cole Whitt
• Michael Self
• Conor Daly
• Ryan Phinny
• Neil Alberico
• Court Vernon