Dino Crescentini, CEO of Centric Parts, will once again ride with Global Motorsports Group (GMG) for the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED GT World Challenge Series when the 2009 season kicks off at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida on March 18-20. This will be his first race since Crescentini was one of three drivers on the team that won the Baja Challenge at the grueling Baja 1000 late in 2008.
With that victory under his belt, Crescentini is optimistic about the 2009 SPEED GT season. “This will be GMG racing’s first full season with Stephen Ruiz, StopTech’s Director of Engineering, as the team’s Head Engineer,” stated Crescentini. Ruiz assumed the role late last season, followed by some of the GMG’s best races. “Steve Ruiz is a magic ingredient that can transform the car from something you fight into something that works with you as a driver, which is key when driving an agile Porsche against the more horsepower driven competition found on the SPEED GT tracks,” he added.Crescentini will debut Trophy Big Brake Kits from StopTech on his Porsche GT3 this season. These are the first kits from the company designed for use on the track only, featuring ultra-lightweight calipers and a full-floating version of the company’s patented AeroHat coupled with patented AeroRotors.
“Porsche’s stock brakes are exceptionally good for original equipment, but StopTech’s Trophy Big Brake Kits go the extra distance for serious performance on the track,” commented Crescentini. “Porsche is my personal vehicle of choice on the track or off, so it was important to me that StopTech offered significant performance enhancement on those cars.”
As a Porsche driver, Crescentini prefers the SPEED GT street courses such as the Grand Prix of Long Beach in California and the Thunderbolt Raceway in New Jersey. “The Porsche GT3 is a great cut-and-thrust vehicle, so put me on a track with good brakes and lots of tight turns and I can leverage every advantage over cars that dominate on long straight-aways,” says Crescentini. “Plus I am not spooked by the concrete barriers typical of street courses, which can be unnerving to some drivers.” It is this attitude that has earned Crescentini the nickname “Street Fighter” amongst some colleagues.
Dino Crescentini was born in Los Angeles and began racing various motocross and desert events in 1972. He has expanded his racing resume for over 30 years, having participated in Alfa Club Races/Time Trials, Trans-Am series, Can-Am vintage car races, and many more classes of events before joining this current SPEED series. Along the way he has won several Rising Star of the Race awards and was named 2004 SPEED Touring Car Rookie of the Year. On the business side, he co-founded StopTech in 1999 in Southern California and departed a year later to start Centric Parts, which later added Power Slot and StopTech and performance and ultra-performance divisions.
Crescentini’s SPEED GT racing schedule with GMG Racing this season:
- Sebring International Raceway in Florida (March 18 – 20)
- The Grand Prix of Long Beach in California (April 17 – 19)
- Thunderbolt Raceway in New Jersey (May 1 – 3)
- Mosport International Raceway in Canada (May 15 – 17)
- Watkins Glen International in New York (July 3 – 5)
- Autobahn Country Club in Illinois(July 24 – 26)
- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Ohio (August 7 -9)
- Road America in Wisconsin (August 14-16)
- Road Atlanta in Georgia (September 23 – 25)
- Laguna Seca Raceway in California (October 9-11).
The races will be broadcast on SPEED Channel.
Crescentini will start contributing his racing insights to The Brake Room blog here next week, and we will feature race reports and in-car footage throughout the season.
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