Sep 30, 1994
\nDublin, Ohio — Two of this country’s most promising young race car drivers, Mike Borkowski, from Middlebury, Conn., and Clay Collier, from Dallas, Texas, have been selected as this year’s recipients of the Valvoline Team USA Scholarship. The talented American twosome will fly the Stars and Stripes colors in the International Formula Ford Festival and World Cup at Brands Hatch, England, on October 22-23.
\nNow in its fifth year, the prestigious scholarship award his two primary aims: to assist young American drivers in their quest to gain international recognition; and to increase awareness of the effectiveness of the traditional North American “feeder” series. The first two recipients of the award, Jimmy Vasser (1990) and Bryan Herta (1991), have this year become acknowledged as two of the most promising drivers in the PPG Indy Car World Series.<\/p>\n
“Going to the Formula Ford Festival represented a major step forward in my career,”says Herta, who won the 1993 Firestone Indy Lights Championship and earned top-10 finishes in his first three Indy Car starts after joining the team run by Indy Car legend A.J. Foyt. “It’s such a big event. The competition there is intense. When I went, there were almost 200 drivers from all over the world. It was a fantastic experience.”<\/p>\n
Now Borkowski, 21, and Collier, 19, are looking to follow in Herta’s footsteps. They will also be looking to improve on a sensational performance by last year’s “scholar”\u009d Jerry Nadeau, who finished a strong fourth in the Festival Grand Final.<\/p>\n
“‘ve heard so much about the Festival,”\u009d says Borkowski. “Now I have the opportunity to race there myself. I’m excited about being asked to represent the lower formulae in the U.S., and I think, with the equipment we have, we should be competitive. I can hardly wait.\u00e2”<\/p>\n
Borkowski, a senior at Cornell University, recently clinched the SCCA Formula Continental Championship at the wheel of his Falcon Racing Van Diemen RF94. He also won last year’s Oldsmobile Pro Series (Sports 2000) Championship title.<\/p>\n
“I feel privileged to be one of the drivers going over to England,”adds Collier, who leads the highly competitive USAC Formula 2000 Championship title-chase with one race remaining. “I’m told that racing in Europe is very different to here in the States, so I’m looking forward to finding out just how different it is. It should be a great experience.\u00e2”<\/p>\n
One of the top British teams, John Village Automotive, has been contracted to run the Valvoline Team USA program. JVA will field a pair of Van Diemen chassis, and for the first time the Americans will contest the more powerful “Zetec” category, which was introduced last season as a replacement for the aging “Kent”-engined class. All of the major European countries now host championships conforming to the new Zetec class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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