Sri Lankan Race Team Owner Stateside

[KLM]

I dont if anybody here follows the myriad US racing scene but I found an article about this guy Shane Seneviratne who runs a team in Atlantics, which is a support series for ChampCar, one of the top open-wheel series' in the States. A lot of famous names have come from Atlantics in the past, most notably Gilles Villeneuve, Bobby Rahal, Cristiano da Matta and other too numerous to name. Apparently he managed the famed Dorricott operation before venturing into ownership with his US RaceTronics team. It looks like he cut his teeth at Laguna Seca, possibly one of the greatest road-courses in the world.

http://www.champcaratlantic.com/News/Article.asp?ID=1959

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=238429

US RaceTronics Owner Shane Seneviratne Looks Back on an Exciting 2005 Season and Looks Ahead to 2006

December 09, 2005

As a young 17-year-old new arrival from Sri Lanka, Shane Seneviratne would go on to become one of the most successful Team Managers in the history of the Champ Car Support Series. The handprints of Seneviratne, who now calls Bakersfield, California home, would be seen throughout the world. As Team Manager for Dorricott Racing the drivers who would came through those Dorricott doors would go on to racing series' throughout the world. Drivers such as Casey Mears (NASCAR), Oriol Servia, Luiz Garcia Jr. (Champ Car), Townsend Bell (IRL and Formula 3000), Luis Diaz & Alex Gurney (A1GP & Grand Am Series), Jon Fogarty (American Le Mans Series), Jeff Ward and Robbie Buhl (IRL) are just a partial list of Dorricott alumni. And while the list of drivers are extensive, there are far more personnel currently in the racing industry that earned their stripes under Senerviratne's leadership.

Formed in 1994, the dominance of Dorricott Racing will always stand for itself. As Seneviratne describes it, "Dorricott was a well oiled machine." The team won the Indy Lights Series Championship in 1999 and 2001 and finished second in 2000. In 2002, with the demise of the Indy Lights Championship Series, the team entered the Toyota Atlantic Championship and dominated that series as well. The 2002 season would be a bittersweet one though when team founder and its inspiration Bob Dorricott succumbed to cancer. Bob was foundational for Seneviratne, and he will be the first to admit that it was Bob who got him started in racing. His presence and levelheaded leadership style fueled the team's eagerness to win, which they did plenty of. The team dedicated their efforts to Bob that year and finished first, third and fourth in the championship standings with drivers Jon Fogarty, Alex Gurney, and Luis Diaz. Dorricott ran their last season in 2003 with Diaz and Kyle Krisiloff.

The 2004 season saw Seneviratne assisting the Dorricott family in disbanding the team and for the first time in his career Seneviratne was not involved in a racing series. Late in 2004, with the '05 Toyota Atlantic Championship season quickly creeping up, Seneviratne re-evaluated his life and where he wanted it to go. The decision was made to form his own team. So far Senerviratne's decision seems to be paying dividends. He formed US RaceTronics and the team's driver, David Martinez, finished fifth in Championship points, only 68 points out of first. Seneviratne sat down recently and reflected on the 2005 season and talked about his history, the Dorricott years, the current team and his plans for the future.

As far as the biggest difference between being a Team Manager and a Team Owner, Seneviratne admits that the "financial responsibilities" was the most significant change. Not that Seneviratne bared no financial responsibilities while part of Dorricott Racing. He did, however, this time he decides what the team can and cannot afford and makes all decisions accordingly. "You have to make that ultimate decision and that's the most difficult part of being a team owner," states Seneviratne. The other big difference is he puts his money where his mouth is and has had to reach into his own pockets to fund the team. While Roshfrans did provide primary sponsorship for US RaceTronics, the expenses for a first-year Atlantic team are typically significant. It was easier telling owners what it cost and letting them decide, however, it is much more difficult to have that responsibility now. "While it sounds boring and sounds repetitive, the finances really are the biggest obstacle to establishing, maintaining, and expanding a team,", said Seneviratne.

As Team Manager, Seneviratne was able to sleep better. Now, as the owner, there are those nights where sleep is non-existent. The financials and the performance, or lack thereof, on a car during a race weekend really disrupts the sleeping patterns of this first year Team Owner. However, as with everything in his life, Seneviratne carries on. It's another one of those things that goes with the territory. As difficult as it is, it's a decision that he's accepted.

As far as reasons why a relatively sane person would sign up for such the herculean task of purchasing and running an Atlantic team, Seneviratne points to his Dorricott Racing experience. "The main deciding force for me was when the Dorricotts decided to close the doors and it basically came down to Phyllis (Dorricott)'s help, she gave me a good price on a car and some engines, so it made it feasible for me to own a race car. Still by that time I wasn't sure if this was for me," Seneviratne continues. "The decision came after Long Beach when Roshfrans called and wanted to put David (Martinez) in the show in Mexico and that got the ball rolling. With the good result (third) at Monterrey, we continued with the rest of the season." While there are things that can be planned out in a season, the season that US RaceTronics has experienced was not one of those things. "This is not something that I sat down and planned, I was actually going to take this year slowly and did not expect to be at this point so soon, but here we are," Seneviratne gleefully declares.

Regarding the team and its 2005 driver David Martinez, Seneviratne proudly declares Martinez as a racer with "a lot of talent and a lot of potential and he's done a great job and made the team shine with the results he's given us." As far as the team, Seneviratne admits that putting together a new team, especially one with little or no experience in a race environment, can be extremely difficult. He acknowledges, "the team has come a long way." Expanding on that point, Seneviratne adds, "with each new day the time that I spend wrenching the car is decreased more and more so I can tend to other duties that now require more of my time. The team has stepped up remarkably." The team consists of local Bakersfield residents whom have a large array of experiences from Superbike racers, regular 9-to-5 office workers to your more familiar auto mechanics. So to say that this team is made up of a motley crew would be an understatement.

The team, by all measures of success, had a very successful 2005 campaign. As the season came to a close in Montreal the following proves what a successful initial season the US RaceTronics team had. Out of 12 starts, the team racked up one pole (Montreal), 10 Top-10 finishes and five of those finishes were on the podium. At Toronto the team even led the race.

Passion is something that drives Seneviratne, and of all the passions in his life racing, is his number one. The first indication that racing would be Senerviratne's life was when his family went camping in the Monterey Peninsula and had to book a camping spot at Laguna Seca. Not knowing what Laguna Seca was or the fact that it was actually a race weekend, Seneviratne woke up the next morning to the sounds of racecars on the track. Being the inquisitive person he is, the youngster found himself talking to the Jim Russell Racing School folks and ended up signing up for their mechanic's program. The next year he found himself as a mechanic with the Dorricott Racing organization. The rest is really history.

While the team prepares for another season, the plan is to settle into its new state-of-the-art facility at Buttonwillow Raceway and continue it's winter testing program.

While Senerviratne's journey has been filled with ups and downs, the tenacity and passion remains the same. The 17-year-old who was awed at the first sounds of a race car roaring down the track at Laguna Seca is now a Team Owner who can now stand back and enjoy what he has helped build, and strive for what is left to be accomplished.