NASCAR team co-owner takes wheel at Petit Le Mans

Saturday’s 14th Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton offers as wide an array of race cars and race drivers as one could expect in a single event. The 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance run features four different divisions with about 50 cars in all, each with two or more drivers and all on the race track at the same time.

Many of the drivers are skilled professionals, known across the world for their road-racing abilities. Others can best be described as “gentleman drivers” because they’re basically skilled amateurs, often living out lifelong dreams to race in one of the top endurance races in the world.

Rob Kauffman, who will share the seat of the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari 430 Italia with Rui Aguas and Justin Bell in the GTE AM Class, puts himself in the gentleman-driver category.

Kauffman is the co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, the NASCAR team that fields Sprint Cup entries for Waltrip, Martin Truex Jr. and David Reutimann and a K&N Pro Series East car for Brett Moffitt. But his main job is being the European manager for Fortress Investments. He’s a native of New York, but now lives in London.

He said his love of all things automotive is a lifelong passion.

“I’ve always been told that the first word I said was ‘Mama’ and the second was ‘car,’” Kauffman said. He achieved one of his racing goals earlier this year when he raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Now it’s on to a new challenge, at Road Atlanta. His objective going in is to still be running when the checkered flag flies after 1,000 miles or 10 hours, whichever comes first.

“We want to finish,” he said. “That’s the challenge. It’s a long race and a pretty challenging track.”

Before this week’s test sessions, Kauffman’s only experience at Road Atlanta came a few weeks back when he took the wheel of one of the Michael Waltrip Racing Sprint Cup cars during a test session. But a Cup car isn’t nearly as nimble as the sports car he’ll drive this weekend.

“I liked the power of the Cup car, but I’ll take the brakes of the Ferrari,” he said.

Racing in the Petit isn’t just a way of marking off an entry on Kauffman’s bucket list. It’s part of a bigger plan to expand his presence in motorsports.

He’s considering being a part of some Grand Am racing in the United States and more sports-car racing in Europe.