Michael John Borkowski (born May 6, 1973) is an American race car driver. Borkowski has raced in a variety of cars and series, is experienced in both road and oval racing, but is best known for his victory over
Tommy Kendall
Tommy Kendall (born October 17, 1966) is an American race car driver and television broadcaster. He is best known for his IMSA GT Championship and SCCA Trans-Am Series career.
Racing career
Son of race driver Charles Kendall, Kendall began his ...
Quarter Midgets
Quarter midget racing is a form of automobile racing. The cars are approximately one-quarter (1/4) the size of a full-size midget car. The adult-size midget being raced during the start of quarter midget racing used an oval track of one-fifth of a ...
at the Silver City Quarter Midget Club in
Meriden, Connecticut
Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.Jeff Simmons,
Erin Crocker
Erin Mary Crocker Evernham (born March 23, 1981) is an American race car driver and broadcaster with the Motor Racing Network's Winged Nation. In the past, she played soccer, tennis, and varsity lacrosse on both her high school and college teams. ...
Indycar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...
engineer Chris Simmons. Borkowski competed in
Quarter Midgets
Quarter midget racing is a form of automobile racing. The cars are approximately one-quarter (1/4) the size of a full-size midget car. The adult-size midget being raced during the start of quarter midget racing used an oval track of one-fifth of a ...
from 1981 to 1988, winning four New England States Championships in the process.
At age 16, Borkowski made the transition to full size cars competing in the 1989 Spenard David School and 1990 Bertil Roos School Racing Series, winning three out of seven races, two pole positions, and finishing on the podium five times. In 1990 he also competed in the SCCA's New England States Road Racing and North Atlantic Road Racing Championships, dominating both Championships with seven wins, two track records, seven pole positions, and eight fastest race laps.
Still a senior in high school at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, Borkowski turned pro in 1991, competing in SCCA's Pro Sports 2000 Series, winning Rookie of the Year. Borkowski continued his winning ways in the 1992 and 1993 Pro Sports 2000 Championships, capturing five wins, eleven podiums, nine track records, four pole positions along with the 1993 Series Championship.
In 1992, Borkowski had a unique opportunity to co-pilot the
Oldsmobile Aerotech
The Oldsmobile Aerotech was a series of experimental high-speed vehicles manufactured between 1987 and 1992 incorporating the latest in performance technology with the intention of breaking multiple automobile speed records. The first such c ...
in a grueling test of endurance and speed at the Firestone Test Track in
Fort Stockton, Texas
Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways U.S. Route 67 (Texas), 67, U.S. Route 285 (Texas), 285, and U.S. R ...
, setting multiple FIA World Speed Records in the process.
1994 saw the transition for Borkowski to open-wheel race cars. He was awarded the Team USA Scholarship to compete at the legendary British Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. In 1994 he also competed in and won the SCCA Pro Formula 2000 Championship, winning four of six races entered in a seven race series, four pole positions, finishing on the podium in all six starts, and setting six track records.
Indy Lights, Indycar, and Sportscars
In 1995 Mike ran a limited schedule in Indy Lights with Team Medlin, competing and finishing in the top ten in all six races run with a best finish of fourth at
Belle Isle Park
Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle (), is a island park in Detroit, Michigan, developed in the late 19th century. It consists of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, as well as several surrounding islets. The U.S.-Canada border ...
in Detroit.
In 1996 Borkowski was tapped to run his first
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...
as factory driver for the #1 Oldsmobile Aurora GTS-1 alongside drivers
Irv Hoerr
Irv Hoerr (born November 14, 1946) is an American racing driver from Peoria, Illinois. He is primarily known for racing in several sports car racing series. Hoerr was the 1992 IMSA GTO champion. He moved up to the GTS-1 class winning the 1995 and ...
, Brian Cunningham, and
Darin Brassfield
Charles Darin Brassfield (born September 16, 1963) is a former American racing driver from Los Gatos, California. He attempted to make his CART Championship Car debut in 1985 at the season ender in Miami driving for Wysard Racing. However, he fa ...
. The team was leading in class when the car caught fire at the 9 hour mark, preventing the car and team from finishing the race. In 1996, Borkowski was also selected for the inaugural Team Green Academy, however, was unable to participate due to being signed by Team Rahal Letterman.
1997 was a breakout year for Borkowski's professional career, competing for Team Rahal Letterman in partnership with
Tom Gloy
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
Racing in the Trans-Am Series, collecting the two aforementioned wins, third in the overall championship, and Rookie of the Year honors.
In 1998 Borkowski returned to Indy Lights under the Team Rahal Letterman banner but with limited success, collecting only one top five finish at Vancouver in fourteen starts. In 1998, Borkowski also ran his second
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...
, campaigning a
Tom Gloy
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
fielded GT1
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...
Cobra alongside drivers Tony Kanaan and Robbie Buhl, finishing third in class.
In 1999, Borkowski qualified and raced in one Indy Racing League event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, however the race was stopped prior to completion after crash debris entered the grandstands killing three spectators. Borkowski also made his one and only attempt at qualifying for the Indy 500 driving for
PDM Racing PDM may stand for:
Computing
* .pdm (disambiguation), several file formats
* Personal data manager - portable hardware tool enabling secure storage and easy access to user data
* Phase dispersion minimization, a data analysis technique for fin ...
but never got his chance when rain cut short qualifying on Bubble Day.
Later in his career, Borkowski returned full-time to driving sports GT and prototype race cars in the Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2003, he was hired by legendary Brumos Racing to campaign a
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
Rolex Series
The Rolex Series is a series of men's professional golf tournaments played internationally, as part of the European Tour.
History
The series was unveiled for the 2017 European Tour, 2017 season and began with eight events, all with elevated purse ...
and Daytona Prototype class. Together Borkowski and Donohue won three races, stood on the podium ten times, and finished second overall in the series championship. Between 2003 and 2010, Borkowski competed in both the Rolex Series' Daytona Prototype and GT classes for various teams including Speedsource,
Michael Shank Racing
Meyer Shank Racing (formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American auto racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and IMSA SportsCar Championship.
History Atlantic Championship
Michael Shank as an owner of Michael Shank Racing, he ...
, Playboy Racing, and Stevenson Motorsports. During this period he drove a variety of cars with a variety of co-drivers including Daytona Prototype's (with Paul Tracy, Kenny Wilden, and Brian Friselle), a Nissan 350Z and BMW M6 (with Tommy Constantine), and a Chevrolet Camaro GT.R (with Matt Bell).
In 2004, Borkowski also piloted a Lola Nissan LMP2 prototype in the
12 Hours of Sebring
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second round ...
with co-drivers Ian James and John Macaluso, winning their class.
Craftsman Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
, and nine Busch Series events between 1999 and 2003. His best finish was a tenth at Talladega Superspeedway in 2000 driving for the now defunct Bill Davis Racing. After causing four crashes in one race, Borkowski was fired. First crashing
Lyndon Amick
Lyndon Amick (born June 30, 1977) is a former NASCAR driver. He spent most of his NASCAR career in the NASCAR Busch Series driving for his family-owned team.
Racing career
Amick was the 1996 NASCAR Goody's Dash series champion. Amick made his NA ...
who faked him out on throwing his helmet, then crashing Jason Jarrett who then threw his knee pads at Borkowski's car under caution. Then with 9 laps to go, he crashed Ted Christopher and Tony Raines in one crash and Jay Sauter and Michael Ritch on the last lap at the Busch 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, on the same weekend that Adam Petty was killed in a crash. Bill Davis Racing released him after this event due to pressure from his sponsor. Borkowski was then sued by title sponsor AT&T for "allegedly tarnishing their brand image".
Motorsports career results
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
IndyCar Series
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
: ''1 Borkowski qualified 24th for the 1999 VisionAire 500K at Charlotte, however, the race was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities. The race was subsequently stricken from record.''
Indy 500 results
: ''1 On Bubble Day, Borkowski was in line to qualify Tony Stewart's backup car but never got the chance due to rain washing out the final minutes of qualifying.David Heuschkel "Rain Doesn't Deter Borkowski" ''Hartford Courant'', 1999''
NASCAR
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Winston Cup Series
Busch Series
Craftsman Truck Series
ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
References
See: DRIVER-CAR, P. S., PTSTBMPM LR, and TRABBRVI RA. "Drivers’ Championship Point Standings."