GRAND-AM Road Racing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - To say John Pew has had an interesting life would be a major understatement.

Nowadays, the 54-year-old from North Palm Beach, Fla., gets his kicks as co-driver of Michael Shank Racing's No. 60 Crown Royal XR Ford Riley alongside Brazilian Ozz Negri. Like many of his GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 contemporaries, Pew came up through widely accepted driver development ranks such as Star Mazda and various SCCA and Skip Barber series.

Before that, however, Pew - a lifelong sailing aficionado - and his family had several adventures on the high seas. All told, he and his wife, Stephanie, have sailed more than 100,000 miles.

"I've been sailing all my life, ever since I was a kid, and I love it," Pew explains. "There was a perfect time in our lives quite a few years ago when my wife and I and our two young children - one month old and seven years old - decided to take off sailing across the Pacific in a 50-foot sailboat, just us four. We spent a couple years doing that and landed in New Zealand and spent four years there.

"While I was there, I built another boat, because it was a good time to do it, a great place to do it and I loved the whole engineering aspect of building a boat. After we built the boat, we did something really unusual and we sailed up from New Zealand just about directly to Kodiak, Alaska, which nobody does. It was just us four on a 70-foot sloop. It was really a fantastic trip."

For most people, the prospect of being alone on a 70-foot sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean would be at least somewhat frightening if not downright terrifying. That wasn't the case for Pew, who embraced the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

"The thing I like about it is you're all on your own," he says. "Everything that happens, good or bad, is your own doing. It's all about preparation, getting everything ready and taking responsibility for everything. Once we got up to Alaska, we spent a couple of long summers up there sailing the coast. You are completely on your own. It was a really fantastic experience and beautiful country."

Back on the mainland, Pew made the move to auto racing 10 years ago, competing in the Skip Barber Racing Series. In 2003, he finished second in both the Skip Barber Challenge Series and the SCCA Regional Southeast Region ECR Series, and finished third in the Skip Barber Southern Series, taking Most Improved Driver honors in the process.

From there it was on to the Star Mazda Series, where Pew claimed the 2005 Masters championship and two victories in 2006. Along the way, he made a couple of relationships that have positively impacted his racing career even to this day.

"I've known Ozz for at least 10 years," he says. "I actually introduced Mark Patterson (Negri's full-time Rolex Series co-driver from 2006-09) to Ozz, but I finally got to drive with him (this year). I raced with him in Star Mazda for a couple years, which was really good.

"Mark and I have been racing together for at least 10 years. We started Skip Barber about the same time and we went through that whole thing. Mark and I did our first 24-hour race together (the 2004 Rolex 24 At Daytona). It was the year that it rained for, like, 20 hours. We ran in a Corvette to get our feet wet and got hooked on the whole GRAND-AM thing."

Pew has been a Rolex Series regular since the race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca partway through the 2007 season. He co-drove with Ian James in 2007 and 2008 and the duo joined forces with Raphael Matos to win the '08 season finale at Miller Motorsports Park, Pew's lone Rolex Series victory to date.

Last year, he finished 12th in the Daytona Prototype championship alongside co-driver Michael Valiante and is now paired with Negri. Through three races this season, Pew and Negri haven't finished worse than eighth, and just scored their best result of the year with a second-place performance last weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. Pew also leads the Jim Trueman Award standings for the top sportsman driver in the Daytona Prototype category by 27 points, 957-930, over Tracy Krohn.

"I just feel like we have so much momentum going," Pew says. "I think for a Pro-Am team, we're going to do really well this year. I think we're going to do better than other Pro-Am teams have ever done. I'm really, really excited about it."

He's also excited to maintain his association with Michael Shank Racing, which began in 2007 and continues to this day.

"I've never been on a team that was that passionate and that together," Pew says. "The whole team has been together for years. All these guys know each other. Nobody yells at each other. Everybody knows what everybody is going to do and everybody knows it's a team effort. When we do well, it's everybody's effort, not just the drivers. I really like it. I like the way Mike runs the team as well."

With the support of an outstanding team and co-driver, Pew knows all the ingredients are in place to have a great season in 2010. It's just up to him to take it the rest of the way.

"All I can really control is my own personal performance and I'm expecting it to be a lot better," Pew said. "I've been working really, really hard when I'm not racing, at the go-kart track with Ozz and studying data and trying to do the best I can. I'm expecting good things. I mean, there are things that are beyond your control that will happen in a race, but I'm feeling very, very positive about this year."