Bob Stallings, owner of GAINSCO /Bob Stallings Racing, is the recipient of the 2010 Rolex Bob Snodgrass Award of Excellence. The announcement was made at the Grand Marshal dinner, the prelude to the Rolex 24 At Daytona, held Friday, January 28, 2011, at Daytona USA.
This is the first annual presentation of the Rolex Bob Snodgrass Award For Excellence, created to recognize the team owner or team manager who has demonstrated the qualities of integrity, passion for the sport and the love of cars for which Bob Snodgrass was known during his life and career. The award is supported by Gorsline Company, the premier insurer of high-risk professionals. Stallings was chosen for the recognition by a panel of motorsports professionals from a short-list of four highly-successful team owners competing in the 2010 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
“It was a tough decision to select one team owner or manager among four outstanding candidates in the Rolex Grand-Am Series,” said Hurley Haywood, the most winning driver of the Rolex 24 at Daytona (1973, ’75, ‘77, ‘79, ‘91). “Each of these gentlemen put together one or more teams in 2010 that proved to be top performers in the Daytona Prototype class,” explained Haywood. “However, the one team owner who the voting panel felt best exemplified the unique qualities of my friend and business associate Bob Snodgrass is Bob Stallings. His team scored only one victory in 2010, seven top-fives and 11 top-10 finishes, but his driving passion to be a successful businessman off the track and a winning team owner on the track clearly reflects what Bob Snodgrass was all about.”
Stallings is a reported workaholic who has seen considerable success in various business endeavors, primarily in the fields of commercial banking and finance. He found his way into motorsports via a four-day race school at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving – a gift from his wife that unlocked a new passion. It took only three years for Stallings to make it to the winners circle and following his win of the 2004 SCCA Formula Atlantic National Championship he founded the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing program to fulfill his dream of fielding a top-level DP team. By 2006 Stallings took the decision to replace himself as a driver in order to have his team realize its championship potential. It was a key move and created a winning foundation for the team in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and with seven wins, 10 poles and numerous qualifying and race lap records, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing’s 2007 championship season remains one of the most successful years of competition on record in Rolex Series DP history. The team backed it up with a runner-up championship showing the following season before taking the team’s second set of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Championships in three years in 2009. GAINSCO finished third in the team standings in 2010.
“I am humbled by this award,” said Stallings who was presented with a specially-engraved Rolex Stainless Steel and Platinum Yacht-Master timepiece by Haywood. “I only got to know Bob for a few years, and he was an absolutely fantastic guy. He gave me guidance every once in a while. Bob was a terrific owner and he is someone for me, frankly, to emulate. “
Stallings, a native of Malden, Missouri, is the father of three daughters and the grandfather of seven. He and Linda Stallings, who manages the racing team’s marketing and sales efforts, reside in Frisco, Texas.
About Bob Snodgrass – Snodgrass, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 64, was president of Brumos Racing, and president and CEO of the Brumos auto dealerships in Jacksonville, Fla., where he lived for 35 years. As a team owner he has three Rolex 24 At Daytona wins (Brumos Racing has eight) and a total of 10 wins at Daytona. He was a driving force behind the formation of the Grand American Road Racing Association and the Daytona Prototype class. Born in Elmira, N.Y., he saw his first race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., and was hooked. Famous for his humor and wit and an accomplished vintage-car racer, Snodgrass (and Peter Gregg, who owned Brumos Porsche from 1965 until his death in 1980) was instrumental in Brumos’ entry into motorsports.
About Rolex Motorsports – Rolex’s presence in motorsports began in the 1930s with Malcolm Campbell. While wearing a Rolex Oyster in 1935, he was the first person to drive an automobile over 300 miles per hour, setting a new land speed record. Rolex truly solidified its position in the sport in 1959 when it began an association with the Daytona International Speedway in Florida and later became the title sponsor of its pre-eminent endurance race, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, in 1992. It was shortly after its initial affiliation with the race track that Rolex introduced a watch designed for lovers of speed, the Cosmograph Daytona, which allowed its wearer to clock elapsed times and calculate average speeds.
Rolex is involved in sponsorships of some of the most prestigious events in the motorsport industry. Endurance races such as the Rolex 24 At Daytona, The 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the Rolex Sports Car Series have been a critical piece of the Rolex portfolio. In addition, Rolex has supported the bygone era of racing by celebrating design, speed, passion and endurance in sponsoring historic races such as the Goodwood Revival and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, as well as concours events such as The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Pebble Beach Tour D’Elegance presented by Rolex, and The Quail, a Motorsport Gathering.
About Gorsline Company – Gorsline Company, headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., pioneered the business of providing insurance for high-risk professionals. The company specializes in providing racing drivers and owners creative, custom designed insurance packages and estate planning strategies.
