Connor Mosack, Boris Said Jr., Jake Drew Hope To Pick Up Where Team Left Off After Last September’s Pole-To-Checkered-Flag Domination by Connor Zilisch
HIGH POINT, N.C. (May 9, 2024) – The Silver Hare Racing trio of drivers Connor Mosack, Boris Said Jr., and Jake Drew return to the scene of a thoroughly dominating victory by the team last fall when the Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series takes to the 1.6-mile, eight-turn World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) circuit in Madison, Illinois, for Saturday’s fourth round of the 2024 season.
That dominating performance Sept. 23 came at the hands of 17-year-old Connor Zilisch, who qualified on the pole and led all 61 TA2 race laps to score his and the team’s fourth of five wins of 2023. The young Team Chevrolet development driver who graduated to a mixed bag of NASCAR Xfinity Series, Craftsman Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and zMAX Cars Tour events in 2024 went on to repeat the pole-to-checkered-flag performance at the very next round Oct. 8 at the team’s home track, Virginia International Raceway in Alton, and again at this year’s season-opening round Feb. 24 at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway.
So it should come as no surprise that confidence abounds in the Silver Hare camp as the series returns to the banks of the mighty Mississippi River just a stone’s throw from downtown St. Louis for just the second time since 1985. Mosack, Said and Drew are champing at the bit to try and pick up where Zilsch left off last September during Saturday’s 63-lap, 75-minute main event.
Mosack, the 25-year-old driver of the No. 77 Silver Hare Racing/PRG Chevrolet Camaro who’s in the midst of his own mixed bag of Xfinity, Truck, ARCA and Cars Tour events for the second year in a row, hits town fresh off his second career ARCA victory last Saturday on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway oval in Kansas City, the very track where he scored his breakthrough first ARCA win last September. The native of Charlotte, North Carolina, is hoping to carry that momentum into his bid for a third career TA2 Series victory in his first race at WWTR.
Said, the 20-year-old son of veteran NASCAR and sportscar racer Boris Said, returns to WWTR for the second year in a row, but this time behind the wheel of his No. 75 HendrickCars.com/Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Last September, the younger Said drove a Peterson Racing entry to an 18th-place finish from the 15th starting position at WWTR en route to top-10 finishes in both the TA2 Rookie and Young Guns standings. The native of Escondido, California, has shown steady improvement in his first three races driving Silver Hare equipment, but saw his bid thwarted during an opening-lap pileup in the most recent round April 15 at NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, Louisiana. He limped his damaged racecar to a 12th-place finish and is ready for a fresh start this weekend.
Meanwhile Drew, the 24-year-old from Fullerton, California, will be making just his third career TA2 start this weekend but has built a solid foundation with his first two appearances behind the wheel of the No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and NOLA. After narrowly missing a podium finish in his TA2 debut March 24 at Road Atlanta, Drew qualified third and methodically raced his way to a second-place finish four weekends ago at NOLA. The veteran of a half-dozen NASCAR Truck Series events in 2023 and a 23-race slate of ARCA outings from 2021 to 2023 that featured three road-course victories in 2022 is laser focused on going one better at WWTR.
A pair of Friday-morning test sessions kick off this weekend’s on-track action at 8 and 10:25 a.m. CDT, followed by official practice 1:50 p.m. TA2 qualifying is set for 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Race time Saturday is 12:35 p.m. with series partner MAVTV providing live television coverage, augmented by live streaming video on the Trans Am and SpeedTour channels on YouTube. MAVTV will air a 60-minute race show at 8 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 16.
Silver Hare Racing leverages its Trans Am effort to promote its arrive-and-drive program, where aspiring racers and even tenured professionals hone their road-racing skills on some of the most revered tracks in North America. NASCAR Cup Series drivers Daniel Suárez, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Harrison Burton have all wheeled Silver Hare Racing-prepared cars to burnish their road-racing abilities in top-flight equipment.
The team offers six, professionally built and maintained TA2 chassis from Howe Racing for both competition and private testing. Silver Hare Racing has a dedicated, fulltime crew and operates out of a state-of-the-art facility in High Point, North Carolina. At the track, two 53-foot Featherlite transporters serve as the team’s base, each outfitted with a lounge and smart TVs for data and video review, as well as for hospitality.
To further Silver Hare Racing’s driver development capabilities, the team’s race shop in High Point is now equipped with a SHOCKWAVE Simulator, a tool specifically developed for drivers to accelerate racetrack familiarity, improve car control and confidence, and build stamina. SHOCKWAVE has been involved in racing since 1965 and is currently actively participating in NASCAR, ARCA, Trans Am, Late Models, and Sprint cars. Its Trans Am package replicates a Howe Racing TA2 chassis, complete with cockpit controls and sounds.
“With NASCAR having so many more road-course races, it’s our goal for Silver Hare Racing to be the preferred team for drivers to get that road-course experience,” said Laura Hull, Silver Hare Racing co-owner and team manager. “We want to be that important step in the ladder for the young, up-and-coming drivers. We want people to know we have an arrive-and-drive program, where for people who want to run this track or another, we provide the opportunity to do that and be successful.”
Connor Mosack, driver, No. 77 Silver Hare Racing/PRG Chevrolet Camaro:
As was the case at NOLA, you’ll be seeing WWTR for the first time this weekend. Your thoughts about racing there?
“It’ll be my first time going there, but it is on the simulator, so I feel like I’ve gotten to run laps on it and have a good feel for what it’s going to be like. I’ve talked to Connor Zilisch some, he had some good tips for that place. Obviously, he and the team were pretty dominant there last year. I feel like we’ve got a good handle on it going into it.”
What stands out about the track for you, speaking from your experience on the simulator?
“It seems like a pretty straightforward place. It has one, long, sweeping right-hand corner, which is about the only one you might be able to approach differently, whereas the other corners are all kind of straightforward as far as there’s only one way to get through them. Then you get to the big-banked corner onto the NASCAR track, which I think will actually be a pretty fun corner and is somewhere I think we can make good speed at. I’m looking forward to going there. I think we’ll have good speed, so we’ll see what we can do.”
You’re coming off a resounding victory in the ARCA Menards Series Race at Kansas Speedway last weekend. Do you feel that gives you momentum this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway?
“That springs confidence, any time you come off a win, especially one that you feel like you made the difference in as a driver. That definitely helps with performance and confidence in what you need in the car, and confidence as far as making moves during the race. All that stuff helps, for sure.”
Thoughts as you look ahead to the rest of the season with the first three races behind you?
“Obviously the first three races haven’t gone the way we wanted them to. But we’ve seen that our cars have speed, we’ve had flashes of speed so far this year. We’re still getting to know each other, but I think that every race we’re going to improve on that, and once we hit on what we need, I think we’ll have that speed and success. This is the weekend where we can turn things around and work our way into championship contention over these last nine races.”
Boris Said Jr., driver, No. 75 HendrickCars.com/Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro:
This weekend marks your second year in a row racing on the WWTR circuit. How was your experience there last year?
“Last year was a bit of a learning curve for us. It’s a very tricky track, but I’m definitely not going in blind this year, which I’m thankful for. It’s a pretty interesting track. It was the only time I’d ever driven on a NASCAR oval, or anything resembling an oval, which was a cool experience.”
How would you describe a lap around the 1.6-mile circuit?
“There’s not much to it, there are only eight corners and two that matter more than the others. It’s a unique track and a challenge, nothing like a Watkins Glen or a Road America, but definitely challenging. The two most important corners are getting onto the oval section (turn six), and the strip coming to the oval section (turn seven), the banked corner. Last year, the Silver Hare car was really, really good there and I think from what I know about the Silver Hare cars versus the car that I drove there last year, I think we’ll be really, really good again this year.”
How would you rate your progress now that you’re three races into the season?
“I feel like we’re definitely trending positively and I’m excited for Gateway. We’ll just keep taking it race by race like we have been and see where we end up by the end of the season.”
Jake Drew, driver, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro:
How have you been preparing for your first visit to WWTR, and what are your expectations for the weekend?
“I’ve been doing a little bit of iRacing, and have been watching a lot of the film back, like last year’s race broadcast, and I have some onboard stuff from last year that I’ve been able to study. It definitely gives us a lot of confidence seeing how dominant the team was there last year – it takes it to another level. Already, just working with this team and knowing what it’s capable of, as well as the momentum that I’ve been gaining in the car and the familiarity with the series, I’m looking forward to a pretty strong weekend.”
How would you describe the circuit and what it takes to get around it quickly?
“It looks like fun. It seems pretty straightforward, and I think the biggest name of the game is going to be tire wear and keeping four tires on it. Turn one seems like it could get a little bit tricky, it’s pretty narrow, it kind of comes at an angle, and the way the pit wall extends there, it gets pretty tight there, especially when you’re racing guys. Overall, you’ve got to know your limits and your boundaries of when and how hard you can push. The 180 coming back onto the oval (turns six and seven), you’ve got to focus on getting a good exit there. I don’t think we can make it through NASCAR three and four flat out, so just trying to minimize the speed loss there and not get tight or loose or spend too much time out of the throttle, for sure. These cars aren’t built to go through a corner that long, really, so it will be important to take care of the right-front (tire) through there. I think we got a good rehearsal at NOLA as far as learning how hard you can push for a qualifying lap, and then learning how much to back off and pace yourself throughout a race, so looking forward to using that experience to benefit even more this time, hopefully, and finish one spot better.”
You’ve had a strong opening two races with Silver Hare and the TA2 Series. To what do you attribute your success?
“It’s a lot of homework, for sure, being as prepared as possible when you show up and trying to eliminate as many things that you have to learn. Just using all my experience and my road-course background growing up, bouncing ideas off guys like previous drivers and everybody on the team. Everybody seems really knowledgeable and it all goes a long way.”
About Hendrick Automotive Group:
Representing 131 franchises and 25 manufacturer nameplates from the Carolinas to California, Hendrick Automotive Group is the largest privately held automotive retail organization in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the company employs more than 10,000 people in its 94 dealership locations, 21 collision centers and four accessories distributor installers in 13 states. For more information, please visit HendrickCars.com.
About HendrickCars.com:
HendrickCars.com is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop thousands of new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protection programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
About Silver Hare Racing:
Silver Hare Racing is a fulltime competitor in the TA2 division of the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli. The multicar team has won the TA2 masters class championship three times (2018, 2019 and 2020) with driver and team co-owner Maurice Hull. Under the leadership of Hull’s wife, co-owner and team manager Laura Hull, Silver Hare Racing provides a variety of services that includes private testing and arrive-and-drive programs. The team offers six, professionally built and maintained TA2 chassis from Howe Racing and operates from a state-of-the-art facility in High Point, North Carolina. For more information, please visit SilverHareRacing.com.
