Scott Tucker and Level 5 Motorsports bring the Le Mans Prototype back to America

The history of Scott Tucker’s career is exactly what some might call a Cinderella story, an American classic: An effective private equity investor coming from a Kansas city enters his first professional motorsports race when he was Forty four, and five-years later, he’s continuously on the podium soon after races in several series-Grand-Am, Ferrari, American Le Mans Series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. A few months ago, Tucker made podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his debut season in the LMP2 class.

It goes without saying, not just any body could do the level of late-bloomer success Tucker has achieved. His capability, stamina, practice and detail of information would not exist if not for an enormous love for the action. Scott Tucker loves cars-before he had the opportunity to race, he built a sort-of car museum in the Leawood, Kansas residence. So it’s appropriate that Tucker, the improbable American Le Mans hero, would be the very first American to go in his team in the Le Mans Prototype class in nearly 25 years.

“Breaking into the Le Mans series has always been on my mind,” Scott Tucker pointed out. “I could wait another 10 years for the time to be right, but we got an opportunity and decided to go for it.”

The Le Mans Prototype, or LMP, are the speediest closed-wheel racing cars on up to date circuit racing tracks. Their cost and technologies are just like that of Formula 1 automobiles, but LMP automobiles top out at even higher speeds than Formula One cars. Not suprisingly Tucker couldn’t wait to get in one. After he barreled through the LMP series, Tucker moved into the LMP2 class. Mid-season, a Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research partnership was finishing work on a cost-capped prototype that would enable accelerated speeds compared to other LMP2 engines. It wasn’t any wonder when Tucker reserved the first two out of development.

The Le Mans Prototype was utilized the first time at the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans, when a small field of competition caused the race to be open to small, open-cockpit race cars using production road car engines to try and expand the field. At the end of that 12 months, the World Sportscar Championship and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship organizations dissolved, which left really expensive Group C prototypes with little competition beyond Le Mans races, which were quite few. As Group C became dated, the Le Mans Prototype class was designed. In 1999, the American Le Mans Series was developed, allowing for a significantly larger competitor base because more Le Mans races would be held each year.

In today’s times, a person can race in an LMP, LMP2 or LMP1 class, in two of which Tucker has made his mark. 2010, during his debut season in the Le Mans series, Tucker took the LMP championship and won rookie of the year. Advancing in to LMP2 for the 2011 season, Tucker started racking up podium finishes at breakneck speed, with noteworthy finishes at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Infineon and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Tucker together with his Level 5 Motorsports team might be just what the United states of america needs to bring larger appreciation of racing. With NASCAR largely dominating motorsports interest and not even a sole Le Mans Prototype entry coming from the nation in a quarter century, there’s been a lack of depth in auto racing coverage. Tucker’s strong story, his own apparent fun for the sport and his undeniable success are a verifiable formula for a figure whom everyone could get behind.

Scott Tucker’s Level 5 Motorsports are 2011 ALMS Champions Scott Tucker