It was announced on August 16 Conor Daly, who drives the No.18, as well as Pippa Mann who will be piloting the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing entry this weekend at Pocono Raceway, will be carrying a pair of special tributes.
On August 7, Bryan Clauson was killed in a tragic accident he sustained while racing in the Belleville Midget Nationals. Clauson drove the No. 88 DCR car in the same Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality Center/ Treatment Centers of America green, white and dark gray paint scheme in the 100th Indianapolis 500 that Daly races regularly throughout the 2016 IndyCar Season.
As a tribute, Daly will be driving will be driving the No.88 BC Forever livery to pay homage to his former teammate. Additionally, Mann who was also Clauson’s teammate in the Indy 500 will have a BC Forever logo on her helmet when she returns to compete in her second 500 mile race this season. Notably, it was a race Clauson told her he would love for her to compete in.
Before he passed away, Clauson was “Chasing 200” race starts in his Circular Insanity tour and his DCR teammate s are looking to help him achieve that goal as well as honoring him.
This will be Daly’s first visit to Pocono Raceway and he is looking to use Mann’s experience at the track as she will compete in her third race there. Both Mann and Daly will have a 90 minute practice session on Saturday August 20 ahead of qualifying at 1:30. Mann finished 13th last year with DCR and also had a top- 15 finish in 2013. The race will air on NBCSN starting at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday August 21.
“It means a lot to our whole team to be driving the #88 BC Forever entry this weekend,” Daly quoted. “I think everyone enjoyed working with Bryan throughout the month of May. Jonathan and David Byrd have sort of accepted us into their family. They already had a big racing program with Bryan and then they added me and Dale Coyne Racing to that as well. It’s going to be a great way to pay tribute and obviously a little extra motivation to ‘Park it’ in Victory Lane for Bryan.
“I’m excited for the Pocono event because it’s a 500-mile race and another big chance to get a lot of experience on another oval, this time a triangular one. I was at the race at Pocono last year so I saw how crazy the restarts were and how good the racing was, so I’m just looking forward to being a part of that. We’ve had strong cars at all the superspeedway package ovals so we’re hoping to continue that same trend. We’re going there with a lot of unknowns but I look forward to learning about the place and getting up to speed.”
“The past week has been incredibly tough for everyone in the racing family, and I’m amongst those who have been feeling the loss of a friend, and a teammate,” Mann added. “When I heard from Dale (Coyne) last week that he had decided that I would drive the #19 car this weekend, it meant so much to me, because it gives me the opportunity to be one of the drivers helping Bryan reach his 200 starts this year.
“I’m also adding an edited version of the BC Still Chasing 200 logo to my helmet for this weekend so I can carry him with me for the race. He told me this May he always wanted to run this race, so I hope between Conor and I, he sees this as us making those starts for him.”
