Buxton’s third annual Big Time Bash raises more than $24,000 for Meals on Wheels

By Nov 3, 2014, 11:30 AM EST
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AUSTIN – We briefly recapped the third annual Buxton Big Time Bash on Saturday, but now there’s a donations amount to go along with the highlights of the evening: more than $24,000 raised for Meals on Wheels.

The news was announced in a release by The Austin Grand Prix. There was more than $4,500 raised at the door, as a $5 donation at the door was suggested (others graciously gave more).

The number grew so much thanks to the efforts of Ross Garber, a Ferrari Challenge driver of the No. 66 Ferrari of San Francisco entry, who made a $1,000 donation himself and then had 19 other teams in the Ferrari Challenge paddock match it. That added $20,000 and contributed to the total – as of time of publication – to $24,547.35.

Buxton, NBC Sports Group’s F1 pit reporter and insider, recapped the evening via the Austin Grand Prix website:

“The Bash continues to grow year on year and I’m so delighted that our third annual event proved to be such a huge success.

I want to thank Kerri Olsen and Kevin Olsen for putting it all together, and Brazos Hall for giving their venue for the night and allowing the money raised to go directly to charity. The support and donations from the F1 teams, Pirelli and our good friends TWSTEEL, Graham and Leigh, Alpinestars and Jamey Price ensured an incredible array of wonderful prizes were handed out.

I’m so glad that Matt Bennett was able to be present to introduce the world premiere of Road To Mercedes, and that is was so well received. I’m indebted to my NBCSN colleagues, and to Marcus, Alexander and Luca for giving their time. And I am truly humbled and frankly gob smacked that Mario turned up to wow the crowd with his personal and hilarious stories.

Ross Garber is one of the most wonderful and caring people I’ve met since F1 started coming to Austin. Racing in the Ferrari Challenge this weekend, he nevertheless took the time to round up his rivals and friends and deliver the most incredible donation to the event. Words cannot express my gratitude to him, and to the Ferrari paddock.

And finally, I want to thank the fans who came out. Without them, we have no event and no sport. I’m so happy everyone enjoyed themselves and that they were generous enough to see our total donation for the event reach just under $25,000.”

A full recap from the AGP website is linked here. Here’s our own MST social recap of the evening, which featured appearances from the NBC Sports Group broadcast crew, drivers Marcus Ericsson, Alexander Rossi and Luca Filippi, the premiere of Road To: Mercedes and lastly, a surprise, gracious appearance from 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti.

UPDATE, Nov. 5, 2014: We have video of the morning where Buxton and Kerri Olsen from the Austin Grand Prix have delivered the meals. Some good stuff here:

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”