Each January, racing teams small and large gather at Daytona International Speedway for the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona weekend. One of the events that precedes the 24-hour race is the BMW Endurance Challenge. Much like the 24, the BMW Endurance challenge is split up into car classes. In the 2021 edition there were 2 classes, one for faster cars (GS or Grand Sport) and the other for the slower ones (TCR or Touring Car). One of the teams in the Grand Sport class was FraSun Racing. Driving a BMW M4 GT4, Jason Fraser from right here in Snohomish and Mark Sundberg from Seattle. They piloted their BMW to 15th in a class of 25 strong drivers. What many don’t know about Jason is that he is the father of 2 GP students! Sydney Fraser, a Junior, and Georgia Fraser, a Freshman. 

“I have been racing endurance for roughly 10 years now. I started in a series called Chump Car where you spent $500 on a car and upgraded it on a budget. We ran 24-hour races with a team of 4, so we would all run 6-hour stints each. I loved the comradery of it but as we went on, we worked our way up to the faster and more competitive cars. The thing that’s different about endurance racing is that it’s not about who passes who or who sets the fastest lap of the race, it’s about keeping the car clean for your teammates because the races are so long.” 

“Being in the car for so long is exhausting. The adrenaline rush you get when racing is incredible. In sports like football, it’s a quick shot of adrenaline whereas in racing it lasts for hours, especially in endurance. When you get out of the car, you’re able to rest but I’ve got so much adrenaline flowing that I rarely shut my eyes and rest. I’m usually watching whoever is in the car. After the race you’re completely beat up. You can imagine driving for hours on end but it’s tough imagining doing it while going 180 MPH and weaving through traffic. 

“The first racing I ever did was on street bikes in my teens. I worked for car dealerships and there was a guy at one of the dealerships that drove a train car where it was 3 cars chained together with a motor in the front car, nothing in the second, and brakes and a wheel in the third. I raced for him and met some guys with NASCAR bomber cars who wanted me to race for them. I eventually moved to K&N Racing and ran that for a few years before realizing I wanted to go back to road races. I did not want to race motorcycles again so I decided cars were the best option for me” stated Fraser.

Daytona International Speedway is one of the most famous tracks on planet earth. Opened in 1959, Daytona has hosted a multitude of events including the Daytona 500, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, and many others. The tricky infield road course and high banked, high speed oval make Daytona a grueling race for even the world’s best drivers. Winning at Daytona is a lifelong dream for racers of all ages, from the 14-year-old kart racers to racings biggest stars like Dale Earnhardt, who took 20 years to win NASCAR’s Daytona 500. 

“Racing at Daytona is surreal. For me personally when I got down into the tri-oval I had tears well up in my eyes. I grew up watching racing at Daytona and it was incredible being able to compete there with everyone else. We had a pretty good run as well. We ran up in 2nd place and on our last pit stop we would have come out in 5th. But we got a 60 second penalty which hurt us.” 

“The idea of running Daytona is pretty funny actually. My best friend Mark and I purchased that car for the 25 hours of Thunder Hill down in California and we ended up winning it! Mark moved down to Florida and one day when we were visiting, he tossed out the idea of running the Endurance Challenge. It’s something every kid dreams of and we decided to give it a shot. We hired a team out of Texas and ended up running it!” commented Fraser.

Fraser doesn’t know what race he’ll run next, but it’d be safe to assume he will be in the front for it!