Bad Al Bell

Chris Tamburo

Chris Collins

Gregg Downer

Dean Copeland

MEATHEAD Racing Drivers

Mike’s wife says that behind every great man is an ever greater woman. If it were not for her, he would not even be in racing today. In fact, it was his wife’s cooking that allowed him to continue to get invitations to crew for various racers before he built his first car, and it continues to be the reason that the MEATHEAD Racing paddock space is full around every meal time.

Everyone asks about the origin of the name MEATHEAD RACING. Mike, a former Marine, worked for an employer who always misspoke and called Mike a "MEATHEAD" instead of the often used term for a Marine-"jarhead". The name stuck and thus MEATHEAD Racing was born in 2002. At first it was just Mike with a funny sticker on the car. Then in 2003, Mike’s father (Chris Collins) joined the action and formed MEATHEAD Racing LLP. Early in 2003, Chris Tamburo and Gregg Downer joined the team. They were all classmates at the “all in one” Roebling Road Double Drivers School in 2002. A little later in 2003, Bad Al Bell joined the team as the salty veteran. In 2004 MEATHEAD Racing launched its trackside support program and built three rental cars. MEATHEAD Racing is now considered one of the premier Spec Miata rental firms in the country.

Since the beginning, Mike has been a contender, finishing his first ever race with a 4^th place, just missing the podium. In 2006 Mike won his first sprint race and finished the season in 2^nd place behind his teammate Bad Al Bell, who won the championship. In 2006 Mike and Bad Al also finished in the North East National series with 4^th and 5^th places.

Mike lives in Mount Airy, MD with his wife Wendy and their future racers Cole and Wyatt.

Mike aka: MEAT, MEATHEAD, Reverend Pimp Daddy Minister of Soul, and Moses.

Mike is also the WDCR SM Drivers Representative, Paddock Marshal, and a life member of the No Limit Soldiers Club.

Bad Al has been a racing enthusiast since a very young age. Unfortunately, Santa never brought him the racing go-kart he wanted, not that he is bitter or anything like that. He achieved early success in Pinewood Derby, sanctioned by the Cub Scouts. From this, he went on to competitive motorsports, driving in local autocross events and winning many trophies and a class championship driving MG’s, Datsuns and some cars too embarrassing to mention.

The next step was driving on road racing courses. This began at Summit Point Raceway, driving in “Refrigerator Bowl” events, the prototype for today’s FATT events. He was asked to instruct for novice drivers at those events, and went on to instruct for SCCA competition schools, Ferrari of Washington, BMW CCA, Mercedes Benz and other marquee clubs. He now works as a Security Driving instructor and Supervisor for BSR at Summit Point.

Currently competing in the Spec Miata class, Al has 9 regional class championships, and has won the DC Region Dick Lord and Frank B. Pohanka trophies. He is the current SSM and ITC lap record holder at Summit Point, and has held lap records at VIR, Pocono, and Lime Rock. He has also competed in several enduro events including the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges, The 25 Hours of Thunderhill, 13 Hours of VIR and the 12 Hours at the Point.

Season highlights from 2006 include the SM MARRS Championship, the SSM lap record, and the highest finish by a Northeast Division driver in Spec Miata at the Runoffs, the televised SCCA National Championship.

Al lives in Maryland with his wife Vivre, and his quarter-midget racer/hockey player/pit-crew children Michael and Julia.

As the son of a former SCCA National Champion, Chris Tamburo has been a road racing fan most of his life. Chris’ introduction to competitive driving started with local autocrosses in his Acura Integra in 1999. Shortly thereafter he upgraded to an Audi S4 and joined the Audi Club of North America and the Mercedes Benz Club. Autocrossing turned into HPDE’s where Chris honed his skills and began to crave wheel-to-wheel competition. Chris began instructing for these clubs at HPDE events in 2001, and still does whenever possible.

In 2002, Chris decided to go racing in the Spec Miata class due to the fact that it was designed to be both an affordable class and a driver’s class. He built his race car from a street car and began the 2003 season in the highly competitive MARRS Series with a Top 10 finish. Chris completed his first season 6^th in series points with several Top 5’s in fields of 50+. In 2004, Chris completed the series finishing 5^th in championship points. Continuing his move forward he finished 3^rd in the 2005 MARRS championship standings. In 2006 Chris finished 6^th.

In four years, Chris has never had a DNF. He attributes much of his success to his attention to detail in building a car to perform flawlessly, and his insatiable desire to improve his skills as a driver. “Teaming up with Meathead Racing in 2003 was my best move so far, together we can develop better cars and better drivers.”

Chris lives in Stevensville, MD with his wife Anne and their two children Evan and Gianna.

With the old addage “Put your money where your mouth is” the gauntlet was thrown down! Chris, in support of his son Mike, came to the track in early 2002 to see what the action was all about and provide support to Mike’s racing efforts. Although fatherly advice is always appreciated, it was agreed that Chris should prepare his own car and go racing. This was a return to SCCA that he had previously experienced thirty years earlier, when he was crewing for a friend’s Formula Vee team.

Following in his son’s foot steps, Chris attended the Fall Summit Point driver’s school. Early the following spring he attended the Roebling Road Double Drivers School and was installed as the oldest rookie on the Meathead team. The past year has ushered in new tracks to drive and the challenges of National racing completion. As driving skills have been honed, lap times have consistently been improving.

Since the team contained two members named Chris, a distinction was required and in the world according to “Bad Al Bell”, Junior became the moniker given to Mike’s dad. This was because Al thought that Mike’s dad was not quite as bad as Mike.

You will find Chris in the paddocks on any given weekend lending a hand to prep a car or talking to a perspective client on how Meathead can make their racing experience as pleasurable as possible.

Chris lives in Darnestown, MD with his lovely and understanding wife Mary and their daughter Kristen.

A road racing fan most of his life, Gregg’s interest in racing started when his parents took him to the 1971 German Grand Prix. Gregg started racing karts with his father and brother in 1973, and raced for three years with many wins and championships. After a long sabbatical from racing Gregg's racing interest was revived after buying a 1988 Porsch 911 Cabriolet, and racing with the Porsche club indoor karting league. Knowing that there was no way he could race his new baby (the Porsche), Gregg started the search for an affordable car and class to begin racing. Gregg decided on Spec Miata and in 2002 bought a Mazda Miata to start building into a race car. While building his Spec Miata,

Gregg started participating in Friday at the Track (FATT) at Summit Point Motorsport Park to hone his driving skills. In February 2003 Gregg (and his father as his crew chief) attended the Roebling Road Double Driver’s school where they met Mike (Meathead) Collins, Chris Tamburo, and Chris Collins.

Gregg began racing his Spec Miata in the MARRS series and joined MEATHEAD Racing in 2003. Gregg’s best finishes to date are 2^nd in class and 5^th overall in the 2hr Summit Point Endurance Challenge, and a 3^rd in class and 6^th overall in the 4hr “Into the Night” Enduro with teammate Chris Collins.

Gregg lives in Oak Hill, VA with his wife Sue and two children, Krista and Kyle.

Dean Copeland was born Oct 10, 1988 in Silver Spring, MD to parents Kevin and Rhonda Copeland. Dean’s Grandfather was best friends with Tiny Lund in high school in Iowa. When Tiny became a successful Nascar Driver, Grandpa Dean would always watch the races on TV. Dean’s father raced go-karts as a young boy and even raced with retired NASCAR Driver Ricky Rudd, Open wheel racer Mark Dismore, and Scott Pruitt. Once Dean got old enough to race, his father put him in a go-kart. His father knew right away his son had something he didn’t. Dean was fearless.

Dean started his racing career in go-karts at 10 years old. He raced in the World Karting Association Pavement Oval series. During the 2 years racing ovals, Dean won many races and won the Maryland and Virginia State championships, along with multiple regional championships in the junior class. When Dean turned 12 years old, he was able to race in the road racing series in the WKA. These Go Karts go over 100 MPH! , and they race on the same tracks that the Sport cars race on, from Daytona to Grattan Michigan, to Indiana ,to New Hampshire and everywhere in between. Dean spent the next 4 years racing these Karts, and was able to achieve many goals . He won 4 National Championships by the age of 15. He also won many regional championships with the Woodbridge Kart Club and his home track Summit Point Raceway .

After winning everything there was to win in Go Karting, Dean longed for a new challenge in a race car. After looking at many venues of road racing he decided on the Spec Miata series. Dean is in his third year racing in Spec Miata.

Associate Drivers

Legendary F1 racer and Scotsman Jackie Stewart commented “…you’re changing gears in midair there, it’s just murder on the transmission…” during a Monaco Grand Prix TV broadcast and sparked Fred’s attraction to motor sports. In 1978, BMW Car Club of America photographer Klaus Schnitzer invited him to join upon noticing his 1974 BMW 2002tii, which he auto-crossed later. Younger brother Chris Cocca got him his first experience on-track in the passenger seat of a 600hp Porsche at Pocono International Raceway in 1999. Fred became a flagger for SCCA. Later that year, he first drove on-track at Road Atlanta during a BMWCCA driver education event in his 1997 BMW M3/4. He lent those car keys to Mike Collins for orientation laps on Summit Point during their first meeting at the 2005 SCCA Spring Drivers School. His association with MEATHEAD Racing quickly followed, since the charming personalities proved irresistible. The Summit Point Endurance Challenge on the Shenandoah Circuit proved his inaugural podium finish; third place in SSM class. A few podium finishes in the EMRA series rounded out his 2006 season, never placing first. Fred doesn’t burn with resentment or even get sore about never finishing first and wishes frontrunners all the luck.

Fred’s goal is to race smarter than last season.

Randy’s family had a liking for cars. This turned into passion for him at a very young age and at a time when teenagers had nothing in common with their parents; cars formed a bond between Randy and his father. Racing started with a very short stint at Rallycross in the Philippine Islands. This addiction definitely needed to be fed in the great U.S. of A.

Randy followed the usual route into Club Racing by starting out in Autocrosses in Texas. Transplantation to Maryland led him to seek out the leading authority in Spec Miata and stumbled upon Meathead racing.

Meathead fondly calls Randy, Rock Star not because of what he does but because Randy stays up all night, sleeps till noon, and can be found in Sinai Hospital Radiology most of his waking hours.

Randy lives in Baltimore with his wife, Alison and son, Joshua. Randy has told his family that he works in a hospital and that is why he is out late at night but his real occupation is "Randy the Rock Star".

Matt started off as a crew member for Meathead Racing in 2005. During 2006 and 2007, he built his own car with help from the Meathead team. After completing schools at both Summit Point and Nelson Ledges, Matt competed in the SSM class in MARRS 7-10. For the 2008 season, Matt plans on racing with both SCCA and NASA and would like to focus on improving his driving and racecraft skills.

Although only 16, in the past three years Jimmy has garnered two National Championships and 6 Regional Championships in Go-Karting. At the age of 6, he started his career racing Quarter Midgets on a dirt track in Maryland.

Go-Kart road racing became his passion and with the help and support of his parents, Janet and Lin, he has become a skilled driver. Jimmy has always enjoyed coming to Summit Point over the years to watch the racing and pit action. In 2004, Meathead Racing asked Jimmy to come on board as a crew member. His willingness to help and always be available has made him a great asset to the racing family. He feels he has learned a lot about racing and cars from the members of the Meathead Racing Team. Jimmy is currently attending Martinsburg High School.

Tim began racing in 2007. Prior to the spring driver school at Summit Point; Tim had no driving experience other than taking a week long course at Spring Mountain Motor Sports in Nevada and attending some track days at Summit Point. Always, looking for the “next thrill” Tim wanted more and that meant renting the track for more track time. Tim discovered that he would need a competition license to rent the track and that is how he started his racing “career”.

Prior to taking the school he swore he would never drive a Miata, it’s a “chick” car, right? Tim owns a corvette and his plan was to buy a big bore race car and go have fun. “Since renting a Miata from Meathead Racing for the school I wouldn’t want to race anything else. What a blast it has been. It’s a bit ironic, how much I gave a co-worker a hard time (boy did I have to eat crow) about owning a Miata and now owning one myself and considering a second, Tim laughs.”

Tim’s best finish in 2007 was a 5^th overall, 4^th in class in SM. It didn’t hurt that several of the front runners decided to all take the same race line at the same time a short time into the race.

He lives in Highland, Maryland with his fiancée Christina who is due to have their first child in February. Christina loves going to the track and cheering on Tim and enjoys lending a hand during meals with the Meathead Team.

Who knew that a trip to Summit Point a couple of years ago to watch the SCCA / MARRS Labor Day double would lead to all of this….. Neil will never forget watching the tight field of Miatas, separated by inches, scream down the chute, and then stand on the brakes to make turn 5. While watching that race Neil swore that someday he would get behind the wheel. After two and half years of getting his tile business up and running, it was time to put that passion for driving to the test. After one drivers education event in a Honda S2000 with the PCA he signed up for the SCCA fall driver’s school. “If you want to race, the close competition and relatively low cost makes Spec Miata the way to go.” Neil rented a Miata from Meathead Racing and began “investing” in his racing “career”. He completed the SCCA fall and spring school and began racing SSM in 2007. “Club racing is a fantastic way to get involved and really push the limit of your ability”.

The support and knowledge that the Meathead crew passed along while Neil was building his first car and learning how to get faster was incredible. Neil is looking forward to the 2008 season and some top ten finishes.

Neil lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his understanding wife Nickie.

Ed York will be taking over as Crew Chief for MEATHEAD Racing in 2008 and will also be driving a MEATHEAD Racing SSM in the 2008 MARRS Series. Ed brings decades of experience to the team and will elevate the level of track side support received by MEATHEAD Racing customers. A true champion, Ed has won 11 MARRS Championships in 4 different classes. He is no newcomer to racing, as he began racing in 1986 at the tender age of 29. Throughout his racing career he has built and prepared all his racecars himself.

Endurance racing is a favorite and in his first attempt in the 24-hour race at Nelson Ledges, he and his co-drivers finished 1st in their BMW class (4th overall).

Adding to his impressive resume', are previous track records at Summit Point, Nelson Ledges and Lowe's Motor Speedway. Competing many times in the ARRC at Road Atlanta, he has finished 2nd two times in ITB and won the pole position in 2004 in ITS.

With plenty of automotive know how, Ed enjoys helping his friends and fellow competitors with his shop's chassis dyno and suspension set-ups. To support his racing endeavors, Ed owns and operates York Automotive in Mount Airy, MD.

Steve came to Meathead Racing in 2006, after four years of racing Spec Racer Fords with the SCCA and Porsche 944s in the 44 SuperCup. He even won a few races in the latter, and he swears that he wasn't the only car in his class at the time.

Steve had a great time in his first full season of racing the Miata: the costs are reasonable, and the support from the Meathead Racing crew lets him focus on the fun racing bits without spending a ton of time on repairs or on loading the car and trailer. Steve says, "the Miatas are easy to learn but challenging to master and the racing is very competitive", and Steve feels good about having worked his way up to running solidly mid-pack.

Steve's presence has been known to bring rain and snow to racetracks up and down the East Coast, hence his reputation as The Weatherman.

Steve lives in Potomac, MD with his wife Elizabeth, who races a Spec Racer Ford most of the time, and who races Steve's Miata sometimes when he's not looking.

Steve's goals for this season are to keep the rocks out of his radiator, to find third gear every time, and to finish a few more positions up the sheet.

Brian has always been a fan of anything mechanical. From a young age he enjoyed taking anything apart, putting it back together and making it better. His long time love of racing and F1 brought him to Summit Point in high school for the first time. After many years of driving pickups, in 2005 he bought a Corvette and immediately started racing Solo. In 2006 he started on track with Carguys and FATT where he realized his drive for competitive racing. After attending Bondurant in early spring of 2007 and WDCR Spring Drivers School he received his competition driver’s license. After running the 2007 MARRS season in Spec Miata he is pleased to announce that he will be racing with the Meathead team in hopes of making it to the podium in 2008.

Brian lives in Clarksville, MD with his biggest fans, his wonderful wife Sonya and twins Imirie and Merina. He owns a construction company (Cottonwood Construction) which affords him the luxury of racing.

Even though Julie learned to drive at the tender age of 8 on her parents' farm, it wasn't until late in college that her interest in cars began to develop. In 2002, she started taking her beloved Audi TT to HPDEs with NASA. "Hooked" would be an understatement. By 2004, Julie was instructing, and had purchased a 1995 miata with an eye toward getting a competition license. She did just that in 2005 by completing two schools with the SCCA, with her second school, held in very wet and snowy Ohio weather, proving to be her most invaluable experience to date. That same year, she completed two races at Mid-Ohio, and co-drove in the 13 Hours at VIR. Buying a house in early 2006 stunted her racing budget for a little while, as well as her lap times, but she has high hopes for 2008!

Julie lives in Funkstown, MD, with her awesome boyfriend and crew chief Bernie, and their loving cat, Nala.

Mike’s desire for racing started with chopping down lap times on PC racing simulators with a friend of his. Oh how he dreamed of piloting a real race car on the track one day. Then he got his motorcycle, a Buell sport bike. His wife signed him up for a track day on the bike and he was hooked. He discovered Battletrax, SOLO for motorcycles, and won the regional series for a trip to Las Vegas to compete against 8 others. While looking for a track bike he discovered Spec Miata and never looked back. A friend of Mike’s, Chris Dole, lent his car and camper to him so he could attend the Roebling Road Double School while his car was under construction. He started racing in the MARRS series in 2005. When his car was totaled in late 2006, MEATHEAD Racing helped him with the resources to rebuild. Mike has been part of the MEATHEAD team ever since!