Racing to End Alzheimer’s Joins Forces With Cameron Racing

Image: Racing to End Alzheimer’s

Racing to End Alzheimer’s sports a new team partner, joining forces with Stephen Cameron Racing to contest the GS class in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

The series may be different this season but the premise of Racing to End Alzheimer’s remains the same: to give family and friends the chance to honor loved ones who have suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s – and in doing so, raise awareness and funds to help “find the cure and fund the care.”

For just $250, a name can be placed on the No. 19 Ford Mustang GT4, proudly displayed as the team races at some of the most famous tracks in North America.

All donations are matched by founder Phil Frengs’ company Legistics, with 100 percent going to the team’s two beneficiaries – the Nantz National Alzheimer’s Center at Houston Methodist (founded by longtime CBS announcer Jim Nantz, to honor his father who passed from Alzheimer’s in 2011) and the UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care program.

The move marks a series return for Racing to End Alzheimer’s, which originally brought the traditional “names” livery to Pilot Challenge in 2017.

Frengs and Galante won the championship in 2016, finished third in the final 2017 standings and then won the championship title again in 2018, all with Monterey resident Nick Galante as one of two drivers.

Galante, a professional caddie at the world-famous Pebble Beach Golf Links, also returns to the Pilot Challenge series this weekend, racing a special anniversary edition in the TCR class, an Audi RS3 LMS for RVA Graphics Motorsports By Speed Syndicate alongside Luke Rumburg and carrying the new Racing to End Alzheimer’s colors.

The “names” livery might be familiar but the 2025 paint scheme on the No. 19 Ford Mustang GT4 will be brand neg, meeting the challenge of maintaining the branding fans have come to recognize while blending with the Cameron Racing orange.

The team, led by longtime sports car racer Steve Cameron, was founded in 1987. The Sonoma, Calif.-based organization has been a leading team in a multitude of top U.S. racing series, including IMSA, SRO, INDY NXT, USF2000 and Historic SportsCar Racing, specializing in trackside support, driver development, and car preparation.

The purple and orange No. 19 will be driven by an outstanding pair of drivers who have significant history with Cameron Racing – and both are Bay area residents: Palo Alto’s Sean Quinlan, with whom the team won the 2019 Pirelli GT4 America series (in his eighth year with the team), and San Francisco-based Greg Liefooghe, who won Pirelli World Challenge SprintX titles with the team in 2017 and 2019, and has been with the team for nine years.

The relationship with Racing to End Alzheimer’s is especially meaningful to Quinlan, whose grandmother suffered from the disease.

“I couldn’t be happier to partner with Stephen Cameron Racing, and with Sean and Greg,” said Frengs. “They saw the opportunity with us, approached us and asked how they could help — and so developed this wonderful opportunity for us to join one of sports car racing’s leading teams.

“And as a special effort at WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway to commemorate where it all began, we’re also thrilled to be able to join RVA Graphics Motorsports/Speed Syndicate, putting Nick back in a Racing to End Alzheimer’s car at this, one of our favorite tracks and his home racetrack.”

Frengs began Racing to End Alzheimer’s after his wife Mimi was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Since that debut race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca eight years ago, Racing to End Alzheimer’s has raised more than $1 million to help the fight against the disease.

“It really is so meaningful that we’re debuting this new program in Monterey,” said Frengs.

“We started Racing to End Alzheimer’s in 2017 to raise funds and awareness. We got the idea of putting the names of family and friends who have suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s on the car as a way to honor them. We have come so far – but there is still so far to go, and we, along with our two outstanding beneficiaries, are committed to this fight.

“It has taken a great deal of work to put this program together for 2025, and a huge thanks to Steve and his team for putting in the effort to bring everyone together,” continued Frengs. “It speaks to the commitment we all have to continue fighting Alzheimer’s disease, as we have seen progress in both treatment and care, especially from our two outstanding beneficiaries.

“We look forward to rejoining the Pilot Challenge paddock and talking to many fans throughout the season. Just about everyone we meet at the racetrack has a story about how Alzheimer’s has affected their family, and that’s our mission: to give them an opportunity to honor their loved ones in a tangible way.”