Mike Shank, left, receives the RRDC Phil Hill Award from RRDC president Bobby Rahal. (Brian Cleary image)

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Native Ohioan Mike Shank, whose “small-town” work ethic shaped his successful IMSA and INDYCAR teams, is the 2024 recipient of the Phil Hill Award presented by the Road Racing Drivers Club.

Shank was honored by RRDC President Bobby Rahal, the 2019 Hill Award-winner, during the organization’s annual members’ dinner in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Jan. 22. The ceremony was a prelude to the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, season-opener of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Mike Shank (Image courtesy of Meyer Shank Racing)

The Phil Hill Award has been presented annually since 1993 to the person the RRDC believes has rendered outstanding service to road racing. The recipient may be a driver, entrant or member of a sanctioning body. A native of Miami, Fla., Hill competed in Formula One from 1958 to 1966, emerging as America’s first F1 World Driving Champion in 1961 with Scuderia Ferrari.

Hill died on Aug. 28, 2008 at age 81 in Salinas, Calif. The award is a tribute to Hill’s accomplishments not only on the racetrack _ he won three grand prixs during his career _ but also recognizes his contributions as an ambassador for worldwide motorsport.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Shank said during an interview with NBC sports commentator and RRDC member Leigh Diffey.  “I think it’s an unbelievable honor and it just makes me feel pretty small. Everything I did in racing I did just to survive and try to advance to where I wanted to be. But to get recognized by the RRDC with the Phill Hill Award is beyond words.”

Michael Shank Racing entered the sports car racing ranks in 2004, competing in both IMSA and Grand-Am competition. The 2017 season saw Shank partner with entrepreneur Jim Meyer as co-owner of the rebranded Meyer Shank Racing. A resident of Indianapolis, Meyer retired as CEO of SiriusXM in December 2020, a post he had held since 2013.

MSR began its INDYCAR journey at the 2017 Indianapolis 500 with driver Jack Harvey of Great Britian in a technical partnership with Honda and Andretti Autosport. The team impressed by overcoming several Month of May setbacks en route to earning the Clint Brawner Award for crew chief Adam Rovazzini. The team ran partial INDYCAR seasons until 2019, before moving to a two-car, full-schedule effort in 2020.

Competing in his 12^th INDYCAR race, Harvey secured his first podium result on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course. Harvey went on to post back-to-back front row starts in 2020 at the GMR INDYCAR Grand Prix and at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

MSR’s INDYCAR effort made headline news in the 105^th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 2021, when native Brazilian Helio Castroneves won a record-tying fourth 500 in his debut with “the little team that could” from Pataskala, Ohio. Fan-favorite Castroneves joined Houston native A.J. Foyt Jr., Al Unser and Rick Mears as the only four-time winners of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Castroneves has since retired from fulltime driving and is an ownership partner in MSR.

“This is an awesome award and it represents something so special in racing,” said Rahal, winner of the 1986 Indy 500. “To me, Phil Hill was not only a great driver, he was a true gentleman and a great proponent of the sport. He represented motor racing to the world, especially in this country, in such a manner, such a fashion, that is something you had to admire.

“We’ve had a lot of great recipients of the Phil Hill Award over the years, and this year’s honoree is no different. When you think about who should get this award, you think of somebody who does it all and did it on his terms.

“Frankly, it was pretty easy to decide this year. We have a lot of respect for Mike Shank and all he’s done over the years. And some days probably didn’t look so bright (for MSR) but here he is representing Acura in IMSA and Honda in INDYCAR. Michael, congratulations, man. I think you are a worthy recipient of this great award.”

Apparently inspired by Shank’s honor, Tom Blomqvist wheeled the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 to a runner-up finish on Sunday, Jan. 26, in the 63^rd Rolex 24, America’s premier twice-around-the-clock endurance event. Blomqvist, of Great Britain, shared the MSR entry with native Texan Colin Braun, six-time INDYCAR champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand and Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist. Braun, a 36-year-old native of Ovalo, Texas, is the 2014 and 2015 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge Champion.

“I’m just incredibly proud of this group _ we’ve been together 10 weeks now,” Shank said post-race. “To pull off this podium from a day that wasn’t going our way…Tom just took a car that was just not happy with us and turned it into something that was just epic. I can’t thank every single person from Acura MSR and HRC for staying with it, not giving up and trying to find ways to make it work and get us started on the right foot. I think we have a real shot at working for this championship and we’re looking forward to it.”

The No. 7 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr of Brazil, Nick Tandy of Great Britain and Laurens Vanthoor of Belgium claimed the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class wins for team-owner Roger Penske _ the Phil Hill Award winner in 2008 who celebrated his organization’s third overall Rolex 24 victory. Nasr crossed the finish line of Daytona International Speedway’s famed 3.56-mile tri-oval in the No. 7 Porsche 963 a close 1.335-seconds ahead of Shank Racing’s Acura.

“Obviously a great result, and what a way to start the season and the rebirth with HRC and Acura MSR,” Braun said. “Second is a great result and Daytona is so important and winning is everything, so in one way it’s an amazing start and in another it’s like ‘Aw, man.’ But the guys executed really well. Both Felix and Scott did a great job and Tom killed it at the end.

“Considering this is kind of the start of this new program, I think it’s going to be a really good season. We have a lot of really good things to build on and continue to refine and improve and we’re looking forward to keeping it going.”

The outcome was “24 Hours of Redemption” for MSR, which won the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona with its LMDh GTP hypercar racing Prototype shared by Castroneves, Braun, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud and Blomqvist. However, the team and drivers were penalized post-race due for an infringement on the rules _ they call it “fudging” _ concerning tire pressure. IMSA’s Paddock Police determined that tire pressure data intentionally had been manipulated, leading to a $50,000 team fine, expulsion of race engineer Ryan McCarthy for the season and probation for the team.

MSR and its drivers were allowed to keep the win and their Rolex watches, minus any Michelin Endurance points and reduced championship points. MSR subsequently shut down its sports car program for the 2024 IMSA season.

Shank, 58, is a native of Gahanna, Ohio _ a suburb of Columbus in northeastern Franklin County. The city’s population was 35,726, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. Shank began racing professionally in 1989, earning notice as SCCA-Ohio Valley Region Novice Driver of the Year. A skilled mechanic, Shank won the 1996 Toyota Atlantic C2 Championship before making a one-off start in the fledgling Indy Racing League’s Las Vegas 500k at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the series’ inaugural 1996-97 season.

Shank, who logged one driving start in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 1999, opted to retire from the cockpit in order to focus on running and expanding his team. Competing in the Champ Car Toyota Atlantic Championship, Michael Shank Racing’s driver lineup included Kenny Wilden, Sam Hornish Jr. and John Rutherford IV, son of three-time Indianapolis 500 champion and 1980 CART champ Johnny Rutherford of Fort Worth.

Hornish went on to win the 2006 Indianapolis 500 driving for team-owner Roger Penske. Wilden was runner-up in the 1999 Toyota Atlantic Championship and Shank earned “Team Owner of the Year” honors twice in four years before deciding to move his team into the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2004. MSR led the first sports car race it entered and finished on the podium in its second race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

MSR scored a breakthrough victory in the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona with drivers A.J. Allmendinger, John Pew, Oswaldo Negri of Brazil and Justin Wilson of Great Britain. Shank Racing celebrated its 250^th Prototype start in the 2016 Petit Le Mans _ winning the season-ender at Road America in Braselton, Ga.

In 2017, Shank’s team managed the factory IMSA Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) program for Acura Motorsports with a two-car Acura NSX GT3 effort. Shank was awarded the 2017 Rolex Bob Snodgrass Award of Excellence, presented by The Gorsline Company, during the Rolex 24 event weekend. The award recognizes the team owner who demonstrates the qualities of integrity, passion for the sport and love of cars for which Snodgrass was known during his life and career.

The team scored the first North American victory for Acura in 2018 on the Raceway at Belle Isle in Detroit and claimed back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020.  In 2021, MSR represented Acura in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship with the Acura ARX-05 Dpi.

Shank’s IMSA organization now has amassed over 350 sports car starts, three championship victories, three Rolex 24 wins and two Petit Le Mans victories.

Past RRDC Phil Hill Award Winners

1993 _ John Bishop

1994 _ Juan Manuel Fangio II

1995 _ Leo Mehl

1996 _ Charlie Slater

1997 _ Danny Sullivan

1998 _ Rob Dyson

1999 _ Bob Fergus

2000 _ Elliott Forbes Robinson

2001 _ Bill France

2002 _ Jim Downing

2003 _ Derek Bell

2004 _ Brian Redman

2005 _ Jim France

2006 _ Roger Werner

2007 _ Skip Barber

2008 _ Roger Penske

2009 _ Bob Bondurant

2010 _ Nick Craw

2011 _ Rick Mears

2012 _ George Follmer

2013 _ Peter Brock

2014 _ Hurley Haywood

2015 _ Vic Elford

2016 _ Scott Pruett

2017 _ Chip Ganassi

2018 _ David Hobbs

2019 _ Bobby Rahal

2020 _ Jack Roush

2021 _ Scott Atherton

2022 _ Mark Raffauf

2023 _ Bob Riley

2024 _ Mike Shank

The Road Racing Drivers Club was formed in 1952 to give championship-caliber drivers a voice in their sport _ particularly on the issue of safety. It has evolved to serve the future of road racing by mentoring new drivers on both amateur and professional levels. Club membership includes leading industry professionals, race officials and motorsports journalists, in addition to prominent racing names.

In 2011, the RRDC launched a free on-line training seminar _ www.SAFEisFAST.com _ featuring RRDC members and other industry experts in high-quality videos covering subjects from physical and mental preparation to driving techniques, driver safety to car setup and sponsorship. The videos are updated regularly. Each week, a professional from the world of motor racing answers readers’ questions on the site in a feature called “Ask a Pro.”

In addition to Rahal, the RRDC hierarchy includes John Fergus as vice president/treasurer and John Clagett as secretary.

RRDC presents three annual honors _ the Phil Hill Award, the Mark Donohue Award and the Bob Akin Award.

Membership in the RRDC is by invitation only. Additional information on the organization may be accessed at www.rrdc.org.