Local driver to race in Grand-Am series

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin's Circuit of the Americas track is gearing up for a weekend of racing. The Grand-Am Series will be the first major spectator race at the track since the Formula One Grand Prix back in November. It's also the first time for Grand-Am to ever visit Austin.

Teams started showing up Wednesday--unloading their gear and beginning to prepare for the weekend. While most divers come a long way to get to the track, one just has to get from one side of Austin to the other.

"It was a life-long dream to be doing something like this," said Jeff Mosing, a Grand-Am driver.  His life-long dream truly started when he as just a little boy.

"At age four, I was pedaling a pedal car as hard as I could," said Mosing, "It starts at a really early age, and it's hard to get out of your system."

It now runs in his blood. Mosing owns Mosing Motorcars on W. Braker Lane in northwest Austin. He's raced in Grand-Am events across the country. Saturday will be his first race in Austin.

"It's unbelievable. I couldn't believe the first email I got when Formula 1 was coming. Then it was just a matter of time before our Continental series was going to run here," said Mosing.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is about a two and half hour race. That's the first of two races Saturday. It starts at 10:00 a.m.

Mosing will be racing a BMW 328. It's orange--his favorite color. And take a look around his shop--you'll see it all over. Looking at the dozens of cars in his shop, Mosing says it's behind the wheel where the day to day struggles just melt away.

"When you're in the race car, you can not think about anything else other than what you're doing, and I really enjoy getting into that environment and having to focus at that level for a long period of time. It's like therapy basically for me."

This weekend's race features three different car classes. The Daytona Prototype is the showcase car which will be featured in the main race. GT Class cars feature production models modified for track racing. The GX Class is the newest racing addition. It features new technologies, including hybrid powertrains.