By Bill Sullivan



SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco based Golden Gate Racing Team is proud to announce Blake Koch as their primary driver for the 2009 racing season in the NASCAR Camping World Grand National West Series. A resident of West Palm Beach, Florida, Koch will drive the #21 GodSpeaks.com Chevrolet for the popular Richard Childress Racing Development team owned and operated by San Francisco businessman Jim Offenbach.

“Both Richard Childress and I are extremely excited to bring Blake to our team for the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Championship season,” said Offenbach. “Blake brings a great deal of talent and a great personality to our team. He tested with us at the conclusion of last season and his performance was quite impressive.”

Driving a secondary car for GGRT back on October 25, Koch entered the final 2008 NASCAR Camping World Series event at All American Speedway in Roseville. Already a Pro Truck and Late Model driver that was in just his sophomore season of asphalt racing, Koch made a strong showing in his NASCAR racing debut at the popular Northern California event. After qualifying fourth, he started on the outside of the second row. After settling into the fourth position, a caution flag on the 20th circuit committed him to the outside of the line up where he fell back to 10th place but quickly rallied back to the sixth position until brake loss ended his night with a respectful 22nd place finish.

“Blake shows great perseverance and patience,” commented Offenbach. “A good driver can come back to the top even when the cards are down. Blake’s determination and talent behind the wheel has all the makings for a future champion.”

Following his impressive run at Roseville and a handful of testing sessions, Koch was named the new primary driver by Offenbach earlier this month and will replace former driver David Mayhew for the 2009 racing season. While Offenbach sees a promising future with his new driver, Koch is just as excited to be joining what he considers a true championship team and is setting his goals high for the season to come.

“I know these are some pretty big goals but I am setting my sights on the NASCAR Camping World Series West Championship and the Rookie of the Year title,” said Koch. “The Golden Gate Racing Team and Richard Childress have everything in place to pursue a championship. They have the best equipment and the best people behind that equipment. It is an honor to be driving for Jim Offenbach and his crew Chief Steve Portenga. I have all the confidence in the world in this team; they are truly dedicated to winning races.”

Koch had been racing asphalt oval cars for the past two years. Prior to his stint in the Pro Truck and Late Model scene he was successful in motocross for nearly 8 years and was named one of the Nation’s top racers. “My goal is to win races,” said Koch. “And I will do what ever it takes.”

In addition to his talent behind the wheel, Koch is known for his involvement with the movie production industry with the company his father, Mark W. Koch founded in 1992 known as Prelude Pictures. After graduating from college with a degree in business and marketing, Koch joined Prelude Pictures and recently Associate Produced his first film with his father titled “The Perfect Game” which will be released in theaters in the spring of 2009. Prelude pictures has successfully promoted movies such as Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and well known science fiction flick “Lost in Space.”

“Blake really brings a unique personality to this team,” added Offenbach. “His family history and success in the movie industry is very interesting and it will bring some great color to this team. Richard Childress is just as excited as I am about Blake and the Golden Gate Racing Team in 2009. We’re proud to be a Richard Childress Development team once again and I’m confident we’re going to do very well. At the same time we wish David Mayhew a great future in the sport; he is a very talented driver and will do well.”

While Childress and Offenbach hold great confidence in Koch behind the wheel, Portenga also has a positive outlook on the season to come. Portenga returns as the crew chief of the #21 GodSpeaks.com Chevrolet with a great outlook on the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series.

“All of us are very excited about the year to come for Golden Gate Racing,” said Portenga. “Were heading into the future with a talented driver, a good sponsor and things are looking pretty bright ahead for us. I have a lot of confidence in Blake behind the wheel of the #21 GodSpeaks.com Chevrolet. He knows the importance of marketing himself in this sport. He is young and talented and very eager to showcase that talent.”

Last season a short series of mechanical woes early in the year challenged the Golden Gate Racing Team and crew. Despite the adversities the team rallied to finish 8th in the championship point standings with David Mayhew behind the wheel. Portenga is confident his team will come together for a strong performance in 2009.

“We had some set backs that we could never overcome early last year. Sometimes you dig yourself in a hole and you just can’t manage to climb back out in time. With Blake coming on board and the new sponsorship this is a breath of fresh air for the whole team. The morale in the shop is up for everyone and we are really excited.”

With Childress and Offenbach managing the team, Portenga overseeing the maintence and Koch behind the wheel, there is little room for doubt that the Golden Gate Racing Team is ready for a successful season in the NASCAR Camping World Series. Combine the racing talent with the new title sponsorship of GodSpeaks.com and the team is sure to not only visit victory lane in the year to come but will carry a positive message to the nation during their fast paced journey to victory lane.

GodSpeaks.com is a non denominational advertising campaign best known for their popular billboards that surfaced in 1998 when an anonymous donor contacted an advertising agency with an idea for a local billboard program. The program created a spiritual climate and lured people to consider a daily relationship with a loving and relevant God. Since its beginning with nine billboards, GodSpeaks.com has grown to an incredible level with more than 10,000 billboards in 200 different cities across America.

During the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series, GodSpeaks.com will begin an outreach to a brand new market as they become the title sponsor of Koch and the Golden Gate Racing Team. During the season a new message will be carried on the hood of the #21 Chevrolet and a number of promotional efforts are in the works to promote the website that features details of the GodSpeaks.com campaign and offers visitors a number of resources to change their lives.

“This sponsorship campaign is really exciting for us,” said Offenbach. “The GodSpeaks.com campaign has been very successful and it has caught many peoples attention. It’s not focused on any one religion it is simply a campaign to promote God, regardless of what religion you follow. We’re looking forward to carrying their message this season and we are proud to have them coming on board as our title sponsor.”

With his background in marketing and a devoted faith, Koch is excited to be part of the team that will carry such important messages to the racing world this season. Not only will the GodSpeaks.com campaign be visible to thousands of fans on the series tour, several events are slated to be televised.

“It’s an honor to be part of this sponsorship,” said Koch. “I have always had a strong faith in God. After all it is God that has given me the ability and the opportunity to do this. GodSpeaks.com is taking their message to the racing world and I’m prepared to promote them and all of my sponsors well.”

Joining GodSpeaks.com in the sponsorship of Golden Gate Racing in 2009 will be Patt O’Keefe, Bay Bio Diesel who will be returning for his third consecutive year as a key sponsor of the team. Bay Bio Diesel is owned by GGRT team member Pat O’Keefe. During the year, O’Keefe will strap behind the wheel of the GGRT #31 secondary car for several select events as he has in previous years.

“I want to personally thank my friend Pat O”Keefe of Bay Bio Diesel for his support with our West Coast Team,” said Richard Childress. “I look forward to watching the #31 in the winner’s circle in 2009.”

After the Christmas holiday, the Golden Gate Racing Team will begin testing at various NASCAR tracks to prepare for the upcoming season which will begin in late January with the NASCAR Toyota All Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway. Both Koch and Austin Dillon, the 18-year-old grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, will test at various facilities. Koch will get as much seat time as possible for the West campaign. Dillon will be preparing for competition in the east where he also drives in the RCR Driver Development program. The last minute cram session for testing comes in the wake of NASCAR’s limitations on testing beginning in 2009 due to the struggling economy.

“The new policy kind of throws an obstacle at us right at the start,” explained Portenga. “We want to get Blake familiar with as many facilities as we can prior to the year simply because he has not raced at all of them. I’m confident he will do well. He doesn’t bring any bad habits to the team simply because he has no habits at all yet. With our knowledge of these tracks as a team we should do just fine. Blake listens extremely well and that’s really important to a team..”

Golden Gate Racing team will take to the track in Irwindale on January 23rd and 24th for the Toyota All Star Showdown. For additional information on this upcoming event check out the Golden Gate Racing Team official website at www.goldengateracingteam.com Blake Koch’s personal web page will also carry all press releases and results of the team’s success at www.blakekoch.com. For additional information on the GodSpeaks.com program please see their website at www.GodSpeaks.com.







Have an opinion on this story? E-MAIL KARNAC to send a letter to the editor!