Great Lakes Motorsports

Great Lakes Motorsports is American auto racing team based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team has fielded entries in ARLA, TM Lights, and the RROL/VSCC. The team also attempted the 2011 TM Master Cup Series round of Decatur, but failed to make it past pre-qualifying.

Creation and Burning up the Quarter Mile (1986-1992)
Great Lakes Motorsports or GLM was founded in 1986 by James "Jim" More for the purpose of running alcohol powered dragsters in the TAC (Top Alcohol Championship). More, who used to compete in TAC as a driver, hired driver Tyler Huntlee and acted as crew chief for the team. GLM compete in TAC with Huntlee from 1986 to 1992 scoring 14 event wins and 3 TAC titles (1988,1990,1991). Midway through the '92 season, Huntlee announced he would not return to GLM in '93. Unable to secure a driver for the '93 season, More and GLM left TAC.

2011: A Stock Car Reboot
From 1993 to 2010, More spent time at short tracks in and around his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, while attempting to bring GLM to another form of motorsports. It was at one of these tracks, Tri-City Motor Speedway, that one driver caught More's attention, Ryan Griffin.

After thinking it over, More ultimately decided to sign Griffin making the then 19-year old the first driver for GLM since Huntlee. However, More needed to find a series for GLM's new driver to compete in. His answer was the ARLA Tornado Alley Truck Series. To add support to the team, More also signed his nephew David to drive a second truck in the series. The team had some success but not anything noteworthy.

More then decided to try a gamble. With the addition of the twin race format, the ARLA Elite Series was seeing an influx of part-time drivers. More petitioned for and was granted two part-time entries, the #35 of Ryan Griffin and the #38 of Jarkko Forsstrom. GLM's best finish in the series was 3rd twice. Griffin scored a 3rd in the second race of the Xenos Alberta Duels while Forsstrom his 3rd in the second race at the Albuquerque 350 Presented by Boyack.

However, the team did have score one victory in 2011 albeit in a half-points event. Driving the #44, Ike Durbin, in a one-off, won the first of the two B-main events used to determine the field for the season ending Rockford 200.

Tragedy Strikes: Flight 24 Crash and Aftermath
In preparation for the season ending Rockford 200, GLM chartered a Beechcraft King Air C90 to fly members of the team to Rockford from the team's headquarters in Grand Rapids. However at shortly after 5:30am on the morning of November 18th, the plane disappeared from FAA radar. The wreckage of the plane was found 2 hours later in a field in just north of Kirkland, Illinois. All 9 people aboard (7 passengers and 2 crew) perished.

Those killed were More's younger brother, Randy; Randy's son, Mark; HP Engineparts representative Kyle Cash; Mark's girlfriend, Jessica Wright; team manager, Paul Lepage; Lepage's wife Sarah; and the car chief on the #38 of Jarkko Forsström, Larry Brown. The two pilots, Captain Roger Shirley, a retired Air Force officer, and Captain Jack Travis were the two crewmen killed.

In the aftermath of the crash, GLM elected to run a black car with white numbers for their attempt at the TM Master Cup Series race at Decatur. But, the car failed to make it pass pre-qualifying.

2012: TM Lights Expansion
Unable to secure a full-time ARLA Elite Series entry for 2012, More scaled GLM's ARLA entries down from 2 to 1 releasing Forsstrom and changing the #35 to the #28. More elected to run the entry himself.

But, this did not mean that More didn't have something in mind for Griffin. More moved Griffin to the TM Lights series electing to field two entries in the series with RROL/VSCC driver Ike Durbin driving the 2nd entry.

So far through 11 races, Durbin sits 70 points out of the championship lead in 2nd with 6 races to go.

Durbin ended up finishing 6th in the final point standings. 1 point out of 5th.

GLM and M&D Motorsports
While More was running his team in ARLA, his brother, Michael Sr., attempted to start and run his own team in the VSCC series. However, financial issues forced the elder More to sell his team to GLM.

When the VSCC folded and the RROL Elite Series was formed, More decided to merge the teams #156 entry with Ike Durbin's #86 entry. The newly formed team was christened M&D Motorsports with More's and Durbin's names forming the initials of the team.

2013: Expansion and Euro-1
GLM closed its ARLA operation to focus more on its TM Lights effort. Vijay Pushanda will now join GLM to pilot the #18 in the Lights series while Durbin will remain in the #08.

Pushanda will also pilot the team's Independent's Trophy entry in the TM Master Cup Series. The Round of England is the team's first schedule appearance which will mark its first TMMCS start.

GLM scored its maiden TM Lights victory with Durbin at the 2013 TM Lights @ Georgia. Durbin dominated the event from the pole.