Top five finish for Racing to End Alzheimer’s thwarted by late race incident

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (September 23, 2025) – The Racing to End Alzheimer’s with Stephen Cameron Racing team came close to earning its seventh IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge top 10 and third top five finish of the season in Saturday’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 – but two late race fuel system blips put the No. 19 Ford Mustang GT4 in harm’s way, ending its race with two laps remaining.

The team recently shifted to a brand-new Ford Mustang chassis, which drivers Sean Quinlan and Greg Liefooghe tested several weeks ago at Road Atlanta. The move necessitated not only coming to grips with the car’s nuances during the test, and through two practice sessions at Indy, but also updating the names of loved ones who have suffered from dementia or Alzheimer’s that have been placed on the car by family and friends.

The team replaced the names on the car’s four fender panels but ingeniously deployed the two doors from the old car – a huge time savings for the crew, as the doors hold over 100 of the nearly 170 names that are on the car.

“Once again, huge thanks to the entire Cameron team for working so hard with us, to ensure that all the names were in place for Saturday afternoon’s green flag,” said Racing to End Alzheimer’s founder Phil Frengs. “It was great to see the bright purple and orange paint scheme head to the grid with all the names ready to go. These names represent champions to their family and friends, and we’re honored to be a part of that commemoration.

“We’re grateful as well to Kevin Lee and the team at NBC Sports/Peacock, for interviewing Greg (Liefooghe) during the first hour of the race,” continued Frengs. “It gave Greg the chance to talk about Racing to End Alzheimer’s and explain Racing to End Alzheimer’s to all the IMSA fans. We appreciate the chance to tell our story and invite more people to put a name on the car and honor their loved ones.”

Over Friday’s two one-hour practice sessions, Quinlan, Liefooghe and the team refined the new car’s setup over Indy’s tricky 14-turn, 2.439-mile layout. The IMS circuit presents a unique challenge: balancing aerodynamics on the sections of the track that incorporate the four-mile oval with tight road course corners that require heavy braking and a nimble response.

Taking Saturday’s green flag in 16th position, Quinlan rode the draft down the front straight and into turn one. He took the measure of the cars around him and moved up two positions by the end of lap one before settling into a rhythm in the lead train of cars. An early yellow gave the team the chance to top off fuel and change left side Michelin tires, with Quinlan slotting back into P14.

A yellow with just over an hour to go sent Quinlan to pit lane from P11, this time for right side tires, fuel, and a change to Liefooghe. After a lightning-fast stop from the Cameron crew, Liefooghe headed back out on track in fifth position and quickly captured fourth as one of the fastest cars on track – and when a car ahead received a penalty, Liefooghe slid into third just before a yellow to retrieve debris.

Liefooghe pounced on the restart, running side by side with the No. 46 for the rest of the lap before Liefooghe cleared ahead in the front straight – only to trade the position back several laps later. But a blip in the fuel system momentarily slowed the car, putting Liefooghe back to P7, and the system blipped again, slowing the Ford Mustang momentarily. But it was enough to cause the car behind to clip Liefooghe, sending him into the turn six tires and out of the race with four minutes remaining.

“Because of the current BoP (balance of performance), we just didn’t have the speed that some of the other cars had,” said team owner Steve. Cameron. “Our pit stop was good, going with only two tires put us in the top five. It was a struggle there at the end, but Greg was doing a great job. The car looked great this weekend, but we’ll have to take a look at what happened.”

The No. 19 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Mustang gives families the chance to honor loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. For a $250 donation, the family member’s name and hometown is placed on the car, and their photo can be posted on the Racing to End Alzheimer’s website’s tribute page.

Names added now will not only be on the car for the final race at Road Atlanta but will also be on the car for the entire 2026 racing season.

All donations are matched by Frengs’ company Legistics, with 100% going to the program’s two beneficiaries – the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist, and the UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program.

To date, Racing to End Alzheimer’s has donated over $1 million to those two programs.

Donate now at this link.

Next up for Racing to End Alzheimer’s will be the final race of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, the FOX Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday, October 10.  The race will be broadcast live in the U.S. on Peacock TV, and internationally on IMSA.tv and on IMSA’s YouTube channel – ad-free courtesy of Michelin.