KEES NIEROP

Born in Purmerend, Holland on March 16, 1958, Nierop was exposed to motor sport through his father Klaas who took Kees to races in Europe before immigrating to Canada . It was after the Nierop family settled in Kelowna , BC that Kees , at the age of 18, attempted his first motor sport event, the Knox Mountain Hillclimb. Success never comes easily--Nierop rolled his Datsun 240z on his way up the hill.

Undaunted, Nierop repaired the 240z and proceeds to achieve greater success, finally winning the Canadian GT-1 Championship in 1978. It was also that year that a Formula Atlantic ride was obtained for his home track at Westwood , BC . The North American Formula Atlantic Series was still hotly contested. Gilles Villeneuve had just moved to Ferrari and the likes of Tom Gloy, Howdy Holmes, Danny Sullivan, Keke Rosberg and Jacques Villeneuve were looking for their big break. Nierop, never having driven a Formula car of any kind, qualified a remarkable sixth. Mechanical problems forced him out of the race.

The next year, in '79, Nierop's love affair with the Porsche marquee began in earnest.

After driving the "hairy" Kemp Cobra II at the Daytona 24 hr, Nierop secured a ride with the Dick Barbour Porsche 934 team for IMSA races at Portland and Road-America.

Nierop again returned to the Daytona race in '80 in a Porsche 911, but without the desired results. For Sebring, Barbour offered the Apple Computer Porsche 935, and along with Bobby Rahal, the team brought the car home sixth. Later that year, Nierop teamed with Bob Akin in his Porsche 935 at the 6 hr race at Mosport and again a sixth place finish rewarded the crew for their efforts.

For the next two seasons, 1981-82, Nierop, with private backing from two prominent Canadian businessmen went to England and competed in the British Formula 3 Championship. Although the effort produced no noteworthy results, Nierop gained a great deal of experience learning new racetracks and driving at 10/10 ths. in very close company.

In 1983 the young, now only 25, returned to North America and secured a ride with WLB Racing's 934. Perseverance was finally rewarded. The WLB Racing Team won, outright, the 12 hr of Sebring in a GTO class car-- the only time this has been done in IMSA history. In April the team won again, this time the GTO class at the 6 hr race at Riverside . Lady luck is cruel and while again leading the GTO class at Mid-Ohio, the team suffered a DNF.

The year 1984 looked promising for Nierop. After a couple of abortive attempts to drive a Porsche 935 at Daytona and Sebring, disappointment was slowly attacking the Nierop psyche. In early June the phone call that he know would come eventually materialized, and he instantly agreed to drive the Kremer Bros. Porsche 956 at the World Endurance Championship race at Mosport. Nierop worked diligently with the promoter of the ride, attended media receptions. and did media interviews to assist the sponsor Sperry Inc. achieve publicity for their efforts. The experience of driving Turbo Porsches and a knowledge of Mosport certainly helped Nierop. After practice and qualifying, less than one second separated the three drivers. The Kremers were pleased, as their car was fifth fastest behind the Rothmans and Skoal Porsche 956^'s. Depending on steady driving, the Sperry 956 worked it's way up to second place after almost four hours. But then the rough Mosport track and extreme heat caused gearbox oil cooler failure and eventually gearbox failure. The Sperry Porsche 956 was not counted as a finisher.

In 1985, Kees ran the IMSA Daytona 24 Hrs, with Bob Akin Racing 935 Turbo Porsche to a 5th place finish over all.

He then joined Electrodyne Porsche Racing 934 Turbo for the rest of 1985 to compete in GTO Finishing 2nd at Atlanta and Elkhart Lake, 4th at Watkins Glen and 7th at the Pocono 500 km. race. (1 DNF due to crash at Riverside and 1 DNF due to engine problems at Daytona.)

In October he joined the Carlsen Racing team to drive the 24 hr. Firehawk race with Walt Maas, John Milledge and Drake Olsen to finish in 1st place overall with a Porsche 944.

With Carlsen in '86, Kees continued to excel with the Porsche marquee. In the SCCA Escort Endurance Challenge at both Sears Point and Portland , he finished second in class. At the Nelson Ledges 24 hour, he took 4th overall, 4th in class in the Carlsen 944T and at Atlanta , back in the 944, first in class. In the Budweiser 24 hrs at Mosport, Kees was selected to drive on the same team as Al Holbert and Derek Bell in a Rothmans/Porsche 944T. The car finished a credible 8th after spending 3/4 hour in the pits with a brake malfunction.

Another highlight of the '86 season was the offer from Bob Akin to share an IMSA GTP ride in the Coca-Cola Porsche 962 at Road America . In this, his first opportunity to race a Porsche 962, Kees showed that he was up to the task by finishing 3rd in the grueling 500 miler.

Interestingly enough, it was back in Canada that Kees was finally able to establish himself as such versatile young driving talent to his peers. Against the top driver in Canada , and some of the best Showroom Stock drivers from the U.S. , Kees captured the prestigious Rothmans/Porsche Challenge Championship. The series consisted of seven 1/2 hour sprint races in which 32 competitors drove virtually identical Porsche 944s against one another. Names like Scott Goodyear, Bill Adam, Richard Spenard, Ludwig Heimrath Sr. and Jr. were amongst the competition faced by Kees in his MCL/Field Motorsports entry.

As a result of his successful competition year, Kees also has the distinction and honor of being among the top ten in a field of 150 competing for the Porsche North American Cup.

1987 Was a year Nierop would rather forget. Although during his visit at the Porsche factory because of the 10^th place in the Porsche North America Cup, he was asked by Mr. Peter Falk to join the factory race team at LeMans for the 24hr race in June of ’87. Nierop was to drive one of the three Rothman’s Porsche 962’s with Price Cobb and Vern Schuppan. Unfortunately the car was crashed beyond repair before Nierop had a chance to drive it. The factory then switched Nierop from the 962 to the 961. The 961 was the racing version of the 959 Porsche supercar. Nierop had already driven the car at Daytona Beach , FL the previous year. While a top 10 finish was in the works, unfortunately the car became a DNF after mechanical issues caused the car to brush the wall at high speed on Sunday morning.

Nierop continued to get rides (one was with Brian Redman in a 962 at the Daytona 24 hr race-DNF) and also a season with the Rick Hurst Racing 944 in the American Firehawk series. Again he showed well, finishing first several times.

In 1988 Nierop got the invitation from Cam Champion to join his team of two 944 Turbo cars to run the Canadian Rothman’s 944 Turbo Cup. The season turned out to be a challenge, however, Nierop did manage to have several top finishes and ended up 5^th in the Championship. Not what Nierop had hoped for. However, Nierop also ran some endurance races with the Saleen Mustangs. Finishing 2^nd at Mosport and 3^rd at Brainerd. This got him the invite to join Steve Saleen for 1989 to do the full season.

1989 was again a typical racing year, there were many good times but also some less then enjoyable moments. Nierop at this point didn’t feel that his career was going where it was intended to go. He loved the high horsepower IMSA machines and the opportunities to drive them were far and few between.

Nierop relocated to Vancouver BC and got involved in the transportation industry. Nierop always felt that he carried a big responsibility towards his family and soon found himself looking for a more secure income. The summer of 1990 brought yet another invite from Porsche Canada to drive a 944 Turbo at the Vancouver Molson Indy, Nierop accepted and drove the mechanically challenged car throughout the weekend.

Racing still in his blood, he decided to run his own 280Z again the next year (1991)at the same Vancouver Molson Indy weekend. This time he qualified on the pole and won the race. 

Nierop continued to drive in some amateur races in his Datsun through the 90's. He kept his racing license up because the need to go racing was not leaving him. Then in early 2000 Kees was contacted by the late Bob Carlson from Porsche Cars North America. Mr. Carlson invited him to join the team of past and current Porsche driving champions to instruct and showcase new Porsche models as they were being released to the public. Nierop accepted this immediately and joined the elite pro driver team of Hurley Haywood, David Murry, David Donahue, Patrick Long.  This would see Kees at the wheel of the latest Porsches (Carrera GT, 997, 997 Turbo etc.) driving at speed at several North American racetracks.

Nierop also joined Vancouver based Morrisport Advanced Driving as an instructor. The new decade would be all about cars and Porsches and instructing for Nierop. Late 2008 he also joined Porsche Sport Driving School in Birmingham as an instructor.

Then in 2007 Nierop was asked to be the driver for the Canadian entry for the TransSyberia Rally. This is a 7200 km "off road", two week, live in a tent, rally from Moscow, Russia, to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. Porsche North America had entered three Cayennes and Nierop drove the Canadian entry. His co-driver/navigator was Laurance Yap. Rallying was not something Nierop had done much of in his carreer, but Kees never backs away from a challenge. The rally would end up being great publicity for Kees. Not for his finishing position, but for how he walked away uninjured from a totally destroyed Cayenne in the middle of the Gobi dessert in Mongolia.

Nierop's driving performance was worthy of being invited again for 2008. This time a rare mechanical problem with the Porsche put him out of the race after only two days.

Kees continued to be busy doing several coaching days and appearances. It was at one of the coaching days where Steve Paquette (owner of Bullet Racing) approached Kees to try out one of his Koni Porsche 911's at Mission, BC racetrack. As he drove the racecar 911, Nierop knew he had to do more real racing again. Later that year he drove Steve's 930 Turbo racecar. A 600+ hp car much like the 935's he was used to from the early 80's. It was after driving this car that he was invited to join Bullet Racing as a team driver for the Rolex 24 at Daytona Beach in January 2010.

Nierop proved to be a worthy endurance driver still at the age of 51. A 25 year break from Daytona did not seem to bother Nierop, may be he isn't the top qualifying driver (he'll leave that to the 20 year olds) but when it comes to steady, fast, consistent, easy on the car laps, Nierop is still very much up to it.

Nierop continued with Bullet Racing for 2010 entering the Westcoast Sportscar Championship. Driving the Bullet Racing Porsche GT3 he went on to win the Championship, he was also voted "Driver of the Year" (2010). 2010 Proved to be a busy year as Nierop also continued his duties as a Porsche Canada instructor and also continued as a Porsche Sport Driving School North America instructor. Nierop was involved with the introduction of the Porsche Panamera, Porsche Cayenne Hybrid and of course all the regular dealer visits.

2011 looked promising for more racing, but once again budget issues kept that from materializing. Instead Nierop totally focussed on instructing for both Porsche Canada (World Roadshow at Calabogie) and Porsche Sport Driving School North America. A bright moment was the invitation to drive Jim Edwards' 1977 Porsche 934 Turbo (Ex Wollek LeMans winner) at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV at Laguna Seca, CA. Nierop took full advantage of this opportunity as he qualified the car as the top 934 in the field.  

2012 promises to be another busy year for Nierop, he'll continue to instruct and hopefully he will find himself behind the wheel of a Porsche racecar once again.