El Grado Tequila heads to Homestead Raceway with Dempsey Team.

El Grado is coming to the conclusion of its first season’s partnership with Dempsey Racing. As a successful season nears the finish line, Drivers Joe Foster, Patrick Dempsey, Rick Skelton and Charles Espenlaub have competed ably in eleven starts—nine of them in El Grado Livery.

Dempsey Racing is scheduled to compete in their #40 Mazda RX-8 GT in the final Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race, the Grand Prix of Miami, taking place on the 2.3 mile road course at Homestead Miami Speedway south of Miami, Florida. The schedule includes practice 2:00-4:30PM local time Thursday, October 8, practice and qualifying Friday October 9, and the main event starts at 1:08PM Eastern on Saturday October 10 (all times Eastern). The race will be televised on SPEED.

Back in May, Dempsey Racing’s Mazda RX-8 GT debuted in El Grado livery in time for a 7th place finish in Millville, New Jersey, a 10th place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California, and 7th in Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in Watkins Glen, NY. They finished 6th place June 20 (team high for Dempsey himself) in the EMCO Gears Classic (KeyBank) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The team’s season-best finish (4th) came with Foster and Espenlaub at the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama in July. The team has had eight top ten finishes in the series and has finished running it all but one race.

Also this summer, Dempsey and his teammate, Grand Am Koni Challenge Champion Joe Foster, came in 9th in the 77th running of one of motor racing’s crown jewels, the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Ferrari F430GT. For this race, Dempsey and Foster drove a combined 20-plus hours after their third teammate, Don Kitch, Jr. fell ill.

“We are podium bound for sure,” team owner and driver Dempsey said. “It’s only a matter of time. I am proud of our team and the progress we have made in so many areas.” El Grado Spirits founder Ben Gonzales adds, “El Grado Spirits eagerly anticipates the final race of the 2009 Rolex Sports Car Series season with Dempsey Racing,” echoing the sentiment of founder Ron Park. “This has been a great season for us, both in terms of our visibility with the team and its overall performance. We’ll be cheering them on in Homestead Miami this weekend.”