Wayne Nonnamaker was able to complete a significant item off his to do “Bucket List” in 2011.  It had been a goal of Wayne’s for quite some time to match his brother Will’s accomplishment of securing the Grand American ROLEX Series GT Class Bob Akin Sportsman Award.

Wayne secured the title at Mid-Ohio with a strong run, that placed his Mazda RX-8 in top form.  When Wayne was able to pit, he handed the car over to his co-driver John Edwards in 3^rd place.  From there John drove a very solid race, staying out of trouble, and placing Wayne comfortably in 6^th place.  This finish put Wayne a very comfortable 249 points ahead of 2^nd Place John Potter.

“It was a long 12 race season.  So many things can happen during a year that can prevent a quest like this from coming true. The crew prepped a great car for me.  We finished every single race of the year.  Of course a big part of the reason for that was the fantastic reliability of our Mazda RX-8.    A lot of sacrifices had to be made both from my own personal family, the team and the Sahlen’s to achieve this.  You don’t know if you will get a chance be in a position to win another one. So I am going to cherish this one for sure.” – stated Wayne Nonnamaker

Team Sahlen’s Joe Nonnamaker came very close to having a “Family Sweep” of the Bob Akin Award in 2007 - “We came so close in 2007 to winning the Bob Akin Award.  We were battling Emil Assentato all year long.  Out of 4000 and some points, we ened up only 98 points shy.  We had tried everything we could, including finishing 9^th in the season ending 1000km even at Utah/Miller Park.  Emil drove a fantastic year and deserved the title.  That was our 1^st year with a new GT car, and we experienced significant reliability problems.  Had that car been a Mazda, like Emil have drove, I think we could have made that title battle even closer” Shared Joe Nonnamaker

Will Nonnamaker won the Bob Akin Sportsman Award in its inaugural year in 2005.  For Will winning the Award was no slam dunk. “At about the mid-point in the season, Grand American added a final event to the year.  Unfortunately, this event was in Mexico City.  But, fortunately, I was able to secure a seat with Synergy Racing for the final event.  This allowed me to enter the race, and secure a 7^th place finish.  This provided me with a cushion of 114 points of Marc Bunting to secure the Award.”

The 2011 Team Sahlen campaign in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 is supported by Mazda, Mazdaspeed, HRPWorld.com, Cool Shirt, Racetech Seats, BBS, Racing Print Media, Alcon, Mothers Polish, EMCO, NGK Spark Plugs, TheRaceSite.com, Western New York Flash, Grassroots Motorsports, Castrol Oil, Holliday Canopies, ASC Industries, Iannetti  Design Ideas, CM Racing