2022 marks the 30th Anniversary of racing for Team Sahlen’s Will Nonnamaker. For Will, he always had a passion to racing anything fast that wheels on it. Whether that was a Big Wheel, Bicycle or an ATV, he has always enjoyed the thrill and excitement of pushing to the limit. Fast forward to 1992, when Will was attending Miami University, he couldn’t take not getting to race any longer. The itch to get behind the wheel of a race car could wait no longer. So went to the local Go-Kart swap meet in Dayton, Ohio. Will’s family traveled down from Lima, Ohio to join him at the event. While walking around the expanse of Go-Karts, tires and misc parts for sale, an idea was struck upon to instead buy a VW Golf from Team Sahlen’s Bill Pate to race in SCCA. This journey led to Will & his Dad Joe traveling to Kokomo, Indiana over Spring Break to pick up the little hot rod.
The plan was hatched for Will to attend his 1st Driver’s School at Nelson Ledges Road Course. The one hurdle in this plan was that Will would be still taking his last final exam on the Thursday of Driver’s School. And so, as always seems to go in racing, the greatest adventure in racing is somethings just getting to the track. Will drove left Oxford, Ohio on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Lima, Ohio, where Joe had the VW lined up behind the RV. No trailer, just driving the VW to the track, in the most grassroots start to racing as you can get. The 1st year of racing had its ups and downs, with receiving the SCCA Western Ohio Rookie of the Year as the highlight to the year.
Fast Forward several years, and Will Nonnamaker made his Professional debut in racing in the spring of 1994 in the IMSA Firestone Firehawk Endurance Series driving a Mazda MX6. Several years of gaining experience saw Will be rewarded with the 1996 Touring Class Rising Star Award. 1999 saw Will partner with his brother Wayne in a 4 door Mazda 626 sedan. And in this season the duo would secure the Motorola Cup Touring Class Driver Championship.
Next, Team Sahlen moved to Acura Integras, which saw Will secure the 2001 and 2002 Grand-Am Cup STII Driver’s Championships. This was then followed with the move to Porsche 911s in the Grand-Am Cup GS class. Here, Will Nonnamaker assisted in Team Sahlen securing the 2003 & 2004 Team Championships. Additionally at this time, Will’s lifelong dream of racing in the ROLEX 24 Hours was achieved. In total Will raced in the twice around the clock event at Daytona a grand total of 10 times. The results included a Top 10 overall, leading at Midnight, and breaking in the 1st hour of the race.
While campaigning in the Grand-American ROLEX series, Will Nonnamaker achieved a unique distinction of winning the very 1st ever Bob Akin Sportsman Award for being the best nonprofessional driver in the GT class. 16 years later, and the Bob Akin Sportsman Award is still a coveted prize in the IMSA WeatherTech series.
Will achieved another lifelong dream of racing a Prototype in 2013, when Team Sahlen campaigned a BMW Daytona Prototype. Will shared his thoughts on driving a Prototype – “Ever since I was a little kid watching the Holbert Porsche 962 and the Group 44 Jaguar, I wanted to race a Prototype. That dream came true and I cherish every moment of that experience. Driving a car with downforce is like nothing I had ever experienced before, and it was truly a memory I will never forget.
Then in 2014, Will teamed up with his brother Wayne for a run at the IMSA Continental Tire Challenge ST championship. In a hard fought season, the duo came up just a few points shy of the Championship in their Team Sahlen Porsche Cayman.
Will’s longest running Teammate in Endurance racing has been Joe Sahlen. The duo have raced almost every type of Sportscar you can imagine – Daytona Prototype, Dodge SRT4, Mazda RX7, Porsche Boxster, Mazdaspeed3, Chevrolet Corvette and much more. Will shared his thoughts on having Joe Sahlen as a Teammate – “I remember the 1st time I met Joe Sahlen, I just knew that he had a passion for racing like me. You could see it in his eyes. It has a been a great 17 year partnership both on and off the track.”
Since 2015, the duo of Joe & Will have enjoyed great success in Sportsman Endurance Series, that has included the Summit Racing – American Endurance Racing, World Racing League, and the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series. Facing large 100+ fields and strong competition in these very competitive Sportsman Endurance Series, Will has been very fortunate to experience great success winning over 20 events raced in the past 6 seasons driving Porsche Caymans, Mazda RX7s, Porsche Boxsters and a Audi R8 GT3 Ultra.
Will shared his thoughts on 30 years of racing – “I don’t think I ever imagined 30 years ago I would still be racing. I still have the same passion for driving as when I 1st got behind the wheel back at Nelson Ledges those many years ago. And as long as I have that drive and enjoyment I will keep getting out for the thrill and excitement that is Endurance Sports Car Racing.”
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