Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, had high hopes entering the weekend for the Mid-Ohio Grand Prix presented by MoneyShiftRacing.com with the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series. The team had just come off back to back double victory at the recent ChampCar Nelson Ledges event in July. And at last year’s ChampCar Mid-Ohio weekend, the team secured 1st and 2nd Overall for both Saturday and Sunday’s double enduros. The team would be entering their #942 “Ketchup” and #943 “Mustard Porsche Boxsters. Drivers would be Joe Sahlen, Joe Nonnamaker, Wayne Nonnamaker and Will Nonnamaker
The team moved in on Thursday evening, setting up the paddock in the Mid-Ohio Garages. Then on Friday, there was an all day test and tune. The team took advantage of this opportunity by to shake down both the #942 & #943 in advance of the 8 hour Saturday enduro. The #941 “Chili” also was put into action, providing all 4 drivers with additional practice time on track. Additionally, Team Sahlen had a set of Hankook Tires that were tested in advance of the team’s anticipated entry in this fall’s Lucky Dog Racing Series event at PittRace. This was a valuable experience as the team learned what tire pressures worked best for these tires on track.
Saturday dawned with beautiful fall Ohio sunny skies. The random draw for starting position saw the team grided in the back ¼ of the line up. This opportunity just made it more of a fun challenge for the team to try and make their way to the front of the field. At the 2 hour mark, the team had risen up to 4th and 5th overall. The team continued to charge forward, battling some very tough competition at the front of the field. The 2nd round of pit stops did not play into the team’s favor as a full green flag pit stop was offset by the competition securing a full yellow/code 35 pit stop. This handicap made for battling for the Overall Victory even more challenging.
The team did not let this deter them, and in the 2nd half of the race, the team made progress in clawing back the time lost in the pit stops. At the end of the race, the gap had been narrowed down being on the lead lap, less than 90 seconds from 1st place. The final results in the 7 hour enduro was 2nd and 3rd Overall out of 65 entries. A very, very fine accomplishment in a super competitive field.
Joe Sahlen shared his thoughts after the race – “What a great day of racing. I had the opportunity to both start and finish today’s race. We had a perfect race all day. Will and I never dropped a wheel off track or had any penalties on track. To come home 2nd and 3rd Overall was a great reward for everyone’s hard work on the team.”
Sunday dawned with continued sunny blue skies. This day the starting order would be reversed, placing Team Sahlen at the very front of the grid. This greatly assisted Team Sahlen in being positioned in the Top 5 early in the race. Throughout the early stages of the race, the action was very intense, with the race pace being even faster than the day before. An on track incident saw the #943 “Mustard” drop of back from the lead pack at the 2 hour mark.
As the race moved into the middle stages of the race, a full course caution turned into a red flag situation. This turn of events placed those competitors whom had been in the pits during the red flag a significant advantage. Team Sahlen was unfortunately not one of those teams. This positioned both Hot Dog Racers in catch up mode for the remainder of the race.
As the race went into the final hour of the race, Team Sahlen was positioned in 3rd and 6th place. With just 60 minutes to go, the team made a push to advance both Boxsters. The #942 “Ketchup” set a blistering pace, lap after lap, passing 2nd place and hunting down the leader. Then with 15 minutes to go in the race, “Ketchup” too the lead and retained the top spot until the checkered flag. The #943 “Mustard” made a charge as well, and secured 5th place with just 5 minutes to go in the race.
Wayne Nonnamaker shared his thoughts after the eventful day of racing – “What an intense race. We didn’t lead this event all day until the last 15 minutes. We had to battle hard all day against some very good competition. Kudos to ChampCar for such great parity in the field. We had Hondas, BMWs, Miatas and Porsches all turning super fast laps and running up front all weekend long.”
The next event for Team Sahlen will be The Beaver River Grand Prix at PittRace with the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series on October 4th-6th. Friday will be a Test & Tune Session. And then Saturday will be a 8 hour Enduro starting at 9 am. Then that will be followed with a 7 hour enduro on Sunday. Both events will be Televised on ChampCarLive presented by AutoZone on the ChampCar YouTube channel.
2024 Team Sahlen Campaign Partners:
honeybeeBase.com, Malco Products, Porsche Beachwood, ECS Tuning, Tarett Engineering, Guard Transmission, HubstandsPRO, Maxima Racing Oil, Pagid Brakes, NGK Spark Plugs, CM Racing Products, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Design Engineering Inc., Hard Brakes, Forgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, Winding Road Racing, & Capri Tools.