Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, came into the Beaver River Grand Prix at Pitt Race with the Tire Rack – ChampCar Series with high hopes of continuing their strong run of finishes. At the most recent event at Mid-Ohio, the team had secured a 2nd and 3rd on Saturday and then backed that up with a very fine 1st and 5th on Sunday. Little did the team know that the Pittsburgh weekend would be even more amazing in good fortune.
The weekend started off on Thursday as the team arrived to move in and set up in the paddock. Friday was Test Day, and the team took advantage with shaking down all three Porsche Boxsters. The drivers experienced a track surface at Pitt Race that seemed a bit more slippery than normal. This knowledge assisted the drivers in adjusting their driving to conserve their tires on race day.
Saturday dawned with beautiful blue skies and temperatures that were abnormally high for October in Pennsylvania. The team drew an excellent 10th and 11th out of 65 for the starting order. This good fortune saw the team quickly move up the pack and rise up to 1st and 3rd at the end of 90 minutes of racing. The team continued to match pace with the competitors as well as have good fortune in Code 35 / Yellow Flag pit stops. The heat of the day certainly made things difficult for all racers. As the race moved into the last 2 hours of the race, Team Sahlen found their Boxsters in 1st and 2nd Overall with a 2 lap lead on the nearest team. Fortunately for Team Sahlen, both “Ketchup” and “Mustard” kept rolling along lap after lap, to then come across the finish line nose to tail for a classic photo finish at the checkered flag for the 8 hour enduro.
Joe Sahlen shared his thoughts after the race – “What a great day of racing. The crew did a fantastic job on the pit stops. We just kept up a steady pace all day, and then with all of our competitors running into trouble, we just were able to bring both cars home to an amazing 1st & 2nd Overall.”
Sunday dawned with blue skies again, but with even higher temperatures than Saturday. The #942 “Ketchup” started the race a lap down due to the ChampCar guideline of the prior day winner receiving a lap down start. And as well, the reverse order from Saturday saw the Porsche Boxsters line up nearly last in the 60+ car field. This meant that the early portion of the race saw Team Sahlen focusing on turning laps, battling one spot at a time to get to the front. At the halfway point, the team had made it up to the top 10. Getting up to the Top 5 cars though was difficult. The team clawed for every second on track, and with 90 minutes to go in the race, it looked like the team would have to settle for a 3rd and 6th on the day. But then the competition had problems, incidents and situations. This factor saw Team Sahlen come out of the dust and rise up to secure another amazing 1st and 2nd Overall.
Wayne Nonnamaker shared his thoughts after the race– “The real heroes of today’s race was the crew. This morning, when they were backing “Mustard” out of the garage, the shift linkage broke. The guys quickly jumped into action and had the everything fixed and back in action. Dad rolled down to grid just in time so that we could make the start of the race. Had they not quickly diagnosed and fixed the situation this result would not have been possible.”
The next event for Team Sahlen will be the “Dogtoberfest” at Pitt Race with Lucky Dog Racing League on October 26-27. Saturday will be a 7 hour enduro followed by a 8 hour enduro on Sunday.
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., Forgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, OMP, Bell Helmets & Capri Tools.
