Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, entered the season finale of the ChampCar Endurance Midwest Series with hopes of securing the Championship. The Midwest Series encompasses Nelson Ledges Road Course, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Each weekend is an 8 hour enduro on Saturday and a 7 hour enduro on Sunday. In total this was 45 hours of racing.
At the 1st Round of the “Triple Crown” series, Team Sahlen’s #943 secured double victories at Nelson Ledges. This place “Mustard” strongly in the lead in the standings. For #942, fortune was not as good. Even though “Ketchup” ran in the Top 3 in both races, transmission gremlins took it out of both races.
For 2nd Round at Mid-Ohio, “Ketchup” came roaring back, with a strong 2nd place finish in Saturday’s 7 hour enduro and backed that up with a victory in Sunday’s 8 hour enduro. This super strong finishes bumped the #942 significantly up in the standings. The #943 had strong run all weekend with a 3rd Place on Saturday and 5th place on Sunday.
The in the final 3rd round of the series at Pitt Race, the team came focused to seal up the championship. And not only did the team seal up the title, but with a perfect weekend that does not happen very often in racing. In Saturday’s race, the #942 “Ketchup” led the #943 “Mustard” over the line for 1-2 finish in the 8 Hour enduro against 65 other competitors. Then on Sunday, the roles were reversed with “Mustard” securing the top spot and “Ketchup” following soon behind.
Joe Nonnamaker shared his thoughts after the final round at PittRace – “What an amazing race weekend. We came here with a mission, and securing a 2nd and 1st with “Mustard” was what we needed to win the Midwest Series. I have to tip my hat to the Bavarian Mustache Werks BMW team. They had an amazing string of finishes in the 6 events. This made it extra challenging to us to secure the title. But probably the most challenging aspect of our title run did not come on track, but instead in the garage. On Sunday morning, as the crew was backing “Mustard” out, the shift linkage broke. In a very brief time the crew had the broken part out and replaced with a new one to get us to grid before the cars rolled out on track. That quick work by the crew is what won us the race and the series title.”
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.
