Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, became the 1st Team to achieve the “Baseball Cycle” in Sportsman Endurance Sports Car Series. The team accomplished this milestone at the recent Lucky Dog Racing League event at Pitt Race. The team secured the OVERALL Victory in Sunday’s 8 Hour Enduro. This was the team’s 1st time running in the series, and was able to accomplish this victory in this initial outing.
With this win, the team now has OVERALL Victories in the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series, Summit Racing – American Endurance Racing, World Racing League presented by Hagerty and the Lucky Dog Racing League powered by Hankook Tires. The grand total of OVERALL Victories in these series tallies 51.
The team 1st entered the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series in 2011. But the team did not secure their initial Overall Victory until 2016 at Gingerman Raceway. In that event the team raced their Mazda RX7 to victory. Since that time, the team has switched from their trio of Rotary Rockets to a trio of Porsche Boxsters. This season the team became the all time leader in OVERALL Victories in the series. And at the recent event at Pitt Race, the team extended that marker to 26 wins.
Joe Nonnamaker remembers that 1st victory – “Racing our Mazda RX7 was super fun back then. The competition at Gingerman was just as tough as it is today. We had worked for so many years to win in the series, to finally get that OVERALL Victory was really great.”
Within the Summit Racing – American Endurance Racing, the team made their 1st foray into the series at the 2015 season finale at Mid-Ohio. In that event the team was able to secure Overall Victory with their Porsche Cayman. Over the next several years the team would campaign a total of 4 Porsche Caymans and an Audi R8 GT3 Ultra in the series. At present, the team is the all time leader in OVERALL Victories in the series with 21.
Joe Sahlen shared his thoughts on racing the Audi – “That R8 was so amazing to drive. It was almost like getting back behind the wheel of a Daytona Prototype. I have some very fond memories with that car. But the most memorable was when I was behind the wheel at Watkins Glen in damp conditions when we were successful in 4 lap shoutout for the OVERALL Victory. “
The team’s foray into the World Racing League has been brief but successful. In 3 weekends of competing, the team has secured 3 OVERALL Victories. Amazingly, the OVERALL Victories have been accomplished competing in 3 different classes in the series – GTO, GP1 and GP2. The team is singular in this achievement.
Will Nonnamaker remembers competing in the World Racing League – “Both times we won at Mid-Ohio in our Porsche Cayman, we had to race against the very fast Elan Mazda Prototype. Through consistent pace, quick pit stops and excellent strategy, we persevered both times for the OVERALL Victory.”
Beyond achieving the marker of OVERALL Victories in 4 series, the team is also Sahlen has been celebrating their 40th Anniversary in Endurance Sports Car. In that time frame that team has tallied 1134 entries, raced 64 cars from 8 different manufactures with 161 drivers. And the team has been able to achieve 133 total wins, 339 podiums, 55 Pole Positions and 108 Fastest Race Laps. At the conclusion of these many seasons, the team has been fortunate to secure 12 Driver Championships, 12 Manufacturer Championships and 8 Team Titles. The 8th Team title occurred just this year as Team Sahlen won the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Midwest Series.
Wayne Nonnamaker shared his reflection on the team’s 40 years of racing – “Of our team’s 40 years of racing, 1/4 of that time has been focused on racing in these 4 Endurance Sports Car series. There is some really tough competition in each series. To have secured wins in all 4 series and tallied 51 OVERALL Victories is a testament to the whole crew’s dedication to focusing on being the best each and every weekend we go out racing.”
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.
