Presented by VALCO – Big Wrench Racing
Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, will be returning to Viriginia International Raceway for the 1st time in 11 years. The last time the team raced at VIR was at the IMSA Continental Tire Series event, where the team secured a 4th place finish in the ST class in their #43 “Pepper” Porsche Cayman. The team 1st raced at Virigina International Raceway in 2000. This was the very 1st event of the track’s re-grand opening after having been closed for 2 decades prior. Over the years Team Sahlen competed in over 15 races at the track, securing 5 victories along the way.
The event that Team Sahlen will be competing in will be the “Virginia is for Lucky Dog Lovers” with the Lucky Dog Racing League. The team has competed 1 time before in series – last year’s Pittsburgh event. In that event, the #942 “Ketchup” Porsche Boxster secured the OVERALL Victory.
For this year’s event, the team will again be entering the #942 “Ketchup” and #943 “Mustard” Porsche Boxsters. The drivers will be Joe Sahlen, Joe Nonnamaker, Wayne Nonnamaker and Will Nonnamaker.
The team riding high after a strong start to the season having won the Daytona 14 Hours and both the of the 7 hour Memorial Day Enduros at Watkins Glen. These victories were in the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series. The race cars used in these victories will be the same Porsche Boxsters that the team will be racing this weekend in Lucky Dog – with a few slight modifications to adjust for the different rules.
Wayne Nonnamaker shared his excitement for the weekend ahead – “Virginia is one of my favorite tracks. It has a real flow to it and going fast here requires extreme precision and daring bravery. Especially going up through the esses. I remember got flat through them in our old Acura Intregras. And as well I remember having to lift in our Mazda RX8 GT racers. I am expecting the Porsche Boxsters to be somewhere in between lifting and flatout.”
The competition will be new teams that Team Sahlen is never faced before. This will make the weekend extra challenging. As well, the team will be racing on the series spec Hankook Tires. This will be a bit of a deviation from what the Team has experienced in the past which will require some adjustments.
Joe Nonnamaker shared his thoughts – “It has been 14 years since I last raced here at Virigina. It is a really challenging track. To get prepared, I have been doing a lot of iRacing, to get the feel back for the track. I did the same thing for Daytona and Watkins Glen, and it really helped me prepare.”
The weekend’s events start on Friday, June 27th with a morning practice/qualifying – that will then be soon followed up with the start of the 7 hour event. Saturday will dawn with an 8 hour enduro starting at 9 am.
2025 Team Sahlen Campaign Partners:
honeybeeBase.com, Malco Products, Porsche Beachwood, Discovery Parts, ECS Tuning, Tarett Engineering, Guard Transmission, HubstandsPRO, Maxima Racing Oil, Pagid Brakes, NGK Spark Plugs, CM Racing Products, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Design Engineering Inc., OMP Racing, Bell Racing, Forgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, Capri Tools, Fabspeed Motorsport, Eibach & Valco Cincinnati with Big Wrench Racing