presented by Fabspeed Motorsport
Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, returned to Pittsburgh International Race Complex for the 2nd time this season for the Beaver River Grand Prix with the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series. The team was great with the news that this would be the last ChampCar event at Pitt Race. Although the team was sad to hear the news, the focus for the weekend became going out on a high note with goal of securing the last Pitt ChampCar victory.
Friday Test Day was beautiful and unusually warm for October. The team took the time to work through opportunities. The #942 “Ketchup”” had a suspension issue that the team had to spend time fixing. Both cars ran strong at the end of the day, allowing for all drivers to get track time and be up to speed for the upcoming 8 & 7 Hour Enduros.
Saturday dawned with still even more clear blue skies and warm weather. Team Sahlen’s random starting draw saw the team start 2nd and 3rd from last. This made for a challenging adventure for Wayne & Will Nonnamaker as they started the Porsche Boxsters. The 1st hour of the race was hectic and frantic, as the duo carved their way through traffic. The journey was not without its adventures as Wayne soon found an off track competitor hooking back across him. Quick reactions saw only slight front end damage. This did though require a stop to the pits under yellow to clear the radiators. As the 1st round of pit stops occurred at the 90 minute mark, the Team Sahlen racers had risen up to 3rd and 6th.
The Saturday race proceeded forward with Joe & Joe jumping behind the wheel. All was looking good until the #942 had an unusual power steering coupler failure. This issue resulted in a trip back to the garages for repairs. The Team Sahlen crew soon made the necessary repairs – with “Ketchup” going back out on track to ensure all was fixed. Soon the day of bad fortune continued for Team Sahlen as next #943 was struck with issues. This time the opportunity being a broken transmission. The entire crew jumped in and replaced the transmission on “Mustard”. The crew was so efficient that the job was completed before the end of the race, allowing for the Boxster to go back out on track to all the gears were working in the replacement box.
Wayne Nonnamaker summed up Saturday – “Endurance racing isn’t just about the driver and the car. There is an entire crew that ensures the pit stops are perfect. And when there are days like today when everything went wrong, the entire Team Sahlen crew jumped in and fixed all the major issues on both Porsches. That is what teamwork is all about – everyone doing their part to survive and succeed in these long events.”
Sunday dawned with Team Sahlen on a mission. This day would be the last race ever at Pitt Race for the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series. And the entire team was determined to do their best to go out with the Victory. The starting order was flipped from Saturday – which saw Team Sahlen start a the front of the grid this time. Joe Sahlen & Joe Nonnamaker took advantage of this prime slot and ran out front for their full 1st stint. A red flag at the 1st pit stop saw fortune smile upon Team Sahlen as both Porsches were in the middle of fueling when the red came out. This allowed the team to essentially have an almost free stop without the 5 minute minimum pit stop being a factor. Then an even bigger good amount of fortune fell upon “Ketchup” as Will rolled out of the pits before the pace car came by, while the rest of the field in the pits were detained behind the pace car. This placed the #942 a lap up on the field. During this 2nd stint, Wayne & Will continued the strong pace up front. A full course caution arose allowing “Ketchup” to take advantage of the opportunity to get a stop in. This split strategy between “Ketchup” and “Mustard” allowed the team to be able to cover the competitors no matter what the strategy and full course yellows that occurred for the remainder of the race.
As the race proceeded into the final round of stops, the Whiskey Tango Mazda was able to go 1 lap more than the #943 “Mustard”. And this one lap later saw a Full Course Caution come out. This placed “Mustard” in a bit of catch up for the last stint of the race. But Wayne did a masterful job carving his way through the field to pass the Mazda for 2nd Overall. And then as the checkered flag flew, Team Sahlen secured 1st and 2nd OVERALL in the very last ChampCar event at Pitt Race.
Will Nonnamaker shared his thoughts on the victory – “What a great day of racing. Everyone on the team did their part to get the 1st and 2nd place finish. Joe Sahlen did an especially amazing job behind the wheel in both great pace while still conserving fuel.”
The next event for Team Sahlen will be the Lucky Dog Racing League event at Pitt Race on October 25-26. Saturday will be 7 hour enduro followed up by an 8 hour event on Sunday. This will be the very last race ever at Pitt Race. In total, Team Sahlen has amassed 23 Class Victories in Endurance events at the Pennsylvania track. And the hope is to add to that tally one last time.
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, Fabspeed Motorsport, Rennline & Valco Cincinnati with Big Wrench Racing
