{"id":2847,"date":"2022-01-31T22:05:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/?p=2847"},"modified":"2021-12-09T22:16:17","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T22:16:17","slug":"joe-nonnamaker-celebrates-50-years-of-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/31\/joe-nonnamaker-celebrates-50-years-of-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Nonnamaker celebrates 50 years of Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2022 marks the 50th<\/sup> Anniversary of\nracing for Team Sahlen\u2019s Joe Nonnamaker.  Through these years, Joe has\ndriven in over 450 races, on over 55 different tracks in over 35 different\ncars.  After this much racing, many racers would be looking to slow\ndown,,but not Joe Nonnamaker.  As Joe enters his 5th<\/sup> decade\nof driving, he is looking towards another exciting year of racing.  Joe\nwill be driving for Team Sahlen in their 2022 racing campaign.  This\ncampaign will include 16 races in 8 weekend events.  Additionally, Joe\nwill be splitting his driving in these races between Team Sahlen\u2019s Porsche\nCaymans and Porsche Boxsters.  A majority of Joe Nonnamaker\u2019s racing\ncareer has been behind the wheel of the worldwide Volkswagen\/Porsche\/Audi\nbrand.  From the VW make this has included\nRabbits, Scirrocos, Golfs, Corrados and GTIs. \nFrom the Porsche make this has ranged from Boxsters, Caymans, 911s and\nGT3 Cups.  And not to be left of the list\nis the sole Audi \u2013 the R8 GT3 Ultra.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When Joe started out in 1972, it was in a 1967 Corvette that he\nSolo raced around pylon cones in Ohio Shopping Mall parking lots as well as the\nToledo Speedway.  Even by Joe\u2019s own admission, this would not be the\nrecommended path to getting into racing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe \u201c67\u201d Vette had tons of\ntorque and power, little to no handling, and zilch for brakes. This is not what\nyou would consider ideal for running around a very tight circuit with little\norange cones to get around.  Additionally, Toledo Speedway had tons of\nvery scary concrete walls surrounding the whole facility.  I decided soon\nenough that instead of driving such a fast car, with no safety equipment, that\nI might be better off switching gears to something with a roll cage and less\ntorque.\u201d<\/em> Shared\nJoe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Joe\u2019s foray into full door handle to door handle racing\ncame at the time that the SCCA was starting the Showroom Stock\nclass.   And Joe\u2019s car of choice was the Ford Pinto, with tires the\nsize of space savers of today.  This 1st<\/sup> season in 1974\nalso marked Joe\u2019s 1st<\/sup> time racing at Mid-Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Joe shared those early days of racing a Pinto – \u201cBack\nin those days, Mid-Ohio did not quite look like it does today.  Although\nit was always beautiful, that was in the pre-Trueman family era.  This\nmeant there was much less amenities as we have grown to be familiar with\ntoday.  I never drove the track when it had the old dog leg in the back of\nthe track.  But even in 1974, there were trees between the keyhole and the\nback straightaway.  I just remember how excited I was to be on the same\ntrack as those I had watched and admired in the old Trans Am and Can Am series\nof the 1960\u2019s.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 In the beginning, Joe\u2019s very small race budget did not\neven allow for a trailer or tow vehicle.  The very economical Showroom\nStock class was developed for street titled cars.  So racers could just\ndrive their cars to the track, unloaded it and raced.   This worked\nwell until one fateful event at Waterford Hills in Michigan, where Joe\ninadvertently flipped the Pinto.  Joe had to take a jack and pry up the\nroof. Then he put his helmet on with visor and drove the car back the 2 hour\ndrive to Bowling Green. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After his Pinto days, Joe evolved to the VW Cup series in both\nSciroccos and Rabbits.  As the 80\u2019s approached , Joe jumped up to IMSA\nRacing Sedan series, in a one off Nissan Stanza, that took the family over 2\nyears to just build.  When Joe\u2019s 2 sons became older and wanted to go\nracing as well, Joe switched over to the Firestone Firehawk Endurance\nChampionship.  Today it is commonly referred to as the Continental Tire\nSeries.   During a decade plus of racing in this series, Joe achieved\nthe dream of all grassroots racers, in winning the GS class title in 2003,\nco-driving with his son Wayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cOne thing is true about\nracing, if you have not had any defeats or failures,,,then stick around and\nkeep racing, because there are tons more lows than highs when it comes to\nsuccess.  Sometimes it just feels like you are spending your hard earned\nmoney to pay someone to punch you in the gut every weekend.  Our family\nhas had our fair share of those, including blowing a motor in the 1st <\/sup>hour\nof the ROLEX 24 Hours one year and breaking my neck in a wreck at Homestead.\nBut we have had our fair share of good fortune.  With many of those times\nbeing at my favorite track, Mid-Ohio.  We have found ourselves on the top\nstep here several times, which is just fantastic when you are in front of your\nhome crowd with family and friends.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 shared Joe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joe achieved a lifelong dream in 2013 when he was able to race a\nPrototype racer.  During that season, Team Sahlen campaigned a Riley-BMW\nDaytona Prototype in the ROLEX Series.  Joe shared his thoughts on this\nexperience \u2013 \u201cThe Prototype was the ultimate experience that I will\nnever forget.  With all that downforce, low center of gravity, paddle\nshifters, huge horsepower and torque, it was an unbelievable experience. \nIt was like nothing I had ever driven before.  And in fact, I had to\nbasically re-learn how to drive a race car to get the speed out of the car.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One thing that has made Joe unique over years is that he has\nbuilt, prepared and owned his own cars and teams.  This is true even to\nthis day, with Joe partnering with Joe Sahlen to campaign the 2 Porsche\nBoxsters and 3 Porsche Caymans under the Team Sahlen banner.  And the\nvariety of cars he has built includes a crazy assortment of over 30+\nvehicles:  Front wheel drive, rear engine, turbos, go-karts.  And as\nJoe has expanded beyond racing in just the Midwest, he has visited many, many\ntracks; 50 tracks to be precise.  And with 45 years of racing, you can\nimagine that many of those tracks, such as Trenton Speedway, don\u2019t even exist\nanymore<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Also a consistent part of Joe Nonnamaker\u2019s racing is\nfamily.  Joe\u2019s wife Kris has only missed 2 races in the entire 400+ events\nJoe has raced.  In the beginning, Joe\u2019s crew was his brother, cousin and\nfather.  Then it became Joe\u2019s two sons.  Now, the Team Sahlen paddock\nis busting with Nonnamaker family members that now includes Joe\u2019s daughter in\nlaws, and 5 grandchildren giving a helping hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2022\nTeam Sahlen Campaign Partners<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

honeybeeBase.com, Porsche Beachwood, Audi Mentor, ECS\nTuning, Tarett Engineering, Guard Transmission, , HubstandsPRO, Maxima Racing\nOil, Brothers Grimm Landscaping, NGK Spark Plugs, CM Racing Products, Mothers\nPolish, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Design Engineering Inc., Hard Brakes,\nForgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, Mazdaspeed, Winding\nRoad Racing, Performance Friction Brakes, WIX Filters & Capri Tools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2022 marks the 50th Anniversary of racing for Team Sahlen\u2019s Joe Nonnamaker.  Through these years, Joe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2860,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions\/2860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}