by Chris Benbow on Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:12 pm
I'll let the MOM boys fill in the details but for those of you who can't wait.....
Car # 93 was beautifully prepared. Pleasing to the eye and all business on the track. Right out of the box and with very little testing this car was fast and didn't seem to require a lot of setup. Qualifying was held at twilight on Friday and headlights were on before the times were in. Despite never getting a clean lap the car started on the front row second only to a sports racer/prototype. In the opening hours of the race we ran very strong with no mechanical issues, but due to some refueling problems we spent a total of fifteen minutes on pit lane that could've been avoided. Catching up was not a concern however as the driver team included three Grand Am hotshoes Randy Pobst, Craig Stanton, Matthew Alhadeff. They were consistently turning laps 5-10 sec faster than everyone else and gradually reeled in the competition. At about 1 AM the P1 car had a wheel bearing failure but no replacement part!?! They couldn't find one at the track and eventually sent someone back to their shop (2 hours away) Needless to say this is when the Mind Over Motorsports 993 moved into the lead!!!!! We were 12 laps ahead of the next car and even when the drivers slowed their pace they were putting 5 sec/lap into the chasers. Unfortunately the emotional rollercoaster wasn't through yet. At 5:15 the transmission failed. The shift lever stuck in fifth gear and wouldn't come out. Randy Pobst was driving at the time and with only that one gear was still outlapping the competition by 1-3 seconds!!! The problem was that somehow we had to stop the car for refueling and driver changes. At 6AM the decision was made to bring the car in for a tranny swap. One thing led to another and the car eventually retired at about 10 AM.
A real heartbreaker after so many hours of hard work but still one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had at a racetrack...and I wasn't even driving.