Posted (06/23/2004) -
For the first time in the twenty year history of our team we ran seven cars at the Six Hours of the Glen weekend June 18-20. We had a strong four car lineup in Saturday's 250 mile Grand Am Cup Grand Sport class and then a very experienced three driver lineup in Sunday's Six Hour Rolex Super Grand Sport race.
The weekend was a very tightly packed event with practice on Friday, the Grand Am Cup race on Saturday, and then the Rolex six hour race on Sunday. We came prepared with a twenty five person crew to battle the strong competitive fields in both classes.
The Grand Am Cup qualifying was held on Saturday and as the time to qualify approached scattered thunderstorms littered the area. At first we decided to qualify on rains but as the session was just ready to start we decided to switch two of our cars to slicks. Five minutes into the fifteen minute session we got the two Porsches onto the track and immediately the session ended early due to a stranded car on course. Of our four cars, the two that had went out on the rains got complete timed laps. The #41 Porsche with Sam Shanaman qualifying took sixth place, a great result in the thirty car field. Our #43 Porsche, which Dad and I drive, and the #44, which points leader Craig Stanton drives with David Murry would have to stand on their out lap from the pits. This meant they would be starting a disappointing 23rd and 24th in the thirty car field.
After Grand Am Cup qualifying we had Rolex qualifying for Sunday's Super Grand Sport race. Since the race is a six hour race the majority of the teams start their professional driver, then put their gentleman driver in, then finish their pro. In Grand American competition the starting driver must qualify and that meant we would be qualifying against the likes of Randy Pobst, Andy Lally, David Murry, Bill Adams, and Jack Baldwin to name a few. We have finally gotten our setup figured out on the Rolex cars after four races and we were able to record a time good enough for third on the grid.
Next up was the Grand Am Cup race from 2:00 until 5:00 on Saturday evening. With our poor starting spot we were worried about making our way through the thirty car pack to score a good result. While Watkins Glen is always known for a lot of yellow flags, no one expected what happened this year. Due to the lack of run off area and the large amount of gravel traps, there really is no room for error at the Glen.
As far as yellows go, the Grand Am Cup race was worse than any other race I have ever attended at the track. I made this statement after the race and someone had to point out that I was only 26 years old and how many races could I have experienced at the Glen. Since I have been going to races since I was six weeks old, my memories of races dates back at least twenty years.
Dad had a great start and passed quite a few cars in the opening laps. Both Craig and Dad made their way through the pack during the short green flag periods that we had. When I got in to finish the car Dad had made his way well into the top ten. We made our way up through the pack and were leading at one point when we decided to pit under yellow for more fuel. Had we known that the remainder of the race would see but a dozen more green flag laps we might have gambled going the distance without stopping for fuel, but no one could have guessed that the race would see that many more cautions.
When we came into the pits for a splash of fuel David Murry in our #44 Porsche also ducked in. Murry beat me out of the pits and it seemed like no matter how hard I worked the remainder of the race, he was always two cars ahead of me as we worked our way up through the pack. He and Stanton ended up winning the race and Dad and I got fourth. This marked the fourth time in five races that the #44 Porsche with Stanton has won and Dad and I have finished fourth.
Sam and Brett Shanaman drove an excellent race in our #41 Porsche taking home a ninth place finish.
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