Posted (05/13/2009) -
Although Team Sahlen has competed in the ROLEX and KONI series at Mazda Laguna Raceway Park for the last 4 seasons, 2009 marks the first time the team has competed in the Street Tuner class at the famous track since 1993.
In 1993, the team competed with the #41 & #42 Mazda MX-6 race cars in the Street Tuner class. This was the 1st season for the team in the Mazdas. At the time the series was referred to as the Firestone Firehawk Endurance Series. And the class was referred to as the Touring class. There was an additional class at the time called the Sports class. Many years later the two were combined to form the ST class. For qualifying the two Mazdas started in 4th and 5th place. In the race, team founder Bill Pate and Kris Skavnes finished in 6th place in #41. (Coincidentally, Kris is now driving the ST class Subaru in this weekend's race) Joe Nonnamaker suffered from gearbox trouble in #42 and settled for 13th spot in the 18 car field. At the conclusion to the season, the team ended up tied for the 5th in the Driver's Championship.
"The race in 1993 was 16 years ago, but it seems like a long, long time ago. I remember the race being very intense and we were very competitive. Our Mazda was very strong at this track against the Hondas. And this many years later, we find our Mazda racing against Hondas again for the top spots. Amazing how little things tend to change over time." - states Joe Nonnamaker
Ironically, in 2009, Team Sahlen will be competing in a Mazda again, at Mazda Raceway Park. This time instead of a MX-6, the car of choice will be a RX-8. Beyond the Mazda nameplate, many things remain the same since 2003. Team owner Joe Nonnamaker will be at the track again. &n