< Back to News Home Nonnamaker Racing Diary: 2003 Watkins Glen - The Jinx Is Broken

Posted (06/24/2003) - Since our team, Phoenix ProMotions, was formed in 1983 it has never won at Watkins Glen International. Despite winning at many tracks around the country our team has never taken victory at the demanding Glen circuit. In addition we as drivers have never won at the track.

On Wednesday we showed up at the track and we were treated to garage space since we were running the Grand Am Rolex Series race on Sunday. The garage space was nice because we were right across from the five Daytona Prototypes. At the very few dull moments during the weekend we took a look at the different designs and motors in the cars. The teams were all very open and allowed people to come up and get a close look at the cars. Thanks!

Thursday came and we tested all three of our Acuras and both of our Porsches. The day started out dry and ended up wet. We tested to start the day but as it happens so often at the Glen there were a lot of black flag conditions to retrieve wrecked cars. We ended up getting minimal time in the car because it rained at the end of the day.

Friday was a killer day for the crew and us. We had one Grand Sports practice, two Sports Touring practices, ST qualifying, and the ST race. The race started at 4:30 at night and the weather man said we would have rain for the whole race. He was right.

The first of nine caution flag periods fell early in the race. We pitted the #42 early and I got in the car. Dad and I were driving the Porsche as well this weekend and he didn't care how much he drove the Acura. By getting me in we got our driver change done and only needed a splash and go sometime during the race.

As the other yellow flags came we made all the other driver changes needed. Will got in for Howie Liebengood in the #43 car and Chip Herr got in for Ray Bailey in the #44 Integra.

As the race headed to the end Will tried to chase down Bob Beede in the #27 Integra. Beede is the threat for Will to repeat his STII Championship. Will and Beede both had championships to worry about and at Watkins Glen in the rain going fast is all about taking risks. With guardrail just inches off the track the rain makes taking risks very dangerous.

Eric Curran was Fenton's #29 car and he and I had a battle down to the end of the race. At times the race got very aggressive. The race for the win came to a five lap shootout at the end of the race between the two of us. Going into the last we both turned our fastest laps of the race and we ended up just half a second ahead of Curran for the win. The win broke a jinx for both our team and us as drivers at the Glen.

Will and Howie came in fourth place. The points were a strong positive for the team. The rain can wreck havoc on a Championship and we survived and came out with only a six point deficit to Beede for the title.

Saturday saw us prepare for the Grand Sports race. All day we saw rain and we were trying to diagnose a problem with the #41 car. The guys at SpeedSource helped us out but we couldn't find anything. We decided we would run the #40 car in the race instead of the #41.

During the race our plan was to double duty Joe. He was going to start the #40 Porsche and then finish the #41 Porsche. I was going to finish the #40 and Will was going to start the #41.

The race started out in drying conditions. We started out on rain tires to be safe. As the track dried out we changed to slick tires. When the rain started to come again the slick tires made the car almost undriveable. I came through the carousel once and the rear end stepped out on me. With a little luck and some skill, probably more heavy on the luck, we kept it off the wall. As I was spinning in the carousel the Audi S4 was going straight into the tires. The wreck caused a full course and we limped around to get rain tires back on the car.

After we got the rains we were one of only four cars on the lead lap. The race restarted for the final time with several laps to go. We couldn't challenge Brett Shanaman,<
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