The Tryon/Landrum-based Blitzen Benz racing team concluded its second full season with a fifth place in the ChumpCar World Series endurance race, aptly named the “Slightly More than the Sebring 12 Hours.”
The event’s name spoofs the internationally famous Sebring 12-hour sports car race that’s been held annually for 60 years on the mid-Florida World War II airport course.
The race was run on the full 3.7-mile roadracing course used for the second year by the ChumpCar World Series. About 80 cars started the race.
ChumpCar rules penalize a winning car by the margin of victory in races won during the previous six months.
Blitzen Benz won The Firecracker Twenty-Four race over the Fourth of July in Nashville, so the team was penalized about nine laps at Sebring.
Team owner Ned Gallaher said, “That penalty placed us very near the bottom of the 80-car field – a big hill for us to climb. We feel good finishing that high when racing on a prestigious track known to be tough on cars, as difficult to drive and as competitive as Sebring.”
Blitzen Benz’s season highlights were the win at Nashville – a 24-hour event – a win at Rockingham, N.C., and strong finishes in races with large fields at Charlotte Motor Speedway (fourth for one car and 13th with a second car), the fifth at Sebring and two fourth-place finishes at Roebling Road in Savannah, Ga.
“The team also raced in three other races where we did not finish. Still, we believe we have the best overall record in the series with five wins in two years and other high finishes,” said Gallaher.
The 2012 race schedule will be announced in early December.
Anticipated races near Tryon and the Upstate include Charlotte Motor Speedway, Virginia International Raceway (Danville, VA), Savannah, Ga. and Road Atlanta, Ga.
Drivers this season, in addition to Gallaher, were Warren Board, Hans Huwyler, Peter Mayrhofer, Nicky Pierce and Jim Wright of Tryon and Mark Thomas of Staunton, Va., James Wilson of Asheville, N.C., Tom Cotter of Charlotte, N.C., Brad Phillips of Greenville, S.C. and David Spitzer of St. Augustine, Fla.
The crew chief is Rusty Tredinnick of Mountain Home, N.C. and the mechanic is Greg Pressley of Hendersonville, N.C.
ChumpCar World Series racing events are held at premier road racing courses in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Based on the concept of low cost racing, cars whose average Internet market value is more than $500 are penalized based on a formula.
The team’s primary racecar, Baby Blitzen, has been developed from a 1987 Mercedes Benz 190E series sedan.
–article submitted by Warren Board