Barber Dodge: Lynx Racing Preview, Mid Ohio
9 August 2000
- Lynx Racing driver Sara Senske, still recovering from the effects of a
broken hand suffered in a testing accident at Sebring, will yield her
seat in the #19 Lynx Racing Reynard 98E to Joey Hand for the Mid-Ohio round
of the Barber Dodge Pro Series, August 11 - 13.
- Senske and Hand were teammates on Kent Stacy's S3 Racing team in the Star
Mazda series in 1999. Hand won the series championship, and Senske, who
competed in 20 races (Star Mazda and Women's Global GT Series) that year,
finished 6th.
- Lynx Racing is the most unique and successful racing team/driver
development program in auto racing today, and is the only
championship-winning team owned by women, Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty.
If you ever wondered what role the 'hand of fate' plays in auto
racing, you need look no further than the coincidences that abound in Lynx
Racing's 2000 season.
First, early this season, Lynx graduate and current
Player's/Forsythe driver Patrick Carpentier breaks his hand and Memo
Gidley, also a Lynx graduate, is called in to substitute. He does so well
that he winds up getting a ride for the rest of the season with John Della
Penna, who was the Lynx team manager back in 1994 when the drivers were
Richie Hearn and Clint Mears.
Then, a month ago, Lynx driver Sara Senske breaks her thumb in a
testing crash at Sebring and winds up with her hand in a cast, unable to
drive in the upcoming Barber Dodge Pro Series race at Mid-Ohio. And
substituting for her is.... Joey Hand.
Hand, who won three races and the series championship as Senske's
teammate on Kent Stacy's S3 Racing team in the Star Formula Mazda series,
has not raced since the final event of the 1999 season due to his own
injury.
"This is a big opportunity for me, and while I'm sorry for Sara,
I'm happy that Lynx thinks enough of my potential to put me in the car,"
says Hand, 21, of Sacramento, California. "I had a really good season in
1999, but I had a big crash in the SKUSA Supernationals kart race at Las
Vegas and had to have two surgeries on my left elbow so I was out for five
months. I'm back to a hundred percent physically, and I've run a couple of
kart races since then, so even though I've never driven a Barber Dodge Pro
Series car before, I'm feeling good and looking forward to the challenge.
It's going to be a steep learning curve, but we'll have two half hour test
sessions on Thursday, and I've been studying tapes of last year's race,
talking to Sara and other people in the series and doing whatever I can to
be prepared. After seeing Memo Gidley step into Carpentier's car at Long
Beach under similar conditions and do so well, I'm making it my goal for
this weekend to do the same."
Hand began his racing career in 1993 with a national karting
championship in the Junior Piston Port class, and since then has won more
than 15 championships in various classes. In 1996 he raced both karts and
cars, winning four national karting championships and two regional Formula
Mazda races, both of them from the pole. In 1997 he was the runner-up in
the Team Green Academy, and in 1998 ran his first full season in the Star
Mazda Pro Series, winning on the oval at Pike's Peak and finishing fourth
in the championship. He followed that up in 1999 with three wins and the
series championship.
"Joey is someone who's career we've been following for several
years, and we're happy to have him in the car at Mid-Ohio," says Lynx team
manager Steve Cameron. "He's very much like Memo Gidley both in how
talented he is and how hard he's worked to get where he is, and it's the
Lynx tradition to help drivers like that whenever we can. Sara is
naturally anxious to get back into the car, but her hand is just out of the
cast and she'll need some physical therapy and seat time in a kart before
she's fully fit. She'll be back for the Road America race the following
weekend."
The Barber Dodge Pro Series is a 'spec' series that spotlights
driver ability and features identically-prepared open-wheel race cars
powered by 250 hp V-6 Dodge engines. Like cars in the CART FedEx series,
the Barber Dodge cars have carbon-fiber chassis and 'sequential' 6-speed
transmissions. The races are all one-hour 'sprint' events with no
scheduled pit stops. Eight of the races on the 12-event schedule will be
held in conjunction with CART FedEx races during the 2000 season.
"I was looking forward to driving at Mid-Ohio, but it's a
physically-demanding track and my hand just isn't up to it yet," says
Senske. "I've been very fortunate to be associated with Lynx Racing for
the past three and a half years, and while I'm disappointed not to be
driving, I'm very happy that the team is taking this opportunity to give a
really deserving guy like Joey a break when he needs it. That said, I'm
looking forward to getting back in the car and getting my season going
again at Road America."
2000 marks the 10th anniversary of Lynx Racing, one of the most
unique organizations in auto racing today. Created and owned by two women,
Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty, Lynx is both a championship-winning racing team
and a uniquely successful driver development program that focuses on a
driver's spiritual and psychological growth in addition to their on-track
skills. In addition to the Barber Dodge Pro Series, Lynx also fields a
championship-winning team in the CART Toyota Atlantic series with drivers
David Rutledge and Mike Conte.
The Lynx mission is to seek out young drivers with the desire and
potential to become champions at the highest levels of the sport and
provide them with the funding, equipment and training to take the last step
toward realizing that potential, a process the team calls 'destiny by
design.' Lynx alumni include CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier, Alex
Barron and Memo Gidley.
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On Track Schedule
Friday, August 11
8:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Barber Dodge Pro Series Practice
1:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Barber Dodge Pro Series Preliminary
Qualifying
Saturday, August 12
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Barber Dodge Pro Series Practice
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Barber Dodge Pro Series Final Qualifying
Sunday, August 13
9:15 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Barber Dodge Pro Series Warm-Up
4:30 p.m. - 5:10 p.m. Barber Dodge Pro Series Race
Barber Dodge Pro Series Television Coverage (EDT)
All Barber Dodge Pro Series Races are broadcast on ESPN2. Check local
listings.