[EMAIL] Lynx-News
29 June 1999
Lynx Racing's latest graduate, Memo Gidley, has been proving his
mettle as a Champ Car driver in his first two races at the wheel of the #15
Alpine/Walker Racing Honda.
In his debut race, at the Budweiser/ G.I. Joe's 200 at Portland, he was
the fastest Honda-powered car after the first mixed-up wet/dry practice
session on Friday, and then qualified 25th on Saturday. After running as
high as 15th, Gidley had clutch problems on his final pit stop dropping him
to 19th at the finish.
And to make a good weekend even better, teammate Gil deFerran threw
concerns about fuel economy to the winds and scored the team's first
victory since 1996.
"It feels good, really good, and it just got better and better,"
said an exuberant Gidley. "The race kept coming to us and I was able to
make up positions. I'm still pinching myself that I have this opportunity,
and can't wait for the next race. It sounds corny, but it is a dream come
true."
In his second race, at the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland
Presented by Star Bank. Gidley qualified 21st, and drove through rain, sun
and spinning, sliding race cars to finish 11th.
"Everything feels more and more comfortable every time I go out.
I've run here before, in Formula Atlantic, so the track was familiar. At
least qualifying 21st was a little bit better than last week, but we really
never got in a strong run today. It seemed like every time we left the
pits, the red flag came out. In the race I had a good car -- really good
at the start and during the first stint. When it rained, that was another
new experience for me, and I just tried to get used to how the car behaves
in the wet. We got some points in just our second race."
Gidley is filling in until Naoki Hattori's rehabilitation from
injuries suffered in the opening race at Homestead is complete. Gidley
will run all the street circuit and road course races up until that point.
The next race on the schedule is the Texaco/Havoline 200 at Road America on
July 11.
Gidley put his #19 Lynx Racing Atlantic car on the front row for
the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic support race at Road America in 1998, led for
several laps and ultimately finished second.
In previous years at Road America, Lynx graduate Patrick Carpentier
won from the pole in 1996, clinching the series championship. In 1997,
Lynx driver Alex Barron won the Atlantic race during a rainstorm so
torrential that they postponed the CART race until Monday.
Senske Heads For The High Country
Lynx Racing driver Sara Senske had a tough weekend in the Southern
California desert during the fourth Star Mazda race of the 1999 season at
the Willow Springs Raceway, but them came back in fine form during round
five on the oval at Pike's Peak.
After persevering through a series of mechanical problems,
including a blown engine, as well as a collision with another car during
Saturday practice, she overcame the handicap of getting just a few laps of
practice to qualify sixth on the Willow Springs road course. In the race,
she had to deal with driving gently at the start to break in a new engine
that was installed the night before and finished seventh.
At Pike's Peak, a race where Senske qualified on the front row and
finished third last year, the Star Mazdas were competing in front of all
the IRL teams competing in the Radisson 200. She was the fastest car on
the track from the moment they rolled her #19 Lynx Racing/S3 Racing Star
Mazda off the trailer until, in qualifying, an ill-timed gust of wind on
the straight cost her 4/10ths of a second and put her back in 6th on the
starting grid.
She was again fastest in the morning warm-up, and in the race,
despite the car being loose, she moved from sixth to fourth by the end of
the first lap. In subsequent laps, interspersed with caution flags, she
moved up to 2nd and was battling with the leader. She got caught in
traffic, dropped back to 5th with ten laps to go, and turned the fastest
lap of the race on her way back up to finish 3rd.
With her Pike's Peak podium, Senske moves up from sixth to fifth in
the championship battle with 128 points. Joey Hand, who, like Senske,
drives a car fielded by Kent Stacy's S3 Racing and finished sixth at Pike's
Peak, dropped from first to second with 154 points. Pike's Peak winner Tim
Enoch now leads the series with 167 points. In Star Mazda, 45 points is
awarded for a win, 40 for second, 37 for third, etc.
The next race on Senske's schedule is the new short oval at
Irwindale Speedway on July 17. The race will be run in the evening under
the lights, with the Star Mazda cars as the main event.
"We've had some good results this year, and some struggles," says
Senske. "And a big part of my education with Lynx Racing is learning how
to make the most of both the mechanical and human resources available to me
on any given weekend. Communication with my engineer and overall within
the team keeps improving and it's showing in the results. We're looking
forward to Irwindale because we seem to run really well on ovals, and we
need to close the points gap to make a run at the championship during the
remaining races."
Rice Lands Personal Sponsorship
Lynx Racing driver Buddy Rice, now firmly in control of second
place in the 1999 KOOL/Toyota Atlantic championship points battle after
podium finishes in Milwaukee and Montreal, has landed a new personal
sponsorship.
Dede Rogers, owner of the Lynx-affiliated DSTP Motorsports team for
whom he drove in the 1997 U.S. F2000 Championship, has agreed to help fund
Rice's travel costs and personal expenses for the rest of the season. In
exchange, the DSTP logo will appear on the nose and roll bar fairing of
Rice's Lynx Atlantic car in all the remaining races.
"Between Dede helping me out with expenses and Lynx owners Peggy
Haas and Jackie Doty providing me with the best ride in Atlantic, I'm about
the luckiest driver I know," says Rice. "Sponsor hunting is a never-ending
part of a driver's job on the way up the ladder, and to know that things
are taken care of financially really gives me the ability to focus totally
on winning races and moving up to CART next year."
Andy Shyers Moves Up To Lead Mechanic
Second-year Lynx mechanic Andy Shyers has moved up to become the
lead mechanic on Buddy Rice's #19 Swift 008.a Atlantic car. The position
was formerly held by Lynx veteran Jason Robb, who has left the team to
pursue other opportunities.
Asked how he likes his new position, Shyers answer was typically
phlegmatic, "Ask me again at the end of the season, I've still got a lot to
learn."
Shyers, formerly a Wind Tunnel Operations Engineer at Swift Aero
and Mechanical Design Engineer, is a graduate of the University of
Massachusetts. Among his hobbies, on those rare occasions when he has time
off from his hectic travel schedule with the Lynx team, are mountain
biking, hiking and working on his collection of high performance cars,
which includes a 1967 Oldsmobile 442 and 1986 Ford SVO. He likes blues and
rock music, his favorite book is Crime and Punishment, and his favorite
stop on the circuit is Trois Rivieres because ".... It's a funky little
town full of people that love racing."
Satoshi Mori Gains Altitude
Veteran Lynx mechanic Satoshi Mori, who's tenure with the team goes
back to the early days with Patrick Carpentier, has completed his flight
finals and is now a licensed helicopter pilot. He is working toward
getting his instrument license in August, his commercial license by October
and hopes to get his flight instructor rating by the end of the year.
"There's a lot of books to read, but there's some excitement too,"
says Mori, who, in addition to being the Lead Mechanic on Mike Conte's #17
car, is also an accomplished sushi chef. "In the emergency procedures part
of the course, the instructor reaches over and shuts off the engine while
you are in mid-air, and then it gets pretty exciting. But I've learned how
to handle that and I can't wait until the first time I get to take one of
the drivers up for a flight and show him a thrill like he'll never get in a
race car."
Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.