Sheehan Again Pilots Audi In Watkins Glen Grand-Am Cup
 

Hey everyone!

This all just came together over the weekend. I'm going to The Glen! It's hard for me to sit still because I'm so excited to be racing in another Grand-Am Cup race and because I've never been to Watkins Glen before. I'll be paired with Anders Hainer this race. It's his first time at The Glen as well. If we can get the track figured out we should be able to run at the front. We were both pretty quick in the Audis at Mont Tremblant (qualified first and second), so together we should make a formidable combination.

Here's the press release that went out today...

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[URL=http://www.teamSMR.com]www.teamSMR.com[/URL]

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CUP NEWCOMER TIPPED FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE START IN AUDI S4 WITH ISTOOK-AINES

Martinez, Calif. – Following up on his stellar debut performance in last month’s Mont-Tremblant 250, former U.S. Touring Car Championship driver Gary Sheehan will again pilot the Audi S4 of Istook-Aines Motorsports in the Grand-Am Cup The Glen 250, June 19, 2004. Sheehan will be looking to build upon his highly successful debut, which saw him qualify the No. 4 Audi S4 on the front row, set a new GS lap record at Le Circuit de Mont Tremblant and lead the first 14 laps of the race; this also places him among the top 10 drivers in laps led for the season.

The Audi S4 Quattro prepared by Istook-Aines Motorsports is a racecar that Sheehan particularly likes to drive, given his considerable experience racing turbocharged, all-wheel drive touring cars: He previously campaigned an all-wheel drive Subaru WRX, achieving multiple race-wins in the U.S. Touring Car Championship during the 2001-2003 seasons. Adding to the degree of familiarity, the Audi is set up with StopTech’s Balanced Brake System™, which Sheehan has used exclusively in recent years.

For The Glen 250 event, Gary will be teamed with Istook-Aines standout Anders Hainer. Although Sheehan is very experienced at many tracks throughout the US and Canada, this will be his first outing at the venerable Watkins Glen, and he looks forward to learning the track and its subtleties.

“I am very happy to be back in the Istook-Aines Audi again for my second Grand-Am Cup race”, Sheehan said. “Mont-Tremblant was a dream come true, and I want to take that momentum with me to The Glen. The team and I work very well together, and I think we have a good shot at a podium finish. Anders (Hainer) is a very quick driver, and I’m looking forward to sharing the car with him.”

The Grand-Am Cup is the premier production car-based endurance racing series in North America. The field is made up of two classes: Sport Touring (ST) and Grand Sport (GS). GS is the more powerful class of the two and is filled with high-performance cars such as the BMW M3, Cadillac CTS-V, Nissan 350Z, Ford Mustang Cobra, Porsche 996 and Acura NSX.

The Glen 250 is scheduled to start at 2:00 pm eastern time on Saturday June 19, 2004. The Grand-Am Cup action kicks off with a first practice session on Friday June 18 at 1:00 pm, followed by a second Friday session at 3:35 pm. Qualifying for the 250-mile, 74-lap race commences at 11:30 am Saturday, prior to the race. Spectators will be treated to a full weekend of Grand-Am Cup and Rolex Series action during the weekend. The race will be broadcast by Speed Channel on Sunday, June 27th at 2:00pm (ET).

To follow live event timing, (practice, qualifying, and race), or for more information regarding the race schedule and Grand-Am, visit the Grand American Road Racing website at [URL=http://www.grand-am.com]www.grand-am.com[/URL]

gl.. hope to see more vids on the website!

Hey guys,

I'm sitting here in LaGuardia Airport in NYC waiting for my return flight. The crash sucked. It was a pretty hard hit. Yesterday I felt absolutely fine, but today the right side of my neck and my back is a bit sore and I've got a bruise on the back of my right arm. Nothing that's really bad, but as I move my luggage around the airport it's a constant reminder that I had more than an moment yesterday.

The car is in bad shape. Worse than Ander's car at Mont Tremblant. The team was disappointed, but very cool and very concerned about me.

Later in the day Bob Aines was told by the Grand Am Race Director Mark Raffauf that he and the chief steward of the race reviewed the in-car video from my car several times and said that I did everything right and Jeb did it wrong. That's somewhat comforting to know that the officials are on my side.

I spoke with Calvin Fish this morning and asked him what Dorsey's and Lee's take on the situation was. I was pretty surprised to hear that Calvin thought Dorsey put most of the blame on me. I really hope not, because even though the race officials are holding me blameless, the majority of the people out there may be persuaded to think I was to blame.

All I can say is watch the video, look at the room I gave Jeb on the inside, and watch as he comes across and takes all my racing room away from me. That's what really pisses me off, because I gave him lots of room on the inside. Anyway, it's done.

Hopefully there will be some good coverage coming from the back to the front.

More later...

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]

This sucks. Well, we are all glad that you are ok. That is the most important thing. Where can we find the video?

Good luck!

[QUOTE=Imprezer]. Where can we find the video?

Good luck![/QUOTE]

^^

The race will be broadcast on SpeedTV this Sunday, June 27th at 11:00am pacific time.

Gary

[img]http://www.teamsmr.com/images/294_19.jpg[/img]

Gary, sorry to here about your shunt. Don't worry about Calvin and Dorsey they are 2 of the best, but they don't see it all. My DVR is going to record the race for me. I was looking to watching you at the Glen.

Gary,

From the angles that were shown on Speed, there is no way that anyone can point their fingers at you. You obviously gave him enough room on the inside to complete the turn. He was the one that squeezed you to the outside, leaving you less than a car's width of space when the contact happened. What I would like to see is the footage that would show the few seonds before what they had shown on Speed. I would like to see at what point you got next to him. If you were already next to him as the turn started, he should have known that you were there on the outside and should have given you room. From what I see is that he either carried too much speed into the corner and had to track out at the exit even though he knew you were there, or he was just oblivious that you were even next to him.

Anyways, good luck at the next one. (There will be a next one, right?) It's good to see a fellow NASA member doing so well.

Just glad you are ok Gary.
That hit looked pretty hard.

Glad you're okay! You were driving a HELLUVA race until the wreck. That Audi is quick!
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Stock-Ygon,

He was attempting to pass me. I'm pretty sure he knew there was a car there!

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]

[QUOTE=GarySheehan]Stock-Ygon,

He was attempting to pass me. I'm pretty sure he knew there was a car there!

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url][/QUOTE]
Thanks for clearing that up. The video shown on Speed didn't mention that part. I find it ridiculous that anyone would put the blame on you for the crash, especially when he was trying to overtake you. The last time I checked, it's the overtaking car's responsible to make the passing maneuver safely. It's not like you pulled your wheel sharply into his car as he tried to make the pass. Is there any chance that you can put the in-car video up on the web for all of us to check out?

Kit

I'm trying. I've got a call in to Speed Channel for permission to post video on the internet.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
[url]www.teamSMR.com[/url]

[QUOTE=Stock Y-gon]Thanks for clearing that up. The video shown on Speed didn't mention that part. I find it ridiculous that anyone would put the blame on you for the crash, especially when he was trying to overtake you. The last time I checked, it's the overtaking car's responsible to make the passing maneuver safely. [/QUOTE]

one thing they do in professional racing, less so in amature racing, is INTENTIONALLY push you out and force you to crash. They are not nice at all.
If there is a chance, they'll pass no matter what happens.

My team that i participated got pushed out in SpeedWC TC class, infeneon speedway. Driver got tapped in the home straightaway and forced into a wall. straight to ER too :(
unfortunately thats one part of racing.

from what i see here in this post, there is no reason Gary should be blamed though.
what Gary needs to do is... push him out in the next race.
Seems unethical and childish but that what they do in professional racing.
(I donno if he really does though. Gary is a gentleman)

just like baseball, pitcher hits batter intentionally, and in the next innings, the opposit pitcher hits the batter as revenge.