Tough Day for Gentleman Jack Team at NJMP

Competing at a race track for the very first time provides a number of obstacles for any race team. Add wet weather and a race car that had never run in the rain and you end up with the tough weekend the No. 2 Gentleman Jack team had last weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Electronic and mechanical issues during the first half of the race forced the Childrss-Howard Motorsports team to settle for a 28th-place finish. The team is currently 12th in the point standings after two of 12-race 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Series season.

Intermittent rain during the first day of practice found the Childress-Howard Motorsports team trying to figure out the lay of the land half the time in the rain and the other half with a dry track. Co-driver Rob Finlay, who shares the driving chores with Andy Wallace, had previously competed at NJMP in the Koni Series but not a single crew member had ever stepped foot on the property before then.

The decision was made by crew chief Catherine Wallace and others to go with the setup used the previous week at Virginia Motorsports Park. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and the team made major changes after each practice session to get the car’s handling dialed in before qualifying.

The Gentleman Jack team made a massive change prior to qualifying. Things still weren’t great but Finlay ran a respectable fast lap of 1:16:836 seconds at an average speed of 105.419 mph on the 10-turn, 1.9-mile circuit. The lap was good enough for the 13th spot on the pre-race grid.

"We gave Rob a very different car for qualifying and missed on the tyre pressures as a result but he still did a respectable job, all things considered,” said Catherine Wallace. “We learned some more about the car from subsequent practice runs and felt like we didn’t have too bad a car going into the race."

The warm-up for the race was wet as was the rest of the afternoon. Visibility was almost nonexistent when Finlay took the green flag and immediately had to deal with a fogged up windshield and water leaking into the car. The water then wiped out the electronics.

The electronics issue as well as a problem with the clutch put the team in the garage for repairs. A yeoman effort on behalf of the Gentleman Jack team got the No. 2 Pontiac Crawford back on the track though down a number of laps to the leaders. The continued problem with the windshield made it so Finlay couldn't see.

"My dad went back into his history of motor racing to figure out a solution," said Catherine Wallace. "We tried Dawn dishwater detergent but it didn’t work and then we finally rubbed the inside of the windshield with a sliced potato."

The driver change put Andy Wallace at the controls at about the one-hour mark. He was able to start running up to the Gentleman Jack team’s capabilities and was running laps as fast as the leaders. Unfortunately, the damage was done as it related to position on the track.

"We know the car was there," said Andy Wallace. "It as just one of those miserable days where nothing seems to go according to plan."

Despite the issues, Finlay earned valuable points toward the Jim Trueman Award and is now just 83 poins behind leader J.C. France.

The next stop of the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Sunday, May 17, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, Calif. Live coverage on SPEED begins at 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.