FW: rbankracing.com Team Starts Off 2012 with Another 24 Hours of LeMons Victory

[Casey/Seneca Saw Works]

Some of you might remember the Saab race car that entered our first Concours d LeMons in 2010. Different Saabs, same guy.

 

We hope he will bring one of his cars to enter the Concours d LeMons in 2012.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Robin Bank [mailto:robi...@rbankracing.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 3:44 PM
To: robi...@rbankracing.com
Subject: rbankracing.com Team Starts Off 2012 with Another 24 Hours of LeMons Victory

 

The rbankracing.com team competed at Carolina Motorsports Park this past weekend for the 24 Hours of LeMons Endurance Road Race and picked up yet another VICTORY! There were over 80 cars entered in the always tough South Region, so we knew we had our work cut out for us. The race was contested on the full 2.3 mile, 14-turn course for the first time ever in the history of this series. Everyone agreed that the full course at CMP was very fast, challenging, and more importantly, GREAT FUN!

We had a very strong line-up of drivers this weekend, so we decided to enter two cars for the full course at CMP. The first car was the #90 1999 SAAB 9-3 that was coming off a 6th place finish at Nelson Ledges in the Fall after its debut at Palm Beach a little over a year ago. We also debuted a new car this weekend -- the #84 1999 SAAB 9-5 which was meticulously prepared by Claude Hutchings, Sr. and his crew at Tired Iron Repair located in Sauquoit, New York. Both cars were a threat to win as the rbankracing.com team led most of the race in both cars. We appeared well positioned to go down in history as the first ever 1, 2 finish in 24 Hours of LeMons. The #84 SAAB 9-5 technically led most of the race, but had to start with a 2-lap deficit due to penalty laps assigned by LeMons. The #84 was a rocket throughout the 2-day race. In addition to dominating all other competitors, it set the fastest lap while battling with the #201 Ziegel Scheißhaus Racing Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16. With less than 2 hours to go, the #84 succumbed to mechanical issues while running in 2nd place, but not before making a huge impression on our competitors and all who were in attendance at CMP. The #90 SAAB 9-3 ran a perfect race enroute to its first victory in 4 races. It held off a pair of very fast Mazda MX-3's fielded by the strong Hong Norrth team which were enjoying a 5 race winning streak before getting beat by the Stephen Denton prepared #90. The #90 was prepared well, it ran perfectly, and all of the 4 drivers ran fast, hard and clean. The racing was great!

Car and Driver magazine reported on the 2-day race at CMP, and of course the winning #90 rbankracing.com SAAB 9-3 is prominently featured throughout the article:

Leading after Day 1:

http://blog.caranddriver.com/lemons-southern-discomfort-day-1-rbankracing-com-saab-9-3-leads-silver-errors-190e-2-3-16-in-second/

The Victors!:

http://blog.caranddriver.com/24-hours-of-lemons-southern-discomfort-2012-we-have-winners/

My heartfelt congratulations and thank you go out to the entire rbankracing.com team. Without every single team member's help -- drivers, crew, sponsors, and supporters -- we could not have achieved this victory. It is the people involved that fuel our passion and make this such a memorable endeavor!

Claude Hutchings, Sr., Carol Hutchings, and Rasim Bosnic of Tired Iron Repair, "The SAAB Guys", Sauquoit, NY: www.tiredironsaab.repair.bz

Nick Taliaferro at Genuine SAAB, Springfield, MO: www.genuinesaab.com

Goldwing SAAB, Hastings, NY: www.goldwingsaab.com

Mark McMahan at McMahan Autosport, Akron, OH: www.rollcageguy.com

Dave Coleman at Performance Engineering, Summit Point, WV.

Jay Cooper at Domination Chassis, Carnegie, PA: www.dominationchassis.com

David Buschur at Buschur Racing, Wakeman, OH: www.buschurracing.com

Terry Bank, Carol Bank, and Jarrett Bank at 66 Auto Supply, Greensburg, PA.

Darryl Carl at Albany Speed Shop, Albany, NY: www.albanyspeedshop.com

Al Ferragonio at C & G Performance, Sewickley, PA.

www.CoolFitWear.com

Johan Schwartz at EnduranceKarting.com, Charlotte, NC: www.endurancekarting.com

Kudos to each of the drivers as you did your usual fantastic job of keeping your cool while driving your butts off: Mark Bennett, Gary Schultz, Stephen Denton (who also did a terrific job preparing the team winning #90), Justin Schuh, Claude Hutchings, Jr., and Johan Schwartz.

The crew at this race worked overtime and and as usual responded in a big way. The pit stops were the best as usual: Glenn Smith and Sharon Bank. I also wanted to thank Daniel Burke for getting involved.

The next race currently on our Schedule is Daytona on Memorial Day Sunday. Yes, you read that right, DAYTONA! Yes, the same DAYTONA! Add some excitement to your life and get involved and come down with us -- it is always exciting at the very least! We may also add the ChumpCar race at BeaveRun in PIttsburgh, PA in April to the schedule. Stay tuned!

Best regards,

Robin Bank
www.rbankracing.com