Watkins Glen TRV Report

Unforseen Difficulties Strike the TRV Team Sunday at the Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., Aug. 23 - Hopes for a good finish in the First Union Six Hours of the Glen for the TRV Motorsport team and drivers Lyn St. James, Jeret Schroeder and Tom Volk evaporated early Sunday at Watkins Glen International. The crew found a crack in the Chevy Kudzu's tub near the front suspension, and team manager Mike Madden and engineer John Greene determined it was unsafe to continue until repairs could be made at the team headquarters in Toledo, Ohio. The Supreme Exhaust System Products/Purity Farms No. 95 was credited with 32rd overall and 12th in the Can-Am class.

"The piece is easily repairable at the shop, but it's impossible to repair it at the racetrack," said Volk, of Blissfield, Mich. "The whole team is really disappointed. I'm especially disappointed for Jeret, because he and I were tied for fifth in the driver point standings before the race."

The team had high hopes for a good finish here because it had arrived at what it hoped would be a winning race strategy.

"The dependability of our Goodyear tires was going to give us a great advantage in our overall race strategy," explained St. James. "In practice we found we could go nearly 200 miles on a set of our Goodyear tires, so each driver was going to do two stints each. With minimal driver changes, we were all really looking forward to a good race."

"It's great to be on a team that is so professional that something like this can be found before it's the cause of an accident," Schroeder noted.

"This track is particularly hard on equipment because it has a lot of high-speed turns," St. James agreed. "It also has very little run-off areas, so a problem at speed can have serious results. Of course we're all disappointed, but we all know not continuing was the right decision to make."

Always one to try to make the best of every situation, after he helped to pack up the team's equipment, Volk spent the rest of the day helping to write the race result story for National Speed Sport News.

It's still unclear whether this race was the last one in the inaugural season for the United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) or not. Drivers', teams' and manufacturers' championships were not awarded here Sunday due to the potential of another race being added at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif., Oct. 24-25. That event will either be sanctioned by the USRRC or a rival group, Professional Sports Car Racing (PSCR).

TRV Motorsports plans to compete in that race regardless of the sanctioning body. It also may compete in a three-hour race sanctioned by the PSCR Sept. 18-20 in Sebring, Fla.