Fontana: Orison-Planet Earth Motorsports race report

ORISON-Planet Earth Motorsports Closes Out Year on High Note

Fontana, CA - After a twelve race season, the ORISON-Planet Earth Motorsports effort scored third place in the Team Championship and fourth in the Driver's Championship for team patriarch Joe Nonnamaker. It was a sixth place finish in the Lexus Grand American 400 that ended the 2004 season for ORISON-Planet Earth Motorsports. Joe and Will Nonnamaker both jumped behind the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the California Speedway race. The team experienced some difficulties towards the end of the race but managed to add another top ten finish to their record.

Joe started the ROLEX race for the team and Will took over for the final half. This was the first ROLEX race of the season that Will and Joe shared the driver's seat.

During the last three laps of the race Will encountered a failing fuel pump. He frantically switched from the reserve to the primary fuel tank in hopes of at least finishing the race. His quick thinking eventually took him over the finish line in sixth place.

"I was beside myself. I could see that I was losing fuel and would use just enough of my reserve tank and then switch to the primary. I was just hitting one button then another in hopes of finishing the race. In all that mess I only managed to lose one position. It was insane but it got me over the finish line and that was what we needed," stated Will.

The effort by both drivers gave Joe a fourth place finish in the driver point standings. Joe landed his first ROLEX podium this year at the June Watkins Glen race.

"I had no idea that I came in fourth for driver points but what was more important was that the team came in third. This has been an excellent year for our team I can only expect next year to be better," stated Joe.

The ORISON-Planet Earth Motorsports team was recognized for their third place season at the ROLEX Grand American Banquet at Caesar's Palace this past Monday evening.

The team is now in the countdown for the 2005 season. The 2005 testing at Daytona is nearly two months away and the ROLEX 24 Hour race is three months away. The team's preparation will not only include preparing their Grand Am Cup cars for competition but upgrading the ROLEX cars from Super Grand Sport (SGS) to Grand Touring (GT) specifications. Grand American announced this year that the SGS class will be combining with the GT class facing thus creating a wider range of competitors for the 2005 season.

The ORISON-Planet Earth Motorsport team is able to compete the ROLEX Grand American series with support from GOJO, Jack Link's Beef Jerky, Menards Home Improvement, Kempthorn Auto Mall, NRAuto.com, Castle, Red Line Oil, Shelton Porsche, SpeedSource, TheRaceSite.com, TheRaceMarket.com, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine.

-pem-