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June 22, 2009 - Pittsboro, IN - TMR competed with driver
Andrew Prendeville in the Miller Lite 100 in Newton, Iowa on
Saturday, June 20. After practice was cancelled on Friday
night due to inclement weather, the team endured a grueling
Saturday with two early morning practice sessions followed
by afternoon qualifying and a delayed evening race.
Qualifying a disappointing 12th, but with a quick racecar
(running strong in practice sessions), the team waited
patiently on the grid as track and safety officials worked
on correcting a serious “weeper” on the oval. After a
delay of more than an hour, with the threat of a new
batch of rain storms barreling down on the speedway,
the tension was high as to whether or not the race
would by postponed until Sunday. But, the green flag
dropped under the lights.
Andrew was moving up steadily, when in 9th position,
his shoulder harness and Hans device (neck restraint
system) shifted on the near 4 G banking. It slowly
began to choke Andrew more each lap. After slowing for
lap 32, it became clear that it was impossible to correct
the problem in the cockpit and Andrew pitted on lap 33.
“Unfortunately, we had to pit under green conditions,
which put us down three laps”, said team co-owner
Mark Moore. For future races, the team is replacing the
current belt system with a Schroth 8-point harness system
which is specifically designed to work with the Hans device.
Continued Moore: “When you look at the current 6-point
system it was designed in the 60’s. The Hans was an
add-on and requires the drivers to secure the device
under the shoulder belts. The new system is designed to
pull the shoulder straps down tight as we have done for
years and adjust the Hans separately, to fit comfortably.
There are many pressure points on the front of the body
which are also affected by the current system. This is a
plausible explanation as to what happened to us this
last Saturday night. It was most unfortunate, no driver
wants to come in, but under these extreme conditions
we had nothing else to do.”
After resuming in 15th place, Andrew put on a strong
performance to make up two laps on Pablo Donoso and
Mike Potekhen to finish in 11th overall. “He drove the
wheels off of our car. When Andrew went back out on the
course, he passed many of the top runners and never
went down another lap to the leaders. It has not been going our
way lately, but we are not yet half way through the season, and
we are looking forward to the Glen to climb back up the
Championship ladder” concluded Moore.
For more information, see www.teammooreracing.com and www.indycar.com/pro.
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