The Krider Racing Nissan Sentra SE-R takes second place at the world famous Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the ChumpCar 7.5 hour enduro.
After lunching an engine at the ChumpCar Laguna Seca event in November 2011, the team throws a new engine in the car and heads back to “The Corkscrew” to take second place just weeks later. After some countless hours nerding out in front of a laptop the post-race compilation video is up and viewable here.
The incredible engine swap could not have happened without the help and support of some great people. Most notably Rich Olivier at T.E.M. Machine Shop who put our motor together in record time and the engine ran flawlessly. Also big props need to go out to Atomic Speedware, G Spec Performance, Sampson Racing Communications, Carbotech Brakes, Performance In-Frame Tuning, B & G Tires, Figstone Graphics, S Gear gauges, I/O Port Racing Supplies, Hoosier Tires, Jim Wolf Technology, GoRacingTV.com, All-Engine Distributing, Circuit Sports, Miracle Auto Body and Paint and Nissan Motorsports. This whole project came together with everybody’s hard work and support.
The success on track goes to the dedication of our crew chief Dan “Gadget” Bordeau, who insisted on personally checking the torque on every single bolt on the car that I touched (smart guy).
The Krider Racing Crew handles another flawless pit stop for fuel and a driver change at Laguna Seca.
The race itself turned into a fuel mileage battle which our thirsty little Nissan Sentra SE-R lost. Two liters of fury under the hood equals two liters of “give me some go-go juice” and the Nissan required four fuel stops, whereas the winning number 20 BMW 3-series of North Loop Motorsport only required three pit stops. After 7.5 hours of racing we lost by two laps. With an average lap time of 1:54 and a minimum pit stop time for fueling of 5 minutes in ChumpCar our extra stop certainly took away our chances to have a great end of race battle on the same lap with the winners –WOW that sounds like a mouth full of excuses! Spoken like a true second place finisher, the first loser in the race.
The trophies at ChumpCar are wicked to say the least and will make a nice addition to the team’s collection.
But after ending the last ChumpCar race on the trailer (before the race was over), we are certainly happy to bring home a podium finish.
Our ChumpCar record looks like this:
Infineon Raceway 2010, 7-hour, Second
Infineon Raceway 2010, 7-hour, Third
Willow Springs 2010, 24-hour, DNF (blown head gasket)
California Speedway 2010, 7-hour, Second
California Speedway 2010, 7-hour, First
Buttonwillow Raceway 2011, 14-hour, First
Laguna Seca Raceway 2011, 7.5-hour, DNF (blown motor)
Laguna Seca Raceway 2012, 7.5-hour, Second
After 8 races we have 6 podium finishes including two wins and, of course, the two DNFs which means we exemplify the saying, “Checker or Wrecker.”
The Krider Racing crew at ChumpCar Laguna Seca February 12, 2012. From left to right: Travis Kramer (fire bottle), Keith “Triple Stint” Kramer (driver), Dave Nees (fueler), Dan “Gadget” Bordeaux (crew chief), Brandon Lindlahr (pit stop timer), Matt Gentleman (pit stop board), Rob “You CAN drift FWD” Krider (driver), Roy Lindlahr (fueler), Rod Kramer (spotter), Bryce Lindlahr (windshield cleaner), Jake Kramer (driver change belts), not shown Darrel Price (spotter/steaks), Judy Kramer (food services) and Gayle Price (food services).
The crew are the ones who really help our team succeed in ChumpCar and so this video is dedicated to all of their hard work. Check it out here.
