Reply With QuoteThat's awesome! Congrats!
I'm pretty excited tonight....our low-buck team has qualified for the Indy 500. Chastain Motorsports is owned by Indy resident Tom Chastain. He put together this deal three weeks ago. I had worked with the team engineer and the crew chief on a deal at Indy in 2005 and they called me to help. I took off work for pretty much the entire month of May......
Our original driver crashed the car on Thursday and was injured....we rebuilt the car and put Roberto Moreno in it. After we worked on the setup all day, Roberto went out and slammed the door on Bump Day hopefuls......
Here's some press stuff....
From speedTV.com:
Marty Roth ended up on the bubble, in jeopardy of being bumped out of the field if Kite could have reached 219 mph. On Saturday, Roth nearly re-qualified after being disappointed with his four-lap average of 218.922 mph. Instead, he held on to the 30th starting position.
"The price to pay is that you fall to the bubble," Roth said.
Roberto Moreno put Roth in that position by withdrawing his effort of 216.229 mph from Saturday and posting an impressive run of 220.299 mph in a Chastain Motorsports Panoz that had been rebuilt after Stephan Gregoire crashed on Thursday. Moreno, the 48-year-old veteran of Formula 1, Champ Car, IndyCars and sports cars, wept after Sunday's run.
"It's very difficult to describe," Moreno said, fighting back tears after qualifying. "You can't understand what this means without being in my position."
The effort didn't advance Moreno's position on the grid, but it gave him an extra 4 mph in protection against a bump attempt. It also was a better speed than Roth, putting him in the bubble instead.
Chastain, who’s funding the effort out-of-pocket, got help from Rahal Letterman Racing and other teams in the effort to rebuild the car. Chastain bought two Panoz chassis from RLR, which then helped him with setup and other aspects of getting the cars race ready.
"They could have turned their back on a smaller team, but they didn't," Chastain said. "They even painted the cars for us."
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/37521/
That's me in the corner of the photo....
http://www.speedtv.com/_assets/libra...152694_rmo.jpg
You can see more on Sportscenter tonight.....
My buddy John won an impressive award after qualifying ended:
Chastain Motorsports' John Jones Bestowed with Clint Brawner Award
May 20, 2007
John Jones, Crew Chief for Chastain Motorsports #77 entry in the 91st Indianapolis 500, is honored today with the 21st Clint Brawner Mechanical Excellence Award. Presented annually since 1987 by the Clint Brawner Foundation and underwritten by Firestone Racing, the award pays tribute to the memory of the late, great Clint Brawner, chief mechanic on six national champion cars in AAA- and USAC-sanctioned series. It rewards a chief mechanic at Indy each May who "exemplifies the mechanical and scientific creativity, ingenuity, perseverance, dedication, enthusiasm and expertise" of its namesake.
The Firestone Racing program sponsors the Brawner award for the sixth consecutive year. As the recipient, Jones will receive a $5,000 check and plaque, and his name will be inscribed on a permanent trophy housed inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
Clint Brawner Mechanical Excellence Award Recipients
1987 John Buttera
1988 Phil Krueger
1989 Galen Fox
1990 Dale Coyne
1991 Darrel Soppe
1992 Bernie Myers
1993 Phil Casey
1994 Craig Baranouski
1995 Greg Beck
1996 Billy Bignotti
1998 Brad McCanless
1999 Kevin Hertle
2000 Paul Murphy
2001 Tom Bose
2002 Jamie Nanny
2003 Bill Miller
2004 Butch Winkle
2005 Rick Duman
2006 Brad Brewer
That's awesome! Congrats!
Thats GREAT RRR. I know who I'm rooting for next Sunday.
Hey that's awesome!! Post more pics!
That's awesome. I'm jacked up with excitement for you, rrrr.
I'll definitely be watching and cheering you on. You guys rock.
Quite an accomplishment, congratulations!
More press, this one from espn.com.....
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/s...s=1&id=2877135
I'm grinnin' big tonight....
THAT IS BAD ASS RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Congrats to you and your team! Good luck at INDY!
Tony
congratulations
Few people outside of open wheel racing actually understand what YOU have done! You and your team have taken on the challenge of INDY. I am very happy to share in your joy of "being in the show"! My father build successfull Indy cars back in the 1950's along with Arlen Kurtis' father, and Andy Casale with his father Ernie. You are one of few people who can say, "I actually raced with my team at Indy". If you are "good enough to go once", you are good enough to go back AND WIN many more times. I wish you PEACE in your mind and body (I know it's very hard work), but your work this year, has proven that you are, "an exceptional man among men!"
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