Ford Mustang | MustangWorks.com - Rehagen Racing makes its second podium finish of the year with the Sean Hyland Motorsport powered Steeda Mustang Cobra

[05/23/2004] Rehagen Racing makes its second podium finish of the year with the Sean Hyland Motorsport powered Steeda Mustang Cobra

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Rehagen Racing headed north into Quebec, Canada for the first time to compete in the Mont-Tremblant 250 this past weekend and left quite an impression (literally). Joining Rehagen Racing for the Mont-Tremblant 250 was the Canadian duo of professional road-racer Kenny Wilden and David Shep drove the #58 Steeda Mustang Cobra. Piloting the #52 AVL Systems Mustang Cobra were Rehagen racing regulars Ken McAlpine, Larry Rehagen, and Dean Martin.

The team arrived at Le Circuit De Mont-Tremblant on Thursday ready for a good day of testing to get the SVT Mustang Cobras “dialed in” before the race. The first testing session was put to good use breaking in the brand new Sean Hyland Motorsport engine in the #58 Mustang. This session was also useful for track familiarization for the drivers on a track that rewards aggressive and courageous driving.

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The “highlight” of the test day came during the final minutes of the final test session. Team owner, Larry Rehagan, found himself skating across the turn 1 braking zone on oil from a competitor’s broken oil line, just in front of him. The #52 went careening off track at high speed, and struck the tire barrier hard, went airborne, and came to rest with the tires pointing skyward. Thanks to a great roll cage by crewmember Art Guertin, Larry was unhurt in the incident. The same could not be said for the car. The weekend was initially thought to be over for the #52, but after inspecting the car, the team found the main structure of the car to be sound and began repairing the bent and broken pieces. The team was able to repair the car and it never missed a single practice session.

David Shep (#58) and Ken McAlpine (#52) took the green flag from the middle of the field, and quickly gained ground on the competition, moving into the top ten. The #58 Steeda Mustang Cobra took advantage of the first caution of the race to top off fuel, and put Kenny Wilden behind the wheel. Kenny spent the next hour moving back through the field, to eventually lead the race. On the last restart, an overzealous Porsche struck the back of the #58, costing Kenny a few positions from 2nd place. Kenny then fought his way back to 3rd, and was able to hold it until the checkered flag.

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The disfigured #52 AVL Systems Mustang Cobra ran well, running as high as 5th place before Ken McAlpine turned the car over to Larry Rehagen. Larry kept the car in the top ten position before handing driving duties over to Dean Martin during the final caution of the race. Dean attacked the field, moving up quickly back to the top ten. While overtaking for position an incident with lapped traffic damaged the left front wheel. Dean limped the car back to the pits for repair, and rejoined the race. A number of positions were lost, and there just wasn’t enough race time remaining to get back through the field, leaving Dean to finish in 18th.

Unfortunately, after all their hard work, the #58 was penalized for a fuel capacity rules infraction. The team will work with Grand-Am to determine the cause of the issue, as the measurement in question conflicts with measurements previously taken on the #58 car using Grand-Am equipment as well as the team’s measurement equipment.

The team is looking forward to the upcoming race at Watkins Glen (June 18-20); but they are not looking forward to the hours of work required to bring the #52 back into shape.

Special thanks to the Frederick Motorsports, TFRacing, and Shreiner Racing Mustang teams for all their support and borrowed parts. Be sure to catch all the race action this Sunday, May 30th at noon on SPEED Channel. Please note the time change, as the SPEED channel website currently lists 6pm, but local listings indicate the noon time.

SOURCE: Rehagen Racing

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[05/23/2004] Rehagen Racing makes its second podium finish of the year with the Sean Hyland Motorsport powered Steeda Mustang Cobra By: -

[05/23/2004] Rehagen Racing makes its second podium finish of the year with the Sean Hyland Motorsport powered Steeda Mustang Cobra

By: -