RLR/Andersen Racing had to scramble, but it’s at
Mid-Ohio and ready to race.
With only two weekends off since the Freedom 100 May 25 in Indianapolis, Indy
Pro Series teams like RLR/Andersen Racing have been busy this summer.
Sunday’s race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will be the series’ ninth event
since summer officially started, and its fourth in the month of July alone.
Keeping all the cars and equipment ready for action is hard enough, but the
Fairfield, N.J.-based team received an extra challenge last Saturday at
Nashville Superspeedway when both of its cars were involved in a crash on the race’s
initial lap.
Luckily RLR/Andersen Racing’s Joey Scarallo and Andrew
Prendeville and the other drivers involved weren’t hurt, but the team was left with two
badly-damaged Dallaras and a ticking clock, since Indy Pro Series practice
starts at 8:45 a.m. Friday at Mid-Ohio.
Scarallo’s GroupAWheels.com No. 15 suffered extensive damage, but the team
immediately got to work assessing what needed to be repaired or replaced. Team
owner Dan Andersen said the team’s engineers, the high-respected Dominic and
Nicholas Cape, could find no evidence of any gearbox or shifter problem that was
initially suspected as a possible cause of the crash. With no time to waste,
the team immediately went into “overdrive” to get the car back in shape for
its next race, under the direction of team manager John Andersen.
Just getting Scarallo’s car repaired and back in action at Mid-Ohio this
weekend is a great testament to the team, which includes Will Paul (lead mechanic
for Prendeville’s car); Don Conner (lead mechanic for Scarallo’s car);
mechanics Cory Center, Mike Hawk and Eliott Nudd, and equipment manager and
transporter driver Junious Matthews. Since Prendeville got caught up in the crash and
hit the wall too, the team also had to quickly make final preparations to a
back-up car it owns that Prendeville will use at Mid-Ohio while his primary Best
Friends Animal Society No. 5 awaits further repairs next week.
Unlike most of the tracks the series has visited this year, both Prendeville
and Scarallo have driven at Mid-Ohio before in other series, so they won’t
have to learn the track. That makes them optimistic about their chances here,
even with the scramble earlier this week. This event is the first Indy Pro Series
race ever at Mid-Ohio.
Mid-Ohio is one of Prendeville’s favorite tracks. In 11 previous starts at
Mid-Ohio in formula cars he’s won five times and been on the podium eight times.
The other three finishes were a fifth, a seventh and a DNF. One of those
victories was the SCCA Formula Continental national championship at the Valvoline
Runoffs in 2002.
Prendeville worked at the Mid-Ohio School as an instructor in 2005, and has
logged well over 2,500 laps there in the last five years.
Scarallo has raced at Mid-Ohio both in the Formula 2000 division and once in
Trans-Am, and he also likes the 2.4-mile road course a great deal.
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