Problems for D&N Motorsports at Mid-Ohio

Lexington, OH (April 23, 2006) – D&N Motorsports hit the road for the 1st East Coast race of the USTCC this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.  A weekend of problems combined with an overheating engine forced the retirement of Dennis Short’s No. 24 Saturn after just two laps in Sunday’s race.

The team arrived at the track on Thursday night, and set up camp in the Mid-Ohio paddock in preparation for the three day race weekend.  When Friday morning came, they had all pre-race checks completed and were ready to hit the track for the first session.

During the first few laps Dennis reported that the car felt really loose in the turns and was difficult to handle.  Towards the end of the session the car had stabilized some, but coming onto the front straight Dennis reported that he was encountering a problem with the transmission.  The shift lever was shifting into 4th gear, but the gear was not changing.

After the session Dennis consulted with Crew Chief Don Short, Chief Mechanic Rich Stapleton, and Engineer James Walker about the situation.  Both Rich and James believed that the cause of the problem was in one of the shifter cables.  The team installed new cables for the last session and the problem seemed to be resolved.

Saturday was the first qualifying session and there appeared to be no problems with the transmission.  Dennis was still complaining of a loose race car, and was only able to put down a time quick enough for 5th place.  A few suspension adjustments were made for the final session on Saturday and Dennis improved his time by two seconds, but the shift problem had returned.

Now confused about the problem, the team consulted with Drivetrain Engineer Mark Womack.  Mark believed that the problem was in the hydraulic system for the clutch and was causing it to slip.  Unable to service that part at the track, the team decided to make the best of what they had and at least try to salvage a few points for the Championship.

On Sunday Dennis took the No. 24 Saturn out for the morning practice session.  On the second lap he reported that the high water temperature light was on, and that the temperature was climbing fast.  When he brought it into the pits, Crew Chief Don Short took a look under the hood and found one of the radiator hoses had come off.

The team repaired the radiator hose for the second round of qualifying, but was still experiencing a high water temperature.  As a result, Dennis was unable to improve on his first qualifying time and fell back one more position as others improved their times.

The team checked the car over and could not find any obvious problems with the cooling system.  They topped the water level off and decided to line up for the start of the race.  While sitting on the starting grid waiting for the green flag, Dennis noticed the temperature starting to climb.  Dennis had a great start, passing two cars and taking over 4th place, but by the second turn the water temperature was high enough to start spilling fluid out of the overflow onto the track causing him to spin.  Dennis reported that the temperature was still climbing, and completed one lap for points and retired the No. 24 Saturn on the second lap. 

DENNIS SHORT, OWNER/DRIVER NO. 24 SATURN: “Not the start we were looking for.  The overheating problem is really confusing, because during testing it was cooling too much, and we were considering taping it off some.  It was disappointing, because the car was getting faster on Saturday, and we never had an opportunity to see what we really had on Sunday.”

DON SHORT, CREW CHIEF NO. 24 SATURN: “It turned out to be a long weekend for us.  Things kept getting worse throughout the weekend, and we just couldn’t get ahead of it.  At least we were able to obtain a few points, so it wasn’t a complete washout.”