Mixed Results for TeamSLR on the Outskirts of St. Louis

Thad Moffitt Rallies for Fifth at World Wide Technology Raceway; Cut Tire Ends Day Early for Teammate Dillon Machavern

Overview

Date: Sept. 23, 2023

Event: SpeedTour Grand Prix Festival (Round 11 of 13)

Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli

Division: Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series

Location: World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis

Layout: 1.6-mile, eight-turn road course

Format: 63 laps or 75 minutes

Weather: Sunny, mid-80s

Winner: Connor Zilisch of Silver Hare Racing

TeamSLR:

• Thad Moffitt – Started 11^th, Finished 5^th (Running, completed 61/61 laps)
• Dillon Machavern – Started 23^rd, Finished 21^st (Cut tire, completed 25/61 laps)

Noteworthy:

With today’s third-place finish by Austin Green of Peterson Racing, M1 Racecars has been represented on the podium at all 11 races this season. Previous podium finishes by M1 Racecars competitors in 2023:

• Sebring, Feb. 26: Rafa Matos (Peterson Racing) first, Green second, Connor Mosack (Team SLR) third after qualifying on the pole and leading 20 of the 27 race laps.
• NOLA, March 11: Matos third.
• Road Atlanta, March 26: Matos third after starting on the pole.
• Lime Rock, May 28: Mike Skeen (Peterson Racing) second.
• Detroit 1, June 3: Matos second.
• Detroit 2, June 4: Moffitt second.
• Mid-Ohio, June 25: Moffitt first after qualifying on the pole and leading all 45 race laps, Machavern third.
• Road America, July 9: Jade Buford (Big Machine Racing) third.
• Nashville, Aug. 5: Matos third.
• Watkins Glen, Sept. 10: Machavern third.

Thad Moffitt, Driver No. 43 Safety-Kleen/Victory Impact Chevrolet Camaro:

“I think at the beginning of the race we were loose everywhere – center, entry, exit. We were OK in the middle part of the race but we probably would’ve finished eighth, ninth or 10^th, somewhere in there. But Greg (Steadman, crew chief) and Scotty (Scott Lagasse Jr.) talked about changing tires during that late yellow, so we came down and put tires on and then I felt like Superman for the last 10 laps of the race. We restarted 16^th and ended up fifth. In hindsight, it probably should’ve been a podium, but some aggressive blocking held us back. Thanks to the Peterson Racing guys for the NASCAR-style pit stop. It was a little throwback there, felt really good to drop the jack on the left side and drop the clutch and dig out of the pit box. It was cool to do one of those deals at one of these races. That’s the M1 Racecars brotherhood in action right there.”

Dillon Machavern, Driver No. 17 Heritage Automotive/Unifirst SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:

“It was a pretty disappointing way to end the weekend, just cut a tire and it damaged the brake line. I felt like we had an M1 Racecars Ford Mustang that we could have steadily worked our way to the front with. We had to start at the back after a power steering hose blew before we ever even made a lap in qualifying, so that was a rare occurrence and rather unfortunate. We’re finishing the season at VIR and COTA and those are two tracks where I feel we can really take advantage of what our racecars have to offer.”

Next Up

The penultimate round of the 2023 season takes the competitors of the Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series to Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Oct. 6-8, for the VIR Gold Cup SpeedTour. The weekend kicks off with a pair of 25-minute TA2 test sessions at noon and 3:25 p.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 6. Official TA2 practice is set for 11:10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, followed by qualifying at 5:20 p.m. The 30-lap, 75-minute TA2 race begins at 1:25 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8, with live television coverage provided by MAVTV, augmented by live-streaming video coverage by the Trans Am Series and SpeedTourTV channels on YouTube.

-TeamSLR-