Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, August 24, 2015 – In the paddock of the Trans Am Series, it would be difficult to find a team more focused and success-driven than Lux Performance Group. The two-Dodge Viper ACR-X team is coming off their first TA3i class one-two sweep as they arrive in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the August 29th “Next Dimension 100”. However, you'd also be hard-pressed to find a team more resolved to enjoy that success! And what better place than the center of great racing and great times than Road America? The 4.0-mile, 14-turn track is renowned for its on-track competition and off-track atmosphere with the best food found at any track in North America. The perfect blend for Lux Performance Group.
The Midwest has traditionally been very good for the Aloha, Oregon-based team. Competing in only a limited number of events in 2015, the convincing one-two finish for Lux Performance at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota is the program’s most recent appearance on the Trans Am scene. Cindi Lux (Aloha, Oregon) in the No. 45 Lux Performance Group Dodge Viper ACR-X won the race from pole position with Steve Streimer (Sherwood, Oregon) close behind in the No. 42 Viper. Streimer also has his own victory in the class racing to the win at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the team’s Trans Am debut earlier this season.
This weekend, for the second time this season, Lux Performance travels to the legendary Road America circuit. The twin-entries visited Wisconsin earlier in the summer to race the SCCA June Sprints – an event that Cindi Lux has won twice. The results there were frustrating leading team principle Fred Lux (Aloha, Oregon) to take it on as a learning process for this week’s 100-mile, 25 lap race.
Despite being a shared weekend with the NASCAR XFINITY Series, the Trans Am Series has offered ample opportunity for laps of Road America’s classic layout. Two hours of testing on Thursday, August 27, preceed the first 30-minute practice session at 2:50 p.m. (Central Standard Time) on Thursday. Qualifying for Lux, Streimer and the other TA3I class cars will take place on Friday at 9 a.m. CT. Saturday’s race will get underway at 9:30 a.m. with a 100-mile/25-lap or 75-minute duration.
The race will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network, Saturday, September 12 at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Quotes
Fred Lux, Lux Performance Group Team Principal: “It’s considered a ballsy racetrack. And Lux Performance is bringing two drivers who have the courage to throw caution out the window. We have had success here but last race we noticed a few nuances of Road America so we decided to bring in a local ringer, Paul Truess, to help us with some of the particulars of the track.
Our focus for the weekend, with the Viper weighting 3500 pounds, will be to be there at the end. So we are working on conservation tactics. But, with four minutes laps and triple that for a caution lap, track position is everything. You have to get to the front immediately… while being good to the tires and brakes. That is where we leave it to the drivers to balance out the chess match versus the checkers game.”
Cindi Lux: “I am much more comfortable driving tracks like Road America. I really like high risk, high speed tracks for some strange reason. We ran there earlier in the year and we were really off the pace. So, we have been reviewing our data to figure out what was messed up. Historically this track has been very good to me, winning the June Sprints a couple of times. But we have our work cut out for us in our Dodge Vipers. The competition in the Trans Am Series is tough. And that’s why we are here!”
Steve Streimer: “It has been nice to get a little time off to catch up on my day job and even spend some time away on vacation with my family, but I am really anxious to get back into the car. Not only am I looking forward to getting another opportunity to run one of my new favorite tracks, but this will be my fourth race this season with Trans Am. The 100-mile format is going to make Road America even more challenging as we are forced to manage our brakes in order to having anything left at the end of this race.”
Brainerd, Minnesota, July 6, 2015 – Lux Performance Group came into Sunday’s “Ryan Companies Independence Day Classic” sports car race looking for a little luck. The Aloha, Oregon-based professional race preparation and engineering group found just what it was looking for at Brainerd International Raceway (BIR) as lead driver Cindi Lux (Aloha, Oregon) drove from the Trans Am Series’ TA3i class pole position to victory lane! Showing the overall team effort, trailing just off the rear-wing of Lux’s No. 45 Lux Performance Group Dodge Viper ACR-X in both qualifying and the 100-mile race was Sherwood, Oregon’s Steve Streimer in the No. 42 Lux entry. It was the first one-two finish for the team this season. Lux Performance, once a regular on the main stages of professional sports car racing, returned to the national scene for a limited number of races this year in anticipation of a full-season, championship attack in 2016.
For Streimer, it was his second trip to the Trans Am class podium having won his debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS) early in the season. For Lux, the 12-time road racing champion, the drought has been longer. With only a handful of races on the schedule to begin with, Lux was forced to miss the HMS-race with a torn meniscus in her left knee. The following race, an extremely rare engine issue caused her to miss taking the green flag at Lime Rock Park on Memorial Day weekend. However, Independence Day weekend and the classic Minnesota track seemed to be the perfect match for breaking away from the cloud that had hovered over her.
From the opening test session on Friday, July 3, the Fred Lux-led program had the 2.5-mile, 12-turn BIR facility well sorted. The pair of V10-powered, American-built supercars were at the top of the speed charts each day including taking both spots on the front row of the class grid in Saturday qualifying. The race itself was more of the same as Lux took the early lead but Streimer brought the red No. 42 around the black 45 in the opening minutes. That order did not hold long before Lux retook the top spot and maintained it for the remainder of the 40-lap race.
CBS Sports Network will broadcast the Lux-Streimer, one-two finish on Saturday, July 25 at Noon Eastern Standard Time.
Quotes
Fred Lux, Lux Performance Group Team Principal: “Brainerd is crazy and its party animal race fans are a very close second to Sebring’s. These people know how to celebrate the July Fourth holiday! We worked very hard at finding speed that would endure the hot and slippery track for 75-minute race. That was our main focus all weekend and it paid off for both cars.”
Cindi Lux: “When you run the three classes together, it is survival! You have to be methodical and smart. There is a lot of racecraft here. I really enjoy that. It brings it back to the people… the crew did an incredible job all weekend! Absolutely amazing! This is one of those races where I feel really good about my driving. Brainerd is a fantastic place to race! Heck, it’s just a fantastic place to come and hang out! It was nuts with the fans. I’m impressed. I can’t wait to get back!”
Steve Streimer: “We had a great weekend at Brainerd. This was special to be a part of a Trans Am event here on July Fourth weekend. It was all topped-off with a great race! Cindi and I had a good run for the first few laps. We got split up on a restart when I was bumped from the rear. But, that is class racing. We will chalk it up to a lesson. I was able to come back and work my way back up to second-place. It was a great finish for Lux Performance.”
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