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Sebring: Chris Gleason Touring race notes
Gleason Hopes for the Luck of the Irish Tomorrow Because Friday Was a Case of Murphy's Law SEBRING, Fla., March 15 - Chris Gleason hopes that St. Patrick's Day is near enough at hand that the luck of the Irish will apply to his efforts in the ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
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Gleason Hopes for the Luck of the Irish Tomorrow Because Friday Was a Case of Murphy's Law
SEBRING, Fla., March 15 - Chris Gleason hopes that St. Patrick's Day is near enough at hand that the luck of the Irish will apply to his efforts in the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway tomorrow. Unfortunately it was all Murphy's Law today for the popular driver from Johnstown, Pa. in the season opener for the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship here, which supported tomorrow's 50th annual edition of Sebring's classic sports car endurance race.
Things went from bad to worse in Gleason's first run in the duPont Motorsport BMW 325is #53. He ended up 37th in the final rundown for that race, which was won by Brazilian Pierre Kleinubing in an Acura Integra on the last lap.
Right after the standing start Gleason's car popped out of gear, and six cars slipped by.
"Then, right away, the brakes kept locking up on me, and I wore a hole right through the right front tire," Gleason related afterwards.
He took the opportunity of a full-course yellow on lap eight for a stranded car to pit to change the tire, but unfortunately things didn't get any better and they came to an abrupt halt on lap nine.
"Coming down the straightaway, I spun and backed into the inner part of the pit wall," he said. "It was my fault; the back end is pushed in some. But it sure was a case of Murphy's Law reigning supreme for me today."
To add injury to the story, Gleason suffered a gash on his leg and pulled a muscle when he jumped the guardrail after he climbed out of the BMW following the accident. He was treated and promptly released from the infield care center, and is now resting in preparation for tomorrow's Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, where he'll co-drive the blue and silver Cirtek Racing Porsche 911 GT3R #99 with Rob Wilson of London and Raul Dawson of Geneva, Switzerland.
That race will be broadcast live on Speed Channel beginning at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
Fans shouldn't give up hope that things will turn around for Gleason tomorrow. Last March at Sebring his weekend got off to a similar inauspicious start and yet he still finished tenth in the GT class and 19th overall driving a Porsche for the same team. His co-drivers last year were Keith Alexander of New York and Gavin Pickering of England.
-lm-
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