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Lynx Racing Chicago race notes

Lynx Racing experience a weekend of what can only be called 'History and Mystery' at this weekend's Target Grand Prix of Chicago. Lynx driver Sara Senske, 23, of Kennewick, Washington, provided the history by becoming the first female ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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Lynx Racing experience a weekend of what can only be called 'History and Mystery' at this weekend's Target Grand Prix of Chicago. Lynx driver Sara Senske, 23, of Kennewick, Washington, provided the history by becoming the first female driver to start on the front row and score a podium finish in a race sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) - the 45-minute Barber Dodge Pro Series event on Saturday.

On Sunday, Lynx driver David Rutledge, 23, of Vancouver, B.C., capped off a weekend of mystery and misery with a 12th-place finish in the 65-lap CART Toyota Atlantic race on Sunday. He entered the weekend leading the Atlantic championship by four points over closest competitor Hoover Orsi - the man who started from the pole at Chicago and led every lap and now leads the championship by 17 (112 vs. 95) points going into next weekend's Grand Prix du Trois Rivieres. An Atlantic race win is worth 20 points, and there are five races left in the season.

"This is a smart team, and if hard work was enough, we'd have lapped the field," said Rutledge. "But we just never were able to get a handle of the setup and we either had a massive push or the car was dangerously loose. In the race, T.J. Bell and I touched wheels, he got sideways in front of me and the contact damaged the nose of my car. I had to stop for the team to replace it, and even though they got me back out on the lead lap, after that the understeer was even worse. So I did what I could with what I had and brought it home in one piece. We definitely have a good road course setup and since this was the last oval, I think we'll quickly be back on track for the championship at Trois Rivieres."

Senske, on the other hand, is not in contention for a championship, but had the best weekend of her two seasons in the stepping-stone Barber Dodge Pro Series, qualifying on the front row and finishing second, just a car length behind pole sitter and race winner Nicolas Rondet.

"It's a proud moment for me, as both a woman and a driver," said Senske, now in her fifth year as a Lynx Racing driver. "I was accustomed to qualifying up front and running for the win everywhere I competed in before this, but it's been a struggle to get back to that level of accomplishment in a series as competitive as this one. I think I'm finally there, and I'd like to thank Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty of Lynx Racing for having faith in me and helping me get to this point in my career."

-Lynx

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