Grand-Am

SCC: Birmingham: HRPWorld.com Racing race notes

Birmingham, AL -- The rain was scheduled to be scattered thunderstorms throughout Sunday morning. During the race that forecast proved true as the race started in the wet, ran into the dry, and then ended in a strong shower. All the while the Acura ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Birmingham, AL -- The rain was scheduled to be scattered thunderstorms throughout Sunday morning. During the race that forecast proved true as the race started in the wet, ran into the dry, and then ended in a strong shower. All the while the Acura Integras in the STII class had a fierce battle.

HRPWorld.com driver Howie Liebengood led the way on the green flag as he started the #43 Pennzoil / King Motorsports Acura Integra from the pole position. The green flag conditions did not last long however and by lap eight the course went to full course caution. The caution was the first of six that occurred during the wet conditions.

Four cars remained on the lead lap as the course went green for the final time on lap 61, eight laps from the end of the race. Leading to the green flag with eight laps to go was the #27 Fenton Motorsports Acura Integra being finished by Bob Beede. Putting in a hard chase was Will Nonnamaker in the #43 Pennzoil King Motorsports Acura Integra. As the laps wound down Nonnamaker closed the gap and when the checkered flag fell on the race the HRPWorld.com team was only two tenths of a second behind the Fenton machine.

For Will Nonnamaker it was disappointing to come so close to a victory without tasting the checkered: "We had a good rain set up and the team did an excellent job with the car. We fell just short of them this race but there are still seven races left in the season."

Howie Liebengood, who started the #43 Integra for Will Nonnamaker, pulled double duty by finishing the #44 King Motorsports / Rualand Acura Integra for Ray Bailey.

"Ray did a really good job starting the car," added HRPWorld.com Team Manager Bill Pate. "Howie pulled double duty today. He started the #43 and then finished the #44 for Ray. The last driver of ours to be able to pull off two podiums in the same race was Mike Fitzgerald at Mid Ohio in 2001. Howie did this one in the rain. The concentration needed to double stint in a two and a half hour race in the rain is tremendous. My hats off to Howie."

The #42 Integra from HRPWorld.com finished fourth while the #29 Fenton Motorsports Integra finished fifth.

The next race for the Grand Am Cup will take place on June 8th at California Speedway. For the first time since Homestead the Grand Sports and Sports Touring classes will be combined for one race.

The races from Barber Motorsports Park will be televised on May 31st from 1-3 PM on Speed TV.

-hrpworld-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Birmingham: Marcus Motorsports race report

Next article Birmingham: Goodyear Racing recap

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

12 h

NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar

Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 12 h

Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026

Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

12 h

Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP

KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP 13 h

KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts