Rookie Aaron Quine Finishes Fifth in Trans Am Debut at Mid Ohio
August 20, 2014
MEDINA, OH—August 19, 2014 – Several years ago, Aaron Quine had to be at Lime Rock Park to work an ALMS event with Kumho Tires. Upon discovering there would be an SCCA race at the track two days before the ALMS event, he decided to go early and enter the race with this T1 Corvette. Although it was his first trip to Lime Rock, he won the pole and set a track record for the class, prompting a class rival—and Lime Rock regular—to ask “Who are hell you and where did you come from?”
After Quine brought home a fine fifth-place finish in the 3Dimensional Services Next Dimension 100 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 16, many Trans Am fans and competitors may be wondering the same thing.
In his inaugural Trans Am race in a Tony Ave Racing Mustang, Quine nearly scored a podium in spite of a not getting much seat time in the car during practice and qualifying.
“In our first practice session on Friday morning, we had a brake issue and only managed two laps,” said Quine. “We fixed the brakes and got out for the second practice, and then we threw a power steering pump belt.”
After a quick stop, the power steering belt was replaced, but Quine’s crew knew they had a problem. “The bracket for the power steering pump wasn’t perfectly aligned,” said Quine. “We knew it had to be replaced, but there wasn’t enough time to do it before qualifying.”
The solution? Pull the belt and qualify without power steering. Quine went out early in the qualifying session and did one flying lap, then parked the car. His time of 1:29.416 stood as third quickest for much of the session, but he eventually dropped to ninth as other TA2 competitors took more laps. Even with only one qualifying lap, Quine was just 1.3 seconds off the pole and ended up one-tenth of a second—and one spot—ahead of four-time champion Tommy Kendall.
“Driving a car with the power steering disabled is really difficult,” said Quine. “Laying down a qualifying lap like that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done on the track. It felt like I was going to break the steering wheel just trying to turn the car.”
After qualifying, Quine’s crew fabricated a new power steering bracket and the car was ready to race.
Quine said the car was flawless during the race, which enabled him to have a great side-by-side, back and forth battle with Tommy Kendall for several laps as they moved up through the field. While running in third place late in the race, Quine was hit by another car on a restart and dropped back to fifth. He was reeling in the two cars in front of him as he fought to make the podium, but another full course caution and then the checkered flag ended his day in fifth.
While he was disappointed to be so close and not make the podium, Quine was thrilled with his finish and his reception by fans and fellow racers.
“So many people I didn’t even know came up afterwards to congratulate me on a great race,” said Quine. “Tommy Kendall shook my hand and said he enjoyed racing with me and that he appreciated how fast and clean I was.”
Adam Andretti, the TA2 class winner at Mid-Ohio, also had praise for Quine. “After the race, Adam congratulated me on such a great first race and said ‘You belong in this series. You deserve to be here. You’re the type of driver we want in this series.’ That really meant a lot to me.”
What’s next for Quine? If he can line up the sponsorship, he’ll be back for two more Trans Am races this year, at VIR and Lime Rock. And if he can get a few more finishes like he had at Mid-Ohio, you can bet that fans and competitors won’t be wondering, “Who the hell are you and where did you come from?”
###
About Quine Racing
Aaron Quine has been an SCCA racer for more than 20 years with many poles, race wins and track records in the T1 and T2 classes. He finished fifth in his Trans Am debut at Mid-Ohio in 2014, thanks to support from Tony Ave Racing, Ford Racing, Ford Driving Skills for Life, The Mid-Ohio School, Fallsways Equipment, Hoosier Racing Tires, Track First, Masters of Disaster and Kumho Tires.
