Sheehan Perseveres Through Eventful Race at NOLA, Scores Top Twenty Finish

March 13, 2023

Sheehan Perseveres Through Eventful Race at NOLA, Scores Top Twenty Finish

Avondale, LOUISIANA – March 13, 2023 – Following a nearly seven year absence from the Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series schedule, NOLA Motorsports Park made its return, hosting the second round of the 2023 season. The TA2 feature race was held on Saturday, March 11 at a windy and humid New Orleans race track. Tom Sheehan and the No. 97 LTK Insulation Technologies Damon Racing Ford Mustang team entered the weekend hoping to build off their P22 finish at the season opener in Sebring, Florida.

Tom and the team overcame a tough start to the weekend. Untimely mechanical failures marred testing, putting the team a session behind the field. Despite these obstacles, the pride of the New Hampshire driver managed a P25 starting position for the race.

Once the second round of the season was underway, Tom worked his way up to P22 on Lap 3. By Lap 12, Tom drove up to P17, consistently logging lap times that rivaled the Top 15 runners while contending with an ailing motor.

As Tom made steady progress in the first half of the race, hovering just outside of the Top 15, the second half was about survival, particularly with a flat right rear tire that halted his progress. Still, Tom ran inside the Top 20, hovering between P17 to P19, giving it his best effort regardless of the adversities that he and his team faced.

Despite the challenges that Tom and the team endured throughout the weekend, the New Hampshirite placed P19 at the 16-turn, 2.75-mile road course.

It may have not been an easy Saturday afternoon at the track outside of “The Big Easy,” but Tom showcased his Granite State grit and determination, winning the Serck Precision Clean Up Award.

“We fired off in traffic before everybody got going,” Tom said. “We made up a couple of spots early on the first restart. Once things spread out, when you could run your pace, the motor was sour. It was just laying down and breaking up on acceleration, no power. We don’t really know what happened. It made it to the end.”

Tom added, “Somewhere along the way, we got a tire puncture, We just kind of soldiered on. We couldn’t go very fast. The car was a little bit wild at the end and real tough on the left-handers with a right rear flat. So, I’m not really sure when we got the flat or it just started out going down (with) a slow leak (during) the whole race. We just soldiered on until the end.”

With Round 2 at NOLA in the rear view mirror, Tom and the Damon Racing team prepare for Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (with Mission Foods Atlanta Speed Tour), site of the Series’ third race of the season on March 23 - 26.

This year, Trans Am races are available for live streaming on Trans Am and SpeedTour’s YouTube channels with full playbacks immediately available after the race. Also, the races can be seen in edited, 60-minute features broadcasted on MAVTV’s Thursday night primetime slot at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Follow Tom’s social media channels via his Facebook page, Damon Racing, Instagram account, TomSheehanTA97, and Twitter account, TomTA2_97.

For more information on LTK Insulation Technologies, please visit the website online at https://ltkinsulationtechnologies.com.

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