Hot Shoe Rookie Aaron Quine Sets Trans Am Record at VIR
October 6, 2014
MEDINA, OH—October 2, 2014 –After qualifying at Virginia International Raceway last Saturday, Trans Am officials made their way around the paddock, making drivers strap into their cars and testing how quickly they could get out of the vehicles. This routine—but important—procedure is done periodically throughout the season to help ensure that drivers can quickly exit the car in case of a cockpit fire.
When officials put Aaron Quine to the test, the Trans Am rookie set a record by exiting his TA2 Tony Ave Racing Mustang in just six seconds. At the time, no one realized that Quine’s ability to exit his car in a record-setting time would be so critical come race day.
Quine struggled with the car during Friday practice and Saturday qualifying, managing just tenth on the grid. “The car was a little down on power and seemed to be running rich,” said Quine. “We also had a few handling issues, so we knew we had to do some tweaking. We made some suspension adjustments and, with some tuning help from Back Street Performance (a Medina, OH, tuning company that happened to be at the event) we transformed the car.”
How big was the transformation? In Sunday morning’s pre-race warm-up, Quine was third fastest and picked up an amazing 11 mph over his qualifying pace on VIR’s long back straight, going from a top speed of 151 mph to 162 mph.
When the green flag dropped on Sunday, Quine slowly moved up the through TA2 field. With just 8 laps left in the race, he was in fifth place and had the third and fourth place cars in his windshield, ready to make some passes.
And then all hell broke loose. Well, technically the steering rack broke and let loose power steering fluid all over the engine bay and onto the hot headers, filling Quine’s Mustang with smoke, heat and a flaming fireball.
“I’ve been called a ‘hot shoe’ before but that heat was ridiculous,” joked Quine.
He quickly pulled the car off the track, hit the fire button, flew out of the car and ran for the guardrail. Fortunately, Quine was fine and the Mustang suffered just a few melted wires.
“We had been laughing the day before about me being the fastest guy in the Trans Am paddock getting out of the car,” said Quine. “It wasn’t quite as funny when it was for real. Fortunately, my practice—and the desire not to become a toasted Stay Puft Marshmallow Man—enabled me to get out safely.
“It’s crazy how much you have to unhook when you think about it,” noted Quine. “Harnesses, radio, cool suit, helmet blower, window net, etc. I felt the blast of heat from my toes to my waist, which makes you realize that every crack in the firewall can be critical. Fire is just like water; it will find its way through any opening.”
Quine and his team had power steering issues in all three of their Trans Am races this year. Even so, he has managed to remain positive and keep his sense of humor through it all. “For our first effort in Trans Am, I think we did okay and learned a lot,” laughed Quine. “We know we’re a better team and just had some bad luck. You can bet that ‘power steering’ is a four-letter word to us.”
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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. Quine Racing sponsors include Dayton Logistics, Tony Ave Racing, Ford Racing, Ford Driving Skills for Life, The Mid-Ohio School, Fallsways Equipment, Hoosier Racing Tires, Track First, Masters of Disaster, Kumho Tires and D3PR (www.d3pr.net).
