2007 Longest Day
24-Hour Enduro at Nelson Ledges, Ohio

The Longest Day 24-hour enduro at the Nelson Ledges Road Course in Ohio has a long history, interrupted in recent years but revived in 2007. Thirty-five teams returned to Nelson to tackle the second-longest amateur enduro in the US and Conover Motor Sports Team GTI came through with a dominant class victory and 16th overall finish.

Team owner Kirk Knestis was joined for this round-the-clock marathon by Canadian sports racer specialist Matt Graham,Conover Motor Sports ITA hotshoe Bowie Gray, and Gray's occasional Miata co-driver Fred Snow.

Electrical gremlins - a common problem with VWs of this generation - cropped up during practice and qualifying, dishing the Conover team a set-back just as the long weekend was beginning. Gray qualified the car second of the six ITB class entries, on three cylinders and a little extra effort, but the problem was resolved and the team turned in the fastest ITB lap during night practice on Friday.

Tom Hoppe-Sixgun Racing Photo - Bowie Gray at speed in the Conover Motor Sports VW Golf.

Bowie Gray was also nominated to start the event at 3:00PM on Saturday afternoon. He acquitted himself as well as the team expected, clicking off fast laps. Weather and full-course yellow flag laps became an issue but Gray managed conditions on the track brilliantly, pulling into a multi-lap class lead and hauling the blue Golf to as high as an amazing 4th overall before the team's first pit stop.

Fred Snow took the second stint and had a clean run going until an off in the sweeping Carousel turn resulted in the CMS entry being stuck in the tirewall. Delayed for a little less than 10 minutes, Snow returned to the track to complete his stint, before handing off to Knestis.

Knestis encountered changing damp conditions on slick tires - a situation that even this self-professed rain lover found extremely difficult. He made the call for rain tires and pitted on lap 189 - at which point the rain stopped completely, necessitating a swap back to dry tires only 17 laps later.

Knestis drove through the evening and into total darkness, at which point the team's new Hella Xenon light system was used to its full benefit. This system uses six high-tech gas-discharge bulbs in the stock locations, and puts out amazing light without the drag and electrical current costs imposed by the old-school light pod system it replaces.

Knestis was relieved and sent to bed as Matt Graham took over the night shift, turning in a flawless 110-lap run. He in turn handed off to Gray, who reported the first of a series of minor transmission issues that would challenge the team before the Longest Day was over...

With the car jumping out of 5th gear, Gray reverted to just four gears but since 5th was used initially to save wear and fuel, lap times did not suffer. Fred Snow returned to the cockpit after Gray turned 105 laps without incident, beyond the shifter issue. Snow spent the next 3 hours in the driver's seat, in a huge stint punctuated by multiple full-course caution periods. He admitted to being glad when time came to hand the car back to its owner, Knestis.

The sun was coming up and the CMS team still held first place in class...

...but the new day brought new issues. Knestis returned to the pits only three laps into his turn, reporting a major miss at 5000 rpm. The fault was traced to the gearbox vehicle speed sensor, which team boss Cameron Conover quickly reconnected. Knestis ran the rest of his stint, turning the team's fastest race lap (a 1.21.289) on lap 700, just before being replaced again by Graham - who immediately reported the smell of transmission oil and further evidence of a leak, in the form of a huge slide through the daunting Turn 1.

Leery of recent strange transmission failures, team strategists Lee Grimes and Greg Amy calculated that it would be possible to change the gearbox without giving up the class lead, due to the hard-earned advantage gained to this point. Graham brought the Golf to the paddock and Conover (assisted by technicians Bill Miller, Ryan "RJ" Jenkins, and photographer/mechanic Tom Hoppe) made the swap in 1 hour and 7 minutes, including in and out laps and a stop at race technical inspection to confirm that the car was track-worthy.

Graham returned to battle, completed his final stint, and handed off Gray who amazed the team by chasing his lap times down to within 1/10th of Knestis' fast lap - on used-up tires and a stock-spec transmission, 21-1/2 hours into a 24-hour race.

At this point, the only thing left to do was wave the checkers. Conover Motor Sports Team GTI could not be beaten for the class win, so large was the advantage it had built up. The team's recent nemesis York Racing Golf suffered some serious set-backs including a trip over a tirewall and into the woods but still finished 2nd in ITB (albeit 25 laps in arrears), once Conover's chosen "closer" Fred Snow had run out the clock.

This victory puts Conover Motor Sports into 7th place overall in the 2007 Endurance Championship Series (ECS), the final event of which is the Charge of the Headlight Brigade 13 Hours, at Virginia International Raceway in early November.

Conover Motor Sports Team GTI

Promotional Partners
Conover Motor Sports - Preparation & at-track support
KONI Racing - Quality racing suspension struts
Bildon Motorsport - Racing parts for VWs
Hella - High performance automotive lighting

Suppliers
Competition Cages - Rollcage construction
Triple 8 - Brainsaver crew helmets
100-speed.com - Driver coaching

Conover Motor Sports Team GTI

Pictured left to right
Kirk Knestis - Team co-owner, driver (standing)
Bowie Gray - Driver (kneeling)
Fred Snow - Driver (background)
Tom Hoppe - Fuel strategist, photographer (kneeling)
Ryan "RJ" Jenkins - Lead technician
Matt Graham - Driver
Chris Tonn - Refueler
Lee Grimes - Strategist/coach (partially hidden)
Spencer Conover - Fire control, tires
Richard Foegele - Fire control
Greg Amy - Strategist/coach
Kevin Bryant - Chef
Jason Jacko - Logistics, tires (at driver's door)
Cameron Conover - Car chief, tires (background)
Blair Judson - Logistics specialist
Collins Conover - Communications (kneeling)
Bill Miller - Lead Technician, tires (background)
Melissa Nemeth - Jill of All Trades
Jacob Underwood - Refueler

Not pictured
Sarah McKay - Driver maintenance specialist
Denell Coppock - Chef
Laurene Johnson - Team co-owner

Conover Motorsports - Burlington, NC
Team GTI - Charleston, WV