Houston, TX --- Autocon Motorsports hit the ground running at Houston this past weekend for the inaugural running of the Lone Star Grand Prix, the second round of the 2006 American Le Mans Series Championship. With track time limited -- two practices sessions on the temporary street circuit before qualifying, all on the same day -- Chris McMurry scored the team's best qualifying effort ever with a third in the P1 class and 5th overall.

He put the AER-powered Lola EX257 AER in close proximity to the the pole-sitting Dyson Racing entry of James Weaver, the two Penske Porsche entries and the highly-regarded Audi R8. Very heady company to be sure.

"It has been a while since I was charged with qualifying for a prototype race. We put the time up on our third of three qualifying laps. I think there was another half-second to a second to be gained -- in fact, our tire temps weren't even at their optimal levels yet -- but we decided it was better to save the tires for the race since we were planning on trying to run one set for the entire race to save pit time," said McMurry. "Lining up in fifth overall behind the Audi manufacturer's team was an exciting outcome."

The Houston event was unique in that it was a street race and it was run under the lights. Rarely do the two characteristics meet. Adding to the excitement was the fact that no practices sessions occured at night, so replicating race conditions wasn't possible and everyone took the green flag facing uncharted waters.

The blue #12 car, sporting a new association with Falcon Tools, held its own at the start, keeping a few hungry GT1 entries at bay till things settled down. McMurry gained a position on a misstep by one of the Porsches and moved to fourth overall. Chris Dyson in the #20 entry, who started from the rear of the field showed some speed early-on, but spun while in McMurry's mirrors. A lap later things began to go south as the gear linkage began to balk and not react as intended. "I upshifted to third approaching turn nine, and the gearbox gave me fifth gear. That was the first indication something was off," McMurry recalled. Within a lap the driver was unable to select a correct gear of any sort, and coasted through two corners and into the pits in nuetral for an extended stay.
The team made a valiant effort thinking the fix was to switch from the paddle-shift to a traditional stick shift, but this did not solve the issue. The issue was deeper and terminal. Game over for the day.

"We were all disappointed. Things were really looking good for the team," said continued McMurry. "Mike had brought a car to Houston that was terrific. The qualifying set up was the most nuetral car I've ever driven in my career. It did everything I wanted, and reacted well to the bumps and bruises of this new track. Now that the race is over we could well have been looking at a second place overall. It was not to be, but our time is coming; we're showing everyone that Autocon is super competitive."

The Houston event was a huge success for the ALMS, with over 30,000 attendees up for the unique Friday night event. They were treated to the traditional autograph session as well as being invited onto the grid for pre-race ceremonies, unheard of in other forms of major league racing. "The night racing creation was cool, and the fans loved it," stated McMurry. "I know that my co-driver Bryan (Willman) wanted to experience some of it also and I wasn't able to deliver a car for him to enjoy."

Team owner Mike Lewis was buoyed by the weekend performance. "This team is still learning the car and still learning the driver lineup. But the car worked well and Chris did a hell of a job both in qualifying and at the start for the race. It was a shame that a linkage issue ruined a good show but that is part of racing. We will learn from this, and I know fans will see Autocon on the podium this year."