Dunlop Tire engineer Eric Luecke will be a competitor in the 2006 Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America driving challenge kicking off tomorrow, May 6.
Luecke is sharing driving duties in a 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK500 and assisting a diesel-powered 2005 Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI, both outfitted with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx ultra-performance tires, reports the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Now in its 23rd running, the 2006 Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America challenge covers 4,000 miles of travel in a week, including a 1,000-mile overnight commute from Iowa to Louisiana.
This year’s challenge begins at Tire Rack’s headquarters in South Bend, Ind., and drivers will travel at legal speeds on highways from the Midwest to Southeast U.S. and back a week later, while measuring and scoring their performance at each competition venue they visit.
One Lap drivers will make stops at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Ill.; Mid America Motorplex in Pacific Junction, Iowa; No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, La.; Roebling Road Raceway in Bloomingdale, Ga.; Florence Motor Speedway in Florence, S.C.; Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Va.; Putnam Park Road Course in Mount Meridian, Ind.; U.S. 41 International Dragway in Morocco, Ind.; and Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
For more details on the schedule, go to www.onelapofamerica.com.
To learn more about the competition and to keep track of the Dunlop Tire teams’ driving adventures, go to www.dunloptires.com for daily updates.
“It’s an endurance test of driver, car and tires. We’ll face a variety of challenges from a wet and dry skid-pad, a quarter-mile drag strip, a semi-banked asphalt oval and several classic road courses," says Luecke.
One Lap of America consists of 12 vehicle classes and attracts a variety of cars and drivers, both amateurs and professionals.
