ORANGE COUNTY, California — O'Connell Racing (OConnellRacing.com), a southern California based Grand-Am Rolex Series and NASCAR road racing team announced today that Hurricane Ike that devastated south Texas in the areas surrounding Galveston Bay in Harris County have also affected the homes of key members of the team. Members affected include founding members Gus & Susan O’Connell, the parents of team driver Kevin O’Connell from Clear Lake Shores, Rusty Montgomery, the team’s primary pit stop fueler from the Lake Houston area, and Ronnie Norwood, the team’s spotter and fire bottle operator from Clear Lake, residing on the lake itself.
Kevin O’Connell commented, “This is the second race this summer that we have not had the members of the team from Houston with us do to emergency evacuation proceedings in Houston. Hurricane Ike literally rolled right into Galveston Bay and into Clear Lake with the surge of water as high as 6 feet in some areas. Half of the pit stop crew that will not make the season finale at Miller are from Houston so we are making some short term changes and moving some of the guys from California into different positions for the pit stops, but it is not going to be the same without them.”
About O'Connell Racing: O'Connell Racing is a professional California based road racing team that competes in North America in the Grand Am Rolex Series and in the NASCAR Nationwide series. The team races in select events in both of these respective series in a focused effort to bring the highest visibility, media and branding opportunities to its marketing partners and sponsors: General Environmental Management, Inc., Taleo Grill, Mothers Polishes-Waxes-Cleaners, Rubb-n-Repair, Wrenchmints, MicroFiberStuff.com http://microfiberstuff.com/., Neo Synthetics, Sparco USA, General Pacific Group, LLC. Xoodlz, Inc, PAOCO and Arnett Designs.
