Limited Season Doesn’t Limit Lux Performance Trans Am Success

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A limited 2017 season didn’t limit the success of Lux Performance Group in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli championship. While the Aloha, Oregon-based program only entered Cindi Lux (Aloha, Oregon) in five races with the No. 45 Lux Performance Group Dodge Viper ACRX Fueled by Black Rock Coffee, five (plus an SVRA event) for Dirk Leuenberger (Seattle, Washington) in the No. 35 AquaStar Lux Performance Viper ACRX and Steve Streimer (Sherwood, Oregon) piloting the No. 42 Viper ACRX in a one-off race, the trio still captured two race wins, four podiums, eight top-five finishes and two pole position. Despite having less than half the races as full-season competitors, it is an impressive tally to mark the team’s third season in the legendary championship. 
 
Cindi Lux raced a limited schedule and still extended her winning ways. Image by John Thawley.

2017 was also a milestone year for the Lux Performance-Viper alliance. In 2005, the team owned by Fred and Cindi Lux was the first to take the V10-powered American machine to the SCCA Run-Offs, in 2007 Lux moved into the Pirelli World Challenge with the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe. In that time, Cindi has been a factory driver for Chrysler first with Dodge Motorsports (2005 – ’07), Mopar (’08) and SRT (’12) and Lux Performance oversaw the very popular Dodge Viper Cup “Celebrity” Program from 2010 through 2012. In 2017, she became the first woman to race a Viper at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 
Cindi raced to victory lane at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) following an overtaking maneuver so strong it earned the 12-time road racing champion the “Cool-Shirt Cool Move of the Race Award”. In addition, she set a new track record at the Virginia track during the event. She also earned the Trans Am TA3 class pole position at Watkins Glen International with a track record setting-lap in America’s super car. In the five races she piloted the Viper, the recipient of the Oregon Motorsports Museum Lifetime Achievement Award earned three podiums, a fourth-place and suffered only one mechanical DNF.
 
Dirk Leuenberger runs to another top-five finish in the Lux Viper.  
Image by John Thawley.  

Leuenberger made not only his Trans Am debut in 2017, he also made his racing debut. A decade-long veteran of track day activities in Vipers, the resident of Washington state reached out to Lux Performance to oversee the preparations of not only his Viper ACRX but also his driving career. While Fred focused on the mechanical attentions to race in five Trans Am and one in the SVRA Trans Am class races, Cindi honed the entrepreneur’s racecraft and career trajectory. As a result, in his first racing season of head-to-head competition of any kind, Leuenberger earned a second-place finish at Indianapolis and fivetop-five finishes in the ultra-competitive class.

 
Streimer made an appearance in his hometown Trans Am race at Portland International Raceway (PIR). PIR was on the new-for-2017 Trans Am West Coast Championship and Lux Performance dusted off his red and yellow Viper for the occasion. The longtime Lux Performance Group driver won the pole position and the race for the TA3 class in his only race in the car since 2016.
 
2017 marked 30 years of the combination of Fred and Cindi racing together. The pairing has won over 80 races, had more than 160 podium finishes and have sat on the pole position for more than 50 races. That success has garnered twelve road racing championships including the 1999 American Le Mans Series Women’s Global GT Series SCCA NorPac T1 Class Championships from 2003 – 2006.
Adam Sinclair
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