Danny Gerber and crew chief John Wurtz showed with just two crew people and Danny’s wife. Their weekend got off to a shaky start as the team only has one trans with a 1.25 ratio in it. Not optimal option for the conditions that existed in SLC but it is what they had, so they dealt with it. Then on Friday right after their second qualifying attempt the air compressor in Gerber’s trailer quit working. So what did Wurtz and the team do? They dealt with it. Working with hand tools and no pro jacks, they started to service the car. Roger Garten jumped in and tied his air compressor into Gerber’s trailer and Gerber would have air as long as Garten was there.

Saturday morning Team Gerber got to the track early to finish servicing the car and were back to working on the ground. However, they did it and got the car serviced. Moreover, when Garten and his team showed up Team Gerber had air again. John Wurtz said with a sly smile, “It builds character.”

That character showed through in the final qualifying session as Gerber pulled the car to the starting line. He was not in the show but the 50-year-old rookie “cowboyed up” and made his second-best run ever with a 6.22 and it got the ex-Dale Pulde Trans Am into the show at number five.

On the lap, the engine smoked a couple of pistons. So when Team Gerber got back to the pits having just over two hours to turn the car around for first round, who is waiting for Gerber and his small team in their pit? Roger Garten’s entire “War Horse” team along with various members from other teams and they all were there to get the Gerber car ready.

Wurtz then orchestrated the work and just over a hour later Wurtz realized just how quick assembled group had gotten the car ready and said to everybody in the pit, “OK, everybody slow down, including me, we got plenty of time now.”

Oh, and who was Gerber’s first-round opponent? Roger Garten.