Newman Wachs Racing announces new Lead Engineer

Renowned engineer Don Halliday has signed on to become the lead engineer for Newman Wachs Racing's (NWR) 2007 Champ Car Atlantic season. His acquisition comes on the tails of NWR's announcement of hiring rookie driver J.R. Hildebrand. Halliday's hiring has been one of many restructuring decisions NWR team principles Eddie Wachs and Ove Olsson have made in preparation for 2007.

Born in New Zealand, Halliday began in Europe in the F1 circuit before moving to the US in 1989. Halliday designed a CART Champ Car for Truesports and Rahal-Hogan racing, in addition to designing Champ Cars and Indy Lights cars for Steve Horne's Tasman team.

He retired from racing to run Halliday Technologies before coming out of retirement to become lead engineer for Mi-Jack Conquest Racing's 2006 Champ Car Atlantic season. There, he and CCA rookie driver Graham Rahal had a "welcome back" season for the history books. In twelve races, Rahal took five wins and the team enjoyed a record-breaking nine consecutive podium finishes. The Mi-Jack Conquest Racing team finished the season leading the series in most laps lead, most fast laps, and most prize money. Rahal finished 2nd in both the championship standings and Rookie of the Year points. Halliday was also voted Engineer of the Year for the 2006 Champ Car Atlantic season.

"Adding Don Halliday to our roster is an exciting development," said team owner Eddie Wachs, "I have never seen someone who communicates at the driver's level as well as Don. Watching him integrate his knowledge with our entire team has been a rejuvenating experience. We are looking forward to a winning season."

Don Halliday brings his expertise to the NWR team in preparation with their newly signed driver Hildebrand. The 2006 Cooper Series Champion, Hildebrand has been named to the AARWBA 2006 Auto Racing All-American team. He recently returned from the Autosport Banquet in London where he received the prestigious Gorsline Scholarship presented by Sir Sterling Moss.

NWR, established by Paul Newman and Eddie Wachs in 2005, concluded its inaugural season in 2006 and has begun preparations for the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series.