CART: Engine failure prevents Matt McIntyre from completing a lap at Trenton

Matt McIntyre picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL CART Series career in Tuesday's Trenton Twin Indy #2 at the Trenton Speedway when his #33 Purina entry fell out with engine issues without completing any of the 10 laps.

The finish came in his 6th career start. In the CART Series, it's the 1st for the #33 and the 1st for engine issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 5th for the #33 and 60th for engine issues.

McIntyre is still a relative when it comes to the SCRL, as he made his debut in the first ever SCRL Chili Bowl, a race he would advance to and would go on to finish 13th in the overall race. With only one race under his belt, McIntyre was amazingly able to find a ride for the brand new CART Series, and would finish a respectable 14th in his first ever start at Phoenix. A 8th place finish in the first Atlanta event would be followed by a 10th in the race's second event before going on to finish 16th in the series's biggest race of the season at Indy, before finishing 28th in the last round at Trenton. 

For the second time this season, qualifying wasn't held, with the field being lined up based on where they had finished in the race before, so that meant that points leader Riley Spurlytube would lead the field to the green and McIntyre would be starting in the 28th position. Starting in the final spot would be first Trenton last-place finisher the #14 Pepto-Bistol entry of Derek Greene.

On race day as the drivers began to make their lone pace lap of the race, McIntyre's car would stall on the outside line, holding up the line, while at the same time, the #54 Atari entry of Carol Dent would also stall on the start, with both drivers being towed back to the pits. As the field made their way into Turn 1, second Atlanta last-place finisher the #18 Miller entry of Jack Lagasee would be forced to limp back around to the pits, reporting of a flat tire. The officials were forced to wave off the start of the race, with Lagasee getting back to the pits, his team replacing only the right side tires before sending him back out on track; Jack would go on to finish 25th.

As for McIntyre and Dent, Carol's team was able to repair the brake problems the car had and would send her back out and would go on to finish 30th, but the engine problems that McIntyre had was too severe, with the team pushing the car behind the wall. It wouldn't be until Lap 2 that McIntyre's car would be retired from the race.

The next two spots would be filled by the race's first caution of the day. As the #24 Charlotte Hornets entry of Samet Ozkan, who entered the event 462 points behind Spurlytube, would be taken out in a Lap 2 crash at the same time as McIntyre's car was listed as "out". Ozkan was racing for  place when he was spun out by the #13 Interstate Batteries entry of Dexter Black, sending Ozkan up the track and right in front of the #97 Mountain Dew entry of Dilan Ebrahimian, with Ozkan flipping over five times before landing on all four wheels, while Ebrahimian would hit the outside wall nearly head on, both cars destroyed and done for the day.

Rounding out the Bottom Five in 29th was the #21 Alpha Beta entry of Clay Myers, who would be involved in the final caution that would send the #6 RCA entry of Daniel Bouchard head on into the outside wall, as Myers would limp back around and took the checkered flag on pit road.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #33 had finished last in the CART Series as well at Trenton.
*This marked the first time a driver has finished last due to engine issues.
*This marked the first time a driver has failed to complete a lap since the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when Mairin Tayami's #2 Coppertone entry was involved in a multi-car crash; 2 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
33) #33-Matt McIntyre / 0 laps / engine
32) #24-Samet Ozkan / 2 laps / crash
31) #97-Dilan Ebrahimian / 2 laps / crash
30) #54-Carol Dent / 9 laps / running
29) #21-Clay Myers / 9 laps / running