Millstone driver takes second in Grand Prix

MILLSTONE — Perrineville's Sean Noonan secured second place in the Purdue University Grand Prix.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW HANCOCK Millstone's Sean Noonan of the Theta Tau team navigates his cart through the pack of the waning laps of the Purdue University Grand Prix on April 25. Noonan finished second. Noonan, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, drove kart 57 for the Theta Tau team in the 160-lap race held April 25 in West Lafayette, Ind. Senior Travis Iles, of Mt. Vernon, Ill., bested Noonan to come in first, according to a press release from Purdue University.

Noonan called his second-place finish bittersweet.

"In my mind, I think I could have had that win," Noonan said. "But he was obviously the better driver today."

Noonan, like Iles, was driving in his fourth Purdue Grand Prix.

"I've been driving go-karts since I was 12 years old, so after a while it becomes kind of second nature"he said.

Jake Murphy, a senior majoring in interdisciplinary engineering, and Ben Mc- Murray, a senior majoring in fisheries and aquatic science from Trafalgar, Ind., finished third and fourth, respectively.

The highlight of this year's race was the brand-new track, which is 4 feet wider than the previous track used for more than four decades.

Dustin Keller, a former Boilermaker football player who now plays for the New York Jets, served as grand marshal of the 2009 Grand Prix, which is organized each year by the Purdue Grand Prix Foundation. The foundation is a student-run, nonprofit organization that conducts the kart race and related events each year to raise money for student scholarships.

This year, the foundation received money from Toyota Motor Corp., Coca- Cola, Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics, Purdue Memorial Union, Bosch, Lockheed Martin, Bowen Engineering and the Army ROTC.