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CONTACT:
Cristi Brumm Ruhlman
336-210-0980
marketing@ruhlmnamotorspots.com
Rough
going at the Infineon Raceway Trans-Am NASCAR Winston Cup Race
Weekend
GREENSBORO, N.C. (June
23, 2003) - The roar of the engines was more exhilarating than ever as the
double-header races featuring the NASCAR Winston Cup and the BF Goodrich
Tires Trans-Am Series
got underway Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Both
races proved to be rough and
tumble style road racing with a good measure of bumping and passing
leading some great racing and
to many top runners finishing out of contention in both races.
As former road racer
Robby Gordon was receiving his Winston Cup winning honors, the Trans-Am
series took the grid for their 100-mile race on the 11 turn, 1.949-mile
short course nestled in the
scenic hilly terrain of the Sonoma Valley wine country. Randy
Ruhlman, the 2002 winner of the BBS
Wheels "Most Improved Driver of the Year", made his 131st career
start in the Trans-Am series,
campaigning the familiar #49 blue and white Preformed Line Products/Coyote
Closure Chevrolet
Corvette. Ruhlman started his racing career at this track, [formerly named
Sears Point Raceway],
not only going to SCCA Driver's School here, but scoring track records in
his first years in amateur
Showroom Stock Corvette racing. His knowledge of the track showed as the
weekend began with
Ruhlman running sixth fastest in the Friday late afternoon and the
Saturday morning sessions practices.
Practice began the hard
work of setting up the Trans-Am car at Infineon Raceway. The team
tried to
avoid getting tricked by the ever changing nature of this notorious race
track. "Setup in a TA car is always
tricky, but this course can really bite you," said Ruhlman before
qualifying.
"This course has
always been one of the most challenging to get a good setup. The amount of
rubber on
the track is a factor, but even hour to hour, the sun and track change
things so much, that what felt awful
in one session, could be fine in another. We tried to be smart about
making needed changes, rather than
chasing the setup."
By race time, late
Sunday, the track condition was a big question after the NASCAR race left
so much rubber
on the track. Having only qualified ninth, the team felt they needed
to make a few changes. As the green
flag waved, it became immediately apparent that the changes were not the
correct ones, and that the car's
setup was far from ideal.
"I had so much push
and understeer that I couldn't carry any speed into the corners,"
said Ruhlman after the
race. "I was having a lot of trouble even keeping up with guys
who I usually pass with ease. We really
missed the setup. It was tough driving too, since it was so much
work. This is a very busy track. Through
attrition and some hard work, we were able to move up and run in 8th.
"Near the end of
the race, Tomy Drissi banged into me, and fortunately didn't take out the
suspension. But
he did get me hard enough to rip the jack post from the frame on the
driver's side. But, more unfortunately,
with five laps to go, I started to lose power, and by the end, we were
definitely not running on all cylinders.
The guys called me on the radio on the last lap and said, 'Try to nurse it
along, if you don't think it is going to
blow up. You're in 8th and there is no one behind you.' They
called back about half a lap later, and said, 'Step
on it, you've got someone coming up fast.' I had to call back and
tell them, "I haven't lifted." I was just losing
power that fast. I tried to block the last few turns, but once we
got out of the last corner and onto the front
straight, Mike [Davis] just pulled out and drove around me. We got a
top ten out of it, but it was not pretty."
The Trans-Am race from
Infineon Raceway was the fifth in the 2003 season, and can be seen in tape
delay
this coming weekend on SPEED Channel. Round Six for the Trans-Am series
takes the series to Burke Airport
in Cleveland, Ohio with the CART series on Friday, July 4th. The
Trans-Am race will be held late in the afternoon
and will be followed by a huge lakefront fireworks display.
Ruhlman's Chevrolet
Corvette is fielded this year by the Minneapolis-based, Derhaag
Motorsports team, led by
former Trans-Am driver Jim Derhaag. Jim Derhaag himself made 150 starts as
a driver in the Trans-Am Series
before his successful move to full-time ownership in 1998. The team
has fielded many successful drivers,
including top Trans-Am drivers Justin Bell, Kenny Wilden, Tony Ave, Dorsey
Schroeder, Chris Neville and Darin Brassfield.
Preformed Line Products
(PLP) is an international manufacturer and supplier of hardware and
support systems for
the communications and energy industries. Products include the
COYOTE Closure and GUY-GRIP Dead-End used in the
telecommunications, cable and energy industries. Manufacturing
facilities are located worldwide in the USA, Canada,
China, Brazil, Mexico, England, Spain, South Africa, Australia and Japan.
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CONTACT:
Cristi Brumm Ruhlman
336-210-0980
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