October 17, 2006 – For Immediate Release:
Munroe Falls, OH – Amy Ruman and the Ruman Racing Team had high hopes for this past weekend’s SCCA National Championship Runoffs, but walked away with a 7th place instead of a podium finish.
After starting on the pole and finishing 4th in the Trans-Am race the prior weekend, Ruman qualified the #23 McNichols/SafetyToday/Cenweld Chevrolet Corvette in the 5th position on the grid for GT-1 Runoffs race day. Weather posed an issue all week long; giving GT-1 only two dry qualifying sessions along with two wet ones. The top six on the grid were Simms, Lewis, Scarallo, Bill Gray, Ruman, and Canney.
Wet weather would strike again early Sunday morning, soaking everything. The teams went out at 8:25 for a ten-minute warm-up to see how track conditions were. Most teams went out on rain tires, as the track was wet but starting to dry. The rain held off for the start of the race at 11:50 am CT, but track conditions were still wet/dry. Most of the field up front started the race on slick (dry) tires.
After two pace laps, the first three laps of the race were run under double yellow as a car lost a wheel in turn two. On the forth lap, the field took the green flag. Ruman fell to sixth as Canney passed her, B. Gray and Scarallo on the inside going up the straight. Ruman stayed behind B. Gray and Scarallo through the first half of the course as they were banging door to door. Ruman headed into turns 8-9, a chicane combo, ahead of Shawn Gray who was in seventh. S. Gray stuck his nose in under Ruman in turn nine. She gave Gray room but they touched and she got hung out in the wet and mud on the outside of the turn and did a half spin. Ruman was sideways and had to wait for the whole field to pass, dropping her to 22nd place. After that, Ruman got going again and drove her way back through most of the field to finish 7th, posting the fourth fastest time of the race.
“I couldn’t believe that happened on the first green lap,” stated Ruman. “We had a great car for the race and I felt we really had a shot at a podium finish this year. I felt so bad for my team who worked so hard all year for this race. It was wet out, and unfortunately, I got the short end of the stick on one of those ‘first lap racing incidents.’ I was working on 6th place when the checkered flag came out, a few more laps and I think I could have moved up at least one or two more positions.” The finishing order for the top three were Simms, Lagod, and Jung.
Ruman has raced in four consecutive SCCA National Runoffs and has placed in the top ten in all of them. “I am really pleased to win the Northeast Division GT-1 Championship, and I want to thank my crew and my sponsors: McNichols, Safety Today, Cenweld, and Goodyear for an awesome year. I could not have had so much success without them.”
For full results of the race and week, check out the GT-1 Runoffs homepage at:
http://www.scca.com/Event/Event.asp?Ref=2006-runoffs-GT1
Television coverage of the entire 2006 SCCA National Runoffs will be aired on SPEED Channel. All races will be tape delayed with coverage starting Tuesday, November 7. The GT-1 race is scheduled to air Tuesday, December 12 at 2:00pm EDT. For more schedule information, visit www.speedtv.com or www.scca.com.
rumanracing.com McNichols.com safetytoday.com
