January 21, 2004 – Munroe Falls, OH – Ruman Racing headed to Florida to compete in the GT-1 winter nationals at Sebring and Moroso. Piloting the McNichols/Cenweld Corvette was Amy Ruman.
At Sebring, Ruman qualified 3rd in the GT-1 field. The green flag fell, and Ruman ran the first several laps in 3rd place while Murphy and Mohrhauser diced it out between 1st and 2nd. “I was just sitting back and waiting for them to take each other out! (Ruman laughs) They were really running tight, but racing each other well. Mohrhauser went off the track just enough, and I was able to get by him.”
Later in the race, Ruman half spun, and just after that a red flag came out due to another crash in the race. On the restart, Ruman was still in 3rd. Ruman made a great pass on Mohrhauser, just after big bend heading into turn 7. She then chased down Murphy and they were running close. Ruman was trying to set up a pass heading onto the back straight when she hit some oil from a freshly blown motor. “I tried to collect it, but it was too late. I didn’t see the oil till after the fact. I dropped a few spots and just didn’t have enough laps to get my position back. One or two more laps and I think I could have had 3rd again, but I am still happy with my 4th place finish.”
The following weekend, the team headed to Moroso for the second national race. Ruman qualified an impressive 2nd on the grid. The green came out and Ruman passed Simms, who was on the pole, on the front straight, taking the lead. Ruman then consistently led the race until about lap 11, when she was passed by Leavy heading into the chicane. A couple of laps later, Ruman retook the lead through the same turn.
With about 5 laps to go, the lead pack was coming up on lapped traffic. “I was coming up on this guy and I was closing on him really fast. Unfortunately, he braked early for the turn and we had to hit the breaks — John (Leavy) and I spun in tandem! Lucky John didn’t hit me, but he was able to get going quicker. I tried to chase him down, but there just wasn’t enough time left. We had a great race going and it was good tight racing experience for me, but it was still heartbreaking to come in 2nd place.”
Next up: April 3-4: GT-1 National at Summit Point, VA
