7/15/07
Ohio woman earns pole
Paul Newman will start fifth in GT-1 race.
By Ron Levanduski
rlevanduski@stargazette.com
Star-Gazette
WATKINS GLEN — In the battle of age and the sexes in the GT-1 division at the Glen Nationals, Round 1 went to youth and a woman.
Amy Ruman, 33, of Kent, Ohio, grabbed the GT-1 pole position in her No. 3 McNichols Co. Chevy Corvette during qualifying for the 60th running of the Sports Car Club of America-sanctioned amateur event at Watkins Glen International on Saturday.
Ruman’s pole time of 1 minute, 52.601 was a tenth of a second better than the class lap record she set in the race last year. It was her fifth pole of the year. Today, she’ll be gunning for a fourth consecutive national win.
“I’m really happy with that lap time,” Ruman said. “We’re running real good this weekend.”
Ruman held off 42-year-old Simon Gregg and 82-year-old Paul Newman. Gregg, the former SCCA Trans-Am driver, was second in his No. 59 Corvette. Newman, the Academy Award-winning actor, qualified fifth in a Corvette that carries No. 82, also his age.
“A middle-aged man racing a young woman and an old fellow, that would make a good podium (today),” said Gregg, who is the son of one of America’s legendary sports-car racers, the late Peter Gregg.
The Glen Nationals, which date back to the original race in the streets of Watkins Glen in 1948, are the longest continuous-running road race event in North America.
More than 320 drivers took part in two qualifying sessions on the Glen’s 3.4-mile Grand Prix course. The 30 classes of cars are combined into seven groups. Each will compete in 14-lap races today, starting at 8:30 a.m.
Ruman set her pole time in the first Group 5 qualifying session, where finding a lap without traffic from the many slower cars from different classes was difficult.
“Somehow, I found a small hole in the traffic,” she said.
The GT-1 cars were given a reprieve in the second session after Newman asked his competitors and race officials if they would let their faster cars run a 10-minute solo session, without any other class cars on track.
Gregg, who returned to racing on the amateur level this year after running in the Trans-Am Series from 1998-2003, admitted he was a “little rusty” in posting a 2-minute flat lap in the first session. With no traffic to contend with, he improved seven seconds in the second session.
“I’m still improving, but that was a good pace for me,” Gregg said. “I’ll take that.”
Newman qualified with a lap of 1:56.366.
“I was slow as a snail,” said Newman, who explained the extra drag from the rear bodywork of his car was part of the reason. “I got two clean runs (second session), so I have no excuses.”
Newman, who retired from acting in May, has been racing since the early 1970s. He has four SCCA Runoffs championships, the last in 1986.
Newman, who admitted he’s slowed down a bit since then, joked, “I wish I was 81 again.”
