For Immediate Release: June 2, 2009
Contact: Amy Ruman 330.813.2323 cell
Munroe Falls, OH – Amy Ruman was back in action for Round 4 of the Muscle Milk SCCA Trans-Am 40 lap race that ran at the 2.258 mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington Ohio this past weekend. Mid-Ohio is one of Ruman’s home tracks, and it showed with a good number of hometown fans in the crowd cheering her on.
After a great qualifying round Saturday afternoon, Ruman put the #23 McNichols/Goodyear/Cenweld/Cleveland Hard Facing Chevrolet Corvette on the second row of the grid in 4th place behind Tony Ave (1st), Jorge Diaz (2nd), and Tommy Drissi (3rd).
Ruman had a good start, falling in behind Drissi, when Daniel Ramoutarsingh (5th) forced a pass on her through turn 1, with the two making contact. Ruman settled into 5th and set a pace to maintain her position. The train formed from fourth on, with Ramoutarsingh in front, Ruman, RJ Lopez, and Simon Gregg on the tail end. On lap 2, Ramoutarsingh spun in the carousel, and Ruman passed him, putting her back in 4th position. Ruman maintained fourth position until laps 8 and 9, when Lopez and Gregg got by her. She had started to develop a front-end handling problem, and was trying her best to control the car in the hard breaking zones. Ruman stayed with them until lap 13, when something broke on the front suspension entering the keyhole turn, sending Ruman into the gravel trap. She was able to get out of the trap and continue to pit lane, only to find out her day was over. The tie rod to the right front upper control arm had failed, taking her out of the race.
“This was so unfortunate to happen at this hometown race for us. My sponsors from McNichols Co., Goodyear, Cenweld, and Cleveland Hard Facing were here to attend this race, as were many other friends and family. It was such a disappointment to have a mechanical failure ruin our chances at the podium, but that’s racing for you,” stated Ruman. “My crew gave me such a good car – even better than in qualifying, and I know we would have been right there at the end of the race.”
It was defiantly a race of attrition, with only 3 cars finishing on the lead lap out of the 15 that started the race. The Ruman Racing team will head to the famed SCCA June Sprints National at Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI, next month. This will only be Ruman’s second time at Road America, where they have moved the 2009 SCCA National Championship Runoffs to in September.
**NEW** – For all race weekend updates and quick news, you can now follow the Ruman Racing team online at: http://twitter.com/rumanracing
To view entry lists, schedules, results, and info about the Muscle Milk SCCA Trans-Am Series visit: http://www.sccatrans-am.com/.
On Deck: June 20-21 – Amy Ruman in SCCA June Sprints National, Elkhart Lake, WI
