Munroe Falls, Ohio – Amy Ruman and the Ruman Racing team worked their way back to the number one spot on the charts, bringing home Ruman’s 6th WIN of the 2015 Trans Am Season.
Trans Am’s debut at NOLA Motorsports Park proved to be an exciting one and even included a driver shuffle in the familiar No. 87 Cadillac, normally driven by defending TA champion Doug Peterson. Peterson was at the track, but Tony Ave stepped into the No. 87 car and drove at NOLA this weekend, both Paul Fix and Peterson currently drive under the Ave team name.
The weekend was sunny, warm, and dry in the Deep South. Ruman struggled a bit with setup on the No. 23 McNichols/Don Sitts Auto Chevrolet Corvette, but secured third place on the grid behind Ave Racing teammates Fix and Ave in Friday’s “Fast Five” qualifier.
The start of the race saw another twist, as Ave elected to change tires and start in the back of the ten car TA class field, moving Ruman to the front row for the start of the race. The green flag flew, and Ruman and Fix immediately went to battle. Fix gained the advantage into turn one and took the lead with Ruman a close second. As the race went on, Fix remained in first and Ruman had her mirrors full of Ave. Ave passed Ruman on a restart after a full course caution, but a few laps later Ruman passed him back for second. On the 27th lap of the race, Ruman passed Fix, who had gone off track, for the lead. Ruman put some distance on Ave in 2nd, with Fix dropping some spots, eventually working his way back to 3rd. The race finished under a late full course caution and, on the last lap, Ave pulled in the pits to allow Fix to claim second place.
“We definitely needed this win, especially for the points chase,” said Ruman. “We couldn’t be happier for this McNichols team—the Chairman of McNichols Co., Gene McNichols, is here this weekend to celebrate this win with us, so I’m really excited about that. You know, we struggled a bit with setup here; and we kept trying and trying things. We went out for the Sunday morning warm-up and felt like the car was pretty good, so we tried to stay with Paul throughout the race. While I still think he was the guy to beat today, he made a mistake and we capitalized on it. I’ve made some mistakes on the last few races and he was able to capitalize on those, so this time it was our turn. We’ve got two to go, and we’re still in it to win it.”
Ruman, who has been in the Championship lead the whole year, is hoping the winning momentum is back in her court as she heads into the final two races. “It’s funny in racing, results go in swings like that,” said Ruman. “Hopefully we can just keep moving forward and have good racing and finish strong. I haven’t been to COTA before, so we’ll do our best to learn it quickly, Daytona we’ve been strong at in the past, and we won there last year. We got hurt in the points a little bit in this weekend’s qualifier, qualifying third, but a win is a win and I’ll take it.”
There is still a 14 point difference between Ruman (284 pts) and Fix (270 pts) as they head to COTA November 8th.
Sponsors: McNICHOLS CO. is the nation’s largest distributor of Perforated and Expanded Metals; Wire Mesh; Bar, Plank, and Safety Gratings; Stair Treads; Matting; and more. Products are carried in all styles and materials–stocked for 24 hour shipment. “Inspired to Serve”™ 800.237.3820 mcnichols.com.
Don Sitts Auto Sales, Inc. is a family owned and operated dealership in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. Stop in for all your vehicle needs, over 200 cars in stock – for more info and inventory list, visit DonSitts.com.
For quick news and updates during race weekends, please follow Ruman Racing and the Trans Am Series on Twitter: @rumanracing and @gotransam. Be sure to “Like” our official pages on Facebook: Ruman Racing, Amy Ruman (Official Fan Page), McNichols Company, and Go Trans Am.
Race Info/Scoring/Results: www.gotransam.com Live Timing/Twitter Feed: www.gotransam.com/live-timing-and-scoring/
Ruman Racing, Inc., is based in Munroe Falls, Ohio.
