Munroe Falls, Ohio – Amy Ruman and team headed to Ruman’s favorite track this past weekend, historic Watkins Glen, NY, for Round 9 of the 2017 Trans Am Championship presented by Pirelli. After what started out to be another tough race weekend, Ruman had a stellar performance, including an exciting last lap pass to secure second place on the podium.
The field was deep and tough in Round 9 of the Championship, but all the crew’s hard work finally paid off after a rough first half of 2017 season. With one rainy testing session and the single practice session shortened due to a wreck, there was little time on the track for drivers before Saturday’s qualifying. Ruman was bumped out of the top five and slid to seventh in the No. 23 McNichols Co. Corvette by the time the session expired, putting her on row four for Sunday’s race.
The green flag flew on a brisk but sunny New York afternoon, and the heated battles started promptly. Ruman immediately moved up on the start to sixth then started dicing with Chris Dyson, Vinnie Allegretta, and Paul Fix. She got by Dyson and Allegretta and into fourth when a full course caution came out. Ruman ran consistently in fourth and third until a red flag halted the racing due to an incident on the course. The field was up against the clock for the time limit on the race, and saw only two laps after going back to green flag racing. It was Fix, Lally, and Ruman when racing commenced, with both Lally and Ruman overtaking Fix in the final two laps, as the race was shortened to 21-laps instead of the original 30.
“What a race here at WGI!”, exclaimed Ruman. “We finally made our way back to the podium for only the second time this season. There was some really great racing here today, and I have to congratulate Andy (Lally) on his first TA win. We have been friends for a long time and it was great to finally get a chance to race against him. Paul (Fix) and I had a good race going too in the final laps, he got hung up on some lapped traffic and I just tried to time it right coming onto the front straight and got a run going into turn 1. He did the classic over under pass back coming out of 1 and we were side-by-side into turn 2 and all the way up the hill when I was able to edge him out – it was fun to have him back in TA this weekend like old times.”
Ruman moves back into third place in the Championship points standings following the results this weekend. Ernie Francis, Jr. remains in first with 249 points, followed by Vincent Allegretta at 204, and Amy Ruman with 174. Only four more Rounds remain in the 2017 hunt.
Don’t forget to tune into the Trans Am Road America Classic – TA/TA3/TA4 race from Road America on CBS Sports Network, airing on Wednesday, September 20 at 10:00 p.m. ET, followed by the TA2 Road America Muscle Car Challenge Wednesday, September 27 at 7:00p.m. ET.
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.
OMP Racing, Inc., OMP Racing is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of racing safety equipment and tuning accessories with a catalog of over 3,000 different items. Operating from a technologically advanced 80,000 sqft facility in Italy, OMP products are renowned for its quality, the meticulous attention to details that is constantly challenged by setting higher standards. For products and information visit ompamerica.com or ompsport.com.
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Race Info/Scoring/Results: www.gotransam.com Ruman Racing, Inc., is based in Munroe Falls, Ohio.
