April 15, 2002 – BOB RUMAN BRINGS HOME 5TH PLACE IN TRANS-AM SEASON OPENER AT LONG BEACH
RUMAN STARTS SEASON IN 5TH IN POINTS STANDINGS
Long Beach, CA – Bob Ruman brought home a 5th place finish in today’s Johnson Controls 100 Trans-Am Long Beach Grand Prix. Ruman, who debuted his 2002 Cenweld/McNichols Corvette this weekend, performed strongly all weekend. Ruman qualified 9th in the twenty car field. Sunday afternoon’s timed, seventy minute race was held in good conditions, under partly cloudy skies and seventy degree weather.
“This was an excellent race weekend! The Cenweld/McNichols Corvette was exceedingly strong. We made some bold adjustments during practice for qualifying and definitely went in the right direction.” explained Ruman. “The race was incredible. The brakes started to get soft early in the race and I flat-spotted the left front tire right off the bat. So I had to back off just a little, but still stayed with the lead pack. We were in 8th when the yellow flag came out. We pitted and the team changed the front tire and refueled the car. After the pit stop, the car handled much better and I was able to pass Michael [Lewis], Randy [Ruhlman] and Tomy [Drissi]. I was in 6th and started working on Greg [Pickett] right after the second yellow was over. With only a few laps to go, everyone was loose. On the last lap, something happened to Justin [Bell], who was running 2nd and he ended up spinning. Pickett and I squeezed by him and took the checkered flag. I’m very pleased with the 5th place finish and the incredibly hard work the team has done to give me this great car.”
Sunday’s finish places Ruman 5th in the BFGoodrich Tires Cup point standings.
Television – Johnson Controls Long Beach Grand Prix will be shown on Speed Channel on Saturday, April 20 at 5:00pm ET (tape delay).
On Deck – Trans-Am Race – Mosport, Canada, May 19
