Road Atlanta: Pre-race notes, schedule

TRANS-AM SERIES FOR THE BFGOODRICH TIRES CUP SCHEDULE (All times EDT):

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9 -- Trans-Am Series practice, 10:15-10-45 a.m.; Trans-Am Series practice, 3:15-3:45 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10 -- Trans-Am Series qualifying, 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.; Trans-Am Series practice, 5:15-5:45 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 -- Grid Trans-Am cars, 2:45 p.m.; Trans-Am 100, 3:05 p.m.

BROADCAST: SPEED Channel, Friday, October 18, 8 p.m. ET (tape delay).

NOTEWORTHY

* Boris Said (#33 Applied Computer Solutions Panoz Esperante) logged his sixth race victory of the 2002 Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup season last Sunday in Miami. Said's six victories, double his career total of three Trans-Am wins entering the season, are the most since Paul Gentilozzi won six of 13 races en route to the 1999 championship. Only 12 times in the 37-year history of the Trans-Am Series has a driver won as many as six races in a season, and only five times during a season of 12 or fewer races. The late Mark Donohue did it twice, winning six of 12 Trans-Am Series races in 1969 and seven of 10 in 1971. Bob Tullius won seven of 10 races en route to the 1978 Category 1 championship, and John Paul took six of nine a year later to claim the 1979 Category 2 crown. More recently, Scott Pruett won seven of 12 races to fuel his drive to the 1987 championship. The Trans-Am record for race victories in a season is held by Tom Kendall, who won 11 of 13 events in 1997.

* Despite the heartbreak of a last-lap mechanical failure which cost him an all-but-certain victory at Miami, Stuart Hayner (#02 Trenton Forging Chevrolet Corvette) extended an impressive run of consistency with his fourth-place finish, his sixth top-five result in his past seven starts. The run began with a fifth-place finish at Mid-Ohio and includes podium performances of third at Cleveland and Denver, as well as fourths at Washington, D.C. and Road America.

* Randy Ruhlman's (#49 Preformed Line Products Chevrolet Corvette) third-place finish at Miami allowed him to equal his personal best performance of four top-five finishes in a Trans-Am Series season, established in 1999. Ruhlman, who has finished eighth or better in nine of 10 starts this season, has finished fifth at Mosport and Road America and second at Trois-Rivieres in addition to third at Miami. His podium performances at Trois-Rivieres and Miami are the first two of a Trans-Am career that now encompasses 124 starts, fourth in Trans-Am Series history.

-psr/scca-