Road Atlanta: Ruman Racing race report

Ruman Closes 2010 Season with a 4th at Road Atlanta, GA and 5th in Trans-Am Points

Munroe Falls, OH -- Amy Ruman closed the 2010 season with a 4th place finish at the SCCA Trans-Am Season Finale at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA, part of the ALMS Petit Le Mans week. She finished 5th in the final Trans-Am Championship standings, scoring three podiums and finishing 5th or better in all but one of her six Trans-Am Series starts in 2010.

Road Atlanta saw the largest Trans-Am field this season, as 23 competitors raced in three classes, including the traditional Trans-Am class with 14 competitors and the Trans-Am 2 and Trans-Am 3 classes with 9 competitors combined.

Ruman ended up being the underdog going into the race as mechanical problems necessitated a change from her powerhouse 358ci motor to a smaller 310ci motor after the Tuesday test day. Nearly all the Trans-Am drivers in her class were running the larger 358ci motor, nevertheless, Ruman qualified 6th for Friday's 36-lap, 90-mile Trans-Am race.

Race day was sunny and warm for the 4:35 pm start. Ruman had a good start, dropping only a few places on the first few laps due to the lower horsepower motor. She battled her way back through the field moving the #23 McNichols Co./Goodyear/Cenweld Corvette into 4th position with two laps to go. Then Ruman closed the gap to third place finisher Doug Harrington from 8 seconds to 2.3 seconds on the last lap, narrowly missing out on another 3rd place podium finish.

"That was a tough one," exclaimed Ruman. "It's too bad we didn't have the bigger motor in because we had a great handling car throughout the race. Road Atlanta is an awesome track, and to be paired the ALMS Petit Le Mans made it an amazing event. That was probably the largest crowd I have ever raced in front of!"

-source: ruman racing