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Press Releases by Amy Ruman
June 28, 2005
Amy Ruman Debuts in Trans-Am with 10th Place at Cleveland
Grand Prix
Munroe Falls, OH - Amy Ruman put together a strong
performance all weekend at the "Trans-Am on the Tarmac"
Cleveland Grand Prix in the #23 McNichols/Cenweld Corvette,
placing 10th overall and 2nd in the GT-1 class in Saturday's
race. Ruman was substituting for father Bob Ruman, who had
planned to race at Cleveland, but suffered a minor injury
just days before the race. Safety Today and Cleveland Hard
Facing, two Ohio based companies, also announced at the Cleveland
race their sponsorship of Amy's effort.
"Thursday night I was very excited to get the call from
Safety Today and Cleveland Hard Facing that they were going
to join our team. It was great to have them on board for our
hometown race," exclaimed Ruman. "Safety Today will
be a great addition to our program for the rest of the season."
Ruman was 9th in the first practice session on Friday morning.
She then posted a 5th in the second practice Friday afternoon.
In Friday's late afternoon qualifying session, Ruman qualified
8th. Saturday afternoon's race was hot and humid, with temperatures
reaching well over 90 degrees. Ruman started 7th as one competitor
dropped to the back of the field with an engine change. Ruman
had a great start and moved up to 6th by the exit of turn
one. She was in a heated battle the first couple laps and
moved back and forth between 6th, 7th, and 8th places. On
lap 24, she moved solidly into 4th place, where she stayed
for about five laps. Then, as Tomy Drissi moved to pass her
at the kink in the pit straight, Ruman went off line just
enough to get in the marbles and spun coming out of the kink.
She dropped down to 8th, but was working her way back up when,
with just 15 laps to go, the car suffered a mechanical failure.
Ruman nevertheless had secured 10th place.
"That was an awesome experience!" said Ruman. "The
McNichols/Cenweld Corvette was running great the whole race.
For most of the race I had the leaders right in my sight and
my times were very competitive. It was a real heart breaker
when I fell out with just 15 to go. I really had a big lead
in the GT-1 portion of the race until my spin, but I was able
to hold on to second. Hopefully I will have more opportunities
to run Trans-Am again."
"As I expected, Amy did an amazing job," exclaimed
Bob Ruman. "She was certainly a quick study of both the
track and the competitors. Pulling off top-10 practice and
qualifying times every session and then securing a 10th in
the race was thrilling. She was confident and very focused.
I'm sure it won't be the only time you'll see her in Trans-Am."
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