Ruhlman Finishes Third at Infineon Raceway
Sonoma,
Calif. (June 27, 2004) - Top Trans-Am driver Randy
Ruhlman finished third today at the 51 lap,
100-mile race Motorock Trans-Am at Infineon Raceway, sharing
the podium with former Trans-Am
Champions Boris Said and Tommy Kendall. Ruhlman was the
top Chevrolet in his #49 blue and white
Preformed Line Products/Coyote Closure Chevrolet Corvette.
All three manufacturers were represented
on the podium, as Said took top honors in a Ford Mustang and
Kendall was second in a Jaguar.
“The
track was in surprisingly good shape after the NASCAR NEXTEL
Cup race, so that pretty nice.
Our plan here was to not using up our tires too quickly. We
had been fast all weekend, so I knew what
we had, and we wanted to pace ourselves. I tried to just
keep contact with the front guys at first, but
after the first restart I knew that we would be fine for the
rest of race,” commented Ruhlman. “I thought
I might be able to catch Tommy [Kendall] for second, but every
time I would close up, he would get away.
Boris and Tommy both had strong cars, but so did we. I
wanted to prove myself again in Trans-Am,
especially after last year's race here. I think that
being on the podium with these guys today was a good
way to do that.”
Ruhlman
was fast all weekend, running in the top five in all sessions
at the 1.968-mile short course at
Infineon Raceway of Round Three of the Motorock Trans-Am
Series. Ruhlman¹s third place finish is his
first Trans-Am podium of the year and his 139th career start
in the Series. He is currently eighth in Driver’s
Championship points.
Ruhlman
began his racing career at Infineon Raceway, not only going to
SCCA Driver's School, but scoring
track records in his first years in amateur Showroom Stock
Corvette racing. Randy Ruhlman finished sixth
overall in the Driver's Championship in 2003 in a Derhaag
Motorsports Corvette and was seventh overall in
2002 driving for Tom Gloy Racing with a second (and a 3rd
in 2003) at Trois Rivieres and third at Miami.
Ruhlman was awarded the 2002 BBS Wheels "Most Improved
Driver of the Year". Randy Ruhlman is sixth
overall in Top Ten finishes in Trans-Am history.
Television
for the Trans-Am race will be on HD Net with delayed
coverage
on Spike TV¹s show
"Dangerous Curves" on July 4th. The Trans-Am
Series immediately travels on to the Cleveland Grand Prix
with Champ Car at Burke Airport course on Friday, July 3rd,
then straight to Toronto on July 10th.
Ruhlman's
Chevrolet Corvette is fielded this year by the
Minneapolis-based,
Derhaag Motorsports team,
led by former Trans-Am driver Jim Derhaag. Jim Derhaag himself
made 150 starts as a driver in the
Trans-Am Series before his successful move to full time
ownership in 1998. The team has fielded many
successful drivers, including top Trans-Am drivers Justin
Bell, Kenny Wilden, Tony Ave, Dorsey Schroeder,
and Darin Brassfield.
Preformed
Line Products (PLP) is an international manufacturer and
supplier
of hardware and support
systems for the communications and energy industries. Products
include the COYOTE Closure and GUY-GRIP
Dead-End used in the telecommunications, cable and energy
industries. Manufacturing facilities are located
worldwide in the USA, Canada, China, Brazil, Mexico, England,
Spain, South Africa, Australia and Japan.
#
# #
Cristi
Brumm Ruhlman
336-210-0980
|
