Amy Ruman

Last updated
Amy Ruman
Ruman Champ.jpg
Ruman in 2015
NationalityAmerican
Born (1974-01-30) 30 January 1974 (age 50)
Akron, Ohio
Related toBob Ruman (father)
Trans-Am career
Debut season 2005 Trans-Am Series
Current teamRuman Racing
Car number23
Starts79
Best finish1st in 2015 and 2016
Previous series
2002-2012, 1995-2001 SCCA National Championship Runoffs
SCCA Spec Racer Ford Pro Series

Amy Ruman (born January 30, 1974) is an American racing driver. She is a two-time champion (2015, 2016) of the Trans-Am Series, at its top level, "TA," which completed its 50th anniversary season in 2016. [1] She is also the only female to win the series championship. [2] Ruman is an Ohio native and a graduate of Kent State University.

Contents

Formative years

Amy Ruman is the daughter of former Trans-Am Series driver Bob Ruman, who competed in the series during the 1990s and the early 2000s. Bob started competitive automobile competition in autocross in 1963 at age 21. Early on he focused on Corvette autocross and drag racing. He moved into wheel-to-wheel with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) to win the SCCA Northeast Division GT1 championship. Bob entered Trans Am in the 1990s and still ranks in the top twenty drivers for most race starts with 95, topped by a third-place podium finish during the 2000 Long Beach Grand Prix weekend. [3]

Amy's mother Barbara was also a competitive Corvette autocross driver for three decades, and both Amy and her sister Niki competed in racing starting as teenagers.

Early career

Amy Ruman began racing in 1992 at age 18 driving a Corvette in autocross events. She graduated to wheel-to-wheel racing in 1995 in SCCA with Spec Racer Ford, eventually scoring a regional championship in 1999. This earned her an invitation to Lyn St. James' Women's Global GT series running Don Panoz cars. [4]

Amy continued to progress to more advanced levels of racing to enter SCCA National Championship Runoffs races with her father's Corvette in the GT-1 class. [5] She qualified for the SCCA national run-offs nine times from 2003-2012 with a best finish of third in 2010. [6] During this period she entered her first Trans-Am races with a total of three starts in 2005 and 2006 managing top-10 finishes on each of those occasions. [7] The series was struggling financially at that juncture and went on hiatus in 2007 and 2008. [8] Note that Trans-Am ran only two exhibition races in 2006, both at Topeka Heartland Raceway, where Ruman finished 4th and 5th.

Trans Am Series

Ruman Racing stepped up their involvement in Trans-Am with Amy upon the revitalization of the series in 2009. There were no Trans-Am races held during 2007 or 2008. Amy competed in five of the eight races in 2009 and secured 10th in the points championship. She improved to a fifth-place overall the following year after entering six of ten races. The 2011 season was a breakthrough year for Amy as she became the first woman driver to win a Trans-Am race with victory in the final round at Road Atlanta on September 30.

Amy Ruman in her McNichols Engineering Corvette at NOLA Trans-Am race, October 2015. RumanNOLA3.jpg
Amy Ruman in her McNichols Engineering Corvette at NOLA Trans-Am race, October 2015.

[9] This success contributed to her continued improvement in the points championship as she finished third. Two more race wins followed in 2012 to help her earn the runner-up spot in the season championship. By this time she was entered in all Trans-Am races throughout the year. With no race wins in 2013, her championship placing slipped to fifth. In 2014 Ruman achieved a victory at the season finale at Daytona International Speedway. This helped her secure third place in the championship.

In 2015 Amy earned her distinction as the first female Trans-Am champion by winning eight of 12 races on the series schedule. [10] In 2016, Ruman attained three race wins and multiple podium finishes during the season. This led her to her second consecutive championship title in Trans-Am’s 50th anniversary season. [11]

Career Statistics

Trans Am Career Results
Year123456789101112Rank
2016Sebring (10th)Road Atlanta (1st)Watkins Glen (1st)Detroit (4th)Detroit (7th)New Jersey (2nd)Brainerd (9th)VIR (11th)Homestead (6th)NOLA (2nd)COTA (3rd)Daytona (1st)1st
2015Sebring (1st)Homestead (1st)Road Atlanta (1st)Lime Rock (3rd)New Jersey (1st)Brainerd (1st)Mid-Ohio (12th)Road America (6th)VIR (5th)NOLA (1st)COTA (1st)Daytona (1st)1st
2014Sebring (1st)Homestead (9th)Road Atlanta (4th)Mosport (2nd)New Jersey (1st)Road America (6th)Mid-Ohio (14th)Brainerd (2nd)Lime Rock (11th)VIR (4th)Daytona (2nd)(11-race season)3rd
2013Sebring (3rd)Mosport (8th)Lime Rock (5th)Watkins Glen (9th)Road America (12th)Mid-Ohio (7th)Brainerd (3rd)VIR (9th)Road Atlanta (4th)Daytona (12th)(10-race season)(10-race season)4th
2012Mosport (6th)Lime Rock (3rd)Mid-Ohio (2nd)New Jersey (1st)Watkins Glen (2nd)Road America (9th)Brainerd (4th)Brainderd (1st)Road Atlanta (3rd)Road Atlanta (3rd)10-race season10-race season2nd
2011Sebring (12th)Miller Motorsports Park (DNS)VIR (10th)Mosport (3rd)Trois-Rivieres (5th)Road America (11th)Brainerd (4th)Brainerd (3rd)Road Atlanta (1st)9-race season9-race season9-race season3rd
2010New Jersey Motorsports Park (5th)MosportMiller Motorsports ParkRoad America (3rd)Lime Rock ParkToronto (2nd)Autobahn Country Club (3rd)Brainerd International RacewayVIR (8th)Road Atlanta 4th)10-race season10-race season5th
2009Road Atlanta (3rd)VIR (6th)Mosport (DNS)Mid-Ohio (12th)Portland (DNS)Watkins Glen (4th)Road America (17th)7-race season7-race season7-race season7-race season7-race season10th
2005Long Beach (DNS)Portland (DNS)Cleveland (10th)Toronto (DNS)Edmonton (DNS)San Jose (DNS)Denver (DNS)Road America (DNS)Montreal (DNS)9-race season9-race season9-race season24th

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References

  1. ↑ "Ruman Repeats as Trans Am Champion with Daytona Victory". Sports Car Club of America. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  2. ↑ , National Speed Sport News, November 12, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Bob Ruman". RUMAN RACING. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  4. ↑ Hazleton, Lesley (1999-04-23). "A Series of Their Own". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  5. ↑ RACER Ruman profile, October 9, 2015
  6. ↑ "Amy Ruman | Racing career profile | Driver Database". www.driverdb.com. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  7. ↑ "Amy Ruman". menstuff.org. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  8. ↑ , National Speed Sport News, November 27, 2015, background on Amy Ruman.
  9. ↑ , Garage Blog, 2011
  10. ↑ "History-Making Trans Am Champion Amy Ruman a Double Victory for McNICHOLS Company". www.businesswire.com. 2015-11-16. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  11. ↑ Amy Ruman Makes Trans Am History... AGAIN!! - New Jersey Motorsports Park Round 4 , retrieved 2022-09-02
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