Said Seeks Title at Road Atlanta's Trans-Am 100

CLEARWATER, Fla. (October 7, 2002) - Boris Said is nothing if not brutally honest, even when he's describing himself. 


"I'd have to be the biggest idiot in the world to throw the championship away now," Said surmised after collecting his third consecutive Trans-Am Series victory, and sixth of the season, on the streets of Miami last Sunday. "There's no way we can lose it now."

 
Said receives his best chance to clinch the 2002 BFGoodrich Tires Cup, emblematic of the Trans-Am Series driving championship, when the Trans-Am 100 Presented by the Crank - You've Never Seen a Ratchet Like This! takes the green flag 3 p.m. Friday at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. (Friday, October 18, SPEED Channel, 8 p.m. ET). 
 

Said (#33 Applied Computer Solutions Panoz Esperante) comes into the weekend with a commanding 58-point (296-238) lead over three-time and defending Trans-Am Series champion Paul Gentilozzi, and a maximum of 68 points available in the season's final two events, at Road Atlanta and Virginia International Raceway (October 27). 
 

Said guarantees himself the title by exiting Road Atlanta with a 34-point advantage, meaning that if Gentilozzi (#3 Johnson Controls/Microchip/MatrixOne/Futaba Jaguar XKR) were to sweep the maximum 34 points available at Atlanta for winning from the pole and leading the most laps, Said would need only a 16th-place finish, worth 10 points, to clinch the Cup. Given that Said has finished off the podium only once in 10 starts this season, it seems reasonable to expect a conclusion to the championship duel this weekend.
 

Reasonable, perhaps, but not foregone, at least not in Gentilozzi's eyes. Which is precisely why, en route to a season-worst 12th-place finish, he squeezed one more lap, worth one more finishing position, and thus, one more point, out of a crippled car at Miami.
 

"It's all about points at this stage of the game," Gentilozzi said afterward. "We needed to go out and turn one more lap to get one more point, so that's what we did. We never give up and we don't intend to start now."


Still, thanks to Said's spectacular season, Gentilozzi's determination may go for naught. With victories at Mosport, Lime Rock, Cleveland, Road America, Denver and Miami, and additional podium finishes of second at Long Beach and third at Mid-Ohio and Washington, D.C., Said has been on top of the championship standings since Round 2 in mid-May. It's been a storybook season for the driver whose previous best finish in the Trans-Am Series championship was sixth, in 1995 and '96.

 

Only one other driver, rookie Butch Leitzinger, remains in mathematical contention for the 2002 championship. Leitzinger (#88 Tommy Bahama Chevrolet Corvette), whose three victories rank second series-wide to Said, stands third in the championship with 232 points. He has already clinched the AmeriSuites Rookie of the Year Award on the strength of his three victories and series-high four pole positions.

 

Though out of title contention, the fourth and fifth-place drivers in the championship couldn't be blamed for feeling they were overdue for a victory. Johnny Miller (Automation Direct/Eaton Cutler-Hammer Jaguar XKR), fourth with 215 points, extended his run of top-10 performances to 21 in his past 22 starts with an eighth-place finish at Miami. But his victory in the race that started the run, in the 2000 season finale at San Diego, is his only triumph over  that span.

 

The frustration is much fresher for Stu Hayner (#02 Trenton Forging Chevrolet Corvette), who stands fifth in the championship with 205 points. Hayner held the lead going into the 73rd and final lap at Miami last weekend, but a suspension failure just one mile from the checkered flag brought a heartbreaking conclusion to his day.

 

Other contenders for victory Friday include Randy Ruhlman (#49 Preformed Line Products Chevrolet Corvette), Tony Ave (#53 Trilithic Panoz Esperante), Michael Lewis (#12 AmeriSuites Jaguar XKR) and Tomy Drissi (#5 Daredevil/Pyro Jaguar XKR). Ruhlman had the strongest performance of the trio at Miami with a third-place finish, the second podium performance of his 12-year career.

 

This week's appearance will be the first for the Trans-Am Series on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta road course since 1999.
 

FAST FACTS FOR THE TRANS-AM 100 PRESENTED BY THE CRANK - YOU'VE NEVER SEEN A RATCHET LIKE THIS!

 

WHAT: Trans-Am 100 Presented by The Crank - You've Never Seen a Ratchet Like This!

                WHERE: Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.

                WHEN: Wednesday-Friday, October 9-11.

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).

DEFENDING CHAMPION: N/A.

DEFENDING POLESITTER: N/A.

TRACK LAYOUT: 2.54-mile, 12-turn permanent road course.

RACE DISTANCE: 40 laps, 101.6 miles.

TRACK RECORDS: Qualifying (one lap) - 1999, Brian Simo, 108.087 miles per hour (1 minute, 23.266 seconds). Race - 1999, Chris Neville, 83.911 mph. Race Lap - 1999, Brian Simo, 105.553 mph (1:25.265).

RACE NUMBER: 11 of 12 in the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup.

TRANS-AM SERIES FOR THE BFGOODRICH TIRES CUP POINTS LEADERS: Boris Said, 296; Paul Gentilozzi, 238; Butch Leitzinger, 232; Johnny Miller, 215; Stuart Hayner, 205; Randy Ruhlman, 200; Tony Ave, 179; Michael Lewis, 165; Tomy Drissi, 164; Simon Gregg, 141. 

NEXT EVENT: Sunday, October 27, Virginia International Raceway, Danville, Va.

 

PAST TRANS-AM RACE WINNERS AT ROAD ATLANTA
 

1973            Peter Gregg

1982          Jerry Hansen

1984          Darin Brassfield

1986                Chris Kneifel

                1987      Pete Halsmer

1989           Dorsey Schroeder

1990           Tom Kendall

1993            Ron Fellows

1994            Scott Pruett

1995            Tom Kendall

1999            Chris Neville

 

PAST TRANS-AM POLE WINNERS AT ROAD ATLANTA
 

1973            J. Marshall Robinson 

1982            Phil Currin

1984      Bob Lobenberg

1986      Wally Dallenbach, Jr.

1987            Elliott Forbes-Robinson

1989      Dorsey Schroeder  

1990      Tom Kendall

1993      Scott Sharp

1994      Scott Pruett

1995      Ron Fellows

1999            Brian Simo

 

                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.