Long Beach Grand Prix Trans-Am winner Randy Ruhlman ready to do battle at Portland International Raceway
Greensboro, N.C. (June 13, 2005) Randy Ruhlman, winner of the 2005 Long Beach Grand Prix Trans-Am opener, is ready to get back to the battle‹the battle to win the 2005 Trans-Am Driverıs Championship. The Trans-Am Series resumes racing next weekend, on Saturday June 16th, with the Rose City 100 at Portland International Raceway, and then travels immediately to the Cleveland Grand Prix on June 25th. ³From here on, the races are coming almost back-to-back,² says Ruhlman. ³One of the things our team excels at is being prepared. And thatıs how you win a Championship. We finished third last year, and have a great start in 2005 with the win at Long Beach.² ³Both testing sessions during the break [in May and in June] helped us a lot, and we feel stronger than ever going into Portland. We had a great run going there last year, so we know that we should have a fast race car at Portland. Iıve had a nice taste of victory this year, and I want more!² finishes Ruhlman. Randy Ruhlman, the driver of the #49 Preformed Line Products Corvette in the Trans-Am Series, spent some of the time between races working with the Buckle Up America program to promote seat belt use. Ruhlman was the keynote speaker at the Cleveland House of Blues Kick-off of the Northeast Ohio "Click It or Ticket" campaign. The program was spearheaded by UHHS Rainbow Babies & Childrenıs Hospitalıs Outreach Program. Ruhlman also continues to work closely with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, especially in helping to promote the Tour de Road America on August 20th, to raise money for cancer survivorship. Randy Ruhlman got the first win of the 2005 Trans-Am season on April 10 in the Cytomax Challenge at the Long Beach Grand Prix. He is a veteran of both road racing and NASCAR short track programs, but has recently concentrated his driving skills in the Trans-Am Series. Ruhlman finished third overall in the 2004 Trans-Am Driverıs Championship, in a closely fought battle that saw the tightest points margin ever in Trans-Am history. Last year, Ruhlman scored seven straight top five finishes, including three podiums: a second at Road America, another second at Toronto, and a third at Infineon. He was the pole sitter for the Road America race and sat on the front row for the Cleveland Grand Prix. Randy Ruhlman is fourth in Top Ten finishes in Trans-Am history. Founded in 1947, Preformed Line Products is an international designer and manufacturer of products and systems employed in the construction and maintenance of overhead and underground networks for energy, communications and broadband network companies. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the Company operates three domestic manufacturing centers, located in Rogers, Arkansas, Albemarle, North Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina. Preformed serves worldwide markets through international operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and Thailand. For additional information about the driver, sponsor, or charity programs: Preformed Line Products http://www.preformed.com Randy Ruhlman http://www.ruhlmanmotorsports.com Buckle Up America http://buckleupamerica.org Lance Armstrong Foundation http://www.laf.org