Rum Bum Racing Ready For Road America

Rum Bum Racing Ready For Road America

5th in Team Championship as Summer Season hits stride

Elkhart Lake, Wis. (21 June 2011) – The GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge schedule gives Rum Bum Racing the opportunity to compete at many diverse and challenging tracks around the country, and the team will make its debut at Road America with drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi this weekend as GRAND-AM marks its first appearance at the track since 2001.

Plumb and Longhi hope to rebound in Round 7 of the 10-race championship after Rum Bum Racing faced a disappointing result in Round 6 at Watkins Glen International when contact from a competitor forced the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing BMW M3 behind the wall for repairs. Despite the valiant effort of the Rum Bum squad to return the BMW to race action, the No. 13 was laps down and the team settled for a 20th place result.

Road America is a new circuit for Rum Bum Racing and several other Continental Tire Challenge teams, but Rum Bum took the opportunity to test at the 4-mile track earlier this year and will look to make the most of that data this weekend. In addition, both Plumb and Longhi have previous experience at the track and will look to use their knowledge of the 4-mile, 14-turn road course to their advantage.

While this will be Plumb’s first trip to the Wisconsin road course in the GS car, he certainly knows his way around Road America as he was credited with setting a new qualifying track record when competing in the Barber Dodge Pro Series in 2000.

“Road America is a great addition to the GRAND-AM schedule,” offered Plumb. “It’s a fast place and as a driver, the laps are so rewarding when you get them right. We learned a lot in our test but we know that we’ll have to keep improving as the weekend progresses to make up some ground in the championship.”

Longhi joins Plumb at the controls of the No. 13 BMW and is one of only a few current GRAND-AM drivers that competed at Road America when GRAND-AM last visited the track in 2001, while racing the No. 61 Case It Racing GT3RS to finish 12th among the 37-car field.

“Hopefully Matt and I can put our experience to good use this weekend. Even though we start the event early with the Wednesday test day, race day is a fast one with qualifying in the morning and then the race in the evening, so you’ll have to be right on your game,” said Longhi. “Fortunately, we’ve got Joe (Varde) on the box and we will stick to our plan. The Glen was obviously disappointing after we were exactly on target for a podium, but hopefully we can make up for that on Friday.”

Currently fifth in the GS Team Championship standings, Plumb and Longhi look to pick up maximum points this weekend and gain ground in the championship hunt.

Adding to the anticipation for the weekend will be the visit of Lu Bacardi and his wife Jennifer, who is looking forward to seeing friends and family as she visits her home state of Wisconsin. The Bacardi couple have been on hand for some of Rum Bum Racing’s biggest moments through the years, and the team will look to add yet another chapter to that history this weekend.

Rum Bum Racing will pick up where they left off from the productive test earlier this year as they participate in a promoter test day on Wednesday, June 22 followed by official practice on Thursday. Final practice and qualifying will take place Friday morning with the green flag set to drop for the 2.5-hour race at 6:15 PM local time.

The race will air July 3 at 1:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

www.rumbumracing.com
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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
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http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

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