“The Best Car I’ve Ever Had” Powers Rum Bum Racing to Lime Rock Park Victory
Lakeville, Conn. (28 May 2011) – Just two weeks after suffering disappointment that would have put lesser teams on their back foot, Rum Bum Racing rebounded with an outstanding start to finish performance to return to victory lane as Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb won the Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park with the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing BMW M3.
The race, which marked the halfway point of the 2011 season, followed a race-ending crash with the No. 13 Rum Bum BMW M3 in the most recent round after Plumb was punted off-track at VIR while battling in the lead pack.
“The car was just perfect, lap after lap it did the same thing–every lap,” said Plumb of his run up front. “The car couldn’t have been better. It was the best car I’ve ever driven. It was the same in every corner, on every lap, the entire time. And the fact that that thing was in pieces a week ago, and now it’s at the top of the podium. It is unbelievably magical.”
Longhi opened the race from third on the grid, and after judiciously avoiding some questionable driving from a competitor, moved in to the lead on lap 44 before turning the car over to Plumb on a lap 63 pit stop. Stalking his way back up the order, Plumb put the Rum Bum machine back up front on lap 83, and never looked back, growing a huge lead over the rest of the field in the final 60 laps. But it was not a clear sail into the sunset, as a pair of late-race caution periods erased the gap and gave the field two shots at dethroning the leading No. 13.
But Plumb would have none of it, pulling away both times to come home an elated first-place as Rum Bum Racing scored a second win of the season to launch back up to second in the unofficial standings.
“It was a hectic couple of weeks after we got taken out at VIR. And the car was close to destroyed, almost totaled,” said Longhi. “These guys, Joe Varde and everyone here, just worked so hard. It is a great outcome and fantastic reward that all the guys put in to fix this car. There was so much wrong, but they did a perfect job. I’m really glad to be here. We really didn’t know what we were going to have on our hands. It turned out, obviously, perfect. The goal was to do the best we could here and get to Watkins Glen next week, which is another important race for us and a track we like. First place is obviously a testament to a perfect job done by the crew. It’s all them.”
After closing the 2010 season with a flurry of wins and returning to Daytona International in winning style to open the 2011 campaign, the team is hoping to keep the championship momentum going through a hectic summer stretch of races.
“I’m just so thankful that we pulled this off after what happened at VIR. This team, this crew, they deserve this every time so to give it to them feels good,” said Plumb, who celebrated with some special guests in Victory Lane as his two sons also soaked in the celebrations. “During the green flag laps, I knew we had a good car and good pace. There was a ton of tire rubber build up on the track. So I just wanted to keep my tires clean. I’ve driven with Bill (Auberlen) and against him and I knew he wasn’t going to do anything silly. I had saved the tires and brakes as much as I could when I had that gap and I used that to be conservative with the car, so that really helped at the end. I still had a lot of car available, it was just perfect. I’m so elated with this outcome and I can only thank Mr. Bacardi and all the effort that everyone puts towards this team.”
The Continental Tire 150 will take the green flag Friday at 6:00 PM at Watkins Glen for round six.
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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
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