Drissi wins Jed Copham Tribute race at BIR

July 12, 2020

By Jason D Searcy

Tomy Drissi #8 from Los Angeles (CA) won the Jed Copham tribute Trans Am series race at Brainerd International Raceway.  Jed Copham died last year in a swimming accident, he was a former competitor in the Trans Am series and the owner of  BIR, his family still owns and runs the racetrack.

Ernie Francis Jr #98 was the fast qualifier and led the first 20 laps.  He gained a big lead over the rest of the field while #23 Amy Ruman and #8 Tomy Drissi engaged in a furious battle for the second position.  Ruman edged ahead of Drissi at the start and the two competitors, with a history of contact, raced hard and clean nose to tail for over a dozen laps before Drissi emerged as the runner up.  Francis then had mechanical problems and dropped from the race handing Drissi the top spot, a position he would not relinquish all the way to the finish.  It was his first win of the season and fifth TA National race win.

Tomi Drissi then extended his lead and won by an impressive 46.612 seconds, Ruman is a two-time winner at BIR and held onto second place even though she struggled with fading power steering the second half of the race.  Veteran driver #59 Simon Gregg raced solidly to round out the podium finishers.

Humaid Al Masaood #21 pressured Gregg most of the race and finished fourth, #19 Kerry Hitt fifth followed by #98 Ernie Francis Jr and #20 Chris Dyson who was out on lap 8 with mechanical problems.  It was a small field of TA cars during this time when the Covid-19 scare has dominated the sports landscape worldwide.  The fans enjoyed free admission and were urged to watch the race at Brainerd International Raceway from their cars in drive-in style as all Grandstands were closed.

The Trans Am race was completed in 1 hour and 35 seconds.

The TA2 winner was #77 Mike Skeen.

Here is a video of the TA2 field TA2 Field 2020 at BIR

Here is a video of the Trans Am series Rollout from the grid 2020 TA rollout at BIR

Ernie Francis Jr wins at VIR

Ernie Francis Jr #198 from Southwest Ranches (FL) won the GT1 division at the 2019 SCCA runoffs at Virginia International Raceway.

Tony Ave #4 was the fast qualifier with a time of 1.43.857 edging Ernie Francis Jr who timed in with a  1.44.06, the next fastest car was three seconds slower.

The John  Baucom #86 car was smoking from the beginning of the race, he was black flagged immediately but continued to drop a large amount of fluid all around the 3.1 mile race track causing a very slippery condition for the rest of the competitors.

Ave and Francis swapped the lead back and forth the first lap and Francis officially led lap one, Ave then led on lap two and three.  The third fastest qualifier was the 114 car driven by Ron Malec, he was in a bad wreck and the full course caution was finally called on lap 3.

It was a long clean up process to get the track back in a race able condition, Tony Ave led the two caution laps after the cleanup leaving only four green flag laps to finish the race which had a time limit of 40 minutes.

Ave slipped off the course after the restart and Ernie Francis Jr bolted to the lead the final three laps of the shortened race.  It was the first SCCA Runoffs win for Francis Jr.  "This is the most pressure I have ever felt," said Francis Jr "I've always wanted to be a Runoffs Champion."

Tony Ave finished second 1.838 seconds behind Francis Jr, David Pintaric #57 from Canfield (OH) driving with a broken hand, was third, he was over 24 seconds behind the winner.  Todd Peterson #42 from Bolder (CO) was fourth and #30 J Richard Grant from Germantown (TN) was fifth of the 13 cars participating.

It was a bit disappointing that the race was so short but it was pleasure covering the Trans Am type cars at the 2019 SCCA runoffs in Virginia.

Us here in Minnesota can look forward to 2020 when the Trans Am series returns to Brainerd International Raceway July 10-12th after a two year layoff.  This event will honor the memory of the late BIR owner Jed Copham and also feature a $35,000 purse boost to ensure a great field of Trans Am series cars.

Here is a story we wrote about the modern day history of Trans Am at BIR

End of the Trans Am era at BIR?

Speed Talk on 1360 has covered every Trans Am race in the modern era at BIR and that will surely continue in 2020!

Jason D Searcy

 

Trans-Am returns to BIR

For the first time since 1989, the SCCA Trans-Am series will make a stop in Minnesota at the Brainerd International Raceway.

The race will be this Sunday (Sep 5th) on the new 13 turn 2.5 mile competition road course, they will race 36 laps which is 90 miles.

The pre-race driver autograph session begins at 12 noon and the race itself begins at 2:45pm.

The Trans-Am series has a long and storied history that goes back 42 years, and BIR hosted some big events with some big name drivers competing. Paul Newman won his first race during a Trans-Am event at BIR back in 1982.

Admission prices are $20 per day for adults and $10 for kids ages 6-12. One ticket gets you into both the road course race and the racing at the Muscle Car shootout at the drag strip as well.

We will have Gary Curtis lead instructor and director of the Performance driving school at Brainerd International Raceway on "Speedtalk on 1360" with Jason and Dean Saturday (Sep 4) from 10-11am on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/

For more information go to http://www.brainerdraceway.com/road-racing/scca.html

*Photo by Mark Weber/SCCA