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

BUFFOMANTE DOMINATES TRANS AM TA2 RACE AT BRAINERD

By Dean Reller

BRAINERD, MN (July 2, 2017) –  If there was such a thing as a "perfect race"  for Tony Buffomante, this would have been it as Buffomante won the Trans Am TA2 Ryan Companies Muscle Car Challenge at Brainerd International Raceway.

After having been the fastest car in all of the practices and then qualified for the pole with a Track Record lap of 1:29.562 seconds, Buffomante led the field to the green in the 40 lap race on Brainerd International Raceway's 2.5 mile Competition Road Course.  From the wave of the green, Buffomante took control of the race staying ahead of Gar Robinson and teammate Shane Lewis. The cautionless race played into Buffomante's favor as he held off every challenge that Robinson threw at him, leading every lap in taking the win.

"I don't know how much he had left," said Buffomante following the race.  "We had a little bit left, but I didn't want to see that traffic at the end, but that's TA2 racing.  It's hard to get away from people in this series.  The series is so close, Ford vs Chevy this weekend and fortunately the Mustang ended up on top."

Click to listen to interview with Tony Buffomante

Points leader Robinson chased Buffomante from the start, but despite several challenges and a small opportunity to capitalize on some lapped traffic near the end, he would have to settle for second.

"He (Buffomonte) had a nice car today," said Robinson afterwards.  "I think both our cars were equally matched.  It came down to who made mistakes and Tony didn't make mistakes and I got to try and minimalize mine.  It was a clean hard race all the way.  I thought it was going to get interesting with lapped traffic, but we'll have to wait until Mid-Ohio to do it again."


Click to listen to interview with Gar Robinson

Shane Lewis started third and maintained that position the entire race, finishing a considerable distance behind the leaders.

This event will be televised on CBS Sports Network on Saturday August 12th  at 11am

POS	NO.	CLS	PIC	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	BEST LAP TIME	#	AVG SPEED	SPONSORS
1	34	TA2	1	Buffomante	Mustang	40	1:31.093	13	121.377	Bestline Superior Lubricants
2	74	TA2	2	Robinson	Camaro	40	1:31.164	30	121.338	PuraVida Tequila/74RanchResort
3	72	TA2	3	Lewis	Camaro	40	1:31.495	6	120.195	PuraVida Tequila/74RanchResort
4	5	TA2	4	Loshak	Camaro	40	1:32.287	13	119.628	Pennzoil / ETE Reman
5	19	TA2	5	Lawrence	Camaro	40	1:32.637	6	118.699	Class Auto Centers
6	9	TA2	6	Prociuk	Camaro	40	1:33.136	31	118.407	HP Tuners
7	97	TA2	7	Sheehan	Camaro	40	1:32.993	16	118.395	LTK Insulation Technologies
8	12	TA2	8	Ivey	Challenger	39	1:34.672	11	115.495	Hawk Performance
9	60	TA2	9	Gray	Mustang	35	1:36.899	5	104.966	Ryan Companies US Inc
10	29	TA2	10	Neveau	Camaro	34	1:35.263	5	101.711	Class Auto Centers
11	24	TA2	11	Machavern	Mustang	23	1:31.887	19	116.379	Heritage Motorsports
12	87	TA2	12	Smith	Camaro	19	1:33.832	3	106.438	3Dimensional Services Group

CAMERON LAWRENCE WINS AT BIR

By Jason D Searcy

The driver whose name had to be written in by hand with a sharpie on duct tape won the Ryan Companies Independence Day Classic Trans Am series race presented by Pirelli at Brainerd (MN) International Raceway.  Twenty-four year old Cameron Lawrence from Dania (FL) won his first career TA series race in just his second career start.

The number 6 car is not the usual ride for Cameron Lawrence, Mickey Wright has driven that car for Shakopee (MN) based Derhaag Motorsports for the last few years, but Lawrence was in that seat for the Indianapolis race and now the win at BIR.  Lawrence had to start the 100 mile, forty lap event at the back of the pack in 8th on the grid because a busy racing schedule elsewhere prevented him from qualifying this car on Saturday.

The crew members of the #6 car cheered as Cameron Lawrence crossed the finish line at BIR in first.  The 40 lap race saw the lead swapped numerous times as pole sitter #41 Vinnie Allegretta and current point leader #98 Ernie Francis Jr battled for the top spot.  Allegretta finished as the runner-up and was all smiles after the race "It was hard trying to hold off Ernie, the kid is fast and he always has a good car for the long haul and our car got a little loose," said Allegretta "I had an absolute blast out there Ernie and Cameron are true sportsmen and great racers, it's an honor to be running with these guys."

Here is our exclusive interview with Vinnie Allegretta https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/allegretto-p2-in-ta-at

It looked like #98 Ernie Francis Jr was going to win the race at BIR, he had a nice lead until a shocking moment happened with just three laps remaining.  "When I came around turn 12 and when I got off the throttle to get on the brakes the throttle just stuck to the floor, it was something random, don't know what happened yet" said Francis "we had a good race going, we had a fast car, we will get it at the next one."

Here is our Speed Talk exclusive interview with Ernie Francis Jr https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/francis-jr-p3-in-ta-at

Brainerd Track owner Jed Copham #44 did a great job to finish just off the podium in fourth even though he struggled with some mechanical problems and two time defending Trans Am Champion #23 Amy Ruman finished fifth.  Minnesota born driver and four time winner at BIR Tony Ave lost power steering, pitted and finished fourteenth.

Even though it was the first career TA victory for Cameron Lawrence he is no stranger to winning, he is a two time TA2 Champion and has won 20 races in his ever growing Trans Am career.  Lawrence was subdued in Victory Lane and mentioned thoughts about a fellow racer and friend who died at the track during a regional SCCA race held at BIR just a few hours earlier, the start of the Trans Am race was delayed by more than an hour because of that accident.  Victory lane had more hugs than high-fives and the mood was somber and reflective.

Speed Talk on 1360 had an exclusive interview with Cameron Lawrence, he mentions the recent death of fellow racer Mel Shaw who died at Brainerd International Raceway earlier that day while racing in an SCCA race.  https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/cameron-lawrence-wins-ta-at



The Results can be found HERE http://gotransam.com/news/Cameron-Lawrence-Captures-Trans-Am-Win-at-Brainerd-International-Raceway/66922

The Ryan Companies Independence Day Classic TA race was televised and can be seen on CBS Sports Network on Saturday July 22nd at 11am (CDT).

The Ryan Companies Muscle Car Challenge TA2 race was also televised and can be seen on CBS Sports Network on Saturday Aug 5th at 11am (CDT).


A full audio recap of the race can be heard Saturday morning 10-11am (CDT) during Speed Talk on 1360 radio on KRWC1360.com or search KRWC on the free Tunein app.

Trans Am comes to Brainerd early

The Trans Am series will be racing Sunday July 5th in the Ryan Companies Independence Day Classic at Brainerd International Raceway.  This race has traditionally been held over Labor day weekend.

To preview this event, here is an interview we did with Gary Curtis, Director of the Performance driving school at BIR.


 https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/speed-talk-6-27-15-gary-curtis-bir

This series raced at BIR from 1969 to 1989 but then it just went away.  It was revived and brought back to BIR in 2010 and then acquired by Minnesota veteran driver Jim Derhaag who raced his 151st and final Trans Am event here in 2010.  That first race back saw only 7 cars on track and MN native Tony Ave won by 65 seconds, almost a full lap over 2nd place.

Things have changed for the better over the past 5 years, the race set for this weekend has 41 entries and the Trans Am series now has 3 different divisions all racing together.  12 drivers are entered in the top TA division sporting Corvette bodies and 800 horsepower.

 #23 Amy Ruman from Kent (OH) is the point leader and has won 4 of the 5 races so far in 2015.  She has done well at BIR, she won here in 2012 and finished 2nd last year.  Here is an audio interview we did with Amy Ruman in 2014 http://deanreller.podomatic.com/entry/2014-08-23T10_30_13-07_00

 #87 Doug Peterson from Bonita Springs (FL) is a veteran driver who has won the previous two years here at BIR.

 #59 Simon Gregg from Ponte Verde (FL) is the 2012 Trans Am series Champion, but he has not won at BIR.


 #4 Paul Fix from Williamsville (NY) is 2nd in points and he is the only driver other than Ruman to win a race this year.

 #07 Jed Copham is our local Brainerd racer, plus he owns the track.  He does have a shot, nobody has more experience at this track, in 2013 he finished 5th.

 #36 Cliff Ebben from Appleton (WI) has been so close to winning here at BIR, but has come up just short.  He has had some bad luck too, including when he destroyed a car here back in 2011.


Qualifying will be Saturday July 4th at 2:20pm with the 40 lap 100 mile race on Sunday July 5th at 1:50pm, the race usually takes between 60 and 90 minutes to complete.  If the past races are any indication you can expect one or two cautions during the race.

The Brainerd International Raceway competition road course is 13 turns and 2.5 miles, I recommend trying more than one location to watch the action.  You can bring a chair or stand on the bridge, you can see the tightest and slowest corner on the track just past the pit lane and the drivers will race right underneath you.  I also recommend going into the infield and checking out the action on some of the high speed locations.  Bleachers are set up in numerous locations.  The race paddock and pit lane is also open for fans, it is a very active place during pre race and post race festivities.

The track was repaved two years ago, this Spring curbing was put in and the track work is complete.

Single day tickets are only $25 and kids 12 and under are free.  Get more information at www.brainerdraceway.com or www.gotransam.com

Modern Trans Am history at BIR:
2010    Tony Ave  (7 cars)
2011    Tony Ave  (12 cars)
            Tony Ave (12 cars)
2012    Tony Ave  (17 cars)
            Amy Ruman (17 cars)
2013    Doug Peterson (23 cars)
2014    Doug Peteson  (29 cars)
2015   ?   (41 cars entered)

For a full recap of the Trans Am action at BIR including interviews with the winners listen to Speed Talk on 1360 Saturday morning 10-11am on KRWC1360.com or search #BIR on Twitter.

This race will be broadcast on a tape delay on CBS Sports Network at a later date.

Peterson wins Trans Am at BIR

                                  

Doug Peterson (photo above) from Bonita Springs (FL) lead the entire 40 laps to win on the newly paved 1.5 mile road course at Brainerd International Raceway, its his fifth win of the season in the Trans Am series.

   

Peterson won qualifying and set a new track record in the process with a lap of 126.851, over 103 mph average speed.    22 cars took the green flag in the race, the largest field of cars since Trans Am returned to BIR in 2010.  Peterson held the lead in the race and never looked back.  

"We've had a spectacular weekend," said Peterson "the new track is amazing, much faster than last year."  It was not an easy run for the win, Peterson had to wait out a long 11 lap double caution period and then have an 8 lap shootout to the checkered flag.  He was pressured by four time BIR winner Tony Ave, 2012 winner Amy Ruman and defending champion Simon Gregg, the top four drivers were just 1.356 seconds apart at the finish line.

Amy Ruman (bottom photo) dropped back to 6th position on the first lap, "I spun in turn four, I got in those pebbles just a little bit," said Ruman.  She then had a furious drive through the field to catch the leaders, "we needed about three more laps," she said "I was trying to make some moves at the end but Tony (Ave) drives a really wide car."  Ruman posted the fastest lap of the race at 1:28.974 averaging 101.153 mph.   

 BIR track owner Jed Copham (on left below) raced the Derhaag Motorsports #40 car and finished 5th.  "That is a hell of a car, a wild ride," said Copham "I stayed on the lead lap and finished the race, those were my goals so I am happy."

Cameron Lawrence was the winner in the TA2 division, its his fifth win of 2013.  David Seuss was the winner in the TA3 division.  Get full results at www.gotransam.com

Trans Am Results: September 1, 2013 Brainerd International Raceway
1-Doug Peterson
2-Tony Ave
3-Amy Ruman
4-Simon Gregg
5-Jed Copham

Listen for full interviews with Doug Peterson, Amy Ruman and Jed Copham on Speed Talk on 1360 radio, Here is the audio from KRWC https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/bir-trans-am-recap-2013

Trans Am returns to BIR

 By Jason D Searcy

The Trans Am road racing series had its "glory days" during a twenty year history of racing at Brainerd International Raceway from 1969-1989. 

The Donnybrooke 3 mile road course at BIR hosted some big purses and big name winners, like Parnelli Jones driving a Mustang for Bud Moore winning $3,300 in the inaugural event in 1969 and Mark Donahue in a AMC Javelin scoring $6,500 for his win in 1971. 

Peter Gregg won $2,560 in a Porsche in 1977 and actor turned road racer Paul Newman won $7,500 racing a Datsun 280ZX Turbo in a 41 car field in 1982.  Irv Hoerr in his Oldsmobile Cutlass edged Dorsey Schroeder in 1989 and won $12,000.

Stock Cars and the NHRA stole the limelight at BIR for the next twenty years until the Trans Am series made its return three years ago.  They now race on the newly paved 2.5 mile 13 turn competition road course.  Only 7 cars raced in that 2010 event with Minnesota born driver Tony Ave driving a Corvette and taking home the top prize of $3,000.  Less money than the winner forty years ago.

The series is building back to what it was with the help of Minnesota businessman, and old school racer Jim Derhaag (in photo above with Dean).  We remember him from his days racing the short tracks of the Midwest, but he also was an accomplished road racer with 151 Trans Am and one NASCAR Winston Cup start on his resume.

Jim's leadership has helped grow the 7 car field in 2010 to 17 cars in 2012.  The addition of the TA2 and TA3 American Muscle cars all racing together with the Trans Am vehicles has made the paddock a much busier place on race day.

This year the Trans Am series was paired with the NASCAR Nationwide series at Mid Ohio and Road America racing in front of huge crowds and turning some heads with these 850 horsepower machines.

Amy Ruman (above photo) won for the third time in her Trans Am career at BIR last year, breaking the streak of four in a row by Tony Ave, she is currently fourth in the point standings.  Defending point champion Simon Gregg, son of Peter Gregg, is now third place in points behind veteran drivers Cliff Ebben from Appleton WI and Doug Peterson from Bonita Springs FL.

This event doesn't get the attention it did back in the "glory days," but it sure seems to be heading in the right direction.  23 cars are on the entry list for the race this weekend.

The driver autograph session is at 12:15pm on Sunday September 1st and the forty lap 100 mile race begins at 4pm.

Speed Talk on 1360 will have full coverage of the race and broadcast interviews from the winners on Saturday September 7th 10-11am on KRWC radio 1360 AM and www.krwc1360.com

Left turns and right turns still equal great racing

Dean & Jason Talkin Racin... as printed in the Midwest racing connection

By Dean Reller
Co-host of Speed Talk on 1360

Growing up, I was always a fan of racing no matter what form it was. That however was limited to watching NASCAR and the action at my local dirt track.  Over the years I became a fan of asphalt racing.  No matter the type, the basic premise was always go fast, turn left.

Now after 20 years being involved in racing in one capacity or another I’m finally developing a following for road racing, where the premise is go fast, turn left AND right.  A recent trip to Brainerd International Raceway’s 2.5 mile Competition Road Coarse to watch the SCCA Trans-Am Series gave me an up-close look at racing in a whole new light.  First off, unlike most race track’s that I go to, there isn’t a massive grandstand for fans to sit and watch the action.  Rather, race fans watch the race from the area INSIDE the track and that allows the racing to literally surround you.  With a variety of left and right hand turns and speeds as high as 140 MPH to as low as about 30 MPH, road racing has a little bit of everything.  Trading paint isn’t common and really isn’t encouraged, but that doesn’t mean that it does happen though.
 
One of the unique things is that the races start at the line between turn 13 and turn one, in an area mostly surrounded by trees for the wandering spectator, like me.  The Trans-Am cars start their races with a rolling start, but other classes use a standing start, which to me was rather interesting to see.  As I mentioned, that’s where the races start, but that is not where they finish.  The checkered flag waves from the stand that is located between turns 11 and 12, which is right in front of pit road.

 The racing at BIR was a two-day event with separate races on both days, which ended up providing two distinct types of racing.  The first day of racing saw plenty of action as drivers tried to find grip on the track that combines the old pavement of the original Donnybrooke Road Course and the new pavement of the Competition Road Course.  Veteran driver Tony Ave, winner of last year’s race, picked up where he left off as he took the lead from the start and wasn’t challenged much as he rolled to the win.  The driver to watch was Amy Ruman who tangled with another car on lap one in the fast part of the track.  After getting back on track and making a stop to repair her car, she put on a show as she passed some of the other cars and ended up finishing fourth.

The second day of racing looked to be just as fast as Ave set a track record in qualifying with Ruman not far behind.  Drama would be the story of this race as a shower dampened the track before the race took the green.   Ave’s slipping clutch gave him problems on the opening lap as he spun in front of the field in the slowest and tightest areas of the track, which is where I just happened to be at the time.  Ruman ceased the opportunity as she took the lead and really began to pull away as Ave struggled to get back to the front.  Whenever a fast car has to come from the back, no matter what kind of racing you are watching, always makes for a fun race to watch.  Ave put on a show as he worked his way through the field.  While this was going on, dark clouds moved over the track and started out as drizzle, but quickly turned to a light rain.  Normally this is where I would see a Red Flag, the race would be stopped and I would run for cover.  But this is road racing and the race goes on.  I dawned my raincoat and didn’t do what my mother always taught me, I stayed out in the rain.  Several drivers would take off course adventures, but despite the very wet conditions, none of the drivers would go to the pits for rain tires which would have provided a lot more grip.  The wet track forced drivers to run the “Rain Line” which is a totally different way to run around the track.  Ruman ended up surrendering the lead to Ave as he didn’t seem to be phased by the wet conditions and went on to take the win.  Ruman would go off track three times during the race, but wound up finishing third.

Once thought of as some other kind of racing, road racing has really taught me a new appreciation for those who compete at it.  No wonder NASCAR has a couple events on road courses every year.  It’s truly a test of skill not only to compete, but to do it with the finesse and make it something that literally surrounds its fans.

Listen to our pod-cast from the Brainerd International Raceway road course (below), Trans-Am stars Tony Ave and Amy Ruman are featured in part one.



Podcast Powered By Podbean

Dean Reller and Jason Searcy have over 40 years combined experienced in motorsports.  They host the weekly program Speed Talk on 1360, Saturdays on KRWC AM 1360 April through September.  The program covers NASCAR and devotes a good portion of the show to local and regional racing as well.