Moving up fast on the inside
Randy Ruhlman of Derhaag Motorsports
By Kate Shaw and Randy Ruhlman
Photos courtesy Motorock Trans Am
TORONTO, Canada (March 1, 2005) – Randy Ruhlman has made 146 starts in the Trans Am series, and is fifth overall in Top Ten finishes over a long career.  In 2004 he campaigned the #49 Preformed Line Products/Coyote Closure Corvette, prepared by Derhaag Motorsports and the popular former Trans Am driver Jim Derhaag. Finishing third overall after a wild shootout in the final race at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, Randy has a lot to be proud of!  An avid bicycle racer and a tireless worker for his favourite charities, Rainbow Babies and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (of which more below), Randy Ruhlman never knows a slow mile.  RFM Sports caught up with this busy man during the winter period some call the “off season”, and got this thoughtful and fascinating interview on the season past and Randy’s plans, both on and off the track, for 2005. 

RFM: Congratulations on your 3^rd place finish in the 2004 Trans Am series!  When did you know that you had it locked up? 

Randy:  Thanks very much for having me in your program; it’s always fun talking to RFM and your readers. 

2004 was a fun year!  Coming back with Derhaag Motorsports gave me a chance to continue the progress that we began making in the latter half of 2003.  Plus, it’s always advantageous to have established a relationship with the team and then keep that continuity going into multiple years.   

Unfortunately, we began the season with two uncontrollable and uncharacteristic breakdowns, at Long Beach and Portland.  In both cases we were right where we wanted to be, in podium position and contention for the win.  But, that’s what makes racing such a challenge, week in and week out.  After that, I was extremely proud of the way that the Derhaag team pulled themselves up and didn’t let it get them down.  In fact, I think that it strengthened their resolve and made the guys even hungrier for the results they knew that we could put up. 

The remainder of the year was a blast.  Knowing that you are able to run at the front every weekend just builds on itself and gives you a confidence to overcome any obstacle.  After making my comeback through the field in Denver, I knew that it would take an awful lot from Tommy Drissi and Jorge, combined with a big stumble by our team to drop any lower than third.  In the same light, I knew that, although still mathematically possible, it would take a miracle weekend to overtake both Tommy Kendall and Paul.  In the end, I came up a little short, but it was sure fun having the possibility and trying! 

RFM: How does your Corvette compare with the others in the Trans Am field? 

Randy:  The one area in particular that has stood out in the series over the last couple of years is technical administration.  The series has been doing a great job of trying to achieve parity.  With that said, the Corvette that I drive is no different than any of the others in the series, with the notable exception of preparation and attention to detail.   

I know this is going to sound like a line but Derhaag Motorsports leaves nothing on the table when it comes to preparing the car to the limit of the rules, using the best and most competitive combination of parts, while not taking low percentage risks.  This combination yields one of the best speed/reliability ratios in the series, and that ultimately pays off.  Performance is measured over the long haul and Jim understands that better than most.  Lozano has also given us a very good engine package…that always helps. 

RFM: Have you made any major changes to the car in the past year, or in your own driving, to push you up into top contention? 

Randy: We like to do a fair amount of testing, both to make the car better and to make the driver more comfortable with the car.  The biggest change for me was switching transmissions after Long Beach.  Jim has always had very good success with the Wiesman transmission, and that is what I used all throughout ’03.  But, I could never really get comfortable with it after using a Hewland for so many years. I felt like I was fighting the box and always thinking about the shifts.  It became a distraction for me and was holding me back from concentrating on what I needed to do in the race.  After we had a gear box failure at Long Beach, Jim agreed to give the Hewland a try.  It was like coming home.  I was at ease in the car and my level of concentration increased dramatically and the results started to come.  With results came more confidence for me and the cycle began to build on itself. 

RFM: You had seven top-five finishes in a row this year – which was the toughest for you, and which track suited your car best? 

Randy: Many of the drivers have their favorite type of track, and even a favorite track, but I have always liked both the high speed fixed courses and the street courses.  In recent years I have had better results on the street courses, in part because of race management and being able to save enough of the car for the end of the race, which seems to pay off more often on a street course. 

This past season the team really stepped up our performance on the longer road courses, as well as the street courses.  This certainly showed at Road America, Sears Point, Cleveland and Portland (before the engine let go).  The car really worked well on most circuits, but the one that stood out was Road America, which was great because this is such a fun track to drive when the car is working (if the car isn’t working well it makes for an awful long day).   

The toughest track to stay up front at this year was Trois Rivieres, typically one of my best.  This year we thought that we really had things dialed in following a really strong performance at Toronto.  But, when we got to Trois Rivieres the Rocketsports Jags had done their homework and had us covered…4^th was the best we could do without a failure on their part.   

Getting back to 5^th at Denver, after digging such a hole for myself in turn 5, was a lot of work.  But here again the car worked great all weekend and this was probably one of the most rewarding finishes for me in 2004. 

RFM: What do you think of the track at Trois-Rivieres?  You have done very well there in the past three years; do you think it’s down to the track suiting your driving style better, or your car?  What do you think of the venue itself? 

Randy: Trois Rivieres has always been a favorite of mine.  I don’t know whether it’s the enthusiastic atmosphere of the fans, the support that we always get from our sponsor, Preformed Line Products Canada, and their customers or the challenge of the track itself, but no matter which car I have been driving I’ve been able to be very competitive.  Having fun has an awful lot to do with performance, and I always have fun when we’re in Quebec. 

As far as the venue goes, it’s very challenging, and I like technical tracks.  The circuit has a nice combination of high speed and handling while putting a premium on tire and brake management.  This makes it very important to save some car for the end of the race, and I can usually get the car set up so that I’m not having to work it too hard at the beginning of the race to stay with the lead group.  If you can manage your race well at Trois Rivieres you’ll often look like a real rocket at the end of the race, when often times your competitors are just backing up.   

Unfortunately the Trans Am Series will not be returning to Trois Rivieres this year, and that’s a real shame.  The track has great history and I’ll miss that one. 

RFM: In 2004 you put your “passion for pedaling” to work at the Tour de Road America in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  What got you interested in this very worthy charity?  How did you finish in the Tour? 

Randy: The Lance Armstrong story is incredible.  With my interest in cycling, I’ve been an avid fan of races such as the Tour de France, Giro de Italia, Tour de Georgia and watching the U.S. Postal team, and of course Lance Armstrong.   For anybody involved in sports, it’s a roadmap for what can be accomplished with intense focus, determination and mind over body.  A little over two years ago, we went through the scare of someone in our family having cancer.  Fortunately, it was diagnosed in time and to this date things are looking very good.   

I have done work with children’s hospitals in the past and this was an opportunity to get involved in an area I felt strongly about and could relate to.  If auto racing could help to raise the visibility of this cause then I wanted to be a part of that.  To take part in the Tour de Road America was a natural.   It was very successful, with lots of participants, raised more awareness and a good amount of money, and everyone had a great time on the course at Road America.   

This year I will be working closely with Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, on safety related programs, as well as the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and their new Cancer Survivor’s Center.  Hopefully we can get more drivers, teams and sponsors involved to give a little back to these worthy operations in some of these cities that have given all of us such great places to race. 

As far as the “Tour” itself, it was not really an organized race, as much as it was a huge ‘get-together’ of racers, bikers and fans.  It was more social than anything else…although racing did take place between drivers and others.  Let’s face it, when you put a bunch of racers together (whether they're car racers, bike racers or whatever) they aren’t content with just pedaling around to be social.  It was a lot of fun, and I’m sure we’ll see more of these types of events. 

RFM: Would you like to see bicycle races at other tracks on race weekends?  I can remember the Formula One drivers in 1993 holding bike races, among other activities, much to the entertainment of the fans!  Could something like that be fitted in nowadays or are the drivers too busy with other things? 

Randy: I think that would be a lot of fun.  I love to race no matter what it is.  I raced sailboats for over 20 years, now I race cars, and if I wasn’t doing this I would very likely be racing bicycles.  As I said earlier, putting a group of racers together is always entertaining, especially if it is not in their primary sport!  To hold more bike ‘races’ at the established tracks would bring the fans even closer and, as at Road America, give them a chance to be a bigger part of the weekend.  I think that this could be especially effective, from a media and awareness standpoint, if more of these events were held at the downtown ‘street courses’.  It would not only be fun for everyone, but would certainly go a long way to improving community relations, which the sport desperately needs when closing down public streets and often interrupting retail operations for a few days. 

From a time standpoint, holding these events at the tracks themselves is the best way to get participation from the drivers (who are scattered throughout the country and the world when not at the track), since they are on hand for the better part of 3-4 days.  But, it is still a difficult task since the commitments to sponsors (not to mention team engineers) takes up an ever increasing amount of the driver’s time.  But I certainly believe there is enough interest to do more of these things, and as you said it would be entertaining and probably even comical! 

RFM: What other kinds of racing have you done?  What kinds would you like to do?  (Rally Raid comes to mind – the Paris-Dakar or the Baja 1000?). 

Randy: Funny you should mention rally and off-road racing.  Two years ago, at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, I was fortunate enough to be invited to Las Vegas International Speedway for the BF Goodrich Tires ‘Take Control Night’.  This was an outrageous evening thrown by BFG for their biggest distributors, sponsored teams and select others, which gave everyone a chance to get actual ‘hands-on’ time in all different types of auto racing.  For me the most exciting were the off-road trucks and buggies.  I had a blast!  If I got the opportunity to do some more of that I would literally jump at the chance. 

Aside from sailing (in which I competed on an international level) and biking, other forms of auto racing that I have had the chance to experience have included autocross (great for quick reading of courses and concentration), showroom stock endurance racing (the old Escort Endurance and Playboy series), and by far the most fun was ‘short-track’ racing.  I took 4 years off Trans Am to run ASA and NASCAR All-Pro, from 1994-1997.  This is a lot of fun and much tougher than it looks (there is a reason why few road racers have been really successful at making the transition). In my first race I got to do everything that you can do in a single race; I passed cars, I got passed, I spun cars, I got spun out, we had good pit stops, we had bad pit stops and we managed to stay on the lead lap.  It was great!  I really wanted to move towards Busch and eventually Nextel Cup, but the finances involved, lack of interest from our sponsors for short-track, and frankly a lack of consistent results put a damper on those plans.  But, it was still great racing! 

Now, my interest, along with many others, is really turning back toward endurance racing and the Grand Am Prototypes and ALMS.  These series are really taking off and drawing a lot of good talent, top notch teams and great racing.  Getting to run with Ron Fellows as a teammate last year in several Trans Am races got me even more interested in the longer race format and what these series are offering.  I think that this form of racing really suits my driving style (being able to run consistently competitive times while taking care of the equipment and tires).  It’s definitely an opportunity that I would love to take advantage of. 

RFM: Do you have other ambitions in the racing world, such as commentary or perhaps writing a book about your exploits?  Would you like to own a team one day? 

Randy:  Honestly, I don’t think that my ‘exploits’ would make for very engaging reading (and I’ll leave the book writing to my cousin, Michael Ruhlman, who is a very accomplished author, with close to a dozen published works).  Commentating, on the other hand, would be something that I would like to do.  I’ve seen good friends like Calvin Fish, Chris Neville, Dorsey Schrader, Brian Till and others go on to do a great job at the track and on TV.  Their experience, as racers themselves, brings a lot of information and insight to the broadcasts.  I’ve been around long enough that I think I could have something to offer, as well. 

Owning a team is something that I already have lots of experience with, having run my own teams in Showroom Stock, Corvette Challenge and seven of my years in Trans Am.  When I got to the level of Trans Am, it became much more of a challenge to try and wear the hats of both team owner and driver.  While having control of your entire operation is nice, I soon found out as so many others (Ricky Rudd and others come to mind) that it can be overwhelming to try to run a team, deal with sponsors and drive a car at the same time.  Something eventually suffers, and you end up not doing any of the aspects as well as you would like. 

Once I’m done driving, I will seriously look into ownership again.  I’ve been able to get a better look at what it takes to run a successful operation from the inside, by watching those I’ve run for like Tom Gloy, Greg Pickett and especially Jim Derhaag.  There aren’t too many teams that have been able to endure, not to mention grow, like Jim’s has.  I’ll be able to do a much better job next time around. 

RFM: What do you think the future of Trans Am will be?  Do you think it will remain substantially like it is now or will it change? 

Randy: I wish you didn’t have to ask that question, because that would mean that the series was strong and obvious as to what its future will be.  Honestly, I can’t tell you what the future holds for the series.  All of us who have supported Trans Am for many years have been looking to answer that question for the better part of ten years.  The current association with Champ Car has been one of the best things that could have happened to the series, in terms of organization, technical direction, officiating and other administration.  There are a lot of very good people trying extremely hard to advance this series, and while these areas have improved tremendously the core problems remain.  Most noticeably are the need for series sponsorship, marketing for both visibility and creating an identity, and a schedule and rules package firmly in place, in a timely fashion, so that both the teams and the series can approach sponsors with a viable package that’s worthy of their interest. 

The Trans Am is a great series with lots of history, fantastic cars that the fans can identify with, an exciting format with lots of hard racing and camaraderie in the paddock that is second to none.  With that said, I don’t see the need, nor do I expect that there will be any great changes in the complexion of the series if it finds the strength to continue on into the future.  But, with so many other series growing stronger and vying for the same audience and sponsor dollars, this is going to be a very daunting task.   

RFM Sports thank Randy Ruhlman for a thoughtful and interesting interview, and we look forward to seeing him race to the front in Trans Am in 2005.  We hope to bring you more of his observations and exploits as the 2005 season goes on.