Ruhlman, Dallenbach and Bell join up for Daytona Prototype finale in the #40 Preformed Line Products Daytona Prototype Tooele, Utah(Aug. 31, 2006) – The final race of the 2006 season of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve starts today at the newly built road course at Miller Motorsports Park, in Tooele, Utah. Randy Ruhlman, Paul Dallenbach, and Justin Bell will pilot the #40 Preformed Line Products Pontiac Riley for the nine-hour race at the 4.5-mile, 23-turn race track located just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. The race will feature 26 Daytona Prototypes and 18 GT cars driven by an incredible talent pool of drivers from all facets of racing: from Formula 1, Indy Car, and Champ Car to Trans-Am, Formula Atlantics and the American LeMans Series. Round Fourteen features practice today, with Qualifying getting under way on Friday. The series finale, the only nine-hour race of the season, is scheduled to take the green flag at Noon on Saturday, September 2nd with LIVE television coverage on SPEED beginning at 2 p.m. ET. Derhaag Motorsports' full time driver Ruhlman will drive with Paul Dallenbach, his co-driver from Watkins Glen, and another team veteran, Justin Bell. Bell also drove with the team earlier this year at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ruhlman was named the 2005 BBS "Most Improved Driver of the Year", won the 2005 Cleveland Grand Prix Trans-Am race and Long Beach Grand Prix, and was runner up for the 2005 Trans-Am Drivers' Championship. Ruhlman makes the record books as fourth in Top Ten finishes in Trans-Am history. Ruhlman from Greensboro, NC has been a professional race car driver since his Rookie year in Trans-Am in 1990 and has extensive racing experience, predominantly in road racing in the Trans-Am Series, as well as in IMSA, ASA and the NASCAR short track series. Paul Dallenbach is a veteran race car driver with experience in Formula cars, short track and ASA, rally and hill climbs, Trans-Am and Daytona Prototypes. Paul is a winner and record holder on the famous Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb, and has a second place finish at the Daytona 24 Hour race. He was the Rookie of the Year in Formula Atlantics and VW Cup, and has numerous rally and hill climb records. He drove in Daytona Prototypes this year at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the No. 74 car with his brother, Wally Dallenbach, and Darin Brassfield, both long time Trans-Am/IMSA and NASCAR drivers. Paul Dallenbach currently works extensively as a precision driver and has a myriad of commercial driving credits to his name. Justin Bell has competed numerous times at LeMans, as well as at the Rolex24 at Daytona, with multiple wins in class at both races. The Great Britain native won the 1997 FIA GT2 Champion and was the 2001 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year, scoring two wins in Trans-Am Series competition. Bell competed with Derhaag Motorsports in the past in Trans-Am and at Daytona, where he set the 2003 GTS qualifying record. Justin Bell's new business venture, Blue Planet Events, is "a place where cars are driven as they were designed to". He combines exquisite event planning and personalized service for "people who enjoy life to the maximum." The Derhaag Motorsports Pontiac Riley carries primary sponsorship from Preformed Line Products with additional sponsorship logos of Coyote Closures®, Park Place Ltd, KeyBank and McDonald Financial Group. Preformed Line Products (PLP) is an international manufacturer and supplier of hardware and support systems for the communications and energy industries. Products include the COYOTE® Closure and GUY-GRIP® Dead-End used in the telecommunications, cable and energy industries. Manufacturing facilities are located worldwide in the USA, Canada, China, Brazil, Mexico, England, Spain, South Africa, Australia and Thailand. Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $92 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally. For further information about the drivers, sponsor, team, please visit the following links: Derhaag Motorsports http://www.derhaag.com/ Randy Ruhlman http://www.randyruhlman.com/ Paul Dallenbach http://www.pauldallenbach.com Justin Bell http://www.blueplanetevents.comPreformed Line Products http://www.preformed.com/ KeyBank http://www.key.com/ McDonald Financial Group http://www.key.com/mfg |
