Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/335414
July / August 2014 38 SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT EDITOR Behind the Pit Wall with IMSA and RUM BUM RACING By Jim Rand On Saturday, June 7th, sportscar race fans once again claimed Kansas Speedway as their house, rather than that of the good old NASCAR boys. At the Speedway under the IMSA banner wereTudor Lites and Prototype Challenge cars, which resemble Hot Wheels inspired racers. Also on track were the Continental Tire Challenge Street Tuner and Grand Sport cars. Porsche falls in to the latter group. All of the races utilized three fourths of the oval, squeezing a road course in the middle of the infield, creating what is called a roval. Since Porsche was only represented in the Continental series, this report spotlights that race, and in particular the Rum Bum racing team. For the better part of race day, I shadowed the Rum Bum team as they prepared for the race's early evening start. Drivers for Rum Bum were Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb. More on Matt and the team will be detailed in a forth coming article. OK, let's get back to the paddock garage. Nick put Rum Bum firmly on the front row in second position with a fast lap of 1:22. However, a late lap wiggle caused the Porsches' right rear and the turn four wall to become kissing cousins. Through my untrained eyes I only saw slight scuff scars on the rear quarter panel, but the toe or angle of the right rear wheel had been knocked out of position. Now, instead of doing their regular prerace prep duties at a somewhat relaxed pace on Saturday, a great deal of time had to be spent double checking alignment and readjusting the toe. Rum Bum's crack