Ruby Tuesday team switches to Riley chassis

Ruby Tuesday Crawford

After more than two and a half seasons running a Crawford chassis, the Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team today announced that it will campaign a Riley chassis for the remainder of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series season beginning with the round nine race at Barber Motorsports Park on July 18-20.

Both Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand are excited about making the switch.

"I am totally elated," Auberlen said. "I think everyone involved is really excited about going to Barber with a Riley chassis. It's been a long time since I've been this happy. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to this.

"I think there will be a tiny learning curve. But, we have a lot of great people involved. You can't set the expectations too high right away because we are coming in with something brand new to us and something that others have had all year. With that being said, I think we'll get the hang of it fairly quickly. As much as I say we need to be realistic about our expectations, my expectation is to be on the podium at the end of that race.

"I like Barber and its Joey's favorite track. We're going to a place where that guy is going to take charge and go after it. If the team does exactly what the team has done all year and the Riley performs the way I think it will, we should have some really great finishes.

"This is big news for us," Hand said enthusiastically. "Right away this puts us on an even playing field and I am very happy about that. I think moving to the Riley is the right thing to do and Bill and I are 100 percent behind this decision. Now we feel that we are going to be really competitive and have a shot to win right away.

"We have six races left and it's go time. As a driver, you are always looking to finish the season well. Barber is my favorite racetrack. I am really excited about going to Barber with a Riley. I have really good speed there. I won there in a GT car in 2005 and I've always been in contention to win there."