November 8, 2006
Immediate Release

Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Testing at Daytona

Daytona Beach, Florida  --  The Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team closed out two days of testing yesterday in preparation for the running of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona January 27 – 28.  The team from nearby Tavares, Florida finished near the top of the time sheets on both days.

On Monday the team rolled the number 23/Ruby Tuesday/Alex Job Racing prepared Porsche Crawford off of the trailer for what was the first of three official Grand Am test days leading up to the season opener in just 80-days.  Patrick Long was able to put in a lap time good for second fastest on the day.  On Tuesday the team continued through their planned running, but the day was shortened by rain. 

Patrick Long has handled all of the testing duties behind the wheel of the number 23/Ruby Tuesday/Alex Job Racing prepared Porsche Crawford.  “We have put in six full days of testing since the season ended.  The program came together very quickly at Daytona last year and we were fast, we are now doing the work we didn’t have time to do a year ago.  The competition made a big jump the last half of season and we are trying to stay one step ahead.  Consistently our times were in the top three or four nearly every session in the morning and in the afternoon the last two days.  The 10 car is always fast at Daytona.  We weren’t looking to win practice.  We were exploring all of the setup options on the Crawford.  Our horizon is much broader now with the setup of the car.  It was strong out of the box last year, but now, as a team, we have a file of finer tuning options that will pay dividends going forward.  Last year we learned the hard way that speed is only half the battle, you have to be consistent over the schedule and that is what we are planning to be in ’07.”

“It seemed like we just finished at Miller Motorsport Park,” said Alex Job, team owner.  “Actually this is our third test of the off season.  We have put in laps at Daytona and VIR now we were back with everyone else at Daytona.  We are committed as a team to improving our overall finish from last season with a focus on the championship in 2007.  We really didn’t have a lot of testing miles on the car last year as we got our program together very late.  However in the laps we have done in preparation for the ’07 season, our knowledge of the car has really expanded.  We were running on the Porsche engine management system, we were prepared to run the Bosch system this week, but opted not to use it on the test.  We continued our program as we have in the off season.  We felt like we had a successful two days.  We continued to run toward the top of the time sheet like we had all last season.  We are really working on the small things and will not deter from our testing program.  Pat has continued to be our guy in the car throughout our testing program leading up to 2007.  We will be announcing our season driver line-up in the near future.  Ruby Tuesday, Crawford Cars, Porsche and all of our supporters are really behind us for next year.”

The Ruby Championship Racing Team just closed the book on their first season in the Grand Am Daytona Prototype category.  With victories at Homestead Miami Speedway and a thrilling win at Virginia International Raceway, which also won the team the Rolex Moment of the Year as voted by the fans.  At the season ending awards banquet Mike Rockenfeller finished fifth in the driver standings as well as winning the MESCO rookie of the year.  The Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing team received the Performance Drink Endurance Challenge Award based upon their best overall average finish in the 2006 endurance races at Daytona, Watkins Glen and Miller Motorsport Park.  

2007 Grand Am Daytona Prototype Schedule

Rolex 24 at Daytona                           January 27 – 28
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez         March 3
Homestead-Miami Speedway              March 24
Virginia International Raceway             April 29
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca            May 20
Watkins Glen Six Hours                     June 9
Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course                 June 23
Daytona International Speedway          July 5
Iowa Speedway                                  July 14
Barber Motorsport Park                       July 22
Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve                      August 3
Watkins Glen International                  August 10
Infineon Raceway                               August 25
Miller Motorsport Park                        September 15

Ruby Tuesday is one of the nation’s leading casual-dining restaurant companies, with more than 800 restaurants worldwide.  It was founded in 1972 by Sandy Beall, who serves as Chairman & CEO today.  The company is committed to having uncompromising freshness and quality with passionate employees who take pride in delighting guests with an excellent dining experience.  The burger-centric menu features an assortment of handcrafted burgers, its fresh garden bar, premium baby back ribs and a variety of other signature entrees.  Ruby Tuesday, Inc. is traded on the NY Stock Exchange (symbol:RI).  To find out more about Ruby Tuesday, please visit www.rubytuesday.com.  

To view the Alex Job Racing press kit or for additional information, please refer to www.alexjobracing.com or contact Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.