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13-Year-Old
Racing Sensation Logan Ruffin Entered For The All American 150
Salem, IN (March 10, 2008) – 13-year-old
racing sensation Login Ruffin has filed an entry for the CRA Super Series
sanctioned All American 150 at the famous Music City Motorplex at the
Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday, March 29th.
This will be Ruffin’s first event with the CRA Super Series, if he gets to
take the green flag for the All American 150, he will break the record as
the youngest driver to ever compete in a CRA Super Series sanctioned event.
The  current
record of 14 years old is held by NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor
Shelby Howard, during the 1999 season, and 2002 CRA Super Series Champion
Joel Kauffman, during the 2000 season.
" I’m really excited to be competing with the CRA Super
Series at the Music City Motorplex," remarked Ruffin. "I want to
thank the track and the series for giving me special permission to race in
the event. The Fairgrounds track just has so much amazing history, it is
just an honor to race on the same track as so many great racers like Darrell
Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and the late Bobby Hamilton, just to name a few.
This event will be an excellent learning experience for me especially
competing against so many good racers, it is going to be a great
race!"
Setting records in nothing new for this very talented teenager.
Ruffin set several records in this past February’s 42nd Annual
World Series Of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway in Samsula, Florida when he
became the youngest driver to ever win a feature in the 42 years of that
event when he captured a win in the second event for the Crate Late Model
Division. One wasn’t enough, Ruffin went on to get two more victories to
make it three in a row, for three wins total in the six events that
division had during the traditional Speedweeks event. With those wins, plus
a sixth place finish on opening night, along with a fourth and third place
finish the last two nights, Ruffin became the youngest ever Champion in the
history of the event, beating out 2007 MAARA Series Champion Will Thomas by
a mere four points.
"What happened at New Smyrna Speedway was a total shock, our
goal was to just go down there and get some seat time. We never thought we
would win a race, much less a Championship. We brought enough parts to
rebuild the racecar, but we didn’t need to replace anything all week. It
was really neat to win down there with so many big race fans at those
events, they would clap really loud when I pulled into victory lane, but
stopped for a minute when I got out of the car, I think they were shocked that
the winner was so young!"
The Brentwood, Tennessee native’s racing career began in 2004 at
age 9 when he began competing in Quarter Midgets around the Tennessee area,
it was also the beginning of the R Performance Team, whom Ruffin races for
out of Nashville. Success was  almost
immediate as he collected several checkered flags that first season. He
competed in Quarter Midgets again in 2005, traveling to shows all around
the region with successful results. He moved up to Mini-Cup cars in 2006,
and in Pro Challenge cars also during the 2006 season, again with positive
results. During the 2007 season Ruffin campaigned the Pro Challenge car and
started racing Legend Cars after he turned 13.
With Ruffin showing success at every level he raced at, the decision
was made to speed up his progression by putting him in a late model towards
the end of the 2007 season. Ruffin responded with great runs at Beach Bend
Raceway and Highland Rim Speedway. Ruffin then attempted to make his ASA
Late Model Series debut in their 200-lap event during the All American 400
weekend at the Music City Motorplex in November. Bad Luck would get the
best of Ruffin that weekend, first a broken drive shaft ruined his
qualifying run putting him in the 25 lap last chance race were the top two
finishers would transfer to the feature. Ruffin started last and worked his
way to fourth before a burned out clutch ended his day, but not before he
became the youngest driver to ever start a late model event at the Music
City Motorplex.
Ruffin managed to race his way into the Mason Dixon Meltdown
feature event at Concord Motor Speedway in his first ever super late model
start in a qualifying race later in November, making him the youngest
driver ever to compete in that event. Ruffin started 27th in the
200 lap Meltdown and moved up to 19th before bad luck struck
again when a broken lower left strut ended his day. His luck got a lot
better the next weekend when he drew the pole and led all 50 laps of the
super late model feature at Lanier National Speedway to get his first super
late model win on November 24th.
Ruffins plans for 2008 will include up to 40 late model events all
over the country, which he already started by competing in Florida during
SpeedFest 2008 at USA International Speedway in January and at New Smyrna
during Speedweeks. Ruffin will compete with the ASA Late Model Series in
their Challenge Division beginning in this weekend’s event at Tri-County
Speedway. He will also compete in selected events in the ASA Late Model
Series South and North Divisions during the season as well as selected ASA
Southeast Series, PASS South Series and CRA Super Series events beginning
with the All American 150. On off series weekends Ruffin will race some
local shows closer to home.
The Total Performance Driver Development / R Performance Team is
lead by Crew Chief Chuck Moores along with Rick and Shelley Ruffin, Logan’s
parents. Shelley Ruffin is a recording artist with three released CD’s to
her credit, she has been singing most her life since growing up in Memphis.
Her singing career has slowed somewhat with Logan’s busy race schedule the
past two years. The fans and racers attending the rain delayed final day of
SpeedFest 2008 got to hear her sing the National Anthem.
Ruffin will campaign a Rander Car Impala with a Hamner Sealed
Engine at Nashville with support from Torco Race Fuel, Impact Racing, Total
Performance, Schoenfeld Headers and Hamner Racing Engines. More information
is available on Logan Ruffin at www.loganruffin.com.
The All American 150 for the CRA Super Series late models will be
part of the big 2008 Spring Clash Weekend on March 28th and 29thwww.musiccitymotorplex.com.
Entry forms for the All American 150 for the CRA Super Series and series
rules are available at www.craracing.net.
at the Music City Motorplex, which will also include a 75-lap event for the
O’Reilly USA Modified Series and a special-points 75-lap Shoot-out event
between the CRA Street Stocks and the MCM Sportsman. More information on
the event is available at
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