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Professional road racing returned to Minnesota recently when the Trans-Am series made an appearance at Brainerd International Raceway for the Ryan Companies Independence Day Classic. Local driver Tommy Archer made the news because he was returning to the series aboard the c3Controls / Black Bear Casino / KolarChev.com Camaro after a rather extended layoff from competition. As a longtime friend of Bobby and Tommy Archer and a former employee of Archer Racing, yours truly has had a backstage pass to the organizing of the new team managed by the youngest of the Archer brothers, John. It’s great to see the Archer Brothers team aiming high and reaching goals so quickly.

Archer Racing has provided cars for several drivers in the Trans-Am series in the past few years, with Tommy acting as a driving coach. When I visited with Tommy last year at BIR he dropped a hint that he might be behind the wheel again for 2015. It actually came sooner than that as he filled in for Tommy Kendall in a Dodge Challenger at Lime Rock Park a few weeks later and finished second in the TA2 category.

When the TA2 cars, all Chevy Camaros, Ford Mustangs and Dodge Challengers, took to the track for qualifying on Saturday, it was obvious that Tommy was on a mission. He was the first in line and had a clear track ahead, meaning no traffic to slow him down. He quickly set the fastest qualifying time for the class, but it was obvious that the competition was going to be tight... the top seven cars qualified within one second.

You will likely have heard that Tommy finished second in his race group after leading much of the race. It was a very tight race from the start with those aforementioned top seven qualifiers hanging in a tight nose-to-tail group for the early laps. But minor off track excursions and mechanical issues left only three cars running together for the final laps of the race. A slight miscue by leader Gar Robinson allowed Archer and eventual winner Dillon Machavern in a Mustang to squeak by. At the checkered flag the margin between the first two cars was less than a second.

Worth mentioning is the overall victor, Amy Ruman in the McNichols Corvette. The BIR win was
Ruman’s fifth Trans-Am victory this season.

While the local focus was on Archer, other drivers with ties to the area have also made a significant mark in the Trans-Am series.

Tony Ave was born in Duluth. His dad, Steve, worked for Halvorson Equipment. The Ave family lived in Woodland. Steve was a top snowmobile racer in his day, aboard Ski-Doos of course, winning the world snowmobile championship twice. Steve did some road racing as well. After leaving Halvorson in the early 1970s, Steve Ave took over his father’s Honda motorcycle and Ski Doo snowmobile dealership in Hurley, Wisconsin. Ave’s Sports Center became one of the more successful Toyota and Honda car dealerships in the region.

Tony followed his father’s lead in racing, capturing his first national road racing victory at BIR in 1990. In 1992 he was the Oldsmobile Pro Series Champion. He also raced Ski Doo snowmobiles, winning the Pro Sprint World Snowmobile Championship in 1993. Ave helped to revive the dormant Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am road racing series in 2009. His company built many of the chassis that form the basis for the race cars whether they have Corvette or Mustang bodywork and engines. In 2010 and 2011, Ave was the Trans-Am champion in a Corvette, and won four races in a row at BIR, the only driver to do that since Mark Donahue.

This year Ave is competing in TA2 behind the wheel of the Lamers Motor Racing Ford Mustang. He has one victory already this year, and qualified the Ford less than a second off the pole. Though he was running with the front pack in the TA2 class for the early laps, a full course caution separated the top few TA2 cars from Ave and others because the overall race leader, Amy Ruman, was in the midst of lapping that pack with the caution came out. Ave finished fifth in the category.

Jim Derhaag began racing ASA and ARTGO late model stock cars around the Midwest in the early 1970s. He was invited to give his car a try on the BIR track in the early 1980s, and bought a purpose built road race machine. His debut at the BIR Trans-Am in 1981 surprised a lot of people, though his drive at the front was cut short by an engine failure. He began racing full time in the Trans-Am series with a Pontiac Firebird, and later switched to a Chevy Camaro. He participated as a driver in that series through 1990. He continued active, providing competitive cars for several top running drivers.

Derhaag was also instrumental in reviving the Trans-Am series in 2009 after the fields had dwindled. The first couple of seasons were difficult, with only a handful of cars showing up to compete at many races. The introduction of the TA2 category based on SCCA’s GT2 national racing class and featuring the latest V8 pony cars from America;s Big Three manufacturers, added to the entries, and it has become the more competitive race group with as many as 40 cars for some of the more popular race venues.

Today Derhaag Motorsports, based in Shakopee, maintains Chevy Corvettes for former Trans-Am Champion Simon Gregg and for Mickey Wright. In addition, his company builds the bodies for the Corvettes and the Mustang race cars.

Racing has been a life long hobby for Cliff Ebben of Appleton, Wisconsin. He began in the 1970s with a Datsun roadster and has been racing pretty much every year since. He got involved with the International Ice Racing Association in the 1980s, initially with a not very fast Fiat 128 sedan, later with a very quick Datsun 280Z. Trans-Am occupies Ebben’s time these days. He is the pilot of the Stumpf Ford / McMahon Group Ford Mustang in the TA1 category. He finished second overall to Amy Ruman at the BIR race, closely dogging the leading Corvette for many laps. Ebben’s son, Joe, also races in the Trans-Am series with a TA2 Mustang.