Racing on the west coast for Tomy Drissi means sleeping in your own bed. It also means a chance to go back-to-back in Trans Am West wins. Tomy won the inaugural race last month at Willow Springs. You can bet he’ll be bringing his winning ways to the Auto Club Speedway when the series hits the track April 28-30 in Fontana, California.
Driving the No. 8 Ave prepared C7 Corvette, Tomy will forego his usual movie livery in order to support the Arthritis Foundation. The Arthritis Foundation leads the fight for the arthritis community. The Foundation helps conquer everyday battles through life-changing information and resources, access to optimal care, advancements in science and community connections. Their goal is to chart a winning course, guiding families in developing personalized plans for living a full life – and making each day another stride towards a cure.
“I’m excited to do the West Coast Championship,” noted Tomy. “It’s always nice to race close to home and have the opportunity to be around friends and family. I’m especially pleased that we’ll be partnering with the Arthritis Foundation. People with arthritis face unique barriers. It’s hard for anyone to have fight the battle alone. The Foundation provides trusted information, powerful health tracking tools and ways to connect with others. We’ve experienced juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in our own family, so this is extremely important work. We’re proud to be a part of it.”
Tomy started off the Trans Am season with a second place finish at Sebring, the West Coast win at Willow Springs and a hard fought seventh place at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Tomy is currently fourth in points.
“It’s been a good start to the season,” added Tomy. “There’s a lot of racing ahead of us, but I’m confident we’re heading in the right direction. We’ve got a great car and an extremely hard working crew. When we’re at the track, everyone is on the same page and everyone is focused on getting the best result possible. Everyone is aware of the big picture. You know, it’s easy to say you want to win races… who doesn’t? But we’re after a championship. That requires the commitment to run strong, week in and week out. When we flat spotted the tires at Homestead, we made the call to come in and change them. We knew we’d be giving up a win. But we also knew we’d have a better car to work our way through the field and finish the race higher in the points. I like that the team has the confidence to make those calls.”
“I haven’t driven the Auto Club Speedway,” said Tomy. “Like Homestead, it’s another “roval,” and the infield appears to be fairly technical. I’ve been taking advantage of all the in-car videos available on You Tube trying to get a sense of the track and seeing where other drivers pick up time. I’m sure it’ll be totally different the first few laps, but once I get settled in, I’ll have some baseline knowledge of the track. It’s a huge help.”
The 36 lap / 70 minute feature race will take the green flag Sunday, April 30 at 4:10PM PST
Fans of the Trans Am Series by Pirelli can follow along throughout the weekend at www.gotransam.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gotransam and on Twitter at @gotransam. Live Timing and Scoring can be found throughout all sessions on gotransam.com and on RaceMonitor.
Keep up with Tomy at http://www.tomydrissi.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tomydrissi/ – Catch Tomy’s Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/tomydrissi
Tomy Drissi is an American driver and Trans Am Champion.
His driver experience includes ALMS, Trans-Am, NASCAR and Speed World Challengea
Born December 9 in Hollywood, California, Tomy owns an advertising firm that produces upcoming film displays for cinemas.
Drissi’s first racing experience in motorsports was street racing on Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills.
Tomy’s professional racing career highlights include:
• 1999 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year,
• 2000 Trans-Am BBS Most Improved Driver,
• 2000 Trans-Am Crew of the Year
• 2000 Trans-Am Long Beach Champion
• 2009 Trans-Am Champion.
• 2010 ALMS (one off race) Prototype LMP1 3rd. at Mid Ohio
• 2011 saw Tomy’s return to the American Le Mans LMPC division. He scored a 2nd at Long Beach, 3rd at Lime Rock, 1st at Mid Ohio,1st at Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix and second at Road Atlanta -Petit Le Mans.
• 2012, Drissi teamed with Bruno Junqiera for finishing 2nd at Laguna Seca, a win at Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park), 2nd at Baltimore and second at the season finale, Petit Lemans.
• 2013 NASCAR CUP/Nationwide. Best result at Mid Ohio starting 38th and finishing 19th.
• 2014 IMSA LMPC at Daytona 3rd.
• 2014 NASCAR CUP/Nationwide. Finished 19th at The Glen
• 2015 TUDOR Series. 2nd Place Rolex 24 at Daytona
• 2016 WeatherTech Series. 2nd Place Rolex 24 at Daytona
About TransAm
The Trans Am Series is America’s Road Racing Series and dates back to 1966. Throughout the years, some of the greatest names in motorsports have participated in the Trans Am Series. Names like Tommy Kendall, Mark Donohue, Peter Gregg, Bob Tullius and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. have all won multiple championships under the Trans Am name.
While Trans Am will always be dedicated to honoring its history and legacy, it is far from simply living in the past. Since the addition of the Trans Am Race Company, LLC in late 2011, Trans Am has experienced unprecedented growth as a new class based model has been implemented. Now, three distinct classes take center stage; TA, TA2 and TA3, Trans Am is positioned to power into the future, not live in the past.
The iconic Trans Am Series – America’s Road Racing Series – is operated by the Trans Am Race Company, LLC. Through a five-year agreement, the Trans Am Race Company manages the marketing rights to the series and is responsible for Trans Am Series public relations and promotions. SCCA Pro Racing sanctions Trans Am events and provides event operations services to the series.
For more on the Series visit www.gotransam.com, “like” Trans Am on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gotransam, or follow Trans Am on Twitter at @gotransam.