RPW Column: Christian Rumsey’s Set To Race At Port Royal & PA 305 Series In 2020
RPW Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – After a season of racing the unusual double of Sportsman and Sprint cars, Christian Rumsey and the Rumsey Racing team will be concentrating solely on their sprint car program in 2020.
“We are just running our sprint car in 2020.” team owner A.J. Rumsey said. “We will be be running all the regular events at Port Royal Speedway and we are doing the Pennsylvania Sprint Car Series for 305’s.”
It was not an easy decision for the team to leave the Vitale Motorsports team which Christian raced for in the Sportsman division at OCFS in 2019.
“We had a great relationship with Anthony (Vitale) and the rest of the team, they are an awesome group of people,” A.J. said. “But our Port Royal schedule conflicted with the Sportsman schedule, so they understand. They will have a great season with Jeff Hulseapple driving for them in 2020 and we wish them nothing but the best.”
The Rumsey’s have been involved with racing from their early years. A.J.’s dad and Christian’s grandfather, Paul Hyde, was a longtime crew member for Richie Eurich and passed the love for the sport down to his children and grandchildren. Paul helped construct Christian’s first Sportsman car and he was proud to join the team in Victory Lane when Christian won his first Sportsman race in April of 2014. Paul passed away in October of 2014.
“My sons and I were so close to him,” A.J. said. “He’s always on our minds when we are working on the car. He was so instrumental in getting us all into the sport.”
Christian has really been coming into his own the past few years in the sprint cars. He along with his brother Ryan were racing at 5 years of age, the minimum age for driving go karts at Oakland Valley. The boys had a lot of success, winning many races and Christian winning some national events. After starting to race Sportsman in 2012, the team decided to go sprint car racing in 2015.
“Racing sprint cars was always our goal,” A.J. said. “It was something that we always wanted to to.”
The team raced with the CRSA Sprint Cars for several years. Christian had a high point finish of 3rd in the series and he won 2 CRSA features at his hometown track, OCFS. With also running the Sportsman in 2019, the team just picked and chose the sprint car races they wanted to do.
“We just didn’t want to commit to any one track with the sprinter in 2019,” A.J. said. “We weren’t racing for points, we just wanted to have fun. And we had very good success, almost all finishes were in the top 5. But we are committing ourselves to a full season with our sprint car in 2020.”
Behind every successful team is a great crew chief. And the Rumsey Racing Team looks to have one with A.J.’s son Ryan.
“Ryan has been taking the auto tech course at BOCES and he has been doing great,” A.J. said. “He along with his teammate won a regional championship and they will soon be in the New York State Auto Dealers Automotive Competition. He has already been awarded $15,000 in scholarships. He is a great crew chief for our team.”
Rumsey Racing is very appreciative of their sponsors. They are Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Hennessy Wine and Liquors (Washingtonville), Brother Bruno’s Pizzeria (Middletown), Chuck Alessi Plumbing, R.E.F. Trucking & Excavating (Bedford, Pa), Midnite Auto Parts (Pine Island), BMG Powersports (Goshen), HigFab Chassis, Lothar’s Body Shop (Middletown), Keizer Racing Wheels, DRP Racing Products, Allstate – John Pagan Agency (Middletown), Gross Graphics and CG Racing Engines.
The crew consists of A.J. son Ryan, Jesse Hedges, Jeff & Lori Boyer and Christian’s fiancee Alexandra.
Christian Rumsey has been making progress every year with his sprint car racing. Many fans at his hometown track will be watching the team’s results in Pennsylvania in 2020. And all things point to those results being very good.
