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 September
24-25, 2011 Elkhart Lake, WI – On what had turned out to be a very windy
rainy autumn weekend, the 48th SCCA RunOffs® were held on the
spectacular rolling, twisting, turning Road America road course.
Hoosier Racing Tire was there to support and service well over half of
the entrants that competed for Twenty–Eight National Titles.
The SCCA National Championship
Runoffs® is one of the top ten events in motorsports.
SCCA Club Racing drivers do not simply enter the Runoffs, they are
invited. To earn an invitation to the Runoffs®, a driver must be amongst the
top ten in their class in one of the nine SCCA Divisions, or be that class
defending National Champion. This year found a total of twelve racers eligible
for the elite Triple Crown and / or Super Sweep awards.
The Runoffs® began with four
days of qualifying from September 19th-22nd.
Racing began Friday, September 23rd and continued through September 25th.
There were twenty-eight race groups’ twenty-four races in all, varying
from high tech open-wheel cars, to high-power American muscle cars and even
stock sedans straight off the showroom floor.
Each race is 13 laps 52.624 miles, or 40 minutes which ever came first.
Servicing done by Hoosier Tire
Midwest, out of Plymouth, Indiana was performed in a timely, organized and
effective fashion. Hoosier Racing Tire corporate also added valuable
engineering and technical service.
After
a season filled with ups and downs and now two weeks of testing, practice and
qualifying, Friday September 24, 2010, saw the racing get underway.
Hoosier was off with a great start with the first three races of the day
being Hoosier podium sweeps.
Results
on Hoosier Race Tires:
 Race 1,
STO (Super Touring Over) – 1st step of the podium was Scott
Tucker in the No. 55, Porsche 996, with a new track record of 2:15.047.
2nd place
went to a hard fought battle with David Pintaric in the No. 40, Dodge Viper
ACRX on the second step of the podium, and 3rd
place Gary Kachadurian in the No. 02, BMW M3.
T1 (Touring 1) – 1st John Buttermore in the No. 52,
Chevrolet Corvette. Turning the
Hawk Fast Lap of the race with a 2:33.069 (94.313 mph) en route to an
8.931-second margin of victory over 2nd
place Tom Sloe in the
No. 97, Chevrolet Corvette, and 3rd place Mike McGinley in the No.
50, Chevrolet Corvette.
Race
2,
 FV
(Formula 500 Vee) – Starting from the Gumout Pole position, Roger Seibenaler
earned his spot on the top step of the podium in the No. 72, Mysterian M2, by
only 0.131 seconds in front of 2nd
place Bob Neumeister in the No. 94, Vortech Formula V. Bob
Nuemester did set a new track record with a time of 2:41.435. Coming
in 3rd of a well fought battle was Mike Varacins, in the No. 65
Speedsport AM.
Race 3,
GT3 (Grand Touring 3) – 2nd place went to Jeff Dernehl, in the
No. 03, RX7, with a fast lap of 2:24.251.
Race 4,
SRR (Spec Racer Ford) - Is a non-Hoosier spec tire race.
Race 5,
FP (F Production) – 2nd place goes to Eric Prill, in the No.
7, Miata, with a fast lap of 2:32.245. And
3rd place to Charlie
Campbell in the No. 89, Miata, with a fast lap of 2:34.167.
Race
6,
FC (Formula Continental) – Starting
from the pole and winning his 1st National
Championship was Revere Greist in the No. 56, Van Diemen DP07. 3rd
place went to Brian Tomasi, in the No. 96, Van Diemen RF08, setting a new track
record, Hawk Fastest Race Lap, with a 2:11.240.
Race 8, last race group of the day
 FE
(Formula Enterprise) – Another podium sweep for Hoosier, coming in 1st
and winning his second straight Super Sweep award was Scott Rettich.
Setting a new track record with a time of 2:13.081(108.205 mph), in the
No. 17, VDR. Fighting a hard battle
and coming in 2nd was Jason Wolfe in the No. 23, VDR.
And 3rd Tyler Walsh in the No. 3, VDR.
After
the first day of the Runoffs Hoosier drivers had secured five National
Championships and three podium sweeps, setting three track records and having
one Super Sweep Champion.
Saturday,
September 24, 2011 the second day of racing.
A chilly damp, rainy start with the question to use slicks or wets, with the
weather conditions back and forth as they were, it was a gamble either way.
Race
1,
 T3
(Touring 3) – On a very damp
drizzly morning, Kevin Fandozzi, in the No. 34, Chevrolet Cobalt lead from pole
to finish, in spite of running on his Hoosier A6’s.
Fandozzi was elated winning his first ever SCCA National Championship.
Chris Puskar in the No. 26, Honda S2000 came in a close 2nd
using Hoosier wet tires and closing
the gap, giving Fandozzi just a 1.278 margin of victory.
Post-Race: Fandozzi’s Championship drive earned him the coveted
“Mark Donahue Award” presented by the Road Racing divers Club (RRDC).
Race 2,
 F500 (Formula 500) – 1st place presented to Mike
Mueller, in the No. 24, Red Devil. Mueller
driving flag-to-flag in a ruling performance earned his first career SCCA
National Championship, winning by 31.533 seconds over, 2nd place
Jeremy Morales in the No. 10, Scorpion,and 3rd place Charles McAbee
Jr. in the No. 15, KBS Cyclone.
Race
3,
SM (Miata) - Is a non-Hoosier spec tire race, until, next season.
Race 4,
SSB (Showroom Stock B) – A well explicated 1st place finish by
Mike Scornavacchi, in the No. 25, Ford Mustang V-6.
Ed Zabinsky, defending Showroom Stock B National Champion, went from
fourth to third on the last lap in the No. 1, Ford Mustang to take the final
podium step.
SSC
(Showroom Stock C) – Back to Back National Championships for Mark McCaughey,
in the No. 18, Toyota Celica. McCaughey also set new Runoffs record at 2:49.290
(85.061 mph). Fighting a tough
battle and coming in 3rd, for the second year in a row, was Jon
Start in the No. 06, Ford Mazda.
Race
6,
 CSR
(C Sports Racer) – Winning his second straight and his fourth SCCA
championship Steve Forrer stood atop the podium, in the No. 84, Ralt-41 Toyota.
2nd place going
to Jacek Mucha, for the sixth time in C Sports Racer, driving the No. 07, JMS
016 CP Maxda. Coming in 3rd was
Jim Downing, moving up four position from his seventh place starting spot gave
Downing the Sunoco Hard Charger Award, in the No. 63, Peach Day 02 Mazda.
 DSR
(D Sports Racer) – Winning his first SCCA DSR National title Tom Bootz, in
the No. 36, Stohr stood atop the podium. Bootz also earned the new track record
with a time of 2:02.656 (117.402 mph). Coming
in 2nd was Lee Alexander, in the No. 48, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, and in 3rd
Jake Latham, in the No. 5, Stohr 01D Suzuki.
Hoosier taking yet another podium sweep.
Race
7,
STU (Super Touring Under) – 2nd place going to Marc Hoover in
the No. 98, Miata.
Race
7,
FF (Formula Fords) – 2nd Bill Valet, in the No. 83, Swift.
And 3rd Tim Kautz in the No. 88, Piper.
In the second day of racing
excitement, eight races and ten different classes Hoosier had four podium
sweeps and six first place wins, and two track records set on Hoosier Racing
Tires.
Sunday,
September 25, 2011, once again found racing underway, weather conditions
the same as Saturday and the absolute deliberation of slicks or wets was a
concern in almost every race.
Race
2,
AS (American Sedan) – Once again, for the sixth time Andy McDermid in the
No. 24, Ford Mustang, smiled from ear to ear as he decisively claimed his 1st
place trophy. Being beaten by only
25.838 seconds John Heinricy in No. 54, Pontiac Firebird claimed second place.
Race
3,
FB (F 1000) – Challenging conditions helped Brian Novak in the No. 70,
Piper F1000 Suzuki, to win his second Formula 1000 SCCA National Championship.
Brandon Dixon, wound up 2nd in the No. 7, Citation F1000
Suzuki.
Race
4,
T2 (Touring 2) – Midway into a great race, came the hardest rain of the
day and Marty Grand in the No. 43, Mitsubishi Evo, held on to win his second
consecutive Touring 2 SCCA National Championship.
Coming in 3rd place was Brian Kleeman in his #88 Nissan 350Z
earning the Sunoco Hard Charger award.
Race 5,
EP (E Production) – 1st Justin Pritchard in the No. 55, RX7,
claiming his fourth SCCA National Championship.
2nd place went to Greg Ira in the No. 2 240Z.
Race 6,
 FA
(Formula Atlantic) – Mike Mallinen had some challenges through the rain, and
also a bit of luck, to win his first career Formula Atlantic SCCA National
Championship, in the No. 71, Swift Toyota. Coming
in 2nd was Jeff Kowalik in the No. 77, Swift Mazda.
And David Wilcox stood on the 3rd step of the podium driving
the No. 36, Swift DB4 Toyota.
Race 8,
 S2
(Sports 2000) – In the rain, John Fergus in the No. 00, Carbir CS2 nets his
seventh SCCA Sports 3000 National Championship. Alan
Andrea in the No. 41, Lola, earned 2nd.
And Corey Fergus in the No. 07, Carbir CS2, fought his way to 3rd.
In
Sunday’s eight races, Hoosier had two podium sweeps, and six 1st
place finishes.
Congratulations
to all the racers and teams that competed in the 48th National SCCA
Runoffs, and helped Hoosier Tire again achieve seventeen National Championship
victories.
Total wins for the tire companies this
weekend…………
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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Hoosier
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17
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18
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16
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Goodyear
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7
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6
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8
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Avon
|
|
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1
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Michelin
|
1
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1
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Dunlop
|
|
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|
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Toyo
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1
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1
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1
|
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BFG
|
1
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2
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1
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The official web site of the
Sport Car Club of America is www.scca.com.
The official web site of Road America is www.roadamerica.com.
Hoosier
Racing Tire is proud to be a major tire supplier for the SCCA racing series.
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