
Steve Sargis, in his 41st Runoffs race appearance, was at the helm of the H Production (HP) field to start Sunday’s Hagerty Race Day contest at the 62nd SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco in Wisconsin. Turning the fastest HP lap around Road America’s 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit in qualifying netted Sargis a Tire Rack Pole Award, the 15th time he’s earned the title. When the 13-lap race was over, Sargis added gold medal number 10 to his collection.
Make no mistake, however. The effort was anything but easy for the Blackhawk Valley Region member who drove the No. 18 Hoosier/Carbotech Triumph Spitfire to victory.
“Holy cow!” exclaimed an exhausted Sargis after the race. “I thought I was going to be fifth, and then I thought maybe I’m going to be first, then I’m going to be second, or maybe I should just hold on to third. Lo and behold, the skies opened up, and I was leading for a while. It’s just crazy. I just ran a couple of consistent laps, I guess, and held them off.”
At the start, Sargis took the front spot in Turn 1, but was passed in Turn 5 by Chuck Mathis and his No. 54 Hoosier/AMT Performance/Hawk Volkswagen Rabbit. Jesse Prather positioned himself in third with Chris Schaafsma in fourth. Matt Brannon and Brayden Connolly rounded out the top six.
The fight for the lead was only heating up. Mathis pulled away a bit while Prather and Schaafsma both passed Sargis. Schaafsma later moved up to second before locking up the brakes in Canada Corner, allowing Sargis and Prather back by for a drag race along the 4,405-foot frontstretch at America’s National Park of Speed.
The dance between Prather and Sargis continued for several more laps while Schaafsma dropped back a bit and was passed by Brannon in the No. 22 Midwest-Bayless Italian Auto Fiat X-1/9. As the race reached its halfway mark, Sargis had reclaimed second from Prather, and the duo settled in to chase Mathis.
At the start of lap eight, Sargis and Mathis crossed the line side-by-side before Sargis reclaimed the lead in Turn 1. Prather wasn’t far behind in third and soon moved up to second. Brannon was fourth, Connolly fifth, and Schaafsma sixth, before he had a problem and pulled off the circuit.
Prather kept the pressure on Sargis, slipping past him along Hurry Downs before Turn 8. Sargis didn’t relent, reclaiming the lead through the long Carousel. Mathis then dove beneath both drivers entering Canada Corner but couldn’t make it stick, with Sargis regaining control by the final corner.
Lap 11 saw Mathis return to the lead in Turn 1 with Prather in second and Sargis third. In Turn 5, Mathis and Prather went deep and overshot the corner, allowing Sargis to slip past both for the lead. Moments later, just after Canada Corner and before Turn 13, Prather’s car let out a plume of smoke, forcing him to pull off track.
Sargis held strong on the final lap for the victory, with Mathis finishing second — earning his fourth silver medal in 14 Runoffs starts.
“I’m happy to be on the podium,” Mathis said before collecting his commemorative bottle from Mazza Wine, the Official Sparkling Wine supplier to SCCA. “For two years in a row, I’m about 20-feet short of it being a perfect year both years. But it was an awesome race. Everybody ran clean, no side-to-side contact, lots of nose-to-tail bump drafting, and it all went well.”
Behind the top two, the battle was on for the final podium spot. Brannon held off Connolly to claim third, crossing the line one second ahead of the other Fiat X-1/9 in the field.
“I’m happy to be on a podium step for the first time in a long time. I got a third and a second previously,” said Brannon, who now has 13 Runoffs starts. “I really thought we might have something for those guys. I hung with them in the draft, which is amazing because my car has always been underpowered here. I just kept at it and at it, and they were in sight. They didn’t get away from me.”
Connolly finished fourth. Greg Gauper finished fifth after Angus Crome had an issue on the last lap and slipped to sixth. The Sunoco Hard Charger award went to Leanna Wright, who started 16th and finished in the 10th position.
The 62nd SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco is the pinnacle of American amateur motorsports and crowns Sports Car Club of America™ Champions as part of the Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing program. In 2025, two Hagerty Race Days at Wisconsin’s Road America decide 23 gold-medal winners.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races is available over both competition days at SCCA’s Official YouTube Channel. Live timing and scoring for each race is also available at SCCA.com/live.
Below are final results for Sunday's H Production race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Sunoco; with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, SCCA Region, car, and laps completed.
1, (1), Steve Sargis, Blackhawk Valley Region, Triumph Spitfire, 13.
2, (2), Chuck Mathis, Southern Illinois Region, Volkswagen Rabbit, 13.
3, (5), Matt Brannon, Ohio Valley Region, Fiat X-1/9, 13.
4, (6), Brayden Connolly, Ohio Valley Region, Fiat X-1/9, 13.
5, (8), Greg Gauper, Milwaukee Region, Honda Civic Si, 13.
6, (7), Angus Crome, Southern Illinois Region, Volkswagen Golf, 13.
7, (10), Ralf Lindow, Nebraska Region, Volkswagen Golf, 13.
8, (12), Kendall Jones, Detroit Region, Austin-Healey Sprite, 13.
9, (14), Tom Broring, Washington DC Region, Toyota Yaris, 13.
10, (16), Leanna Wright, Tennessee Region, Mini Cooper, 12.
11, (4), Jesse Prather, Kansas Region, Mazda 2, 10.
12, (11), Enrik Benazic, New York Region, Honda Civic, 10.
13, (3), Chris Schaafsma, Chicago Region, Volkswagen Jetta, 8.
DNF, (13), Andrew Wright, Tennessee Region, Triumph Spitfire, 4.
DNS, (9), William Lamkin, Colorado Region, Honda CR-X Si, 0.
DNS, (15), Joe Camilleri, Neohio Region, Volkswagen Scirocco, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 miles
Overall Time of Race: 34:47.238 (avg. 90.764 mph)
Margin of Victory: 00.829 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:38.270 (92.076 mph)
Lap Leaders: #54-Laps 1-6, 10; #18-Laps 7-9, 11-13
Sunoco Hard Charger: #02 Leanna Wright
Photo by: Jeff Loewe