Three days of qualifying have wrapped up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) for the 2021 SCCA National Championship Runoffs. With that, 26 Tire Rack Pole Award winners are slated to lead their respective classes to the green flag over the next three days as nearly 875 competitors do their best to earn a Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing National Championship on IMS’ 15-turn, 2.592-mile road course.

It’s been four years since SCCA last brought the Runoffs to The Brickyard, and that visit in 2017 was the first ever SCCA National Championship conducted at the legendary venue. That means there is a record book for SCCA qualifying at IMS, and that record book changed a great deal as of tonight. Of the 26 car classes, new qualifying lap records were set in 18.

IMS Qualifying Notables

The big “winner” in qualifying has to be Andrew Aquilante, who actually won the very first Runoffs race ever held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway four years ago. Aquilante, the defending GT-2 national champion, took the Tire Rack Pole Award in that same class on Thursday driving the No. 33 Phoenix Performance/Hoosier/Hawk Chevrolet Corvette. Earlier in the day he also secured a Tire Rack Pole Award in the Touring 1 class driving the No. 33 Phoenix Performance/Hoosier/Hawk Ford Mustang. For Aquilante, that brings his total up to 18 Runoffs poles overall.

In H Production (HP), defending national champion Steve Sargis drove his No. 18 Carbotech/Hoosier Triumph Spitfire to a 13th Tire Rack Pole Award. Eric Vickerman, in the No. 10 Austin-Healey Sprite, had a good showing Wednesday to sit atop the HP group for a moment. But Sargis stormed back Thursday to lock down the top spot. Keep an eye on this class during its Friday morning race because Sargis, Vickerman and Vesa Silegren, in the No. 60 Honda CRX, all broke the previous Runoffs HP qualifying track record — so things could get interesting.

Michael Lewis, in the No. 12 Goodyear Jaguar XKR, also got his 13th Tire Rack Pole Award by qualifying first in the GT-1 class. That field was led on the opening day of qualifying by A.J. Henriksen in the No. 44 Dodge Challenger SRT. Then David Pintaric, driving the No. 57 Ford Mustang, held the top spot Wednesday before Lewis locked down pole for Sunday’s race, which could take place in wet conditions if current weather forecasts are correct.

Spec Miata, one of the two largest classes at this year’s Runoffs with a field of 72 cars, was led by defending national champion Preston Pardus over the opening two days of qualifying. But it was Brian Henderson, in the No. 97 BDL Motorsports car, who jumped up and grabbed the Tire Rack Pole Award on Thursday. That’s the first Runoffs pole for Henderson, who bested Pardus’ No. 42 by only 0.004 second.

The other giant field is Spec Racer Ford Gen 3, which also has 72 challengers racing for Runoffs glory this year. There, Franklin Futrelle and his No. 97 MecoInc of Augusta/ComprentMtrsprts car were ahead of the throng all three days of qualifying. That’s the first pole for Futrelle at an SCCA National Championship.

Other first-time Tire Rack Pole Award winners this year include American Sedan’s Drew Cattell, in the No. 28  SpaceMonkeyRacing/Engines by JB Cadillac CTS-V; Touring 4 racer Stephen Blethen, in the No. 50 RST Performance Racing/KONI Shock Mazda RX-8; Formula 500’s Ryan Mayfield, in the No. 34 VRS/Satellite Racing Scorpion S1 Suzuki; Formula Enterprises 2 driver Max Grau, in the No. 71 Rennkraft Motorworks SCCA FE2 Mazda; Formula Continental competitor Trent Walko, in the No. 91 Global Racing Team Van Diemen RF08; Formula X’s Vaughn Glace, in the No. 95 Pantera Motorsports/Wright Racing USF 2000 MZR Mazda; and B-Spec stalwart John Phillips, in the No. 43 PRP/G-Loc/CARS Mini Cooper.

Polesitter Rundown

Tire Rack Pole Award winners each receive some nifty swag and $500 to spend at Tire Rack. Below are provisional polesitters across the 26 different classes with driver name, hometown, SCCA region, car and fastest lap time. Entries with an asterisk (*) indicate a new Runoffs qualifying track record at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

VIEW QUALIFYING RESULTS

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Few American cities embrace their local traditions quite like Indianapolis rallies around their Speedway. Memorial Day weekend is much more than a weekend, stretching into the week with schools closing. Ask a Hoosier if they have plans during the month of May, and they’ll look at you like you’ve been dropped in from another planet.

But at the same time, it’s a distant place. You visit, you witness history, but you don’t get a chance to make it. You watch others do it.

Until this week. At the 58th SCCA National Championship Runoffs, locals can return home and declare to their friends, forever, that “they’ve raced there.”

Mory Doyle, Andy Doyle, Steven Jeffers and Scott Jeffers, Brandon Reed, John LaRue, Max Grau, Amy Hollowell, Gabe Fehribach, Bill Baten — the list goes on. There are lots of locals on the track, many for the first time this week.

Count B-Spec’s Chris Jackson among the first timers. Though he grew up in Cincinnati, Jackson went to college at IUPUI (that’s Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis for those outside the Hoosier state that might not be following along) and stayed in Indianapolis for work.

This year, he was recruited to the B-Spec community and has been a part of their tremendous growth. In just his first season of wheel-to-wheel racing, he’s gone all in to get here to the Runoffs.

“It means a lot to me,” Jackson said. “Back when the Formula One Grand Prix was here, I was here with my family. I came to some of the NASCAR events and some Indy 500s, and grew up going here. Being here means a lot, it’s pretty sentimental.”

Though he’ll start the race in the back half of the 61-car field, he’s still on track rather than in the stands.

“This is my first Runoffs experience, so my goal is just to have fun and finish the race and have a complete car at the end of the day,” Jackson said.

At the other end of the spectrum is a guy trying to add his name to the list of legends who have crossed the yard of bricks.

Bob Perona has two Runoffs Silver medals and fell just short in a Formula F thriller a season ago. The professional driver coach who works with several IndyCar and IMSA drivers, including Jack Harvey, would love nothing more than to get a win of his own at IMS.

“It’s always special to be at this place,” Perona said. “I’ve spent so much time here, but I don’t get to drive here very often so it’s nice to be here driving. I love it. It’s 10 minutes from the house, so it makes things nice and easy. I wish we could come here more often.”

He’s got a small but mighty team behind him — just the three of them, though his secret weapon is his wife, Kate, who is an engineer on Pato O’Ward’s IndyCar.

“I still haven’t won one of these things. That’s the goal and that’s what we came here to accomplish,” said Perona. “There are pro teams here with pro drivers and I’m building this in my garage, so it puts them at a huge advantage and a disadvantage for me. I’ve got a pretty good crew. We’re going to try to give them hell on Saturday and see what we can do.”

There aren’t many people who can say their neighbor or co-worker raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but, come Monday, a few more will.

Photo caption: Chris Jackson navigates the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in his Mini Cooper

Tire Rack Pole Day!

Thursday is the third and final day of qualifying for the 58th SCCA National Championship, which means its Tire Rack Pole Day at The Brickyard. Before the sun sets on Central Indiana today, Tire Rack Pole Award winners will be named in each of the 26 classes competing this year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Runoffs.

Why is it important to be on pole at IMS? Because there are some good-sized fields at this year’s event and things can get a little hairy going into Turn 1 on opening laps. Those leading a race group to the green could have a better shot at navigating that first turn, which can bode well for the rest of the 19-lap or 40-minute race on IMS’ 15-turn, 2.592-mile road course. Those starting further back best be prepared for some quick decision making to steer clear of possible problems while trying to advance up through the field.

Starting out front is pretty important. Also important about being a pole winner is the fact that SCCA’s Official Tire Retail Partner gives each polesitter $500 to spend at Tire Rack along with some braggable swag.

Tire Rack Pole Award winners will be celebrated at the end of the day in Victory Circle but, first, the beehive of workers making the event happen Thursday grabbed lunch, thanks to our friends at Tire Rack.

The National Championship Double Play

Seat time is seat time, and a handful of drivers knocked the rust off prior to the Runoffs with the only event on the SCCA calendar larger than this one — the Tire Rack Solo Nationals.

Jesse Prather (E Production), Matt Wolfe (B-Spec), Eric Prill and Sam Henry (both F Production) all took a turn at the Club’s premier autocross event on Labor Day weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska. Along with more than 1100 other club members, the four-day event was a welcome reprise after a year away due to the pandemic.

“One of the things I really like about autocross is how you really get to toss the car around and just be super aggressive,” Henry said. “If you do that in road racing, eventually you burn the tires off and the car starts to go away. In autocross, you have to do it to have the good time. Obviously you don’t want to overdrive and slide the car too much, but you just feel like you’re driving a lot more aggressively.”

It’s not just the driving, however. Though they are both Mazda Miatas, the difference between Henry’s F Production road racing car and his F Prepared autocross car are night and day.

“For me, my road race car is an FP car and my autocross car is also FP, but the cars are very different,” Henry said. “The autocross car makes about twice as much horsepower and carries the extra weight to go along with it, but that car is just a beast. It’s so much fun to drive a car with that much power and that small and light, where the road race car is more of a momentum car. The engineer in me really enjoys tinkering with the turbo car because there’s just so much you can do with the ECU and the tuning. I can just go engineering crazy on it.”

Block Party Madness

The Wednesday night block party brought the paddock together, linking the IMS infield together in a chain of stations with fun, conversation, food and drinks.

A stroll through the paddock provided a feast. The Alliance Autosport/eSports party near grid hosted a simulator with an opportunity to lay down a time in an event-wide competition for fast lap. The Grass Paddock Motorsports station served a smorgasbord of desserts. The SCCA staff whipped up brats, Hawk Performance provided a gathering space, Hagerty served street tacos, Event Link kept the energy up with coffee, a combination of New England Region, South Jersey Region and Maximum Attack whipped up some burgers and dogs. Coolers were not-so-strategically placed around each party to pick up some hydration — or lack thereof — along the way.

No SCCA Runoffs party would be complete without the traditional Prod Party. In many ways the inspiration for the start of the block party, the Production category drivers annually collect donations for the SCCA Worker Fund. This year’s party raised over $1900 in contributions.

Advantageous Viewing

Tomorrow kicks off Hagerty Race Days at IMS, which means there is one more option for fan viewing — if you are an SCCA member on site. The SCCA Member Advantage includes a space in a Gasoline Alley suite overlooking pit lane and IMS’ start/finish line. Inside the suite there will be televisions showing race broadcasts, complimentary non-alcoholic drinks and occasional snacks. There’s also a good chance some sweet swag will find its way into the room. While alcohol won’t be for sale inside, the nearby concessions bar will be open during race days.

Tickets for the SCCA Member Advantage suite are limited and can only be purchased on site at Driver Information located near the end of the Gasoline Alley garages. Tickets are limited to only 80 members per day, so hurry over if you want one! Three-day SCCA Member Advantage passes are available for $50, or single-day access available at $25 each day.

Photo caption: Jesse Prather drives his BMW Z3 to the pole position in E Production after driving a BMW M3 to a third-place finish at the 2021 Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals.

The second day of Runoffs qualifying was an important one. Drivers had familiarized — or reacquainted — themselves with Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and setup changes and adjustments had been made to cars. That meant Wednesday was a time to “shine” as grids were set prior to Thursday’s Tire Rack pole day.

Moving ahead is Wednesday’s theme at the Runoffs, which led our friends at Hawk Performance to, once again, declare Wednesday as Hawk “Brake-Through Performer” day. The biggest mover in each of the 26 classes earned a set of Hawk brake pads for their racecar, tow rig or street car and, of course, the team behind the scenes grabbed a hot lunch thanks to Hawk. 

For over 25 years, championship winning drivers and teams have demanded Hawk Performance motorsport brake pads. Now, Hawk’s advanced technology is available for daily cars, trucks and SUVs with Hawk Street Performance products. There’s the improved HP-Plus pad for that hybrid street and track feel, super-duty pads for tow vehicles, and the new Talon rotors.

Hawk Performance — the Official Brake Products of SCCA since 2003 — leverages its experience on the track and technology used in aerospace and the military to make the best brake pads and rotors for every vehicle’s needs. The company’s extensive Research & Development department, including a PhD in friction and 23 dynamometers, produces first-class products in the USA. Visit Hawk’s website to learn more.

Below are the drivers who claimed a Hawk Brake-Through Performer reward from Wednesday. Each entry includes the car class, driver’s name, hometown, SCCA Region, car make/model, and the number of grid positions gained from Tuesday to Wednesday. 

Congratulations to all the winners, and many thanks to Hawk Performance for again supporting SCCA Runoffs competitors, as well as staff and the hard-working people behind the scenes who never stop when it comes to making the National Championship a fabulous event.

Photo caption: Gonzalo Aponte, member of the Puerto Rico Region, gains 24 spots in his STL qualifying session on Thursday, earning the Hawk Brake-Through Performer award for the class, and gaining the most number of spots of any class.