With the Sept 29-Oct. 5, 2025, SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco days away, it’s time for the final day of our “Who Will Win?” series — and we’ve saved the sexiest classes for last. Between Prototype, Formula Atlantic®, Formula Continental®, Formula F, and Formula Vee®, these race classes are the head turners, attracting some of the biggest names in racing over the years. Consequently, these classes have launched many a professional racing career and produced some of the best racing ever seen at the Runoffs. This year will be no different.

We begin today’s predictions with the muscle of the grouping: Prototype and Formula Atlantic. These two classes are some of the fastest around, likely to set the track ablaze with their unabashed speed. Formula Continental comes next, with its quick and nimble performance. Then we jump to Formula F and Formula Vee, both of which have laid witness to some of the most incredible runs for the gold the sport has ever seen.

So, who will win those classes once the 2025 SCCA Runoffs hits Road America this week? We don’t know, but we’re willing to take a few guesses. You’ll find those below.

Before you get there, though, check out these links that will tell you who’s racing, when they’re racing, and how you can watch as the action unfolds live, because the Runoffs races during both Hagerty Race Days will be broadcast live on SCCA’s YouTube channel, and you won’t want to miss a moment.

• SCCA Runoffs homepage
• SCCA Runoffs Entry List
• SCCA’s YouTube Channel

Prototype

“You could take an eight-sided dice — if there was such a thing — and roll it. I mean, there’s definitely eight people capable of winning the race. Really! It’s going to be a great one to watch.”

So exclaimed reigning Prototype 2 National Champion Bart Wolf when asked for his own pre-Runoffs prediction (which he humbly refused to offer).

Wolf, though, is our pick to take top honors in the new “Prototype” class, which combined the P1 and P2 classes. The 2025 Prototypes feature some sophisticated overall weight and restrictor-plate balancing of the automotive and four-stroke/two-stroke engines carried forward from their CSR/DSR/S2000 sports racing roots. The points is, these cars are quick — easily on par with the Formula Atlantic machinery they’ll race with on Saturday at this year’s Runoffs.

At the moment, racing with the Formula Atlantic cars isn’t something Wolf is concerned about.

“Traditionally, the Prototypes and the Atlantics have all raced well together,” Wolf explained, “so I think it’ll mix up well.”

Wisconsin native Wolf lives a stone’s throw from Road America, tests there frequently, and has made six of his previous 15 Runoffs starts (13 in Sports 2000, two in P2) on the 4.048-mile-long road course.

“Of course it’s an advantage living so close,” he admitted. “But the disadvantage is having my business so close, too — a real distraction during race week.”

Indeed, Bart’s downtown Elkhart Lake Wolf Motorsports is an expansive automotive, motorcycle, snowmobile, and personal watercraft repair and prep facility demanding much of his time.

This year, four Prototypes will fly the Wolf Motorsports and Milwaukee Region banner at the Runoffs — Wolf himself; John Goeden (who came through the “Kohler camp” and who this year purchased the other ex-Romer DP02); five-time SCCA National Champion (and Trans Am® race winner) Lawrence Loshak; and Runoffs debutant Fritz Seidel.

Also under the Wolf tent this fall, though not officially a team member, will be experienced Tennessean Lee Alexander, a two-time National Champion (CSR 2013; P1 2021) making his 14th Runoffs appearance — our pick to be Wolf’s closest challenger.

Wolf won this year’s Chicago Region June Sprints® round of the Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour, but in close pursuit was our pick to complete the 2025 Prototype podium: Jason Miller. The WynnFurst-Kohler stalwart has notched five podium appearances from his 26 previous Runoffs starts dating back to 1996. Will this year mark a top-step reward for his perseverance?

Formula Atlantic

Last year’s race was a thriller, with Iowan Dudley Fleck, a Runoffs competitor on and off since 1987, claiming his first SCCA National Championship in just his fourth Runoffs FA start.

Fleck narrowly edged our pick to take top honors in 2025, Kansan Hans Peter (father of reigning T2 and GT-2 champ Charlie), the Midwestern pair intent on recreating the drama and close finish (0.91sec) of 2024.

We’re predicting Hans Peter to flip the script and best Fleck this year, largely a result of his eye-popping win in the rain at this year’s Chicago Region June Sprints®.

“I’ve had many close races with Dudley Fleck over the years. He won last year, so he’s definitely the one to beat,” said Peter, fifth generation CEO of the Olathe, Kansas-based commercial printer, Phenix Label.

Rounding out a duplicate of our 2024 1-2-3 predictions is evergreen Tony Ave, a veteran of nine Runoffs appearances and 20 starts (five last year!) making only his third FA start.

“Ave should never be left out,” said Hans. “With the most gold medals and unmatched experience, he’s always a threat.

“I have great respect for all the FA drivers this season,” Peter went on, “but [beyond Fleck and Ave] a few stand out: James French is half my age, has already won FA [at Indianapolis Motor Speedway], and seems to win in every series he enters. If he shows up in a newer Swift and keeps the engine together, he’s the favorite in my mind.

“Then there’s Shane Kennett and John McAleer — both getting faster as they get more time in the 016. Either one of them could be right there.”

Peter added that his secret weapon has always been engineer/crew chief [and three-time FA National Champion] Mirl Swan.

“Swan Motorsports has more SCCA FA titles than anyone, and Mirl never stops — he’s on the car from sunup to sundown,” Hans said. “I know my car will be ready.

“I’m due,” he concluded, “and if it rains, I really like my chances — the June Sprints proved that.”

Oh, and there is a wild card, Peter noted, in the form of the Prototypes running with the Atlantics in the late Saturday afternoon race.

“With the split start, whoever gets the outright pole in qualifying won’t have to fight through as much traffic. That means, in a way, we’re also racing against Prototypes. Should make things interesting.”

Formula Continental

Our crystal ball came within three laps of accurately predicting the winner of the Formula Continental race at the 2024 National Championship Runoffs. Tire Rack Pole winner Tim Minor’s Citation outpaced arch-rival Michael Varacins’ Van Diemen on the start and, following a mid-race restart, led every lap at start/finish, and he appeared destined to claim a second National Championship FC title.

Instead, he suddenly veered off track on the 11th go-round, within 12 miles of the finish.

“A stub axle broke,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve had a lot of stuff happen, man. All the cards have gotta fall in the right place [to win] this thing. You can do the best prep work in the world, but you can’t predict the future. It’s frustrating — and nothing you can do but shake it off.”

The two-time SEDiv and two-time F2000 Pro Series champion from Virginia has, indeed, shaken it off, making Tim Minor our pick again this year to take top FC honors, though 2024 Runoffs winner Varacins and 2025 June Sprints victor Brandon Dixon — our picks for silver and bronze — are capable of thwarting his plans.

“I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on [Road America],” said Minor. “I still feel pretty good there. I mean, I won there four times in 2024 — won both races at the June Sprints, won both F2000 pro races — and was on pole for the Runoffs.

“But there’s no downplaying the competition this year,” Minor continued. “Rob Allaer just signed up, and we’ve got [eight-time National Champion] Varacins, and [two-time F1000 champ] Brandon Dixon; we’ve got Dean Kiriluk, and teenager Carter Sheets — he’s the 2025 pro series champ, man.”

Varacins, the seven-time Formula Vee National Champion from Burlington, WI, made a one-off FC Runoffs start back in 1997, moving into the class full time in 2019, and will be determined to finish up front.

Dixon, a three-time F2000 pro series champ, will be making his 11th career Runoffs start but only his second in FC. The Alabaman bested Varacins at the June Sprints.

Sheets, the 2025 Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour FC points leader, finished fourth at the Sprints, a key summer FC event Minor reluctantly had to miss due to scheduling.

Minor will be making his 16th Runoffs start this fall. Having sold his interest in the Automotive Specialist Center repair facility three years ago, he said he is “just kind of doing my own thing right now in the shop at my house.

“I’ve been working really hard in the off season, doing a bunch of weight room stuff and working out,” he remarked. “I’ll be 65 in November. I feel like I may have lost a little bit, but I still think I have what it takes to win. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t go — I don’t go out there to finish second.”

Formula F

The “Who Will Win?” crystal ball has been stuck on one name in Formula F for several years now, ever since ex-kart racer and Team USA Scholarship winner Jonathan Kotyk showed up and began to dominate. Consequently, he’s our pick to win this year.

The young Floridian finished third in his 2017 National Championship Runoffs debut, then reeled off a string of victories — 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022.

He came “this close” to notching a fifth title in 2023, finishing a whisker-close second to Nolan Allaer (who gave the once-ubiquitous Ford Kent engine its first Runoffs win since 2011).

Making his own move to Ford power after an exploratory visit to the UK with his dad, Kotyk acquired an Arnie Loyning-tuned Kent Ford-Swift last year and gave it a near-perfect debut — an on-track victory that, sadly, was taken away due to an infraction.

“It was unfortunate,” he said. “But, you just have to go back and do it again the next year. You can’t flounder around on it, you know?”

Thus undaunted, Kotyk returns to Road America as focused as ever on a third attempt at breaking veteran Dave Weitzenhof’s record four SCCA FF National Championships.

Off-track, Kotyk has continued to hone his skills through coaching — notably coaching young kart racers, a full-time job now which has taken the college graduate with a marketing degree all over North America and Europe.

“I’ve kind of found a niche with it, coaching karters,” he explained. “Unlike road racing, karting is basically every single weekend. It’s pretty crazy right now — what these parents have lined up for their 7- and 8-year-olds.”

On his rare free weekends, Kotyk entered his venerable Mygale MJ14-Honda in a select few races. The Swift-Ford, though, is ready for a Road America return.

“I was actually in Ohio helping to get it together two days ago, so it’s in full swing. Last year, the Swift was pretty much right off the 1991 showroom floor. This year, we’ve put a little more love into it…”

Kotyk and car are ready, but once again there are serious young contenders among the 17 FF drivers entered — contenders like Calvin Kautz and Tazio Stefanelli, our picks this year to emerge as Jonathan’s primary rivals.

Kautz qualified on the pole last fall in just his second Runoffs FF start, and led four laps past start/finish, though was dropped back to sixth in the closing laps shuffle. Finishing third, right behind Kotyk’s Mygale in this year’s June Sprints, the Illinoisan clearly has the skill and pace to contend.

So too does Stefanelli, the defending FF champion — a first-time-out Runoffs winner. Like Kautz, an Illinois resident, Tazio too had a strong run at the 2025 June Sprints, and his slippery Spectrum chassis is well-suited to Road America’s long straights.

Then there are Nathan Down (Swift-Honda), Antonio Costantino (Piper-Honda) — third and fourth respectively in 2024 — and third-fastest qualifier Theodore Burns (Piper-Honda) who all return.

Kotyk will have his hands full.

Formula Vee

“Not sure I have anything new to say,” said three-time National Champion Andrew Whitston, our pick once again to win Formula Vee at the Runoffs.

“Just photocopy [last year’s article], paste it, and post it — that’s fine with me!” he added with a laugh.

True that his younger brother, Steve, pipped him at the line last fall at Road America to notch his first Runoffs win. But our picking Andrew (again) to win this year is otherwise a no-brainer: Andrew has destiny at his back, having collected Vee titles in the last three odd-numbered years, 2019, 2021, and 2023. Plus, his familiar red and white ’97 Protoform P2 dominated last year, qualifying on the pole and leading eight of the race’s 13 laps.

It’s really foolish of anyone, Andrew implied last year, to attempt to predict the outcome of any Formula Vee race on the storied Central Wisconsin road course:

“[Road America’s] definitely the worst as far as the finish goes,” he explained last year. “It’s just a — well, you’re just buying a lottery ticket and you see where you’re at on the last lap.”

Last year, Andrew’s long, late-race run in the lead lasted until the last corner and teed up baby brother Steve for his first Runoff’s win.

This summer, with Andrew out of town on business, Steve won the June Sprints; thus we’re betting he will emerge from the scrum as his older brother’s biggest challenger.

But don’t count out middle brother Zachary, the 2023 June Sprints winner, 2022 Runoffs runner-up, and 2024 Runoffs fifth-place finisher. Nor can we overlook two Abbott brothers (Andrew working a surreal streak of five consecutive bronze medal finishes); 2022 Champ Brian Farnham; Alex Scaler, oh-so-close in 2023; and several others — notably including the Whitston family patriarch, Rocket Ron, engine builder and Vee racer, making his 24th Runoffs appearance in 2025.

Note that both of Ron’s best Runoffs finishes were at Road America and that this summer he won The Cat — Milwaukee Region’s Cat Majors Vee race.

Sadly, one driver who won’t be on the grid this year is Formula Vee Hall of Famer Jonathan Weisheit, the Runoffs Vee race runner-up way back in 1979, one of the leaders in last year’s race, and friend to all in the FV (and FE2) paddock. Weisheit, tragically, passed away from a racing accident last month at his beloved home track, Summit Point.

As for who will win the 2025 Runoffs? Well, Andrew did say we could reprint his words last fall:

“Vee is always close,” he had said. “[But the race is] really wide open this year.”

Photos by Rick Corwine and Jeff Loewe