The Chicago Region June Sprints® presented by WeatherTech® is upon us. Part of the Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA® Super Tour (HST) and Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing program, this is the 71st consecutive running of the event. Road America is again the venue in 2026, with the excitement going down June 5-7 in Wisconsin.

“It’s Not Just Another Race™” is the proclamation of SCCA’s Chicago Region concerning the June Sprints. To support that statement, the Region strives to create a very special experience each year. That includes one-of-a-kind trophy plaques for podium finishers on Sundays, as well as a ‘who’s who’ list of motorsport luminaries that have served as Grand Marshals.

Former June Sprints Grand Marshals include Lyn St. James, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Carroll Shelby, Bobby Rahal, Carl Haas, David Hobbs and IMSA President John Doonan. Joining that illustrious list in 2026 is Cooper MacNeil.

“A longtime member of Chicago Region, Cooper MacNeil is a very skilled and accomplished racing driver,” said Dave Tatge, Regional Executive for Chicago Region. “He has achieved so much, and we are honored to have him as Grand Marshal for the 2026 Chicago Region June Sprints.”

The son of an avid SCCA racer, MacNeil was christened a member of the Club one year after birth. He went on to become a Daytona 24 Hour winner, two-time Sebring 12 Hour winner, three-time Petit Le Mans winner, three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans podium finisher, and four-time Ferrari Challenge Champion. In addition to those triumphs, he was the 2019 National Championship Runoffs® winner in Touring 2, where he also netted a Super Sweep title that year.

“My dad was an SCCA member for a long time,” MacNeil reminisced. “He raced various classes in SCCA through the ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000s. Guess I started my affection for motorsports at one year old because of SCCA.”

Growing up at tracks such as Blackhawk Farms, Road America, Sebring and Daytona while watching his father having #funwithcars further cemented a love for racing.

“Every little boy wants to be one of two things, right? Either an astronaut or a racecar driver,” MacNeil joked. “I was always around cars growing up and didn’t really grasp racing from a competitive standpoint. I just thought it was cool.”

When he was 15 years old, MacNeil climbed into an SCCA Improved Touring car. With coaching from his well-seasoned father, as well as SCCA Hall of Famer Randy Pobst, MacNeil grew a sturdy base from which to launch. He then hit the track in 2008 for SCCA competition, which became the springboard to awesomeness. Along the way, however, he put in a bunch of hard work, and learned a lot about racecraft and team development.

Having grown up near Road America, being back at the National Park of Speed as Grand Marshal of the June Sprints is something simply fantastic for MacNeil.

“Road America for me is my home track,” MacNeil glowed. “It’s one of the best tracks in the country, if not the world.

“It’s an honor to be the Grand Marshal at the June Sprints,” MacNeil continued. “With how much history the June Sprints has with my family and SCCA’s Chicago Region, this is quite special. It’s super cool.”

More from Cooper and the June Sprints

At some point during the weekend, MacNeil will be a guest on HST’s online broadcast produced by DriversEye Live. It’s available for free anywhere around the world. Coverage starts with qualifying, so tune in and catch all the live action through SCCA’s YouTube page. Enlightened commentary will be provided by Gregg Ginsberg and pro racer Tom O’Gorman all weekend.

Better yet, the event at Road America is open to spectators. Be part of the party with a three-day pass at $70 per person. Saturday-only entry is $40, and the price is the same for Sunday-only admittance. Anyone 16 years of age and under gets in free with a paying adult.

Access to live Timing/Scoring throughout the weekend can also be found here.

Photos by John Burchardt and Jay Bonvouloir

(This article is adapted from an article that originally appeared on the SCCA Pro Racing®-sanctioned Trans Am Series website gotransam.com.)

The resurgence of the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli and the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series is being noticed in the racing world. Just ask Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who spoke about the series’ status as a proving ground for aspiring racers this week on his podcast, the Dale Jr. Download.

Over the May 8-10, 2026, weekend, NASCAR’s three national series and the ARCA Menards Series competed at Watkins Glen International, marking the second road course weekend of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. This led to a conversation about the role of the Trans Am Series in preparing up-and-coming drivers for the highest levels of road course racing, as well as its glory days in the 1980s and 1990s.

“I think if you’re going to call any kind of motorsport sexy, I would say it’s the Trans Am Series, just in the name alone,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “They did some badass racing, good looking cars like Mustangs and Camaros. They raced a little bit like NASCAR in the sense that there was contact, they raced hard. It was a little bit aggressive at times, it was fun.”

One name in particular that caught Earnhardt, Jr.’s eye over the weekend was Brent Crews. While Crews is a three-time race winner on the zMAX CARS Tour, co-owned by Earnhardt, Jr., he is also a former CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series champion.

Crews qualified on the pole in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, leading 19 laps and finishing seventh. On Saturday, Crews led 32 of 82 laps in a field that included Shane van Gisbergen and seven-time TA2 race winner Connor Zilisch, finishing sixth.

“Brent Crews is out there kicking ass in the O’Reilly Series race,” said Earnhardt, Jr. “You’ve got SVG, you’ve got all these guys out there, Zilisch, all this competition, all these great race cars, and Crews is out there putting a six-second lead on them in stage one. It’s because of the time they’re spending in Trans Am.”

Earnhardt, Jr. also noted how one of his own JR Motorsports drivers, Carson Kvapil, has benefitted from experience in Trans Am, along with other rising stars such as Tristan McKee.

“I think you’re going to see a lot more of that from a lot of the guys coming up, like Brent Crews, Tristan McKee,” he said. “Tristan McKee is a name in the Spire pipeline. He’s been in the Trans Am system. Carson Kvapil, how does Carson Kvapil, who ran Millbridge and the CARS Tour, go out and be a top-10 guy at Watkins Glen? Because of his Trans Am experience.”

Earnhardt, Jr. concluded that, if he had the chance to lay out a development plan for a future star of the sport, he would include Trans Am competition to build a road course resume.

“Can these guys learn it? Yes, they can, and they can learn it in the Trans Am Series. If I had a young kid that I thought was worth the focus, you know, worth tutoring, I’d have him racing in Trans Am.

“I would probably them select events in the ARCA Series to get some big track, like Charlotte, that kind of stuff, I’d race some CARS Tour full-time, and I’d run a bunch of Trans Am races just to get them as much road course racing experience as I can. It seems like the guys that are doing the Trans Am Series, and then they’re coming into Trucks or O’Reilly, they’re damn good road course racers right out of the gate.”

For more information about the SCCA Pro Racing-sanctioned Trans Am Series, head to gotransam.com. 

Photo courtesy Dale Jr. Download

Autocross in the Sports Car Club of America™ lets drivers share a car during events, but what does that really mean, and how does someone become a co-driver? Perennial co-driver Will Teller explains what it means to share a car at competitive events, how to find a co-drive and what the role of a co-driver truly is. If you have been looking for a smart way into SCCA® Autocross, start here.