(edited 9/27 at 6:27 p.m. EDT to reflect Campbell's penalty)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (September 26, 2015) – Just 0.018-second separated first and third place at the finish line on Saturday during the F Production race at SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB, with Kevin Ruck, of Atascosa, Texas, taking his second national title. Charlie Campbell, of Corry, Pennsylvania, and Eric Prill, of Topeka, Kansas, crossed the finish line three wide with Ruck on the track.
Campbell was later penalized three positions by the stewards during the race, elevating Prill to second and Ken Kannard, of East Troy, Wis., to the podium.
Ruck’s title in the No. 73 Hoosier/Honda Performance Development Acura Integra came after a series of incidents throughout the 14-lap race, which ran caution-free for an average speed of 94.963 mph. Ruck also turned the fastest lap of the race in 2:12.419 (96.784 mph).
“This whole season was not normal for us. Last year, I moved down to south Texas and we ran out of central Ohio forever. I’ve been racing for 15 years now, and that was obviously a big wrench in things.
“I ran five different tracks this year, including this one, and every single one was new to me. That’s pretty amazing after 15 years to be able to do that, and honestly kind of helped. Every event I went to, I had to learn a new track in a day.“
During the first two laps, it was apparent that Gary Baucom’s No. 189 Fiat 124 was a rocket ship, rushing around the outside of a five-deep pack each and every time the lead group hit the banking. Baucom was slower through the infield, however, and was tapped and spun by Campbell’s No. 89 Hoosier/Carbotech/Jesse Prather Motorsports Mazda Miata exiting the International Horseshoe on lap three.
Heading into the bus stop, on lap four, Ruck ran wide into the corner and shot through the grass on exit, moving onto the NASCAR banking well behind the now three-car pack of Joe Huffaker, Campbell and Prill.
“I was up behind Charlie, and I thought if I can just sit behind Charlie and push him, we could break this train up a little bit,” Ruck said. “I got out of it, and gave him some room, and then I turned it back to the right and the rear end just snapped. Knowing there was a freight train coming behind me, I just wanted to gather it up and not tank slap. I did, and just gathered it up and clobbered a massive cone.
“It was still really early in the race at that point, and those guys were racing really hard up front. So if someone falls out, or something happens, you just keep running real hard. At that point, I made the mistake, and I owed it to my team to just run as hard as I could.”
With Campbell’s Miata pushing Prill’s No. 7 MaxtonsFight.org/JPM/Hoosier Mazda Miata down the back straight as they chased Huffaker, Campbell missed the braking zone and got into the back of Prill, spinning Prill and allowing Huffaker to get away. This incident, as well as the contact with Baucom, resulted in Campbell’s penalty.
“I felt really, really bad at the bus stop early on when Eric and I got together,” Campbell said. “I gave him room, we broke good, I just got on the gas quicker than him and just tapped him. That’s really all you have to do in the corners is just tap him. The next thing was, just don’t hit him. I went through the infield of the bus stop trying not to get collected, I knew there were other people coming behind us. I just couldn’t believe we got going and stayed up there the best we could.”
On lap nine, with Campbell now a distant second and Prill being chased for third by Ken Kannard’s No. 51 Northwest Cable Construction/Hoosier Mazda Miata and a recovered Ruck, Huffaker spun with a flat tire on his No. 77 Huffaker Engineering Mazda Miata. Huffaker’s spin left Campbell, Ruck, Prill and Kannard to battle for the lead over the final five laps.
Prill moved around Campbell with a strong run exiting the bus stop on the final lap, creating a gap and leaving Ruck and Campbell side by side behind him. Staying against the double yellow line at the bottom of the track, Ruck and Campbell used the draft to move to the outside just before the finish line, leading to the final finishing order.
“I thought I was in the right position, actually, and there was a lot of talk that somebody let someone by on the last lap so that they could be behind and try to drive past on the last lap,” Prill said. “I thought I was in the right spot, and I knew that Kevin was back there, but I knew how fast I was through the bus stop. The problem was, Charlie got a wiggle and kind of checked up, and I had to pull out and move around him in the bus stop and it set them up to draft on by. That’s the way it goes here at this race track, and it’s exciting. I was trying to duck my head down to be as aerodynamic as possible, but I was a sitting duck at that point.”
“I had a bobble in the bus stop, and I figured I was done right there,” Campbell said. “Kevin actually did kind of bump me and got me going. I don’t know if that actually helped him or not, but he may have still gotten around both of us. I feel bad that I did that little bobble, because I knew what it did to Eric. He was right there to push me, so it was kind of one of those ‘could have, would have, should have’ things.”
Campbell’s penalty elevated Kannard to third, with Jerry Lamb’s No. 42 MG B finishing moving to fourth and Campbell fifth.
Mark Weber, in his record 53rd Runoffs start, finished seventh after starting 13th to win the Sunoco Hard Charger award in the No. 25 Mazda/Red Line Oil/Goodyear/ESCP Mazda Miata.
The 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27.
The live broadcast of all 27 National Championship races is available live at SCCA.com, along with live timing and notes. Each race will be on demand at a later date.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Final results for Saturday’s SCCA F Producion National Championship at the 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.
1, (1), Kevin Ruck, Atascosa, TX, Acura Integra, 14.
2, (4), Eric Prill, Topeka, KS, Mazda Miata, 14.
3, (6), Ken Kannard, East Troy, WI, Mazda Miata, 14.
4, (9), Jerry Lamb, Oswego, IL, MG B, 14.
5, (5), Charlie Campbell, Corry, PA, Mazda Miata, 14.
6, (11), Paul Kullman, Seminole, FL, Mazda Miata, 14.
7, (13), Mark Weber, Saint Louis, MO, Mazda Miata, 14.
8, (14), Kyle Baker, Angleton, TX, Mazda Miata, 14.
9, (7), Kent Prather, Wakarusa, KS, MG A, 14.
10, (16), W. Jeffry Stein, Oviedo, FL, Volkswagen Scirocco, 14.
11, (12), Michael Lewis, Cooper City, FL, Acura Integra, 14.
12, (15), Paul Jensen, Colorado Springs, CO, Mazda Miata, 12.
13, (2), Gary Baucom, Monroe, NC, Fiat 124, 10.
14, (20), Richard Fohl, Richmond, VA, Mazda Miata, 9.
15, (19), Tony Machi, Hales Corners, WI, Honda CRX Si, 9.
16, (3), Joe Huffaker, Petaluma, CA, MG Midget, 8.
17, (18), Sidney Collins, Apopka, FL, Porsche 356, 4.
18, (17), Michael Hart, Mundelein, IL, Turner 1500, 4.
19, (8), Andy Deatherage, Pompano Beach, FL, Suzuki Swift GT, 0.
20, (10), Bill Hingston, Aurora, CO, Mazda Miata, 0.
Length of Race: 50 miles
Overall Time of Race: 31:29.415
Average Speed: 94.963 mph
Fastest Race Lap: #73 Ruck, 2:12.419 (96.784 mph)
Lap Leaders: #189 Baucom, laps 1-2; #89 Campbell, laps 3, 9, 13; #77 Huffaker, laps 4-8; #7 Prill, laps 10-12; #73 Ruck, lap 14
Sunoco Hard Charger: #25 Mark Weber
Image:Ruck leads Campbell, Prill on the track.
Credit: Mark Weber
