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.
Photo by: Jay Bonvouloir
