Jason Miller has been trying for a championship for 30 years, first coming to the Runoffs in 1996 in a D Sports Racer. But this year, at the 62nd SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco at Road America, the resident of nearby Plymouth, Wisconsin, finally made his dreams a reality. With two second place and three third place Runoffs finishes to his credit, this was his first time atop the podium
Prototype was the final race of the first of the two Hagerty Race Days, and the Prototype class was grouped with Formula Atlantic for the planned 13-lap or 40-minute (whichever elapses first) race. In the ordinary way of things, these classes are fast enough that the time limit never comes into play, but that's not the way it worked out at Road America's 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit today.
The Tire Rack Pole Award winner was Lee Alexander, driving the No. 48 Stohr WF1 Kawasaki. On the outside front row was Lawrence Loshak in the No. 111 Elan DP02 Mazda. Between the two polesitters, there were seven prior championships and three additional podium finishes. Jason Miller occupied third position in the No. 0 Kohler/Millennium/Hoosier Wynnfurst West Kohler 2-Stroke, while Bart Wolf occupied the outside second row spot in the No. 28 Goodyear Elan DP02 Mazda.
The start was split between the Formula Atlantic® (FA) and Prototype classes, and FA went first. When the green flag dropped for the Prototypes, Alexander moved into first place heading into Turn 1, followed by Loshak, Wolf, and Miller. In just the second lap, Wolf and Miller got around Loshak heading into Turn 1, as the fast Prototype cars began to catch the back of the Formula Atlantic field.
Alexander held onto the lead for two more laps, followed by Wolf, Miller, Loshak, Todd Vanacore in the No. 19 Elan DP02 Mazda, and Perry Richardson in the No. 69 Stohr WF1 Suzuki. On lap four, Wolf, who won last year's Prototype 2 championship before the P2 and P1 classes were merged, took the lead on the front straight. For a time, Wolf and Alexander seemed set to pull away from Miller, Richardson, and Loshak.
However, the leaders in FA were working their way through the Prototype field, creating a knot of cars at the end of the front straight heading into Turns 1 and 2. The second- and third-place FA cars made contact with the No. 77 Stohr of Michael Moulton running in Prototype, bringing out a full-course caution that ticked away much of the time left in the race.
When the safety car turned off its lights and went to the pits, the race restarted with four laps to go, but the FA and Prototype cars were still largely intermixed. Miller smartly used the restart to charge ahead, moving into the lead by Turn 5, with Wolf right behind him. Loshak took himself out with a slide into the gravel at the exit of the Carousel. Richardson made the last pass of the race in Turn 14, getting around Wolf before another full-course caution was declared to retrieve Loshak's car.
The race ended under caution with Miller claiming the victory for Milwaukee Region SCCA and his hometown of Plymouth, followed by Richardson of San Francisco Region and Los Gatos, California, and Wolf, also of Milwaukee Region and Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
"This is my hometown, my home track with some wonderful competitors and a wonderful team and a wonderful wife and daughters," Miller gushed in Victory Circle. "It was just fantastic racing. I've had it go the opposite way so many times, and I can't thank everyone and God and everyone enough for this opportunity. It's such a blessing and an opportunity to showcase a car that so many people have given their blood, sweat, and tears to. My crew has been working 16 hours a day since Sunday to provide a car that I could drive. I’m so thankful for all of that and for Kohler Company, Millennium, and just so many people who have made this happen. I'm just the nut behind the wheel!"
After the race, Richardson was elated. "This was a miracle. I pulled it out of a hat somehow. The car didn't trailer well from California, but we just kept working at it and working at it. We finally got something that behaved. We thought we were not going to have the pace and somehow magically the race came to us."
Taking the bronze, Wolf was circumspect. "This was not the result we wanted, but I'm really glad the cars are in one piece," he said. "It was really ugly and hairy, but I'm glad we're in one piece."
Fourth place went to Alexander, of Tennessee Region, while fifth position went to John Goeden of Milwaukee Region. The Sunoco Hard Charger award went to Richardson, who started sixth and finished second.
The 62nd SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco is the pinnacle of American amateur motorsports and crowns Sports Car Club of America™ Champions as part of the Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing program. In 2025, two Hagerty Race Days at Wisconsin’s Road America decide 23 gold-medal winners.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races is available over both competition days at SCCA’s Official YouTube Channel. Live timing and scoring for each race is also available at SCCA.com/live.
Below are final results for Saturday’s Prototype race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Sunoco; with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, SCCA Region, car, and laps completed.
1, (3), Jason Miller, Milwaukee Region, Wynnfurst West Kohler 2 Stoke, 11.
2, (6), Perry Richardson, San Francisco Region, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 11.
3, (4), Bart Wolf, Milwaukee Region, Elan DP02 Mazda, 11.
4, (1), Lee Alexander, Tennessee Region, Stohr WF1 Kawasaki, 11.
5, (8), John Goeden, Milwaukee Region, Elan DP02 Mazda, 11.
6, (7), Tyler Thielmann, Milwaukee Region, Elan DP02 Mazda, 11.
7, (9), Mike Reupert, Milwaukee Region, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 11.
8, (10), Todd Parks, New England Region, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 11.
9, (12), Richard Colburn, Cincinnati Region, Nostendo 1 Suzuki, 10.
10, (14), William B Niemeyer Jr, Cincinnati Region, Sorcerer Suzuki, 10.
11, (2), Lawrence Loshak, Milwaukee Region, Elan DP02 Mazda, 10.
12, (5), Todd Vanacore, Central Florida Region, Elan DP02 Mazda, 5.
13, (13), Michael Moulton, North Carolina Region, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 5.
DNS, (11), Brian Lindstrand, Milwaukee Region, Van Diemen Prince - LSR Kawasaki, 0.
DNS, (15), Greg Case, Central Illinois Region, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 44.53 miles
Overall Time of Race: 28:54.125 (avg. 92.439 mph)
Margin of Victory: 5.303 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:02.122 (119.330 mph)
Lap Leaders: #48, Laps 1-4; #28, Laps 5-9; #0, Laps 10-11
Sunoco Hard Charger: #69 Perry Richardson
Photo by: Jay Bonvouloir
