The 18 run groups for the 2026 SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco at Road America have been announced, along with the path for drivers to receive an invitation to participate in the winner-take-all event.
The Runoffs will again take place across seven days, beginning with optional testing, followed by qualifying and culminating with two Hagerty Race Days, Oct. 3-4, 2026. The number of test days and qualifying days will be finalized later, following the evaluation of post-2025 event survey data and event feedback.
Fourteen of the 18 Runoffs run groups will remain unchanged from 2025. The 2026 event will, however, experience several adjustments, most notably the inclusion of Prototype 2 and Formula 600. To fit those classes into the two Hagerty Race Days at the Runoffs, Prototype 2 will be included in the combined Formula Atlantic® and Prototype run group – that Runoffs race will feature a single split start, with Formula Atlantic in one part of the split, and a blended grid of Prototype/Prototype 2 class cars for the other part of the split. Formula 600 will also return to the Runoffs, with F600 drivers being added to the Formula F run group.
Where Formula Continental® shared a race group with Formula F at the 2025 Runoffs, in 2026, Formula Continental will race with Formula Enterprises® 2. The 2026 Runoffs will also complete the consolidation of GT-3U into Super Touring® Under.
2026 SCCA National Championship Runoffs Run Groups
- B-Spec
- E Production
- Formula Atlantic and Prototype/Prototype 2*
- Formula Enterprises 2 and Formula Continental
- Formula F and Formula 600*
- F Production
- Formula Vee
- GT-1 and Touring 1*
- GT-2
- H Production
- Spec Miata
- Spec MX-5
- Spec Racer Ford Gen3
- Super Touring Lite
- Super Touring Under (includes the cars previously in GT-3U)
- Touring 2 and American Sedan
- Touring 3
- Touring 4
* Class on probation. Must have a minimum of 10 Runoffs participants to name a National Champion.
The Details…
“While the fundamental reasons for shortening the Runoffs and targeting 18 races remain, the Club must be able to adapt based on what has transpired since the class announcements in August 2024,” said SCCA Vice President of Road Racing Eric Prill. “The plan announced last year had an aggressive path to potentially have 18 competitive and well-subscribed classes, each with single-class races, by 2026. That’s a stretch goal, and we aren’t there yet.
“Single-class racing remains the desired goal for the Runoffs, but 2025 showed that multi-class racing is better for a lower-subscribed class than not racing at all in 2026.”
In 2025, Formula Continental (FC) and Formula F (FF) were grouped together at the 2025 Runoffs, but a more appropriate grouping for FC is with Formula Enterprises 2 (FE2).
“This adjustment opens an opportunity for Formula 600 to return to the Runoffs in 2026, running with Formula F,” Prill noted. “That puts classes that share the track throughout the season together at the Runoffs.”
“The consolidation of P1 and P2 into a single Prototype class didn’t work as expected, primarily due to the investment needed to convert a P2 car to a competitive specification in the new class,” said Dayle Frame, Chairman of the Club Racing Board (CRB), adding, “The planned consolidation of American Sedan and Touring 2 never really got off the ground and is no longer being pursued.”
While some of the initiatives haven’t proven successful, the inclusion of GT-Lite into F Production and steps toward the inclusion of GT-3U cars into Super Touring Under fared better. “There are still some ongoing adjustments to be made on the balance of performance, but those combinations have shown to be successful thus far,” said Frame.
“As with the announcement about the Hoosier Super Tour classes and groupings, these are adjustments based on what we’ve seen in the last year, from an individual class and overall participation standpoint,” Prill added. “For the 2026 Runoffs, Road America is a long circuit with opportunities for classes to separate from one another. Eventually, the Runoffs will move to a different circuit where multi-class races may not be as desirable. The goal of the consolidations has been to provide an opportunity for members to continue to race their current cars with some adjustments, rather than potentially be left without a class to participate in.”
The Path to the Runoffs
The path to receive an invitation to compete at the National Championship Runoffs will be altered for 2026, with the performance requirement of finishing in the top half of a Conference or Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour point standings removed (SCCA GCR 3.7.4.A.1.b). This simplifies the path to a driver needing to participate in a minimum of three separate U.S. Majors Tour weekends (regardless of Conference or designation as a Hoosier Super Tour or Conference Majors event) and finishing at least three individual races across those weekends. A driver may still replace a Majors weekend participation with two separate Regional-sanctioned weekends, referred to as the Two Majors + Two Regionals (2+2) path.
Season-long points championships will still be up-for-grabs within each U.S. Majors Tour Conference and the Hoosier Super Tour, with top finishers that participate in the Runoffs being eligible for the Runoffs Appearance Fund.
Click here to view a detailed breakdown of the path to the Runoffs for 2026.
“As an organization, SCCA is primarily focused on providing access and promoting participation as we head into 2026,” said Prill. “The changes for the upcoming Runoffs are in line with those goals, giving drivers the option of racing at the events of their choosing, including the Runoffs, and competing for championships at a local and National level.”
Photo by Jeff Loewe
