The thunderous roar of 18 GT-2 cars opened up action Saturday afternoon during the first of two Hagerty Race Days that make up the 63rd Mission Foods SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® held Oct. 3-4, 2026, at Road America.
John Atwell, in the No. 07 XRC/DFW Concrete/A&J Lab Portal Ford Mustang, led competitors to the green flag for the 13-lap contest after claiming a Tire Rack Pole Award. He earned that Friday with a record-breaking GT-2 qualifying lap of 2:09.634 around the 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit in Wisconsin's Elkhart Lake.
Going into Turn 1, Atwell was side-by-side with Brad McAllister, in his No. 80 Hoosier/Periodontal Associates Toyota Camry, who started second. By Turn 3, Atwell had the lead. McAllister, however, was relegated to third thanks to a charging Tony Ave in a Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup.
Down the long Moraine Sweep and into Turn 5, Ave closed in and took the lead on the opening lap. He held that top spot until the third lap when Atwell reclaimed it heading into the third corner. A lap later in the same corner, McAllister was able to move around Ave for the second spot. At that point, fourth was held by the No. 51 Hoosier/Kalin Construction/G-Loc Dodge Viper ACR-X of Jonathan Start, and Jack Stanford sat fifth in a Ford Mustang. Sixth belonged to Lonnie Hochstetler in a Chevrolet Camaro, and reigning GT-2 Champion Jorge Nazario was seventh in a Chevrolet Corvette.
Atwell, from SCCA’s Texas Region, expanded his lead for the next several laps and was never really challenged on his way to a 20-second margin of victory when the checkered flag flew. That earned him his first Runoffs victory in three starts. He also reset the GT-2 Runoffs race lap record at America’s National Park of Speed with a time of 2:10.650.
“It was fun and a really good weekend for us,” Atwell said before heading to victory podium to uncork a bottle from Mazza Wines, the Official Sparkling Wine supplier to SCCA. “We unloaded pretty fast, then we just improved on it. This has always been a race that I haven’t been able to complete. Now I have, so I can check that off my list.”
McAllister also had a relatively uneventful trip to the runner-up spot by race’s end, with a 5-second margin back to the third-place finisher. For McAllister, that is his third silver medal at the National Championship event.
“Second is better than third. So, I’ll take it,” McAllister quipped after the race. “I didn’t have anything for John (Atwell). So, well done on his part.”
The third and final podium step was contested for a bit by Ave and Start. By the fifth lap, Start had gotten by and continued on to his fourth bronze medal in 14 Runoffs starts.
“It’s not the result that we wanted,” Start admitted. “But it was a good race and a good weekend.”
The back half of the race became a contest to see if other drivers could get by Ave to improve their spots. Hochstetler had removed himself from the conversation earlier after a trip through the grass exiting The Kink, and Stanford had already slipped down the running order.
Nazario and Stephen Sauers, however, tried to close in. But Ave ended up holding the fourth spot, finishing one-second ahead of Sunoco Hard Charger award winner Nazario who started ninth and finished fifth. Sauers finished sixth in a Ford Mustang.
The 63rd Mission Foods SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® 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 2026, two Hagerty Race Days at Wisconsin’s Road America decide 23 gold-medal winners.
The live, online Runoffs Broadcast presented by Mazda features video 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 provisional results for Saturday’s GT-2 race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs; with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, and laps completed.
- 1, (1), John Atwell, Azle, TX, Ford Mustang, 13.
2, (2), Brad McAllister, Battle Ground, WA, Toyota Camry, 13.
3, (3), Jonathan Start, Caledonia, MI, Dodge Viper ACR-X, 13.
4, (4), Tony Ave, Maiden, NC, Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup, 13.
5, (9), Jorge Nazario, San Juan, PR, Chevrolet Corvette, 13.
6, (8), Stephen Sauers, Savannah, GA, Ford Mustang, 13.
7, (10), Ike Keeler, Jenison, MI, Toyota Celica, 13.
8, (5), Jack Stanford, Commerce, GA, Ford Mustang, 13.
9, (7), Robert Kacprowicz, Martindale, TX, Ford Mustang, 13.
10, (11), Robert May, Waukesha, WI, Dodge Challenger, 13.
11, (12), Tom Patton, Fairfield Twp, OH, Sunbeam Tiger, 13.
12, (13), William Moore, Chagrin Falls, OH, Chevrolet Camaro, 13.
13, (14), Jim Valdez, Portland, OR, BMW M3 E46, 13.
14, (17), John Brown, Hot Springs National Park, AR, Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup, 12.
15, (16), Thomas Burt, Fort Myers, FL, Chevrolet Camaro, 12.
16, (18), R. Paul Evans, Denton, TX, Panoz Esperante GTS, 12.
DNF, (15), Joe Kristensen, London, ON, Nissan 350Z, 4.
DNF, (6), Lonnie Hochstetler, Tempe, AZ, Chevrolet Camaro, 3.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 miles
Overall Time of Race: 28:57.721 (avg. 109.020 mph)
Margin of Victory: 19.114 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:10.650 (111.541 mph)
Lap Leaders: #144, Laps 1-2; #07, Laps 3-13
Sunoco Hard Charger: #165 Jorge Nazario
Photo by Jay Bonvouloir
