Perry Richardson is an SCCA National Champion in his seventh time of asking, claiming the Prototype title in a dramatic fashion in a photo finish with the defending Prototype champ Jason Miller on the second and final Hagerty Race Day of Oct. 4, 2026, of the 63rd running of the Mission Foods SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® at Road America. This was, indeed, a race no one could have predicted.
Prototype shared a race group with Prototype 2 and Formula Atlantic (FA), with FA taking the green flag first and Prototype and Prototype 2 following in a combined start. From his Tire Rack Pole position, Richardson’s No. 69 Stohr WF1 Suzuki was clear of any threats by Turn 3, and by the end of the opening lap, second-placed Miller in the unique No. 0 Kohler/Millennium/Hoosier Wynnfurst West Kohler Two-Stroke was over three seconds adrift. The defending champion was pursued closely by Lee Alexander’s No. 48 Factory48/Hoosier-backed Stohr – a new-build after his previous chassis burned down – and the Elan DP02 Mazdas of Bart Wolf and Todd Vanacore.
On lap two, Wolf suffered a moment and fell to seventh, while Vanacore was up to fourth ahead of Lawrence Loshak and Tyler Thielmann.
On lap three, Loshak's Elan came to a stop on the front straight under the Mission Foods bridge, and a Prototype 2 car collided with it. A full-course yellow quickly gave way to a red flag while workers cleared the damaged cars and debris. Race officials shortened the race, originally scheduled for 13 laps or 40 minutes, whichever came first, to finish in a two-lap sprint. After an extended delay, all three classes restarted together, with drivers again seeing the green flag, the white flag one lap later and then the checkered flag.
Richardson’s restart should have been aided by the buffer of a FA car between himself and Miller, but in fact, Miller took no time to dispose of the FA car, and when Richardson found himself baulked by more FA cars, Miller couldn’t capitalize because he also encountered the same problem. In fact, it was Alexander, who had restarted third, who got the cleanest run following the restart and was able to snatch the lead, albeit briefly.
Miller managed to recover, and he and Richardson both passed Alexander, before Richardson then dived down the inside of Miller at Canada Corner to reclaim the class lead. However, Miller’s two-stroke race car saw him hit the front up the long front straight to lead into Turn 1. Again, Richardson fired back but knew he hadn’t got it made.
Sure enough, gunning out of the final turn and heading up the hill for the last time, Miller almost timed his pass to perfection, but in a photo finish, Timing & Scoring revealed that Miller had fallen short of defending his National Championship by 0.007sec, and that Richardson had claimed his very first Runoffs title.
“What a finish!” remarked the victor. “I didn’t even know until they told me who came out in front. I’m sure I wasn’t the only driver frustrated by how those last two laps unfolded – everybody was chomping at the bit. But yeah, I can’t believe it!”
A gracious Miller said: “That’s the way the cookie crumbles. We had a great car, and it was a challenging race not just for us. I was very happy with the performance of the car, and very happy with the team and everyone involved.”
He added, too, that as defending National Champion, he had come into the race with a different mindset.
“The pressure was off and I was having a lot of fun,” said Miller. “And a quick congratulations to Perry – he drove a great race, and that’s how it’s supposed to go, you know? It’s supposed to come down to millimeters!”
Alexander’s third place wasn’t the win, but he admits this field was skilled. “Nobody was really making any big mistakes,” he said. “You just have to be almost perfect.”
Todd Vanacore finished the race in fourth, Tyler Thielmann claimed fifth (whose run from eighth on the grid earned him the Sunoco Hard Charger Award), and John Goeden crossed the line sixth.
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 official results for Sunday's Prototype race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs; with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, and laps completed.
- 1, (1), Perry Richardson, Los Gatos, CA, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 6.
2, (4), Jason Miller, Plymouth, WI, Wynnfurst West Kohler 2-Stroke, 6.
3, (2), Lee Alexander, Plymouth, WI, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 6.
4, (6), Todd Vanacore, Ormond Beach, FL, Elan DP02 Mazda, 6.
5, (8), Tyler Thielmann, Kiel, WI, Elan DP02 Mazda, 6.
6, (7), John Goeden, Wind Lake, WI, Elan DP02 Mazda, 6.
7, (10), Gary Peck, Poplar Grove, IL, Stohr 01D Kawasaki, 6.
8, (3), Bart Wolf, Elkhart Lake, WI, Elan DP02 Mazda, 3.
DNF, (9), Lawrence Loshak, Milwaukee, WI, Elan DP02 Mazda, 2.
DNF, (5), Fritz Seidel, Milwaukee, WI, Elan DP02 Mazda, 1.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 24.29 miles
Overall Time of Race: 58:08.554 (avg. 25.064mph)
Margin of Victory: 00.007 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:03.283 (118.206 mph)
Lap Leaders: #69, Laps 1-6
Sunoco Hard Charger: #6 Tyler Thielmann
Photo by Jay Bonvouloir
