“Slow” is not in Charlie Peter’s vocabulary.
The Kansas City Region member began racing with SCCA® in 2018 in Touring 2 – the wins came fast. Come 2020, Peter set his sights on the National Championship Runoffs®, driving a BMW M235iR. The result was a third-place qualifying position and a second-place finish, barely four seconds behind multi-time National Champion Mark Boden.
In 2021, Peter returned to the Runoffs in T2, this time qualifying second and earning another silver medal. 2022 brought the same result. But in 2024, everything changed. Competing in a Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup car in GT-2 as well as a BMW M2 CS Cup car in Touring 2, Peter scored the Tire Rack Pole in GT-2 and started the T2 race in second. The starting position didn’t matter, though, as Peter drove away from both fields at the 2024 National Championship Runoffs presented by Sunoco and left Road America with two gold medals around his neck.
The pair of wins rapidly accelerates Peter’s Runoffs gold medal count toward that of his father, Hans, who owns three.
What Hans doesn’t have that 28-year-old son Charlie now does, however, is his name on the Road Racing Drivers Club’s (RRDC) Mark Donohue Award.
Per the RRDC: “Selected by members of the RRDC each year since 1971, the award recognizes the driver exhibiting the most outstanding performance at the annual Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs in terms of personal spirit and skill behind the wheel. Originally called the ‘Outstanding Performance Award,’ the honor was later named after Mark Donohue, a former SCCA Champion, an inductee in the SCCA Hall of Fame and past president of the RRDC, following his death in 1975.”
Current RRDC President Bobby Rahal called Charlie Peter to give him the good news.
“I was at work when I saw an incoming call from an unrecognized Ohio phone number,” Peter said during the RRDC award ceremony that took place on Jan. 22, 2025, at Daytona International Speedway during the Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend. “I figured if it was important, they could leave a message. Thankfully, he left a message because after listening to the voicemail, I realized I had ignored a phone call from Bobby Rahal! Before calling him back, I prepared my IndyCar driver contract acceptance speech.”
The Mark Donohue Award design changes each year, but is traditionally a trophy consisting of a motorsports wheel of significance sitting under a glass top. This year, the wheel was donated by Meyer Shank Racing and was used on its No. 60 Acura GTP car that was involved in victories at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and the Mobil 1 Petit Le Mans with drivers Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun.
You can also witness Charlie Peter’s runs to the gold at the 2024 Runoffs by watching below.
Photo by Stefan Jackowniak
