TOPEKA, Kan. (March 25, 2014) – Sports Car Club of America has released the initial schedule for the 51st National Championship Runoffs®, to be held this October 7-12 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The event’s Supplemental Regulations, Entry and Parking Information are also available at www.scca.com/runoffs.
Schedule & Sound The first trip to the left coast in 46 years will feature the traditional three days of racing (Friday, Oct. 10 through Sunday, Oct. 12), preceded by three days of qualifying (Tuesday, Oct. 7 through Thursday, Oct. 9). The schedule for race days has been posted, with the qualifying groupings and order planned for announcement Sept. 12, following evaluation of early entries.
“With the move to the West Coast, our Runoffs driver population will change, meaning the classes that had big fields in 2013 might not be the same in 2014,” Terry Ozment, SCCA VP of Club Racing said. “Once the early deadline passes Aug. 29, we will be able to finalize the qualifying groups and run order for each day.”
Also factoring into qualifying day and race day order are local sound ordinances.
“While we can have cars on track from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, the first and last half hours of the day are limited to 90 decibels,” Ozment said. “We have worked with SCCA Enterprises to ensure a muffler program for the Spec Racer Ford class to meet that requirement. Outside of SRF, there is no viable option to ensure that all cars will meet 90db without changes that could significantly affect the competition.
“For that reason, the one thing that we can say with certainty regarding the qualifying schedule is that Spec Racer Ford will run at 8:30 Tuesday through Thursday. Being scheduled as the opening act each day will have one benefit, though, as each session will last 30 minutes, as opposed to the 20-minute sessions for the other classes throughout qualifying.”
Sound for the other classes is limited to 103db per the GCR. For race days, the sound limit for every class, including SRF, is 103db. Full sound information is available in the event Supplemental Regulations as well as on the event home page at www.scca.com/runoffs.
Registration Worker registration for the 2014 Runoffs will open June 4, while driver registration will follow seven weeks later, on July 23. Driver car numbers from 2013 will be honored in the same class for one week, until July 30. Complete registration process, including car number conflict procedures, is included in the supplemental regulations. The event entry fee is set at $950.
“The Runoffs [business] model changes significantly starting this year,” SCCA Treasurer, Area 11 Director and Runoffs Champion Michael Lewis said in a letter to his fellow licensed drivers. “The most important change is our goal of moving the Runoffs annually to some of the most iconic tracks the country has to offer. We on the BoD not only thought this was the best future for the event, we were also responding to what we heard drivers/members asking for.
“One of the more painful changes to come from this new future is that entry fees will escalate. I know this will be painful for all and perhaps crippling for some. Unfortunately there's no way around it. In some ways, the pain we're feeling is the result of what a good job the national office has done over the past decade in keeping entry fees down!”
Parking Included in each entry for 2014 is a 30-foot long by 25-foot wide paddock space. Larger spaces are available for participants with trailers longer than 30 feet in length for an additional cost. Unlike in the past, where specific spaces were reserved in the paddock, participants will be assigned to a paddock area based on their space needs and registration date, and then parked as they stage to enter the facility. This will both ensure easy access to spaces and utilize every possible piece of real estate in the paddock. Space is limited, and the main paddock areas will be assigned by entry date.
“Without question, the most interesting challenge leading into the event is planning how to fit all of the participants into the paddock at Mazda Raceway,” Ozment said. “This process will require cooperation from the racing community, recognizing that space is incredibly limited.
“We ask our racers to consider coordinating their paddock compounds with others in order to conserve space, which is at a premium. During the registration process, we will ask for the footprint of your paddock compound, as well as with whom you may be sharing transporter or paddock space so we may plan accordingly.”
Entrants wishing to paddock next to specific people are encouraged to stage together prior to entering the facility. South Boundary Road will be open for staging Thursday, Oct. 2 and Friday, Oct. 3 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Paddock parking will begin Saturday morning and run daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Several special parking places and opportunities are planned for the event. All Spec Racer Ford participants will paddock in the area driver’s right between Turns Two and Five, with a separate tech area within their own paddock. A limited number of garages are available for rent adjacent to pit lane, with further details in the supplementary regulations. Several auto manufacturers will have tents set up and available for their customers, including a special paddock area and tent for Mazda, as was the case at Road America. Additional information about the manufacturer tents will be released prior to the opening of registration.
Testing While recent Runoffs events have included multiple days of testing leading up to race week, the 2014 event will have a single test day, Monday, Oct. 6. Test day registration will be available with Runoffs event registration, with additional information (including test day fees) being available prior to the opening of registration.
All Runoffs event information is available at www.scca.com/runoffs. Additional questions can be directed to the SCCA Club Racing department at clubracing@scca.com or by calling 800-770-2055.
2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs
