TOPEKA, Kan. (October 1, 2013) – The 2014 SCCA U.S. Majors Tour schedule, along with a common format across each and every event, was announced today by the Sports Car Club of America. The Mid-States, Northern and Western Conferences will each host six events, with the Eastern Conference hosting seven race weekends.
The 2014 season gets underway just after the New Year in the Eastern Conference with the Winter Vacation Majors, visiting Sebring International Raceway, January 3-5, and Palm Beach International Raceway one week later, January 10-12. The Western Conference season follows with its opening round at Auto Club Speedway, January 18-19.
Each race weekend on the 2014 calendar will feature a common format. All will be double race weekends, with Saturday’s race a 20-minute timed sprint race, and Sunday’s race the traditional 45-mile format. Both races will count for full points and receive trophies and commemorative checkered flags, though the full podium ceremonies will only take place for Sunday’s races.
Each Sunday will open with a brief warm-up session and then the group races gridded based on the best lap time from the weekend up to that point (qualifying and sprint race), with time for podium ceremonies built into the schedule.
“A consistent message we receive is that race groups need to have compatible classes to ensure a quality racing experience,” SCCA Vice President of Club Racing Terry Ozment said. “In order to schedule enough run groups, there simply isn’t enough time to run a pair of 45-mile races in a workable weekend timeframe.”
Events that traditionally draw more than 150 cars will run a three-day schedule, with smaller attendance events having a two-day option.
“With a lot of feedback from members and competitors, we learned a lot during last year’s U.S. Majors Tour,” SCCA President/CEO Jeff Dahnert said. “From the season schedule to the weekend format, we’ve made improvements this season to a program that had already provided the Club Racing with a spark in 2013. The 2014 season will be even better.”
As was the case in 2013, the Northern and Mid-States Conferences will begin their respective Championships later in the year.
The preliminary schedule for all four Conferences, with some events and dates yet to be determined:
Eastern Conference Jan. 3-5: Sebring International Raceway Jan. 10-12: Palm Beach International Raceway March 21-23: Road Atlanta TBD April: VIRginia International Raceway TBD May/June: New Jersey Motorsports Park July 4-6: Watkins Glen International Aug. 1-3: Summit Point Motorsports Park
Mid-States Conference TBD Feb./March: Circuit of the Americas April 5-6: Hallett Motor Racing Circuit May 24-25: Pueblo Motorsports Park July 5-6: High Plains Raceway Aug. 30-31: Heartland Park Topeka (Conference Finale) - One additional event from Southwest Division will be added to the calendar.
Northern Conference May 2-4: Blackhawk Farms TBD May/June: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course TBD June: Road America, Chicago Region June Sprints July 12-13: GingerMan Raceway July 26-27: Road America Aug. 23-24: Grattan Raceway
Western Conference Jan. 17-19: Auto Club Speedway TBD March: Inde Motorsports Ranch April 25-27: Buttonwillow Raceway Park May 24-25: Pacific Raceway July 4-6: Portland International Raceway (Conference Finale) - One additional event from San Francisco Region will be added to the calendar.
More information on the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour is available at www.sccamajors.com , and on the Sports Car Club of America at www.scca.com. Like SCCA on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCCAOfficial, or follow on Twitter @SCCAOfficial.
U.S. Majors Tour
