The end of Sunday’s eight group races at VIRginia International Raceway means that we are now officially halfway through the Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour season, with five races behind us and five still to go this season. Before we look too far ahead, though, let’s see what we may have learned this week at the most recent stop on the Tour.

Another Young Superstar

You can’t throw a hammer in the Hoosier Super Tour paddock these days without hitting another teenage racer and upcoming superstar.

This week, the SCCA world was introduced, officially, to Ethan Goulart. The 14-year-old fourth generation driver and son of four-time SCCA champ Elivan Goulart made his second Super Tour appearance on this weekend at VIR. It went well, to say the least – Goulart left with a pair of runner-up finishes that could have been wins over Danny Steyn. Saturday’s was a photo finish, and Sundays race floated away on the final lap when he went off track to avoid a spinning car on the last lap and gathered it back up, but couldn’t move back to the lead.

It was a better bit of race craft than you might expect from a 14 year old, but was on par for someone with 10 years of racing experience. That’s right, Goulart has 10 years of racing experience.

In addition to growing up at the track, Goulart began karting at four years old. It started local, and then expanded, as it does, to traveling the country looking for the best competition. Which is why the weekend was bittersweet – while it could have been better, he knew he had done the best he could.

“Unfortunately it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to work out on the last lap, but we had the pace to win,” Goulart said.

And it wasn’t unnoticed. His closest rival this weekend, Danny Steyn, had plenty of nice things to say both about his race craft and his speed on the podium. Beating the youngster made his win sweeter – that’s the talent that Goulart carries.

The well-spoken young man is hoping it carries him all the way to a pro career.

“I want to make a career out of this, no matter which way it works,” Goulart said. “That’s the goal. Mazda Motorsports puts on a great foundation here at SCCA with really great classes. It’s super competitive, we’re always bumper to bumper. And it teaches you race craft and character, too. I can’t thank Mazda enough for the class they put on.

“Racing in IMSA as a pro is the ideal situation. Obviously Connor Zilisch did it at 17, now he’s doing NASCAR, he’s already won the 24 and the 12 (at Daytona and Sebring). We want to follow those footsteps a little bit, but at the same time I want to make my own pathway.”

He’s well on his way down that path.

Not Very Well Rested

Blake Wilson captured the GT-3 class win on Sunday, but that wasn’t particularly a lesson learned. We already knew he could drive, and the Wilson Racing team has long cranked out fantastic GT-3 cars that were capable of winning championships (as evidenced by father Stacey’s 2016 crown and multiple podiums).

What we did learn is that Blake can still win races on a lack of sleep. He and his wife welcomed a baby girl just three weeks ago, making this win extra special with them all at the track.

Congratulations to the Wilsons!

Street Car To The Rescue

Christian Braunlich stood on top of the Touring 4 podium on Sunday at VIR, besting Marc Cefalo and Scotty White – an impressive feat.

But it was more impressive because his street car saved the day.

Braunlich needed to replace the transmission in his Mazda RX-8 race car, but technically didn’t have a spare. Until he looked around and took the only sensible option – he pulled the transmission from his 2009 street car and put it into the race car.

It worked, of course, and that’s what matters in racing. How he’s getting home, we suppose, was a problem for Future Christian that he’ll figure out now.

Technical (School) Inspection

Joining the SCCA tech team at VIR is a trio of students from Lanier Tech in Gainesville, Georgia, near Road Atlanta. Each are part of the Motorsports Vehicle Technology program led by John Leverett, designed to learn essentially every aspect of working on a race car.

Hunter Redmon, Nathaniel Welch, Cody Staton and their friend Shelby Robbins came to Road Atlanta to see how an SCCA event worked, and decided they wanted to do more this weekend at VIR. So they traveled together, coming to the event to help out. In addition, program students and graduates were other places in the program, working for teams like the Atlanta-based Comprent Motorsports competing on-track.

All came into the program as race fans, but have expanded their vision thanks to the work they’ve seen first-hand.

“When I was younger, NASCAR was my biggest thing, but I loved watching Sonoma and Watkins Glen,” Redmon said. “Once I got into the program, I experienced a lot more road racing and it changed my eye for racing in general.”

The program actually began with the goal of creating mechanics for the Panoz Racing program, but as that program fizzled away it stretched its placement and its value to the motorsports world.

Each student begins with an intro program to cover the basics, starting with measuring. Then there are classes on fiberglass, engines, transmissions and gear boxes, fabrication and more. It’s a true hands-on program.

And it’s help develop the racing bug.

“My first goal is to get myself into a team, whether that’s SCCA, IMSA or NASCAR, whatever it may be,” said Redmon, who wants to eventually open his own motorsports prep shop. “I want to get more experience at it to learn more about how it all comes together.”

And Leverett’s leadership has made the program more than just theoretical, something the students appreciate.

“He knows people,” Redmon said of the motorsports veteran. “If you really want to do a certain thing, you have to do it yourself and show that you want to do it, but he’s willing to help you get out there. Before this year, we didn’t have any people in IndyCar and now they are.”

And Staton concurred, realizing that you can always learn about a race car but need to know where to put that knowledge to use to make a career out of it.

“Not only do you get the experience, but you also get the connections to get your foot in the door to do it,” Staton said.

The four are already making plans to head to at least one more Hoosier Super Tour, and potentially the Runoffs this season.

Wave The Checkered Flag

Another 26 drivers took home class wins on Sunday at VIR in the 14 lap races (or 35 minutes, whichever comes first). Those class winners, with name and car, are below, with an asterisks (*) to designate those who won on both Saturday and Sunday (all results listed were based on provisional results – official results can be found on the event page here):

American Sedan: James Jost, Ford Mustang
B-Spec: Stewart Black, Chevrolet Sonic
E Production: John Hainsworth, Mazda RX-7
F Production: Robert Garrison, Mazda Miata
H Production: Steve Sargis, Triumph Spitfire
*Formula 600: Cory McLeod, Red Devil Aero
*Formula Atlantic: Tony Ave, Swift 016/Mazda
*Formula Enterprises 2: Russell Turner, Formula Enterprises/Mazda
*Formula F: Chris Smith, Van Diemen RF00/Honda
Formula Vee: Mitchell Ferguson, Vorscha GB4/Volkswagen
*GT-1: Michael McAleenan, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO
GT-2: Barry Boes, Ford Mustang
GT-3: Blake Wilson, Mazda RX-7
GT-Lite: James Gregorious, Mazda RX-7
*GT-X: Woody Whichard, Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport
*Prototype 1: Todd Vanacore, Elan DP02
*Prototype 2: Sherman Chao, Stohr WF1
*Super Touring Lite: Chuck Hines, Mazda MX-5
*Super Touring Under: Darin Treakle, BMW 325
Spec Miata: Danny Steyn, Mazda Miata
Spec MX-5: Noah Harmon, Mazda MX-5
Spec Racer Ford Gen 3: Russell Turner, Spec Racer Ford
*Touring 1: Mark Boden, Mercedes-AMG GT4
*Touring 2: John Heinricy, Cadillac CT4 Blackwing
Touring 3: Simon Foweather, BMW 330ci
Touring 4: Christian Braunlich, Mazda RX-8