Following 13 laps of intense battles around Road America’s 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit during the 60th anniversary SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® presented by Sunoco at Road America, Touring 4 (T4) racer Alex Lozano claimed his first Runoffs gold medal. But Runoffs wins are known for not coming easy, and this one certainly lived up to the reputation.
In his Runoffs debut, Detroit Region's Matt Spicuzzi narrowly secured the T4 Tire Rack Pole position in his No. 63 Blueforce/Huffmaster Racing Mazda RX-8. His time of 2:34.430 was a scant 0.007sec faster than that of teammate Lozano. Just 0.437sec back of Lozano’s qualifying time sat Marc Cefalo, making anticipation high that the race would be an intense three-car battle for the gold. Meanwhile, 0.353sec covered the fourth to seventh place qualifiers, with all top seven qualifiers in Mazda RX-8s. In addition, the top eight all qualified below the existing Runoffs qualifying record.
In other words, the T4 race that kicked off the morning of Oct. 5 – the second of three Hagerty Race Days at the 2024 Runoffs – was going to rock.
The green flag flew and Spicuzzi jumped to the front, with Lozano tucking in behind; they were chased by Cefalo and Christian Braunlich, plus the Blethen twins, Raymond and Stephen. The clean start quickly turned into a single-file lineup looking to create a breakaway.
And breakaway they did. Within a lap, Spicuzzi, Lozano, and Cefalo pulled away from the second pack led by Braunlich, with all drivers largely staying in line. Spicuzzi’s strength seemed to be on the long straights, with Lozano and Cefalo prospering more in the tighter sections.
By lap three, Cefalo began applying gentle pressure to Lozano, with Lozano’s RX-8 looking unstable in some of the higher speed braking zones.
On lap 4, Ethan Barker suffered a left-rear failure through the Carousel, leading to a full-course caution led by the Mazda safety car as the emergency crew quickly responded. The caution wiped out the multi-second advantage the top three of Spicuzzi, Lozano, and Cefalo had built over Braunlich, Raymond Blethen, and Scotty B. White.
The race returned to green at the halfway point, with drivers throttling toward Turn 1 in the now familiar single-file fashion to start lap seven. Cefalo decided he couldn’t wait, pushing past Lozano on the inside through Turn 6. Other drivers saw weakness and pounced, shuffling Lozano back as far as fourth before he finally slotted into third.
Nearing lap 10, Cefalo poked a nose under Spicuzzi into the Bill Mitchell Bend; then in Turn 1, he led a charge for him and Lozano past Spicuzzi, with Spicuzzi slightly dropping from the quick pace Cefalo was setting.
Lozano, now in second, forced the issue for the lead through Canada Corner, snatching the top spot from Cefalo. But Cefalo didn’t let the challenge go unanswered, keeping his nose close to Lozano’s bumper. Meanwhile, Spicuzzi’s luck appeared to be running thin, as Braunlich claimed third from him through Turn 5. Then with a couple laps to go, Spicuzzi retired to pit lane.
On the final go-round, it was a two-car battle as Cefalo was glued to Lozano’s bumper. Cefalo poked a nose in on Turn 3, then again into Turn 5, but Lozano ran defensive enough to not hand over opportunities.
It turned into a drag race to the line, but Cefalo came short at the stripe to the tune of 0.183sec, with Lozano earning his first Runoffs gold medal in his second attempt. Braunlich crossed under the checkered flag nearly five seconds later, followed by Raymond Blethen in fourth and White in fifth.
“It was a crazy race,” Lozano said. “Mark was all over me the whole time. [I] made a couple mistakes and had to claw him back. And yeah, it was a great race for sure.”
As for the twitchiness of the Western Michigan Region member’s No. 98 Blueforce Healthcare/HR/Hoosier Mazda RX-8 under braking? “We had a problem really early on. I felt something go wrong on the right-hand side and I just tried to manage it the whole race, and I bent a couple of wheels in the process. But I think that's worth it for the top step of the podium.”
Cefalo’s first Runoffs was 2003, with 2024 being his 11th attempt at the gold. Until this year, his best finish had been fifth. “It feels good,” the Northeastern Pennsylvania Region member said of his second-place finish. “We've had a lot of ups and downs at past Runoffs – never been on the podium before and we gave it all we could.”
Cefalo brought a T4 Miata and an RX-8 to test, finally choosing to run his No. 00 Planet Miata Mazda RX-8 in the race. “I actually started racing RX-7s back in the ’90s. It's kind of coming back to my roots, if you will,” he said.
This was Braunlich’s second trip to the Runoffs, now adding a third-place trophy to the silver he earned last year. “We need that top step – we’re still looking for it,” the Central Carolinas Region member said of the race in his No. 83 Eckerich Race Engr/Mazda/Hoosier Mazda RX-8. As for this race: “I just had to keep my head down. We've been chasing these guys all weekend, we weren't on race pace and I just kept my head cleaner and down.”
The Sunoco Hard Charger award went to Dirk Straussfeld, who started 12th and finishing seventh.
The 60th anniversary of SCCA’s National Championship Runoffs® presented by Sunoco, the Pinnacle of American Amateur Motorsports, crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Road Racing National Champions this year at Road America — in Elkart Lake, WI — during Hagerty Race Days, Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 6.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races, presented by Mazda, is available throughout the three days of competition on SCCA.com, and at SCCA’s official YouTube channel. Live timing and scoring for each race is also available at SCCA.com/live.
Below are final results for Saturday's Touring 4 race at the 2024 SCCA National Championship Runoffs, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, and laps completed.
1, (2), Alex Lozano, Brighton, MI, Mazda RX-8, 13.
2, (3), Marc Cefalo, Swoyersville, PA, Mazda RX-8, 13.
3, (4), Christian Braunlich, Fort Mill, SC, Mazda RX-8, 13.
4, (6), Raymond Blethen, Londonderry, NH, Mazda RX-8, 13.
5, (8), Scotty B White, Auburn, WA, Ford Mustang V6, 13.
6, (13), Izzy Sanchez, San Jose, CA, Scion FR-S, 13.
7, (12), Dirk Straussfeld, Sealy, TX, Mazda RX-8, 13.
8, (10), James Ebben, Appleton, WI, Mazda MX-5, 13.
9, (5), Stephen Blethen, Bow, NH, Mazda RX-8, 13.
10, (14), Tony Kiratsous, San Jose, CA, Scion FR-S, 13.
11, (1), Matt Spicuzzi, Waterford Twp, MI, Mazda RX-8, 11.
12, (11), Paolo Salvatore, San Antonio, TX, Ford Mustang V6, 9.
DNF, (9), Ethan Barker, Houston, TX, Mazda MX-5, 3.
DNF, (15), Leann Falk, Tolar, TX, Mazda 3-S, 3.
DNS, (7), Chris Haldeman, McKinney, TX, Mazda RX-8, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 Miles
Overall Time of Race: 37:48.421 (avg. 83.515 mph)
Margin of Victory: 00.183 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:34.208 (94.501 mph)
Lap Leaders: #63, Laps 1-9; #98, Laps 10-13
Sunoco Hard Charger: #123 Dirk Straussfeld
Photo by: Jeff Loewe
