In the Summit Racing Equipment SCCA® Road Racing program, there are numerous titles you can win. There’s Regional and Divisional championships, there’s the U.S. Majors Tour® Conference Championships and Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour Nationwide Points Championships, and there’s the gold medal at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs®. Yet while many racers accomplished some of these feats in 2024, only two drivers earned this year’s Super Sweep – one of whom was Tyler Ladd.
SCCA Road Racing’s Super Sweep award is the most difficult accomplishment a driver can achieve. To win the Super Sweep, a driver must win a U.S. Majors Tour Conference Championship, a Hoosier Super Tour Nationwide Points Championship, and a National Championship Runoffs race, all in a single class.
A Wichita Region member since 2017, Tyler Ladd stepped behind the wheel of his E Production-class No. 51 BMW Z3 on Sunday, Oct. 6, looking to earn his first National Championship title. Before the Runoffs race began, Ladd had already locked in the U.S. Majors Tour E Production Southern Conference title. The Super Tour was another story. With four wins to his name, Ladd was tied for second in the points, although the gap to first was a solitary point. In other words, a solid performance at the Runoffs for anyone in the top three in the E Prod Super Tour points race (namely Don Tucker, Ladd, or John Hainsworth) would lock in the Super Tour title – but of those three, only Ladd and Hainsworth were in contention for E Production Super Sweep honors.
“We won every race we entered: Eagles Canyon – sweep, Hallet - sweep, June Sprints® - sweep, then the Runoffs – won [and set EP lap records],” Ladd explains of his 2024 SCCA Road Racing season.
Success was never something Ladd assumed would come naturally with the acquisition of his new race car. “Theres a lot of fast folks I had to beat,” he says. “There was never a guarantee. We took every race as they came.”
Ladd’s chances of a Runoffs win – and, subsequently, the Super Tour win and Super Sweep – were looking promising even before the Runoffs green flag flew, as Ladd had locked in the Tire Rack Pole over Hainsworth. Still, there were a lot of unknowns he was facing.
“I had never raced Hainsworth before, so I didn’t know where I stood up against him,” Ladd says of the 2024 Runoffs race at Road America. “So, when we started trading the pole position back and forth, I felt like, well, I met my match, and that I might choke at the Runoffs because I feel like the only place to pass is in the braking zones, but I know I was at the edge of mine – I didn’t know about Hainsworth, though. [I was worried] I might get stuck following Hainsworth around, being unable to make a pass if I didn’t get the pole.”
During the Runoffs race, Ladd took control from Turn 1 and never look back – impressive, especially considering this was only his third Runoffs attempt. While Hainsworth never trailed Ladd by more than a second or two during the race, when Hainsworth’s car broke on the final lap, Ladd’s drive to the Runoffs win – and the Super Sweep – became a sure bet.
What does Ladd plan to do in 2025? “Honestly, I guess try to do it all again – do some Super Tours, the June Sprints, and the Runoffs,” he says, adding that it comes with a caveat. “I don’t know how you can do any better than what we just did. But what I do know is that it will be a lot more difficult. I feel like Hainsworth will be as hungry as ever, and Jon Brakke will want redemption from what happened to him this year [at the Runoffs]. So, the 2025 Runoffs will be even better than this year’s.”
Since the Super Sweep’s creation in 2009, there have only been five times that resulted in two or fewer Super Sweep winners in a year. In 2012, Gerald Szykulski took the honor racing in Formula Continental®, then in 2018, Spec Racer® Ford Gen3 racer Robeson Clay Russell was the solitary Super Sweep winner. For double winners in one year, there was 2013 (Chris Farrell, DSR; Scott Rettich, FE), 2014 (Scott Rettich, FE; Matt Reynolds, EP), and 2022 (Andrew Aquilante, GT2; Chip Romer, P1). The most Super Sweep winners in one year is seven, with that occurring in 2009, ’16, and ’20.
Learn more about the SCCA Super Sweep by clicking here.
Photo by Stefan Jackowniak
(Editor's note: This article was updated with new information following its original publication.)
