The 2025 SCCA® National Convention kicked off on Thursday, Jan. 16, with two key events. First (and as tradition dictates back to the Club’s founding in 1944), the Annual Meeting took place. There (and among other Club business), the state of the Club was presented. Following that, the National Convention turned to celebration as the SCCA Road Racing department presented its biggest awards of the year.

Hosted by SCCA President and CEO Mike Cobb, SCCA’s Vice President of Road Racing Eric Prill, and Director of Road Racing Jeff Barrow in a live online presentation, the Club celebrated the Mechanic of the Year, David Morrell Award, Jim Fitzgerald Rookie of the Year Award, John McGill Award, Kimberly Cup, and President’s Cup.

Mechanic of the Year

The racers are often the face of a team, but in reality, it’s the crew that presents the racers with that opportunity to win. Without a safe and fast race car to pilot, all the talent in the world isn’t enough to put someone on the top step of the podium. SCCA’s Mechanic of the Year award celebrates exactly that, noting outstanding performances in the pit and paddock, and is chosen by the Club Racing Board and the SCCA tech staff based on submissions received from the community. For the 2024 season, the Mechanic of the Year award went to Chicago Region member Grant Stoneberg.

Joining the SCCA in 2022, Stoneberg’s work with Advanced Autosports was quickly recognized, with Stoneberg winning the Spec MX-5 Challenge’s Crew Member of the Year award in 2023. His work with Advanced Autosports has made him a vital part of the team, with one nomination for SCCA’s Mechanic of the Year award reading: “There’s no mechanic I trust more to keep my car together, thereby keeping me safe.”

Along with a crystal trophy commemorating this award, Stoneberg will also receive $500 to put toward his tools of the trade.

David Morrell Memorial Award

Recognizing an active Steward in the Stewards Program who has exhibited an outstanding performance and dedication to the sport and its highest principles and selected by the Chairman of the Stewards and the Executive Stewards, the David Morrell Award is bestowed upon the best. This year, that honor went to New England Region member Kathy Barnes.

A Club member since shortly after attending her first event in 1971, Barnes has received three of SCCA’s most prestigious National awards. In 2001, she was presented with the Solo Cup, then in 2004, she received the Woolf Barnato Award. In 2014, Barnes was then inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame. These awards were earned largely due to her involvement with the Solo® community, from being a multi-time chair of the Solo Nationals to chair of the Solo Events Board and chairing the Solo Safety Committee; some awards even extend to her time on the SCCA Board of Directors. The 2024 David Morrell Memorial Award, meanwhile, was presented to Barnes for her involvement in SCCA Road Racing’s Steward program

Barnes has been the Race Director of the “East” Hoosier Super Tour events, transferring the operational success she developed in the Solo community to the world of road racing, benefiting everyone from the workers to racers who take part in the Super Tour weekends she oversees. Yet this is far from her first foray into SCCA Road Racing, as she originally joined the Road Racing Stewards program in the 1990s.

From her skill behind the wheel at autocrosses to her excellence as a volunteer, Barnes earning the 2024 David Morell Memorial Award is yet another example of the incredible dedication she puts into everything she does.

Jim Fitzgerald Rookie of the Year

Selected by the Club Racing Board based on nominations submitted by the Executive Stewards, the Jim Fitzgerald Rookie of the Year award is presented to the SCCA Road Racing driver showing the greatest promise as evidenced by their driving performance during their first season of National competition. This year’s winner, 18-year-old San Francisco Region member Ethan Lampe, competed in the new (and challenging) Spec MX-5 class at the National Championship Runoffs and bested the 23-car field to take Runoffs gold in his very first attempt at an SCCA National Championship title.

It took three qualifying sessions for Lampe to score the Runoffs pole, but when he did, he took full advantage of the track position. Maintaining the lead at the start and through a restart, Lampe looked like a seasoned veteran as he fended off challenges from the rest of the field. At the checkered flag, though, it was Lampe with the win by a scant 0.161sec over Ethan Jacobs, ultimately earning Lampe the 2024 Jim Fitzgerald Rookie of the Year award.

John McGill Award

The John McGill Award is presented annually in recognition for significant contributions to the SCCA Road Racing program. The winner is chosen by the Club Racing Board (CRB) and the head of the SCCA Road Racing department. For 2024, the award was presented to two people: Cal Club Region’s husband-and-wife power couple Mark and Ceci Smith.

Known as “Flagger Mark,” Mark joined SCCA in 1992, with Ceci’s membership with the Club beginning just two years later. Since then, Ceci and Mark have become essential workers in Cal Club as well as on the National level.

As his nickname implies, it’s no surprise to discover that Mark holds a National Flagging & Communications license; he also holds National licenses in Race Administration and Scrutineering, as well as a Regional Registrar license. Mark has also won SCCA’s Worker of the Year award not once, but twice – the first time in 2000 for Flagging & Communications and the second time in 2017 for Race Administration.

Ceci holds National licenses in Race Administration and Registration, as well as a Regional Scrutineering license, and beyond being the glue that holds Cal Club’s road racing program together, she is the Hoosier Super Tour Series Administrator for the “West” events. Furthermore, she heads up Victory Circle celebrations at the Runoffs. Like her husband Mark, Ceci has also won SCCA’s Worker of the Year honors twice, the first time in 2004 for Flagging & Communications and the second time in 2016 for Race Administration.

Kimberly Cup

Recognizing outstanding improvement and achievements during the SCCA Road Racing season, it’s rarely easy to select the Kimberley Cup winner, but thanks to a season-long performance that shined from his first race of the year to the 2024 Runoffs, Wichita Region’s Tyler Ladd was the obvious choice.

Joining the Club in 2017, the 28-year-old racer is not new to the SCCA, but his racing program stepped up significantly in 2024 when he acquired and began racing an E Production race car with a proven record. Ladd went four-for-four during the 2024 Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour season (ultimately winning that title) and won Runoffs gold in an impressive flag-to-flag victory. Combined with the U.S. Majors Tour® Southern Conference title he also earned, Ladd was one of only two road racers to win SCCA’s Super Sweep in 2024.

Now he adds the 2024 Kimberly Cup to his trophy shelf.

President’s Cup

Originally presented by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and now presented by current and past SCCA presidents, the President’s Cup recognizes the driver demonstrating ability, competitiveness, and success at the National Championship Runoffs. This year’s recipient was New England Region’s Ethan Goulart.

Racing alongside his father Elivan in Spec Miata during the 2024 National Championship Runoffs, Ethan put his No. 72 SCDA/Krugspeed/Kessler/Hoosier Mazda Miata on the Tire Rack Pole with a lap time of 2:41.106. It should be noted that his dad earned P2 with an identical time of 2:41.106, with the tiebreaker going to the younger Goulart.

Ethan controlled the race, taking the win by 1.133sec over a field that included numerous Runoffs podium finishers. In the process of becoming a gold medal winner in only his second Runoffs attempt, at 15-years and 174-days old, Ethan’s victory placed him in the record book as SCCA’s youngest Runoffs champion.

And now he joins his father as a recipient of SCCA’s President’s Cup.

Photo caption: (Clockwise from top left: Kathy Barnes, Ethan Lampe, Grant Stoneberg, Tyler Ladd, Ethan Goulart, and Mark and Ceci Smith. Bottom left is the SCCA Staff team of Eric Prill, Deanna Flanagan, Mike Cobb, and Jeff Barrow)