The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for Sports Car Club of America Club Racing competitors. Divisional champions and other top drivers from the SCCA's 116 regions are invited to participate at the Runoffs. National championships are awarded to the winners of each class. The Runoffs is regarded as the " Olympics of Amateur Road Racing."

History

The American Road Race of Champions (ARRC) began in 1964, as a non-championship round of the

SCCA National Sports Car Championship The SCCA National Sports Car Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Sports Car Club of America from 1951 until 1964. It was the first post-World War II sports car series organized in the United States The United Stat ...

. In 1965 the series was abolished, and national championships were awarded to each regional champion. The champions and other top drivers were invited to the ARRC. Beginning in 1966, only the winners at the ARRC were named national champions. In 1973, the event's name changed to the

Champion Spark Plug A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

Road Racing Classic.

Valvoline Valvoline Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of Valvoline-brand automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. It also owns the Valvoline Instant Oil Change and Valvoline Express Care chains of car repair centers. , it is the second ...

became the primary sponsor in 1985, and the race became known as the Runoffs in 1987. Other primary sponsors of the race have included

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

, Subway, Tire Rack and

Garmin Garmin Ltd. (shortened to Garmin, stylized as GARMIN, and formerly known as ProNav) is an American, Swiss-domiciled multinational technology company founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao in Lenexa, Kansas, United States, with headquarte ...

Sites

For the first six years, the event alternated between

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Rivers ...

on the west coast and

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NASC ...

on the east coast. The race found a permanent home at

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

in 1970, staying there until the track's bankruptcy in 1993. The Runoffs moved to

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regi ...

from 1994 until 2005, then to

Heartland Park Topeka Heartland Motorsports Park, formerly known as Heartland Park Topeka, is a multi-purpose motorsports facility south of downtown Topeka, Kansas near the Topeka Regional Airport. When it opened in 1989, Heartland Motorsports Park was the first new ...

from 2006 until 2008. The event moved to Road America in 2009 and was held there through 2013. In July 2013, the SCCA announced, in a break from tradition, that the Runoffs would begin to move around venues across the country annually, similar to other major sporting events such as golf's U.S. Open and the NFL's Super Bowl. First up in 2014 was a return to the west coast and first time visit to

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...

, which became just the seventh track to host the Runoffs. The event then alternated to the east coast in 2015 and visited

for the first time since 1969 before heading back to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2016. For 2017, the Runoffs was held on the combined road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2018, the Runoffs went back west to

Sonoma Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southe ...

. This year, the 2019 Runoffs will be held at

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (commonly known as "VIR") is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Da ...

a track where the race has never been held. For 2020, the Runoffs returned to Road America to continue the annual rotation of East, Midwest, and West. The 2021 Runoffs remained in the Midwest, being held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As a result of changes announced starting in 2022, each venue will host the Runoffs for two consecutive years.

will host the Runoffs for 2022-23. Because of transportation issues, the SCCA intends to only host the event east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

Deadly accidents

Race tracks

References

Works cited

External links

SCCA Runoffs
{{commons category National Championship Runoffs

Scca National Championship Runoffs The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for Sports Car Club of America Club Racing competitors. Divisional champions and other top drivers from the SCCA's 116 regions are invited to participate at the ...

SCCA National Championship Runoffs