The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for

Sports Car Club of America The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, HPDE, Time Trial, Road Racing, RoadRally, and Hill Climbs in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs ...

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 The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

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. An amateur championship ...

. 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 Road Racing Classic.

Valvoline Valvoline Inc. ( ) is an American retail automotive services company based in Lexington, Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. It licenses the name for a number of Valvoline-labeled Motor oil, automotive oil, Oil additive, additives, and lubricants. It ...

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., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

, Subway,

Tire Rack Tire Rack is a privately owned customer-direct tire, wheels, car accessories distributor company headquartered in South Bend, Indiana. Company History In 1979, automotive parts and service business owner Peter "Pete" Veldman came up with his bus ...

and

Garmin Garmin Ltd. is an American multinational technology company based in Olathe, Kansas. The company designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes GPS-enabled products and other navigation, communication, sensor-based, and information ...

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 Riversid ...

on the west coast and

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

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, Ohio, Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar Series, Indy ...

from 1994 until 2005, then to

Heartland Park Topeka Heartland Motorsports Park, formerly known as Heartland Park Topeka, was a multi-purpose motorsports facility south of downtown Topeka, Kansas near the Topeka Regional Airport. It operated from 1989 until its closure in 2023. History When it o ...

from 2006 until 2008. The event moved to

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

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 for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

, 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 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. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar, IMSA WeatherTech Sportsc ...

in 2016. For 2017, the Runoffs was held on the road course at the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

. In 2018, the Runoffs went back west to

Sonoma Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway, Golden State International Raceway and Infineon Technologies, Infineon Raceway) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains of Sonoma County, Cal ...

. The 2019 Runoffs were held at

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (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 Dan River. VIR hosts ...

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

. As a result of changes announced starting in 2022, each venue will host the Runoffs for two consecutive years.

hosted 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 main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The Runoffs will return to Road America in 2024–2025.

Fatalities

Race tracks

References

Works cited

External links

SCCA Runoffs
{{commons category National Championship Runoffs Scca National Championship Runoffs Scca National Championship Runoffs Scca National Championship Runoffs Scca National Championship Runoffs SCCA National Championship Runoffs