Who Will Win the SCCA National Championship Runoffs? Part 1

The SCCA National Championship Runoffs takes place this year on Oct. 6-12 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. This is the Sports Car Club of America's winner take all road race, where more than 500 amateur racers have competed all year in order to qualify for the chance to race for one of SCCA's coveted National Championship titles.

What follows is a listing prepared by SportsCar magazine, SCCA's official member magazine and sister publication to RACER magazine and RACER.com. The following racers are the ones SportsCar's editors believe will stand atop the podium come the Oct. 10-12 race weekend.

To keep up on the action during Runoffs week, keep an eye on racer.com. Also, head to www.scca.com/runoffs where you'll find a Runoffs race schedule and a link to the free, live video stream of all the races.

E Production / F Production / H Production
By J. Michael Hemsley

Matt Reynolds, our pick to win the tightly contested E Production, is happy with his season. "Overall, I would view our season as a success due to a couple different goals [we] set out to accomplish during the season," he says.

"The first goal, as it is every season, was to prepare for the Runoffs. Every race we attend is an opportunity to better prepare ourselves, and the car, for the Runoffs. This may mean we aren't the fastest in a session, but hopefully it helps us learn something. The second goal was to compete in the Mid-States Conference U.S. Majors Tour and win for the second year in a row."

Reynolds is looking forward to a return to Laguna Seca, where he has attended racing schools. "We decided to make a couple trips to the track even if it meant missing a race we would typically attend," he says. "I went out early in the year to adjust the most stubborn part of a car to tune: the driver. Another trip was made for a Regional weekend to try and set up the cars and work out any issues before the Runoffs."

Reynolds realizes that his competition will be strong: "Name drops in alphabetical order based on first name, which oddly all happen to start with the letter J: Jesse Prather, Jim Daniels, and Jon Brakke," says Reynolds.

Our pick for the rest of the EP podium mirrors that list. In our book, it'll be Jim Daniels in second, with Jesse Prather a close third. And, if he can figure out the track fast enough, Jon Brakke will also be in the mix.

Unlike Reynolds, our F Production pick to win, Eric Prill, will see Mazda Raceway from the driver's seat for the first time in October. "I've been there many times and watched many laps, but have never actually been around the racetrack," says Prill. "That said, I have been a pretty quick study at tracks the last several years." His preparations, other than making sure the car is ready, will include laps using "iRacing, which helps me prepare to go to a new track."

Prill faces stiff competition this year. "I think FP will again be one of the barnburners of the weekend," he says.

"Half of the field could be fighting for the podium. In the west, Joe Huffaker, Brian Linn, Jess Heitman, and Bruce Ackerman are all very fast. Ackerman, Huffaker, and Linn are the current Prod track record holders. Then there are the guys who, like me, have not been to Mazda Raceway. Rick Harris and Bill Hingston are fast out of Colorado, and Ken Kannard's Runoffs bad luck has to end at some point. The big question is, how quickly the Mazda Raceway rookies will come up to speed."

Our crystal ball shows Prill's immediate competition to be Heitman and Linn, with Huffaker working into the mix should anyone falter.

In H Production, Lawrence Loshak is looking to repeat his 2013 Runoffs results, but with a different car. "The Californians will be seeing a new group of guys," says Loshak. "And we're confident we'll keep the title in Wisconsin." Still, he says, "We're definitely the heavy weight in the class, so it's important to qualify well."

Loshak's new car got a late start to the season, but that doesn't mean his Honda CRX isn't ready to win. "This is the debut of the new shop, so we wanted to get everything right – attention to detail," he says.

He has some experience at Mazda Raceway, where he "raced a Grand-Am race for Nissan." He also has "a million miles of simulator laps" there and says he "adapts well" to new tracks.

"Our main competition, I believe, will be Steve [Hussey]," says Loshak. "He's a two-time National Champion, although he'll be transitioning from rear-wheel drive to front-wheel drive. The VWs are something to worry about. They have a lot of horsepower, so I hope to qualify up front and get away."

While the VWs will be contenders, we anticipate seeing Jason Isley close behind Loshak in his Toyota Yaris. From there, we anticipate Greg Gauper and his Honda Civic bringing home third. Ron Bartel will represent the British cars well, and could ruin our prediction with the well-balanced car.

In Loshak's words, "It'll be a dogfight." That applies to all three of these classes.

GT-1 / GT-2 / GT-3 / GT-L
By Jason Isley

The move to the West Coast and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has created a lot of question marks, and a lot of excitement. The GT category in particular seems to feel the impact of the new venue, as this category has much if its core east of the Rockies. Additionally, these purpose-built, tube-frame cars often take advantage of space on the passengers side to route exhaust – while the GCR imposed sound limit is nothing new, the sound meter placement at Mazda Raceway does not jibe well with a passengers' side exhaust exit. "I do think sound will have an impact in almost all GT classes due to prevalence of right-side door exhausts," says seven-time champ and Area 11 Director Michael Lewis. "I've done some work in that area of my [GT-1 Jaguar] and have shared it in the forums so hopefully no one is caught unaware."

Sound aside, the GT-1 race looks to be all Lewis; he knows what it takes to win. Kyle Kelley could be a challenger, as he is always fast, but he needs to learn to close the deal. Lewis also notes that there are a number of very fast locals, guys like Rob Davis.

In GT-2, John Kachadurian has been a rocket in his 997 Porsche GT3 Cup and has been putting in a lot of extra effort to tune himself for the Runoffs, so we give the nod to him. "I think the Porsche has a slight advantage at a track like [Mazda Raceway] over the large displacement front engine cars such as the Vipers and Corvettes that typically have an advantage at tracks like Road America," Kachadurian says. Kachadurian also has plans to attend the September Mazda Raceway event to familiarize himself with the new location.

This track should also reward the persistence and speed of Jim Goughary. His tube-frame Nissan 350Z should carve nicely around the long radius turns, and the lower top end speed will keep the more powerful cars from running away. We expect to see Mark Boden rounding out the podium.

For GT-3, we foresee the rotary-powered Mazdas lacking the torque needed to take the title in this class. John Black has been flying under the radar in his Nissan 350Z, taking the Divisional path to the Runoffs, but he has the track knowledge and speed to get it done.

"There is a lot going on there and it does not take a long time to do a lap, so [there is] lots of room to make mistakes," says Black. "I think this will be a three-car battle that will go to the checker. It will come down to who makes the fewest or no mistakes, not necessarily the fastest car on track."

We expect to see Mazda pilots Rob Warkocki and Mike Henderson give Black a run, but they will need to keep an eye in their mirrors for Collin Jackson and his Nissan 240SX.

The GT-Lite class has had a massive spike in interest this season, with both new and old faces joining the fun, posting the highest GT class entry for the Runoffs as of press time.

For the winner, we anticipate Joe Huffaker to return to the top step. Huffaker was toiling away in his Sonoma, Calif., shop when he heard the Runoffs was coming west. "I was in the middle of restoring my No. 77 Midget when I heard that the Runoffs was coming to Laguna Seca," says Huffaker. "It's been really fun knocking the rust off at the beginning of the year and then getting right back up to speed."

Chasing Huffaker around Mazda Raceway will be Kent Prather and Peter Shadowen, either of which could capitalize if the Huffaker Mini bobbles even the slightest bit.