SCCA National Championship Runoffs notebook 4

Officials are tight-lipped, but a massive protest among the Spec Miata drivers has the potential to reshape the results in the tech shed.

Protest hangs over Spec Miata race

The results of today's Spec Miata championship race may well be decided in the tech shed, as a massive mechanical protest hangs over the competition. The protest centers around engine building techniques used in the tightly controlled class.

SCCA officials are not commenting, so reliable information is limited, but the issue is the practice of shaving and forming certain cylinder heads to a more advantageous shape, raising the engine's compression ratio and encouraging better flow for more horsepower. Up to 10 leading cars have been protested by another competitor in the race.

SCCA has sealed the protested engines, and will allow the race to go forward. After the race, the protested engines will be inspected and their compliance determined by SCCA.

David Daughtery shows the best side of SCCA

Seven-time SCCA National Champion David Daughtery extended a hand up to first-time Runoffs competitor Kyle Keenan in the form of a fresh set of Hoosier tires. Keenan, 24, is racing on a budget, and had put his B-Spec Kia Rio into third position after two qualifying sessions. Daughtery, who was in second position, gave Keenan the tires prior to the final qualifying session.

"I've had 30-plus years in racing, and I couldn't do it without other people. He's like I was when I was young. I figured this would give him a better chance," Daughtery says.

Keenan proceeded to outqualify Daughtery in the final session, claiming the outside front row position for Sunday's race.

"I'm just speechless. These tires are going to let me compete for the win, and I can't thank Dave enough. He's the coolest competitor in the world," Keenan says.

Keenan, Daughtery, and the rest of the B-Spec race group will compete at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Aquilante sisters prepare to race in American Sedan

SCCA racing runs deep in the Aquilante family. Andrew Aquilante won the first race of this year's Runoffs in Touring 1, and the family has several other races still pending. Among those races is American Sedan, when sisters Amy and Beth Aquilante will compete.

"When we started racing, my dad was running A Sedan, and I did my first driver's school in that car," says Beth Aquilante.

Asked if they work as a team or fight it out like siblings, both drivers laugh. "It depends on the day," Amy says. "We share information and it's good to bounce ideas off each other, but once we get out there, we don't hold anything back."

Beth agrees, "I'll be starting right behind her today, so the start will be interesting. Maybe I'll use her to punch my way through..."

Joey Jordan races the Runoffs, but doesn't miss school

Joey Jordan is gridded seventh in today's Spec Miata race, and he's a student at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Most drivers take Runoffs week off of work, but school waits for no one. As a result, after the final qualifying session on Thursday, Jordan hopped into his street car and headed south on Highway 101.

"I had a class yesterday evening – History of the Andes in South America," Jordan says. "I drove down, made it to the class, then got up early this morning and came back to the track."