Nearly 130 Mazda racers head to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to seek a Club Racing National Championship.

Much has been made of the fact that, for the first time in 46 years, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs will be west of the Mississippi in California. And certainly many are celebrating the fact that the event is making its first visit to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. However, one of the most interesting aspects of that is the number of first-timers who will be competing at the Runoffs.

While the overall numbers are down from last year’s 50th event – that was kind of a big deal – the number of rookies is up. In fact, of 525 entries a week before the event started, some 200 are first-timers, a truly huge number. But the location and the number of people competing for an SCCA Club Racing National Championship are just two things that are different about this year’s event.

“For the first time, it’s not preceded by several days of testing,” notes SCCA Vice President of Communications Eric Prill, who also races a Mazda Miata in F Production, one of 128 Mazda or Mazda-powered cars entered. “For many people, they will hit the track on Tuesday with anything from 0 to 40 minutes on the racetrack. I think we’re going to see a lot of improvement on the week. I suspect that pole positions will not be set until Thursday as people come to grips with the racetrack.”

Those who don’t make it to Monterey will be able to follow along with the drama, thanks to new live timing coverage.

“People will be able to see video, notes and timing and hear audio during qualifying from a single page on the internet. That timing will also include segment times. During the race days, we will have the SpeedCastTV coverage come through that page as well,” says Prill. That page, along with all the other Runoffs information, will be linked from scca.com/runoffs.

Putting more than 500 competitors in Mazda Raceway’s paddock will certainly be a challenge, and many teams will be paddocked outside Turn 2 and on the old Turn 2-Turn 3 (now Turn 5) pavement that was left when the track was reconfigured in 1988. The bigger challenge for many will be coming to grips with a tighter track after several years competing at the very fast Road America.

“It’s a very different track from Road America, that’s for sure,” says Prill. “Some of the cars that excelled at Road America might struggle a bit more at Mazda Raceway. The Miata that I race is a car that is probably good at most everything, but not best at anything. I think it’s got as good a chance at Mazda Raceway as anyplace else, but there are some light and nimble cars in FP that should excel at Mazda Raceway.”

The writers and editors at SportsCar magazine, the SCCA Member Magazine, think Prill has a pretty good shot, picking him to win F Production in their annual prediction of who will win the Runoffs. Another Miata driver they think will excel is Matt Reynolds, whom they think will take E Production. They were confident enough to put him on the cover. In fact, SportsCar predicted three Mazdas on the EP podium with the addition of Jim Daniels and Jesse Prather.

“I think E Production is going to be a fantastic battle with multiple manufacturers competing for the win. E Production is a similar situation [to FP], where the Mazdas once again are very well suited to any type of track. You’ll certainly see Miatas at the front of E Production, but there might also be some surprises at the front. Some lighter, more nimble cars that we haven’t seen run up front for the last five years,” says Prill.

“As you look at picking favorites to win, SportsCar I think did a very good job,” he continues. “They put Matt on the cover for good reason. He was the absolute fastest guy last year but didn’t get the gold. He’s probably everybody’s pick.”

Reynolds will also be competing in Spec Miata, but he wasn’t the top pick in that class. For SM, SportsCar predicts Andrew Carbonell will take it, with Jim Drago and Mark Drennan joining him on the podium. Carbonell has won three straight Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Street Tuner races at Mazda Raceway, with different partners in a Freedom Autosport MX-5, so he certainly knows his way around the track. Spec Miata had 46 entries with a week to go, the most of any class.

Other Mazda drivers predicted to do well include Drago in Super Touring Lite. While Drago was last year’s SM champ, victory in his STL Miata eluded him. In Touring 4, SportsCar predicted Tom Wickersham and his MX-5 would take the top spot. In Formula Atlantic, they chose three Mazda-powered Swifts to fill the podium; however, the top two picks – Daniel Burkett and Keith Grant – are not on the entry list, leaving Michael Mallinen, the third pick.

In Formula Mazda, SportsCar predicted that Darryl Wills will take his fourth National Championship, with Mike Anderson and Mel Kemper joining him on the podium.

The 51st SCCA National Championship Runoffs kicks off on Tuesday for the first official sessions on Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s 2.2-mile, 11-turn track. Fans can follow along on the live timing page, the link to which will be found on scca.com/runoffs and watch the racing on SpeedCastTV.com. The SpeedCast coverage will include Greg Creamer and Jeff Lepper, the voices of Pirelli World Challenge’s Webcasts, calling half the races, with Mazda racer Randy Pobst and veteran race broadcaster Rick Benjamin teaming up for the others. Three days of qualifying will be followed by three days of racing for 27 classes. Racing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday begins at 8:30 a.m. Pacific.

Runoffs Schedule for Mazda Racers
(all times PDT)

Class	Day/Time
GTL	Fri 9:30
SM	Fri 11:30
FP	Fri 1:30
STU/T3	Fri 4:30
STL	Sat 8:30
EP	Sat 10:30
GT-2	Sat 11:30
FM	Sat 1:30
GT-3	Sat 2:30
BS/T4	Sun 8:30
FA	Sun 4:30