Survey Inspired Enhancements For 2008 Runoffs Revealed

Sports Car Club of America's Club Racing Department announced today a host of changes and enhancements for the 2008 National Championship Runoffs® event, many of which come directly out of participant surveys that followed the event.

The biggest change comes in the event schedule itself, released today along with the supplemental regulations and officials list in FasTrack®, available through SCCA.com and via subscription. Combined and split sessions are now a thing of the past, as all 25 classes will run three solo 22-minute qualifying sessions throughout four days (Monday through Thursday). Additionally, while the entire event will continue to span seven days (Monday through Sunday), no class will have more than six days from its first official session to race.

“Several key elements came out of the driver survey when you look at it as a whole—the event is long, costly and quality track time is at a premium,” SCCA Vice President of Club Racing Terry Ozment said. “The majority of our racers were combined or involved in a split session at some point in 2007, and the survey was clear that this was not acceptable for the time and financial investment in the event. We’ve been able to solve that issue and, at the same time, stagger the beginning of the week so that the Sunday race classes don’t actually take to the track until Tuesday. For the first time in years, no one will need to be there for the entire seven days.

“At the same time, we’ve restructured race days to help ensure that things beyond our control, namely weather, will not put us in a precarious position as it did in 2007. Both Friday and Saturday will have nine races in 2008, while Sunday will have seven, finishing well before 5 p.m. and allowing everyone the opportunity to get a jump on their travels. In order to accommodate this, and the individual qualifying sessions for 25 classes, we’ve changed the warm-up sessions on race days into a hardship format, requiring Chief Steward permission to enter the track on the morning of each race day.

“Obviously, any time there is a change to something that has been the same for years, there will be some trepidation,” Ozment added. “However, to try to address the common underlying threads of track time, event length and cost, it was determined by a group including racers, volunteers and staff that this course of action was best.”

The individual race days were also laid out to begin a rotation in future years so that classes are not scheduled on the same day year after year. Some classes remain on their 2007 race day, but only to create a categorical (GT, SS, Formula, etc.) balance across the three-day weekend.

In addition to the change in schedule format, drivers will find that the walls at the exit of Turn Two and Turn Nine at Heartland Park Topeka have been moved back to allow greater runoff room.

Finally, drivers who competed in 2007 will have a hold on their number in the same class for the first two weeks of registration, similar to how most divisions handle permanent numbers. Registration opens July 8 at 9 a.m. (CDT) and 2007 numbers will be held until July 22 at 9 a.m. (CDT). Note that reserved numbers are attached to a driver name and class. The policy does not cover drivers changing classes or cars that may be driven in the same class but by a different driver.

“This will be the first of several items that offer a benefit to drivers who have participated recently and consecutively in the Runoffs,” Ozment said. “We have experienced some challenges over the years and wish to recognize continued support going forward.”

Volunteers will enjoy some event changes based on survey feedback as well. Heartland Park has worked with SCCA to open up a camping area inside the paddock, which will include parking. Details on how to reserve a camping spot will be available soon. Additionally, there will be better access to work assignments with personal vehicles, with designated parking closer to specialties and the ability for F&C marshals to drive to their corner stations.

Volunteer online registration will open June 10 at 9 a.m. (CDT).

“Once again, Heartland Park has been extremely accommodating to the requests of our members,” SCCA President Jim Julow said. “I’ve never seen a race track do so much for SCCA racers, from track reconfiguration to parking procedures to volunteer accommodations. Raymond Irwin and his staff should be commended for their continued efforts.”

Finally, all drivers, crews and volunteers are encouraged to attend the three main social events throughout the week, including the Monday Welcome Party, Thursday’s Volunteer Recognition Celebration and Saturday’s Monster Bash party.

The 2008 SCCA National Championship Runoffs will be held at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kan., October 6-12. The following is a list of SCCA classes and the days on which they have official sessions. A full schedule is available at SCCA.com and in FasTrack.

Runoffs Races (race order)