2021 SCCA National Championship Runoffs
2021 would mark my first ever time at the prestigious SCCA National Championship Runoffs and it took place at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With the event taking place across the span of a week from September 26th - October 3rd, it marked almost exactly a year since my last time at the speedway. With over 90 Spec Miata’s taking qualifying times, it would be really challenging to match the success of my last trip to Indy. This was my first big national Spec Miata event and with what many considered the best field of drivers assembled for a Spec Miata race, a week of learning and pushing my limits was ahead of me.
Test Day
I participated in the Monday Test Day which was a beautiful sunny and warm Indiana day. My goal after a month of regular preparation for the race and having driven on most of the track before was to get to pace quickly and workout a qualifying strategy. Drafting in these types of cars is new to me so figuring out how to make it work was going to be hugely important. SCCA was also using the configuration of the speedway road course that included the “F1 Loop” turn instead of the narrow chicane we used the year before. Most of 11 laps in session 1 of the day had traffic, but it did help me learn some places I could put my car that were unique which did help me in hindsight. I ended up 25th.
Session 2 I teamed up with Flatout Motorsports owner Nick Leverone to work on drafting. This session was going much better, knocking down a large amount of time from session 1 until the throttle cable decided to pop out of the adjuster bracket, stranding me after just 6 laps. With the only mechanical issue of the weekend out of the way the session did go much better, placing me 23rd fastest at the end of it. Progress but still a long way to go.
Qualifying
The qualifying sessions took place over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with the best time from any session setting the starting grid for the race. If you were not in the top 60 by Thursday you needed to qualify into the last 12 spots via a last chance qualifying race which finalized the 72 starters. Since the group was so large they split the sessions in half based on top qualifying times from the day before which became very important. Drafting and setting the lap early was of supreme importance.
Qualifying 1 was tough. I started right at the back of the first qualifying group since they gridded based on Hoosier Super Tour points, which I only recorded 1 finish in for the year. Luckily the 3rd place finish at Watkins Glen kept me out of group 2. I ended the session in 26th, which was only 1 second off 2nd place which shows how competitive this field actually was.
Qualifying 2 wasn’t much better. Really couldn’t get a full lap in without hitting traffic and didn’t get any form of meaningful draft. This session placed me 29th on the grid going into the final day of qualifying. The pressure was on but the belief that I could improve was there.
Qualifying 3 had things turn around. The weather was the coolest it had been all week which would lead to the fastest times of the event for many. I ended up in an ideal position behind 2 cars that kept me in the draft and had me improve a full second from the day before. Finished 18th in the session and 20th overall which put me in a much better position heading into the race on Friday.
National Championship Race
Friday at Indy started off tough for the early races. The T4 race that started things off was carnage and the subsequent races didn’t fair much better. With 72 Spec Miata’s ready to do battle at 11:30am everyone was on high alert. I was to start 20th in this colorful sea of Mazda Miata’s at the most famous race track in the world. Thankfully I had been in a situation like this last year in the F4 car so my nerves were manageable. The goal was to survive the tricky and tight turn 1.
The race got started and I made a great start. With a hole opening up to the inside before turn 1 I took advantage and grabbed a ton of spots, getting to as high as 12th before turn 6. I dropped back down to 14th, right in the thick of the bumper to bumper pack battling to make moves before the caution came out at the end of lap 2. On the restart I got a perfect push from behind and ended up 3 wide into turn 1. The move was either going to have me up to 10th or it would hurt my momentum and I would drop back to 16th. Admittedly probably shouldn’t have pushed the issue but it looked cool on the broadcast so what can I say. Unfortunately the latter happened and I found myself on slightly the back foot.
A couple of spots I ended up giving up with just not being aggressive enough and I eventually found myself at the back of the lead back in around 18th. From there I made my tires last and towards the end of the race found myself making up spots moving back up to 16th at the white flag. Ultimately I got roughed up a little and passed into the last corner so my final result was 17th in the race.
In the end I have never been happier for a 17th place finish. In a field of over 90 cars, with this much talent throughout I am happy with the race I ran in the car that I had. I think with a little more experience of knowing where to put the car in a few situations I think I may have been up around the 14th place I found myself in on lap 1. But I don’t think I had much more than that in the car this time out.
Have to give a huge thank you to Flatout Motorsports for supplying these nationally competitive rental cars that I drove this entire season, Mazda for putting together this incredibly intense class of racing, and also to Ikoniqa for your support as well through 2021.
You can view the race broadcast on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/qQ7IbklhwN0
And see my full in-car video here: https://youtu.be/XCHo6r5zaq4