SCCA

RACE: National Runoffs: Goodyear Racing event summary

GOODYEAR FINISHES SCCA RUNOFFS WITH EIGHT WINS ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Sept. 27, 2009) -- Three drivers raced to national championships on Goodyear tires during the final day of the 2009 Sports Car Club of America ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:33 AM

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GOODYEAR FINISHES SCCA RUNOFFS WITH EIGHT WINS

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Sept. 27, 2009) -- Three drivers raced to national championships on Goodyear tires during the final day of the 2009 Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs at Road America.

Sunday's wins brought to eight Goodyear's victory total at this year's Runoffs. Drivers racing on Goodyear tires took 27 podium finishes and Goodyear drivers swept the podium six times out of 25 classes.

The Runoffs represent America's amateur road racing championship. The 2009 renewal is the first to be held at Road America, the 4.0-mile venue that is so rich in racing lore. Goodyear is the winningest tiremaker in Runoffs history.

"We had a successful Runoffs," said Bob Shaffer, Goodyear's sales account manager for sports car racing. "We won in dry conditions and wet conditions and we won with bias-ply tires as well as radials."

Goodyear's wins came in production classes (E Production, F Production and H Production), GT classes (GT1, GT3 and GT Lite) and purpose-built racing classes (Formula Mazda and Spec Racer Ford).

Sunday's Goodyear winners included Dan Meller in H Production, Cliff Ebben in GT1 and Samuel Halkias in E Production. Saturday's Goodyear winners were Juan Marchand in Formula Mazda, Mike Miserendino, who won the Spec Racer Ford title for the fourth straight year and Ric Bushey in GT3. Friday's winners included Jim Dentici in GT Lite and Mark Carpenter in F Production.

Halkias, who started competing at the Runoffs in 1982, said racing in the rain was difficult. "I figured, 'What the (heck)'-- I figured I'd keep going. The Goodyear tires kept biting and kept me going."

Halkias and Aaron Downey, who finished second in the same race, both started their race on Goodyear rain tires and said the tire choice gave them an advantage. Wayne Graham finished third racing on Goodyear intermediate tires.

Ebben led every lap of his GT1 race. Most of the cars in the class raced on Goodyear rubber and Goodyear-shod cars swept the GT1 podium.

Meller said after winning the H Production title by a wide margin, "It feels pretty good, too good to be true. It was an uneventful race but it was very stressful, being alone like that--It was very hard to stay focused."

The SCCA announced Sunday that 626 cars started the 25 championship races.

More information about Goodyear Racing is available at www.racegoodyear.com. More information about the SCCA is available at www.scca.com.

-credit: goodyear racing

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