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The SCCA has launched a new, top-level Club Racing program called the “Majors.”
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SCCA Announces New Club Racing Majors Program
Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) has announced a new, top-level Club Racing program dubbed the “Majors,”
launching as a pilot program in the Midwest, Rocky Mountain and
Southwest Divisions in 2012. Focused on providing fresh, enhanced
opportunities for national-level classes within a geographical racing
area, the Majors offers a new-format race weekend focused on clustering
competition and providing greater value for racers.
The Majors concept comes from a two-year planning committee directive from the SCCA Board of Directors to evolve the top level of SCCA Club Racing with the changing times. For decades, “national” racing has served as the top Club Racing level, providing a path toward both Divisional Championships and the National Championship Runoffs.
The most significant philosophical and structural change from the current Club Racing model deals with treating competition classes differently from one another at select events. Classes in the Majors program are placed in one of two groups—Invitational or Showcase. The highest subscribed classes in a particular geographic zone will be included in the Invitational program, with the remaining classes comprising the Showcase group. Both the Invitational and Showcase classes will have special opportunities throughout the season.
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Robby Gordon’s #303 SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER won the final stage with a 21-second margin over the second-place finisher.
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Robby Gordon and Toyo Tires Cap the Dakar With Stage 14 Win
Robby Gordon and navigator Johnny Campbell finished the 2012 Dakar on a high note by winning the 29-km timed special of Stage 14—the last in this year’s off-road marathon rally. The overall route travelled 254 km from Pisco to Lima, Peru, marking the completion of a 14-day Pan American odyssey, which began on the Atlantic coast in Argentina, crossed through the Andes, and then turned north to Peru along the Pacific coast.
Gordon’s #303 SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER won the brief 29-km (18-mile) final stage with a large 21-second margin over the second-place finisher. He finished fifth overall in the 2012 Dakar, capturing three stage wins and a total of seven podiums along the way. In addition, Gordon’s HUMMER was the only two-wheel-drive vehicle finishing in the top 10.
Gordon began Stage 14 from the 10th spot due to challenges he faced during Stage 13, which included lost time due to a rollover. He managed to hold second overall for much of the rally, even while sacrificing a Stage 1 win to assist his teammate, Nasser Al-Attiyah who had a mechanical problem near the end of the stage. Al-Attiyah ultimately retired during Stage 9. Prior to his retirement, Al-Attiyah, driver of the Toyo Open Country M/T-R equipped #300 Qatar HUMMER, won Stages 2 and 7, and finished third in Stage 3.
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Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio and Alex Popow raced the
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United Autosports Races on to Abu Dhabi With Top Result on the Agenda
The United Autosports team left Dubai and travelled to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for the Gulf 12 Hours, which starts Thursday, January 19, with one of its Audi R8 LMS GT3 cars for Scotland’s Ryan Dalziel and Venezuelan pair, Enzo Potolicchio and Alex Popow.
The Leeds-based team will be joined in Abu Dhabi by other race teams from around the world. The event features GT2, GT3 and GT4 cars, vehicles from one make series, such as the Porsche Cup, FIA CN sports cars and Touring cars.
The very first Gulf 12 Hours event—which takes the form of two six-hour races—will begin in daylight and end under the sparkling floodlights. During the break between races, the teams will have just 40 minutes to work on the cars.
Having set some of the fastest laps during the Dubai 24 Hour race last weekend, Grand Am racer and winner of the 2010 Rolex 24 Daytona, U.S.-based Dalziel is expected to produce a strong performance for the two races on Friday.
Dalziel’s regular Starworks Motorsport team mates, Potolicchio and Popow, proved to be two of the major finds of the 2011 Grand Am series, and were awarded the SPEED.com Rolex Series "Rookies of the Year" award last year. All three drove exceptionally well in Dubai, setting fastest times while having their first experience with the rapid Audi R8 LMS, and they have their sights set on a top result at the evocative Yas Marina Circuit. The #36 Audi is sponsored by Duncan Batteries, Taxand and Soloson in Abu Dhabi.
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In his No. 20 Rockstar Energy Drink/BFGoodrich Tires Jimco-built Trophy Truck, Rob MacCachren added another trophy and victory to his collection during the second round of SCORE International racing this past weekend.
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Rob MacCachren Claims the Overall Victory at SCORE's Second Round of Racing at the Laughlin Desert Challenge
With 190 career victories and 20 series championships, Rob MacCachren added another trophy and victory to his collection during the second round of SCORE International racing this past weekend.
This past weekend’s season opener of the 2012 SCORE International desert racing series held in Laughlin, Nevada, hosted a field of 22 elite unlimited class trucks all vying for the top spot in two separate rounds of racing. For the first time in the 18-year history of the Laughlin Desert Challenge, the two-day event was scored as two separate races, firmly setting the stage for the SCORE Trophy Truck points battle heading into the MasterCraft Safety San Felipe 250 race in March.
Putting down the second fastest qualifying time in his No. 20 Rockstar Energy Drink/BFGoodrich Tires Jimco-built Trophy Truck with an average speed of 57.25 mph on the 6.25-mile course, MacCachren started behind fellow Las Vegas competitor B.J. Baldwin for Saturday’s event. By the fifth lap, MacCachren was leading the race by 10 seconds on corrected time when a rare misstep into a berm threw the tire from the bead necessitating a tire change with just three laps remaining in SCORE’s first round of racing in the 2012 season.
MacCachren lined up mid-pack on Sunday for the second round of SCORE International desert racing and quickly turned up the heat on the competition. Averaging 55.28 mph MacCachren picked off the field of 21 remaining starters for Sunday’s race and earned himself his tenth SCORE Trophy Truck career win. Claiming the overall victory with an elapsed time of 54 minutes and 16 seconds, MacCachren finished one minute and 12 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
Currently sitting second in points in the 2012 SCORE Trophy Truck class, MacCachren heads to the MasterCraft Safety San Felipe 250 race March 9–11, 2012, in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, looking to defend his previous year’s overall win at this event.
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David Higgins—the 2011 Rally America National Champion—will continue as factory driver for the Subaru Rally Team USA in 2012 in a bid to defend his title.
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David Higgins to Defend Rally America Crown With Subaru Rally Team USA in 2012 Championship
Subaru of America Inc. Subaru Rally Team USA (SRT USA) has announced that David Higgins—the 2011 Rally America National Champion—will continue as factory driver for the team in 2012 in a bid to defend his title. Higgins and SRT USA begin the 2012 Rally America National Championship at the season opener Sno*Drift Rally in northern Michigan, January 27–28, against a stacked field of more than 70 entries. Co-driver Craig Drew will once again join Higgins; the duo will pilot a Vermont SportsCar-prepared ’12 Subaru WRX STI in all six rounds of the 2012 Rally America National Championship.
X Games icon Dave Mirra—Higgins' Subaru teammate in 2011—is expected to continue to drive for Subaru but will focus on the Global RallyCross Championship because of several conflicting dates with the Rally America Championship event calendar. An announcement about the team's rallycross plans will be made in the near future.
Champion Blue Flame Performance Diesel Motor Oil and Diesel Motorsports Announce 2012 Drag Racing Schedule
Champion Blue Flame Motor Oil, a major sponsor of diesel motorsports and the National Association of Diesel Motorsports (NADM), has announced its 2012 national event schedule for diesel drag racing and sled pulling competition:
- May 5, 2012: Bungart Motorsport’s Sled Pulling Tune-Up/Sled Pulling/Dyno Missouri State Fairgrounds, Sedalia, Missouri
- June 23, 2012: Pure Diesel Power’s Thunder in Muncie/Drags/Pulls, Gaston Lion’s Club, Muncie Indiana
- July 20–21, 2012: 1-800-Autoparts East Coast Nationals/Drags/Pulls/Dyno Numidia Dragway, Numidia, Pennsylvania
- August 17–18, 2012: Industrial Injection/H&S Performance/Drag/Pulls/Dyno Rocky Mountain Raceway, Salt Lake City, Utah
- September 8, 2012: New Era Diesel’s Buckeye Diesel National/Drags/Pulls/Dyno National Trails Dragway, Hebron, Ohio
- October 6, 2012: RAM/ODRA Texas Diesel Roundup/Drags/Pulls/Dyno North Star Dragway, Denton, Texas
- November 30, 2012: Diesel Specialists PRI Drags/Drag Racing Central Florida Race Complex, Orlando, Florida