The 2024 Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA® Super Tour season is, believe it or not, beginning to wind down. The Super Tour at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, taking place May 17-19, 2024, is stop eight of 10 on the schedule, leaving just Watkins Glen and Road America to go.
But that’s OK, because Mid-Ohio’s going to be a big one.
This is the first stop at Mid-Ohio since the 2020 season (and we’ve all agreed that the year 2020 didn’t actually happen, right?). SCCA’s Ohio Valley Region is ready for the action, and at press time, there were more than 240 entries on the list. So let’s get down to business as SCCA pulls on site with its Bravo trailer.
But before we jump in, if you’re a racer who wants to add to the driver tally, register now.
It’s a Course, For Sports Cars
It’s no coincidence that it’s the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and not Mid-Ohio Speedway or Mid-Ohio Race Track.
Mid-Ohio’s history coincides significantly with the Sports Car Club of America. Les Griebling started the track as an SCCA member in 1962 and built it from a nice little layout in rural north-central Ohio to a can’t-miss stop for professional road racers. It took another leap forward in 1982 when it was purchased by two-time Runoffs® champ (amongst a whole list of other accomplishments) Jim Trueman.
Under the Trueman family, the track reached its potential. A regular stop on the IndyCar circuit, sports cars remained at its heart. Can-Am, Trans Am, and others were regulars there; the Runoffs even made what was then an almost unimaginable move from Road Atlanta to Mid-Ohio for a spectacular 12-year run.
What’s a Buckeye?
Racers tend to develop where there’s opportunity. There are oval tracks and racers all around Indiana who have wanted to make it over to the Speedway for more than 100 years. Wisconsin has what seems like a disproportionately high concentration of road racers for its population, and that’s because Road America is a hometown hero.
Mid-Ohio fits that same scenario. From Chardon to Cincinnati and all points in between, Ohioans are registered for this weekend’s Super Tour – 52 entries, in fact, come from the 17th state in the Union.
So what’s a Buckeye, anyway? Well, it’s a poisonous nut – so don’t eat one. But if you find the chocolate and peanut butter candy on your visit, pick up a batch of those.
Local Knowledge Matters
Mid-Ohio’s Runoffs history was dotted by people who lived and breathed the racetrack. Of course, it’s possible for an out-of-towner to win there, but that local knowledge seems very important.
One of the ways that those visitors earned knowledge, both back in the Runoffs days and now, is through the Mid-Ohio School. But if you’re really interested in building your local knowledge, you could always become an instructor at the school instead.
That list of instructors is an impressive one. Brian Till, Calvin Fish, Andy Lally, Tommy Byrne, Paul Dallenbach, and many, many more have all called the school home in the past and present.
In fact, three of those instructors are on the entry list at this year’s Mid-Ohio Super Tour.
Max Gee, the 2016 Runoffs silver medalist at Mid-Ohio and the 2017 champ at Indy, both in STU, is taking on the STL field at Mid-Ohio. The Bellville native has grown up around the track and has to be the favorite in the 13-car field.
In the same run group, turn your attention to John Schmitt in STU. Schmitt is a fellow instructor and, obviously, knows the track well.
Speaking of growing up at the track, Aaron Quine visited the track in diapers while his father raced, took over his Corvette when he was of age, and now races a Camaro of his own in GT-2. Quine is an instructor at the school, running full circle now that he’s crossed the half-century mark in age.
Discover who else is there by perusing the event’s entry list.
Tune In (and Tune Out of Everything Else)
Can’t make it to Mid-Ohio? You don’t have to miss a thing.
As with every event on SCCA’s Hoosier Super Tour, you can log in from home on SCCA.com, on SCCA’s YouTube channel, or on SCCA Road Racing’s Facebook page during the May 17-19 weekend – then kick back and enjoy all of the qualifying and racing action from DriversEye Live. Gregg Ginsberg and Brian Bielanski are once again on the call, with help from their team of associate producers pointing out information through the YouTube chat.
The event schedule will tell you when to tune in.
Photo by Jeff Loewe
