SCCA National Championship Runoffs coming to Topeka, KS!!

News just broke of how the SCCA Championship runs offs are going to move from Ohio, to Topeka, KS in 2006. It makes sense, since the track at Heartland Park was pretty much designed with SCCA in mind, we get the Summer Nats here, and SCCA has the headquarters here. I am so excited about this. Its about time we get some decent racing here to watch. Has anyone ever been to the runoffs? whats it like? whats the adverage cost of tickets, how long do they last?

-Thomas

News just broke of how the SCCA Championship runs offs are going to move from Ohio, to Topeka, KS in 2006. It makes sense, since the track at Heartland Park was pretty much designed with SCCA in mind, we get the Summer Nats here, and SCCA has the headquarters here. I am so excited about this. Its about time we get some decent racing here to watch. Has anyone ever been to the runoffs? whats it like? whats the adverage cost of tickets, how long do they last?

-Thomas

Well, it's OK, but Topeka is a peice of crap compared to Mid-O. (I have raced both). Not to mention the facilities, etc. Hopefully they will invest a lot of money to make the place nicer.
Yes I have been to the run-offs about 10 times and we have raced them.
The event is very good. It's 3 days of racing (a week plus of testing). About 23 races?. The price for admission is around $50. However that depends upon the track. So Topeka may be more or less.

Jim
SR Racing

Well, the city of Topeka has granted HPT ( Heartland Park Topeka) 5 Million, to go along with the money they have, for improvements. its these improvements that they have planned, that I believe is what mainly attracted the runoffs to switch venues. I know they will be building a newer road course. so maybe, it will be better than you remember. I know motorcycles and go karts have been trying to come back to HPT, and now, they finally will as well.

IMO, the layout of Heartland Park is not bad, but the issue is that it's moving from one of the top 5 tracks in North America to one that's not in the top 5. The track that hosted the Runoffs prior to MO (Road Atlanta) is another one of the top 5. With another $5 million, I expect HPT to maybe pull itself into the top 15. FWIW, my vote on the 5 best track layouts in North America that currently exist:

1. Virginia Int'l Raceway
2. Mosport
3. Road Atlanta
4. Mid-Ohio
5. Sears Point

Admittedly, there's a lot of room for debate here, but I think I have Mid-Ohio and Road Atlanta lower than most people, and I feel there's a pretty big gap from my top 6 (Add Mt. Tremblant) to 7th, which I would probably put Watkins Glen and Road America as tied.

Re: Heartland Park, only time will tell.

I don't disagree much with your rankings.. (Depending upon the criteria you are using.. Fun to drive, facilities, paddock area, etc.)

However, my first 5 would be close to yours...Never ran Sears Point though..

Jim
SR Racing

My criteria are based mostly on fun to drive, as long as the facilities are tolerable. I've never driven Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Sears Point, or Elkhart lake, but I've been to all of them more than once, and they all look like they would be an absolute blast to drive. Elkhart lake IMO gets bumped down because the straights are long enough where it can get a bit mundane in a car with little power if you're running by yourself.