The Sports Car Club of America has been holding the national championship Runoffs since the mid-60s, but in all that time no Ferrari has ever won a national championship race, until this month in Topeka, Kansas. SCCA racing is idiosyncratic. Every year, drivers across the nation race to accumulate points towards an invitation to battle it out in one last winner-take-all championship race: The Runoffs. In the end, it doesn’t matter how many races you win – it all comes down to one race. Ferrari runs competitively in just one class in SCCA racing – the elite Touring 1 designation. Matched […]
The Sports Car Club of America has been holding the national championship Runoffs since the mid-60s, but in all that time no Ferrari has ever won a national championship race, until this month in Topeka, Kansas.
SCCA racing is idiosyncratic. Every year, drivers across the nation race to accumulate points towards an invitation to battle it out in one last winner-take-all championship race: The Runoffs. In the end, it doesn’t matter how many races you win – it all comes down to one race.
Ferrari runs competitively in just one class in SCCA racing – the elite Touring 1 designation. Matched against the latest Corvettes and Vipers, until this year the F430 has never quite had what it took to defeat the Detroit iron.
Ed Zabinski has entered the Runoffs six times, and once before in a Ferrari 360 Challenge. As the green flag dropped to start the race, Zabinski was in the No. 2 position, and he held the position through to the last lap. Feeling no pressure from behind, Zabinski closed in on the C6 Corvette piloted by Andrew Aquilante. He passed the Chevy just before the cars crossed the finish line.
“Every race at Topeka, I have started in the front row. And today, I finished in the front row. After 20 years of racing, this is my first national championship win, and to make history, it’s really special,” Zabinski said.
