Sports Car - December 2018

22 DECEMBER 2018 scca.com EVENT REPORT

SCCA members are like a family. Everyone in the Club knows that. But surely, when it’s your closest competitor, at your home track, and every tenth of a second is going to count – that “family” shows itself as more of an “estranged uncle holding a grudge” – right?

Not in GT-Lite.

After a big crash in Tuesday’s qualifying that involved contact with a concrete barrier exiting Turn 11, Troy Ermish was in a mad scramble to repair the front left corner of his LSEnergy/Rebello Racing/Troy Ermish Nissan PL510.

“Joe Huffaker offered me his
shop if I wanted to stay,” Ermish
says. “He gave me the keys to
his shop and said you can stay
all night long if you’d like. I was
really appreciative of that.”
Luckily, Ermish was only an
hour and a half from his own shop
and had the tools he needed to
fix his car. Ermish pulled back
into Sonoma Raceway at 5 a.m.
on Thursday morning, running
on just three hours of sleep,
and landed on the Tire Rack
pole – less than a tenth ahead
of Huffaker, and another two
seconds from the rest of the field.

“I was probably dumb and delirious, that’s why I was faster,” Ermish jokes.

Sadly, though, the heavyweight fight never materialized. Huffaker pulled off on just the second lap while chasing Ermish, a broken left rear axle the culprit.

With that, Ermish was the National Champion in GT-Lite, with some 35sec to spare.

“It’s just hard to explain when you’ve got the drive,” Ermish says. “All of my life, I wanted to be a professional driver.

This is as close as it gets.”

GT-LITE

Ermish and Huffaker have sparred throughout the years on the West Coast; always friendly, good-natured rivals.

Ermish had gotten the best of Huffaker on occasion, inching closer and closer to a true competitor. That final step was put to rest during this Runoffs.

“The high of setting fast time
is almost as good as winning,”
Ermish says. “I couldn’t believe
I did it. As soon as I did that, you
get so much confidence. Before,
I always thought I could run with
him, but I thought I’d have to run
on the ragged edge to beat him.
I’d be on the verge of crashing.”
Behind Ermish were a pair of
Club Racing lifers, Joe Harlan
and Jonathan Goodale. The
pair battled for position deep
into the race, which became
for second place with the
retirement of Huffaker and
Peter Zekert (blown motor).

Harlan had been an engineer and crew chief for a number

DREAM COME TRUE

Troy Ermish (MAIN) recovered from a crash during an early qualifying session to take the pole and the win in GT-Lite.

Some 30 seconds behind at the checker were Joe Harlan (BELOW) and Jonathan Goodale (FAR RIGH T).

RACE 3 | FRIDAY | OCT. 19, 2018 | 10: 40 A.M.

CHAMPION TROY ERMISH

San Francisco Region

LSEnergy/Rebello Racing/ Troy Ermish Nissan PL510

of Runoffs cars over the years but was making his first appearance as a driver in the Top Tech Motorsports/Nissan/ Hoosier Nissan 240SX.

Goodale, a second-generation SCCA member from Colorado, earned his second Runoffs podium this year in his Mazdaspeed/Hoosier/Hawk/ Summit Mazda MX- 5. His first Runoffs podium came at Laguna Seca in 2014 – another twisty track that depends on driving and handling rather than horsepower.

That’s no coincidence.

“I’m everything from building the car to driving the car here to setting up the paddock to mounting tires,” Goodale says.

“My car hasn’t been on the dyno
in five years. That’s my story
with everything. But that’s what
this is – you and your friends
doing the best you can.”
Just a part of the success
stories from the SCCA family.