This year’s 45-car Spec Miata race during the 60th anniversary SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® presented by Sunoco – held Sept. 28-Oct. 6, 2024 at Road America – was a unique one. On the Tire Rack Pole sat 15-year-old New England Region member Ethan Goulart in his No. 72 SCDA/Krugspeed/Kessler/Hoosier/Mazda Spec Miata – son of multi-time Runoffs Champ Elivan Goulart. Starting second was Dad himself, and in an even more fascinating turn of events, both qualified with a time of 2:41.106, with the tiebreaker being the second-fastest lap turned in qualifying. Elivan was also splitting Friday track duties between pro race qualifying in Indianapolis in the Pirelli GT4 America series and SCCA’s Spec Miata National Championship race. Starting alongside his son in the Spec Miata race was important to Elivan, so he found a friend with a plane that sat ready to take him from Indianapolis to nearby Sheboygan, WI, for the start of the Spec Miata race. Elivan pulled off the journey with 30 minutes to spare.
Another factor that made this race unique was the absence of class frontrunners Jim Drago, Charles Mactutus, and Danny Steyn. Those drivers were involved in an incident in the Kink during qualifying, sending all three to the hospital and forcing them to miss the race. Steyn would have started third, Mactutus fourth, and Drago sixth.
And all of that happened before the green flag flew around 1 p.m. CT on Oct. 4, the first of three Hagerty Race Days at the 2024 Runoffs.
With the Goularts on the front row, Preston Pardus assumed the third position on the grid, followed by Noah Harmon, Bob Stretch, Logan Stretch, Alex Bertagnoli, Todd Buras, Chris Haldeman, and Nicholas Bruni rounding out the top 10.
The race kicked off with a bang – quite literally – as Jonathan Davis and Tyler Brown tangled shortly past start/finish on the first lap, catapulting them to either side of the track. The bulk of the field made it through, though, and racing continued – with Ethan Goulart in the lead. Buras didn’t make it far around the 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit before getting shuffled into the grass and deep into the gravel at Turn 3.
This led to a full-course caution. Quick work got Buras back on track without losing a lap, but he couldn’t catch up to the pack before the restart.
That third-lap, single-file restart saw Ethan Goulart leading Elivan, with Harmon, Stretch, Pardus, and more in tow. All cars made it through Turn 1, although Elivan and Harmon did rub fenders by Turn 3.
While Elivan Goulart dropped back, Ethan hammered down, leading a three-car breakaway pack of himself, Harmon, and Logan Stretch. Bob Stretch headed up the second grouping, followed by Pardus, Elivan Goulart, and more. By the end of lap four, Pardus had pushed by Bob Stretch, and Elivan Goulart followed with the front trio seeing a near-three-second lead.
Halfway into the race, Ethan Goulart and Harmon had worked together to place Logan Stretch in a 2.5sec deficit, making this a two-car duel to the checker.
The race for third turned into a three-car battle, with Pardus soon leading that group into the second half of the race, followed by Elivan Goulart, Brett Kowalski, and Logan Stretch. On lap eight, Pardus dropped a few spots, gifting third to Elivan Goulart. Starting the next lap, Harmon made the pass on Ethan Goulart into Turn 1, with Ethan not defending.
With three to go, Ethan Goulart passed Harmon into Turn 5 – and once again, the duo played well, making for a clean pass that didn’t cost the pair time over the ensuing pack.
On lap 11, the second pack fanned three wide in the same turn with multiple drivers struggling to woah their cars. Elivan Goulart made the most of the battle, jumping back into third, now with Barroso pushing his back bumper.
The final of 13 laps saw challenge after challenge throughout the field, but Ethan Goulart had amassed a 0.7sec lead – too much for 18-year-old Harmon to overcome.
Turn 5 presented countless challenges for the second pack, with Pardus initially moving into third before Elivan Goulart overtook him to claim the position. Then Barroso, Stretch, and Kowalski challenged. At the checker, it was 15-year-old Ethan Goulart with the win, followed by Harmon and then Pardus over Elivan Goulart for the bronze by a margin of 0.046sec. Barroso closed out the top five 0.067sec later.
“I was pulling away a little bit in the beginning – I think [Dad] fell back, and then I just tried to get my head down,” Ethan explained of the race. “Then Noah pushed me along, and once we got that gap, I looked back and then a couple laps later, they started to catch us again. I didn’t know Noah was going to go by, and then they’re catching us even more. I was like, all right, I’ve got to the lead now – I put some flyers down and that’s what we did. And we came home with the win.”
At 15 years and 174 days old, Ethan became the youngest driver to win the SCCA Runoffs, beating the previous youngest winner (Neil Verhagen) by 68 days.
It turns out, Harmon’s mid-race pass on Ethan Goulart for the lead was an attempt to get the two further from the ensuing pack. “I started to see the guys behind catch up, so it’s like, we need to try something different,” Harmon, a Central Florida Region member, said of the pass in his No. 99 Streetside Classic/Autotechnik Spec Miata. “I went to lead, [but] I think it actually slowed us down a bit, but I wanted to try it. But yeah, it was a fantastic drive.”
For Pardus, a Central Florida Region member, early contact possibly knocked his No. 42 East Street Racing/PR Spec Miata out of alignment, slowing his speed. But for him, the race was about his missing teammate, fellow racers, and friends Jim Drago, Danny Steyn, and Charles Mactutus.
“It’s been a rough week,” Pardus said, swallowing tears. “I’ve got to thank Jim [Drago] and all the East Street guys – I mean, I wouldn’t be where I’m at in this class without Jim, and even Danny [Steyn]. I mean, he really helped me a lot.”
The Sunoco Hard Charger Award went to Charlie Campbell, who started 47th and finished 25th.
The 60th anniversary SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® presented by Sunoco is the pinnacle of American amateur motorsports and crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Road Racing National Champions this year at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, during Hagerty Race Days running Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races, presented by Mazda, is available throughout the three days of competition at SCCA.com/runoffs-live. Live timing and scoring for each race are also available at SCCA.com/pages/runoffs-live-timing.
By:Philip Royle
Below are final results for Friday’s Spec Miata race at the 2024 SCCA© National Championship Runoffs, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, and laps completed.
1, (1), Ethan Goulart, Shelton, CT, Mazda Miata, 13.
2, (7), Noah Harmon, Orlando, FL, Mazda Miata, 13.
3, (5), Preston Pardus, New Smyrna Beach, FL, Mazda Miata, 13.
4, (2), Elivan Goulart, Shelton, CT, Mazda Miata, 13.
5, (16), Frankie Barroso, Miami Springs, FL, Mazda Miata, 13.
6, (15), Brett Kowalski, Las Cruces, NM, Mazda Miata, 13.
7, (9), Logan Stretch, Arlington, TX, Mazda Miata, 13.
8, (8), Bob Stretch, Arlington, TX, Mazda Miata, 13.
9, (20), Ethan Ayars, Weatherby Lake, MO, Mazda Miata, 13.
10, (10), Alex Bertagnoli, Lakewood, IL, Mazda Miata, 13.
11, (14), Nicholas Bruni, Arlington, VA, Mazda Miata, 13.
12, (19), Bobby Gossett, Hilton Head Island, SC, Mazda Miata, 13.
13, (17), Nick Leverone, Mendon, MA, Mazda Miata, 13.
14, (27), Myles Goertz, Waukee, IA, Mazda Miata, 13.
15, (24), Rob Hines, Arlington, VA, Mazda Miata, 13.
16, (26), Andrew Devoto, Wilsall, MT, Mazda Miata, 13.
17, (34), Vinnie Meskelis, Dallas, TX, Mazda Miata, 13.
18, (28), Tom Brown, Muskego, WI, Mazda Miata, 13.
19, (38), Hayden Manis, Berryton, KS, Mazda Miata, 13.
20, (32), Jason Fichter, Jupiter, FL, Mazda Miata, 13.
21, (22), Kyle Greenhill, Libertyville, IL, Mazda Miata, 13.
22, (35), Matteo Azari, Chicago, IL, Mazda Miata, 13.
23, (37), Domenico Leuci, Binghamton, NY, Mazda Miata, 13.
24, (39), Austin Pearce, Geneseo, IL, Mazda Miata, 13.
25, (47), Charlie Campbell, Corry, PA, Mazda Miata, 13.
26, (36), Connor Thomas, Loveland, CO, Mazda Miata, 13.
27, (42), Brad Childs, Jupiter, FL, Mazda Miata, 13.
28, (43), Russell King, Minneapolis, MN, Mazda Miata, 13.
29, (41), Alfredo Zedan, Miami, FL, Mazda Miata, 13.
30, (44), Jillian Fichter, Jupiter, FLA, Mazda Miata, 13.
31, (45), Bruce Allen, Waconia, MN, Mazda Miata, 13.
32, (46), Christopher Tipper, Palatine, IL, Mazda Miata, 13.
33, (48), Dan Harding, Dover, OH, Mazda Miata, 13.
34, (12), Todd Buras, Melbourne, FL, Mazda Miata, 12.
35, (18), Sean Varwig, Lake Zurich, IL, Mazda Miata, 11.
36, (33), Matthew Novak, Bartlett, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
37, (49), Joseph Federl, Austin, TX, Mazda Miata, 7.
38, (40), Samantha Silver, Saint Paul, MN, Mazda Miata, 6.
DNF, (30), Max Schweid, Boca Raton, FL, Mazda Miata, 5.
DNF, (29), Tyler Quance, Cypress, TX, Mazda Miata, 4.
DNF, (25), Senter Smith, Greenville, SC, Mazda Miata, 4.
DNF, (13), Chris Haldeman, McKinney, TX, Mazda Miata, 3.
DNF, (31), Mark Curlee, Montgomery, TX, Mazda Miata, 3.
DNF, (21), Tyler Brown, Muskego, WI, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNF, (23), Jonathan Davis, Wadsworth, OH, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (3), Danny Steyn, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (4), Charles Mactutus, Little Mountain, SC, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (6), Jim Drago, Memphis, TN, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (11), Ethan Jacobs, Oshkosh, WI, Mazda Miata, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 Miles
Overall Time of Race: 38:18.300 (avg. 82.429 mph)
Margin of Victory: 01.133 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:41.486 (90.242 mph)
Lap Leaders: #72, Laps 1-8, 11-13; #99, Lap 9
Sunoco Hard Charger: #98 Charlie Campbell
Photo by: Rick Corwine
