SPS

The scR racecar in the SPS Racing paddock area during the Runoffs qualifying week.

After winning the Southeast Divisional title, Mike Kramer and the rest of the Thundersport Racing team were a bit disappointed with their 24th place qualifying effort at the Runoffs. But mechanical problems and rainy weather limited the teams qualifying ability – and left us to work with a 24th spot as best as possible. "Real estate…" said Mike before the race. "I’ve got to make up a lot of real estate!"

But working with limited resources to create something great is not a new idea to SPS. And it is certainly not a new idea to Mike Kramer! During the race, Mike drove like a demon. As a result of Mike’s exceptional driving – and a few well-placed accidents – Mike found himself in the 12th spot by lap 6 – right on the bumper of James Walker and scR motorsports! Mike managed to pass James before his tires finally went away and was literally pushed by James to a final finish in 11th spot! His amazing come-from-behind effort won a lot of recognition for Mike and the Thundersport Racing team. And it served as an exciting finish to a fun and productive year!

Most of you probably already know that the 1998 season was only the second year of racing for James Walker and the scR motorsports team. And it was only the first year of competition at the national level. Certainly, we surprised a lot of people by making it to the national championships at the Runoffs. And we even surprised ourselves a bit by qualifying 13th in a field of 40 cars.

After 5 laps in the race, James had worked his way up to the 11th spot and was moving forward when accidents ahead and behind caused him to lose a position to SPS Racing team member Mike Kramer. For the next 6 laps, James literally pushed Mike through the turns, while Mike pulled James down the straight-aways. It was not until the next-to-last lap that a Neon finally pushed his way in between Mike and James, resulting in a 13th place finish for James and the scR motorports team.

And while a 13th place finish is a few spots shy of our 10th place goal, James managed to turn a fastest lap time of 1:52.1 – his best ever at MidOhio. And in a race previously dominated by Neons, only 4 finished ahead of the scR Saturn. Said James following the race, "The SPS suspension package performed flawlessly and allowed us to compete head-to-head with the Neons that we had targeted. Unfortunately, we were all outdone by the radical set-ups used on the Mazdas and Nissans."

Team scR will be working closely with SPS during the off-season to develop a new package for next year – a package that will be on par with those offered for the Mazdas and Nissans which dominated this year’s Runoffs championship.

	These in-sequence photos show James pushing Mike through the top of the keyhole just before the entrance to the back straight.
These photos show the amazingly close racing action as Mike and James exit the keyhole and enter MidOhio’s long downhill back straight-away – where they reach speeds approaching 120 mph!	Mike (91) finished 11th after an amazing come-from-behind run. James (34) was not far behind in 13th.