It's time for the second and final race of the weekend for the SRO TC America championship, and the final event of the 2021 season. A year's worth of effort, blood, sweat, tears, and toil, and it all comes to this as TCX, TC, and TCA are going for it. The TCX crown is clinched as we join Ryan Myrehn, Calvin Fish, and Amanda Busick for the action. Eric Powell is in the catbird seat for the championship. He has to score one point if Kevin Boehm should win today. Caleb Bacon leads Luke Rumburg by six and a half points. The racing in this class to quote Mr. Myrehn, has been "as hot as a ghost pepper". Kevin Boehm has to push through the field to get to the top.
33 cars in three classes. Steve Streimer is the TCX polesitter. This is the final race for TC. Drivers, start your engines! This course is 2.59 miles, 14 turns. It was spritzing with rain on a wet track in yesterday's race. There's no worries about weather today. We do have a mixed grid due to the results of yesterday's event. P.J. Groenke is the polesitter in TCA who started caboose on the grid in yesterday's event. This track is slightly altered from the one we ran a year ago in 2020. There are extra corners between sectors one and two before the third sector which is what people are used to before getting to the start/finish and the iconic yard of bricks that gives Indianapolis it's nickname "The Brickyard".
Some drivers can go for it but other will have to take a conservative approach and not get too quick too early. We have trouble for one of the Mini's, the TC spec version that has had some difficulties. The reliability needs work. Poor Derek Jones is down towards speedway turn three. He is stopped dead stick. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has not seen much sports car racing until the last few years. We are ready to start this second TC America race. Three starts for three classes. Here come the TCX cars. Green flag!
Steve Streimer, Jacob Ruud, and more. Here's TC. Eric Powell lags back. Who will lead? Kevin Boehm has to be aggressive. TCA, and P.J. Groenke gets a good start with Caleb Bacon and Mario Biundo pushjing the envoelope and Caleb Bacon goes over the curbs! Mario Biundo and Jose Blanco move past Clayton Williams, yesterday's race winner in TCA. Caleb Bacon rocketed out of the starting blocks. Carter Fartuch is back a wee bit in the Skip Barber Racing School Honda, one of those cars. An off and on for Pericarpi in the Mini. Three wide again, look, and Carter Fartuch is pressing Clay Williams already!
Carter Fartuch is really pushing the envelope. Meanwhile, Mike LaMarra makes a pig's breakfast out of his braking point and thankfully recovers but will have to move ahead. We saw Christian Perocarpi in strife earlier but he may have recovered. Kevin Boehm has to win. He is chasing Eric Powell. Jose Blanco is stopped dead stick with no power in the VGMC Honda from Puerto Rico with their shops based in Florida. Eric Powell must finish top ten with one point to get the championship. He ought to have enough if he does not finish last.
He has to get to the 70% mark in the race. Eric Powell has to stay out of trouble. Oh deary me, the #98 Hyundai Elantra of Taylor Hagler is off the road with bodywork damage on the front. Maybe contact between the Hyundai and one of the Skip Barber Honda's. That is the #2 car, Colin Harrison at the wheel of it. In the pit lane we have an automobile down there with trouble. It is yesterday's winner Mike LaMarra. He had gravel in the underside of the car and may have had a technical issue as well. Were we going back to green? No.
Wait a second. We are back to green however there is a yellow because of Taylor Hagler's stranded Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Eric Powell could uncork the champagne here if he keeps his nose clean. Jacob Ruud leads TCX over Dteve Streimer, Olivia Askew, and Roy Block, as we go to Full Course Yellow. Safety Car on the speedway. So, the Lamborghini Urus SUV leads the field around. Now we see a BMW in the pit lane. Cannot tell which one that was in the pit lane. Austin Smith is another chap we have to look out for. He has won boatloads of races this year already, and yesterday, his championship bid ended. So, maybe he will have a chance if he chooses to come back to SRO TCR in 2022.
Lights off on the safety car. We will be going back to green with 27 minutes left on the board in the season. Jacob Ruud leads overall and in TCX along with Steve Streimer and Olivia Askew. Steve Streimer gets the jump and he's going to try his darnedest to make a move. Side by side stuff and a little casual contact between Ken Fukuda and Tom Capizzi! Yikes! BMW vs. Honda! Eric Powell is right behind team mate Ken Fukuda now. Be conservative, that is the key for Eric Powell if he wants this championship. Approach the season in go for it mode, and then, at the last race of the year, take a step back and know you are going for something better.
Caleb Bacon leads Luke Rumburg in TCA. Team mates, are NOT team mates right now. Rivals at the Hyundai team for Bacon and Rumburg. Bacon is 17.5 points ahead of Rumburg. Excuse me. 13.5. Brain calculator busted. In replay, speaking of busted, one of the lead cars has debris flying off, and that could have been Bacon's car losing bodywork. These two cars for Forbush Performance are still following each other. One of them has lost a piece of bodywork but maybe that won't be a worry. Caleb Bacon is leading Luke Rumburg and poor P.J. Groenke spins and sticks himself into the wet grass, into the mud.
So, the Canadian driver will have to see if he can get back into the race. This throws a spanner into the TCA championship fight. Clay Williams is applying the blowtorch to the TCA leaders as we have Full Course Yellow again, look. Groenke's TechSport Racing Toyota 86 is in trouble. Poor old Groenke wants a podium and has not been able to get one all year. Car #06 is that BMW that was in the pit lane. Game over for a meme themed automobile. Matthew Ibrahim, out of the motor race, from DRS & Garagistic, and their BMW M240iR. We will continue to watch and in replay, we saw Caleb Bacon bounding over the curbs. That's why the undertray broke away.
As I was saying, we will still be watching these boys and what they can do. They have know that if they take each other out of the motor race, Carter Fartuch will be the champion, out of the blue. So, this will be a three way battle in these last 20 minutes. Rumburg and Bacon have been equal all year. So they don't want any argy bargy. Derek Jones and Jeff Ricca are the two retirements. Ricca, I don't think, even started the race. Lights out on the safety SUV and we are back o green. It is all TCX at the front as Kevin Boehm is the TC leader while Caleb Bacon leads TCA. Luke Rumburg second followed by the Mini's and the Honda's. Bacon, and Rumburg, and here comes Rumburg!
Bacon makes the apex into turn one as the Mini's want this as well. Luke Rumburg is trying to deny Bacon the title. Clayton Williams, the race one winner yesterday, wants a piece of this. P.J. Groenke back on track, off the pace, and maybe out of the motor race. Groenke stopped on the road. Clayton Williams is flying and he wants this. Meanwhile, side by side racing as Eric Powell passes Tom Capizzi for fifth place. Kevin Boehm is still leading this motor race and Boehm must win to be champion. This is a car for DXDT Racing, although Kevin, a Honda engineer at the Marysville, Ohio plant, works on this car.
He won a title in 2020 in TCA as a rookie last year. Bacon still leads TCA over Rumburg. Luke Rumburg has the Mini, right on his six. Clayton Williams is still back there. Rumburg is pushing, and I don't have to tell you, hard. Bacon has the performance through a particular sector from turns five and six out onto Hulman Boulevard. Clayton Williams is pushing, but he seems to be running out of steam trying to catch Rumburg. He survived a crazy start on a damp road here at IMS yesterday. Rumburg is falling into Caleb Bacon's clutches.
No significant changes in the other classes. TCA is the focus. The variable is Clayton Williams in this yellow Mini. The Mini has more lap time in it. He has to pull the pin now if he wants to win the motor race, LAP Motorsports, based down the road in Brownsburg, Indiana, while Forbush Performance are based out of Memphis, Tennessee. Rumburg has Williams right on his six. The Hyundai Veloster will have more straightaway speed. Williams is waiting a wee while to show his hand. But less than eight minutes on the board. So, he ahs to go now.
Kevin Boehm has the lead of this motor race right now. He might not be able to defend his championship. Eric Powell is the presumptive champion for 2021. Austin Smith is holding Nicholas Barbato at bay and we see the Nissan 370Z TC Spec of Rob Hines also in the fight, car #21. Oh wow! Change of position in TCA! Luke Rumburg has to give it up as Clay Williams sails by. He wants to break out the broom and sweep. Four and a half minutes to go. Caleb Bacon can still win the title if Williams wins the motor race. Here's Williams, trying hard. He is not getting past Bacon. Bacon has the advantage.
Caleb Bacon is grandson of Al Bacon, a four-time class winner at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Bacon decides to give it up. He might let Williams have it. He cannot let Rumburg pass. Final three minutes of the season and we are down to the wire here in TC/TCA/TCX. Rumburg has to go on maximum attack around Bacon and hope Williams has trouble. Final lap of 2021 in SRO Touring Cars. Jacob Ruud is looking for his tenth win of 2021. What a way for Classic BMW to bow out as they sold their Texas dealer to another franchise, but will continue under Fast Track Racing and that banner. White flag. One more lap to go.
Bacon can bring home the championship unless something dramatic happens. Jacob Ruud, for the final time, he is still wringing the neck of the BMW M2. Here he comes. For the second time this weekend and tenth this year, Jacob Ruud wins!
#81 Jacob Ruud Classic BMW BMW M2 CS (Cup)
Clayton Williams leads TCA. Williams is going to win.
#62 Clayton Williams MINI JCW Team Mini Cooper
Kevin Boehm wins the TC class!
#9 Kevin Boehm DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R
Kevin Boehm wins the TC race, but Eric Powell is the champion, flashing the headlights in TC and he is the champ! In TCA, we have Clay Williams as a race winner, and Caleb Bacon, the champion! Jacob Ruud at 1:48.351, cracks the CrowdStrike fastest lap award. Kevin Boehm is happy as 2020 TCA champ and 2021 TC runner up. He's made of the right stuff indeed. Eric Powell, by seven and a half points, is the champ! This concludes the 2021 TC America Skip Barber Racing School touring car season. So long, everybody. Take care. See you next year.
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