Celebrate New Years Eve with F500 and T1 Runoffs Races on SPEED

TOPEKA, Kan. December 30, 2008: For the perfect prelude to your New Year’s festivities, tune into SPEED on Wednesday, Dec. 31, to catch the Formula 500 and Touring 1 races from the 45th SCCA® National Championship Runoffs®.

At noon (EST), Jason Knuteson claims the F500 pole for the third year in-a-row, but is still looking for his first win. He’ll start his No. 92 Hoosier/Mitchell Racing Scorpion S1/Rotax next to the No. 3 T&R Fabricating TR1 Stinger/Rotax of Steven Thompson. The 2006 F500 Champion, Brian Golay, passes Thompson for second early in the race driving the No. 74 Hoosier Tires/Golay Motorsports Invader QC-1, but already has a considerable distance to make up between himself and Knuteson. When Golay exits the race early with mechanical trouble, the battle for third between Thompson and Aaron Ellis’ No. 43 Carlisle/CFF/Ellis Motorsports Eillis AE06/Rotax becomes the battle for second. Will the two work together to catch Knuteson or will he finally take home the gold? Tune in to SPEED and watch.

Next at 1 p.m. (EST), it’s T1, where defending Champion Andrew Aquilante starts on pole in his No. 36 Hoosier/Phoenix Performance/Hawk Chevrolet Corvette. Aquilante is immediately under attack by the No. 77 Level 5 Motorsports Ferrari 360 Modena of Edward Zabinski. The Ferrari can occasionally pull alongside the Corvette on the front stretch, but Zabinski can not make it stick and is running out of laps. When Natha Waldbaum’s Corvette spins to a stop in Turn 12, facing traffic, Aquliante’s decision to go left and Zabinski’s decision to pull right will decide the 2008 T1 National Championship. Don’t miss it on SPEED!