Chuck McKinney, Boardman, Ohio native, returns home to participate in the 39th Annual Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) National Championships, held September 16-22, 2002, as the Valvoline Runoffs makes its 9th appearance at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. McKinney, who currently resides in Pleasant Hill, CA, will pilot his popular "Wonder Bread" paint scheme Nissan 240SX. The SCCA National Championship Valvoline Runoffs has been called the "Olympics of Motorsports" and Car and Driver magazine has called it one of its "Top Ten Racing Events." Drivers from all 50 states and Canada will descend on America's most competitive road course for seven days of racing action to crown SCCA Club Racing national champions.
McKinney, 50, began his racing career at the age of 13 helping his grandfather prepare midget cars for competition on the Northeast circuit in the late 1960's. In high school he progressed to full-size sports cars competing in parking lot autocross events throughout the Tri-Valley area. After college Chuck moved to Arizona where he turned up the heat and began racing sports cars competitively. His first major event was at the renowned Riverside International Raceway. This entrée into the racing world with the Sports Car Club of America marked the beginning of Chuck's long and successful racing career evolving into semi-pro status.
Chuck, a SCCA and NASPORT veteran, has been a consistent front-runner in the West Coast National Sports Sedan Championship Series SCCA GT-3 class since 1996. In 1997, his first full year of competition, he won the coveted NASPORT championship. Since then, he has participated in more than 50 races throughout the West including NASPORT venues at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point), Portland International Raceway, Pacific Raceway, Phoenix International Raceway and Willow Springs International Motorsports Park "the Fastest Road in the West."
Twenty seven years later, McKinney will return to Ohio with his Vallejo Nissan/Red Line Oil/ Rebello Racing Engines sponsored Nissan 240SX tube-frame racer to compete among 700 drivers in 24 different classes. The road to the Runoffs is neither short nor smooth. The competitors who have made the grade have spent the entire racing season accumulating the points it takes just to qualify. That arduous journey is what makes the Runoffs the crown jewel of SCCA racing and the title of champion so special.
