A Mustang driver at the Sports Car Club of America Runoffs went full Cars and Coffee with one of the most egregious revenge-seeking moves I’ve seen in ages. Never go full Cars and Coffee. Never, ever go full Cars and Coffee.
The Runoffs are the grand finale of the SCCA season—their national championship weekend where divisional champions and other top club racers from across the nation are invited to attend.
According to Nick Feathers’ description of the video on Facebook, yellow Mustang driver Tom Sloe had been kept from taking the lead at the start of the American Sedan race by Andrew McDermid, who was driving a white Mustang.
With two laps left, Sloe coasted to a stop at the bottom of a hill with what everyone initially assumed was a mechanical issue, but really wasn’t. Sloe appears to have rolled back down the hill from Turn 5 to Turn 4 in neutral so he would a better angle to spot oncoming traffic, per Feathers’ description.
After the car of Ed Hosni had a mechanical issue, McDermid was leading the race. With his car’s engine still running, Sloe started moving again on the last lap when McDermid was in view and then proceeded to punt McDermid off track at Turn 6. Fans at the race were shocked at what they’d just watched, according to Feathers. It’s pretty rare to see a move that blatant at an SCCA race.
Despite the fact that Sloe had dive-bombed McDermid’s right rear into a spin, McDermid was able to keep his position and win the race. According to Feathers, he even did a big burnout in front of Sloe’s car on the victory lap.
Winning may be the best revenge, but that wasn’t the only thing Sloe will have to deal with after intentionally wrecking someone out. SCCA’s Stewards of the Meet determined that Sloe should lose three positions in the results, and have his SCCA competition license suspended for one year—including for next year’s Runoffs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, per a SCCA representative. Sloe appealed the decision, and the appeals court upheld the initial ruling.
Dude, thou shalt not cause intentional wrecks. I’m sure other Mustang racers would appreciate being left out of the “Mustang must find mayhem” Cars and Coffee meme, too.
UPDATE: The SCCA Board of Directors later voted to suspend Sloe’s membership indefinitely, per a press release that came out after this article first went live.