SCT’ s 13th season includes 18 stops across the U. S. By Craig Cook

In between, the series will travel from coast to coast – from Bakersfield, California to Gainesville, Florida – and everywhere in between. Other notable stops on the tour include the Texas Motorplex, Beech Bend Raceway Park, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway, and Nashville Superspeedway, among many others.

For over a decade, SCT has been one of the leading grassroots motorsports series, giving fans and racers a place to see relatable cars that can be driven around town during the week, while blasting down the dragstrip on the weekend. From roll racing to no prep, muscle cars to imports, car shows to burnout competitions, the series has something for anyone and everyone who’ s a fan of car culture.

Coming off one of their most successful seasons in history, SCT promoter and co-founder Chase Lautenbach believes this year can be even bigger.

“ We’ re very excited about the 2026 season,” said Lautenbach.“ Street Car Takeover is coming out bigger and badder than ever. We’ ve been working really hard this offseason and have a bunch of new partnerships we’ re excited about. We are adding new tracks, new classes, and new rules that are more open to make it accessible for even more racers. We’ re excited to get after it.”

The season officially kicked off on January 8, with the SCT Night Meet and Dyno Night at Cordes Performance in Tempe, Arizona, with prizes awarded to the top horsepower numbers on the dyno.

The following night, SCT’ s racing season began with an all-backside no prep event, featuring Small Tire and Daily Driver classes. On Saturday, the main event included the following classes: Small Tire Shootout, Street Racer, Heavyweight, Unlimited Stick Shift, Extreme Street, Women and Wheels, Daily Driver, Daily Driver Mild, FWD Heads-Up, DCT, and Bikes, as well as Roll Racing classes.

Another new addition for 2026 is the hugely popular Lil’ Gangstas class. Started by Michael Poland and Tom Gunner – better known as Jimmy Dale – in 2023, Lil’ Gangstas is a heads-up class running on a 5.30- index, with 28x10.5 slicks or 275 radials, no wheelie bars, no throttle stops or delay boxes, with no times shown.

“ One of our most notable new partnerships is that we joined forces with the Lil’ Gangsta guys,” said Lautenbach.“ We will be bringing their class into our series at every SCT race in 2026.”

For a dozen years, Street Car Takeover has grown from a grassroots idea into a must-attend experience, bringing together car enthusiasts of all backgrounds and skill levels. With an ever-growing fanbase and racer participation, the sky is the ceiling for Lautenbach and company moving forward.

“ We had one of the greatest years yet at Street Car Takeover in 2025, and I’ m sure it’ s only gonna be better in’ 26. I think it’ s gonna be a big year for us – 2026 should be the best SCT season yet.” DI

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WES TAYLOR, KEVIN COX AND SCOTT ARNOLD

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