Racing Lines: BMW CCA Club Racing Returns To The Brickyard

The Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June 2025 for the second consecutive year. Club Racing came back, running an enduro and three sprint races in an event hosted by BMW CCA Club Racing, once again the guest of the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA). PWR3 racer Sean Dwyer won the Friday enduro in his PWR3 E46 M3, and Todd Brown took the overall wins in all three sprints in his C-Modified E46 M3.

Friday qualifying was run in wet conditions, with Brown’s C-Mod E46B46 taking the pole; Brandt Stover qualified second in the C-Mod E46 M3 that he shared with Cory Deeds. Dwyer—who would go on to win the enduro after both Stover and Brown encountered car trouble—qualified third.

The track was dry for the start of the enduro. Brown was leading when his car suffered turbo failure at about the halfway point. Stover’s car expired with mechanical problems about four laps before the end, bringing out a full-course yellow. Dwyer said, “No greater shock to me when the pace car picked me up as the overall leader when the yellow came out for Stover’s stalled vehicle; that is a rare experience for my class of car, to say the least! How I got there was the result of some consistent lap times, an unfortunate turn of events for Todd Brown’s turbo, and Ron Hougham yielding to a furled black flag that was only a warning.”

Hougham, Dwyer’s closest competitor in PWR3 in another E46 M3, bounced back in later races. Class-winners Greg Wharton (E46 M3), running solo in PWR4, and Simon Foweather, winner of the six-car Spec E46 class in his 330Ci, rounded out the podium behind Dwyer. The Spec E36 class, also six cars strong at Indy, went to Jack Wilkins (325i). Eric Corwin (E36 M3) took a solo I-Prepared class win and Mirril McMullen took a solo PWR2 win in his E36 323is.

Brown switched cars on Saturday, noting afterward, “I brought out old reliable Car #800 [a C-Mod E46 M3] and enjoyed a comfortable lead margin for the balance of the weekend.” In the Saturday-morning sprint he was followed across the line by PWR3 winner Hougham and PWR3 runner-up Dwyer. C-Mod runner-up Jonathan Simmons (E35 M3) was fourth overall, while Foweather scored another Spec E46 win with a fifth-overall finish. Wilkins won again in Spec E36, and solo wins again went to Wharton, Corwin, and McMullen.

Tire choice was critical for the wet Saturday-afternoon feature race. Dwyer, supported by Brown’s Rooster Hall Racing team, scored his second PWR3 class win, finishing on the same lap as overall and C-Mod winner Todd Brown. Describing the conditions, Dwyer said, “When the green flag dropped, I did my best to stay with Brown and put down some solid wet times to try to keep him in sight, improving by four seconds versus my wet qualifying time. But the best I could do was to be the om;y competitor not lapped by him! In the wet, the track becomes very challenging, with the multiple banking transitions creating havoc with rear grip when the rears hit the transitions, rivers streaming across a few of the long-duration corners and then pooling at the exit, and brake-zone puddles at the end of the back stretch; it was truly a challenging wet environment.”

Spec E36 winner Tom Tice (E36 328i) chose dry tires. “The track was very wet,” he said,  “but the rain was supposed to stop at about the time we were to take the green flag. I took a risk and choose to run dry tires even though the track was very wet; all the other Spec E36 racers were on rain tires. On the first lap, it looked like my tire choice was a big mistake, as I quickly found myself almost at the very back of the pack, but after a lap or so, I started to find some grip after getting some heat into the tires. Standing water was still a problem, but I navigated around most of it. Over the first few laps of the race I slowly caught and passed all of the SE36 cars except Jack Wilkins; I chased him for three or four more laps and finally caught and passed him as well.”

Dan March won Spec E46 with a third-overall finish in his 330i. Solo class winners McMullen and Wharton finished fourth and fifth overall, and Corwin took another I-Prepared solo win, finishing behind the pack of six Spec E36 cars.

Brown completed his sweep of the sprints in a dry Sunday race. Hougham, who started at the back, chased PWR3 competitor Dwyer until the last lap, passing for the class win when Dwyer experienced a braking issue. The two racers finished second and third overall. C-Mod runner-up Stover finished fourth, with March just behind him for another Spec E46 win ahead of Foweather. While Tice led Spec E36 for about half the distance, Wilkins caught him; the two racers battled for a time, with Wilkins holding on for the win. Wharton and Corwin once again took solo class wins.

Sean Dwyer won the Spirit of Club Racing Award for recovering from multiple suspension challenges to continue to run in all the races.

Bruce Heersink served as competition steward, Tim Bradford and Bruce Smith served as tech stewards, and Roland Nieves served as the timing-and-scoring steward.—Brian Morgan, Roundel motorsports editor, with input from racers

Lead photo of racers in paddock at Indy by Robert Atkinson