Byline: Steven Cole Smith

With the Trans-Am series in limbo, expect road racing fans to focus on the SCCA Speed World Challenge GT and Touring Car series even more this year. The World Challenge is one of the healthiest road racing series in North America.

The purpose, as stated in the series regulations, is simple enough: "To provide teams, manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers a competitive production-based race series in which to prove their products.''

"Production-based'' is the key here, as Challenge cars not only look a lot like their street-going counterparts, they share a lot of the same components. Equality is achieved through "competition adjustments'' to car weight, rev limits or intake restrictors. The 50-minute race length makes for perfect packaging for Speed Channel's television coverage.

The Grand Touring class includes cars with any displacement engines, allows forced induction and rear- or all-wheel drive. Horsepower...