Topeka ? This city got a turbo-charged boost in the world of auto racing, and Lawrence is hoping to go along for the ride.

State and city of Topeka officials Thursday made an announcement that the Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs would be moving from Ohio to Heartland Park Topeka in 2006.

After blaring Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” at a news conference, racing officials described the runoffs as one of top racing events in the world, putting Topeka on the map with other famous racing cities, such as Daytona, Fla., and Indianapolis.

The runoffs will accelerate northeast Kansas’ place in the fast lane of auto racing, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said.

NASCAR and the Indy Racing League already run high-profile events at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

“Clearly, we are positioning this area as the hotbed of motorsports,” said Sebelius, who was given an honorary racing helmet.

The weeklong runoffs are expected to bring 30,000 spectators, thousands of participants, and have a $10 million to $14 million economic impact, race officials said. The runoffs are considered the world’s largest annual amateur road racing event, and its past champions include Paul Newman, Skip Barber and Bobby Rahal.

Lawrence officials said they expected to reap some benefits from the event, which is under contract in Topeka through 2008.

“I would hope we could expect some overflow for our hotel rooms,” said Bob Sanner, director of the Lawrence Sports Corp., a division of the Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius holds a racing helmet commemorating the selection of Topeka as host for the Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs in 2006. Sebelius -- flanked by Ray Irwin, left, owner of Heartland Park Topeka, and Steve Johnson, president and CEO of the Topeka-based club -- received the helmet during an announcement event Thursday in Topeka.

Steve Johnson, who is president and chief executive officer of the Topeka-based Sports Car Club of America, said Topeka was the natural choice for the event because the town had been overwhelmingly supportive of racing.

For example, most cities double and triple their hotel room rates when races come to town, but in Topeka, hotels offer racecar drivers discounts, he said.

The city of Topeka committed $5 million to Heartland Park to upgrade the track, change its layout and improve spectator viewing areas.

The 2006 runoffs will be in the fall, but no definite date has been set.

Sanner, with the Lawrence convention group, said he hoped the date wouldn’t conflict with a Kansas University home football game.

He said Lawrence would get overflow from the size of crowds they’re expecting in Topeka.