Keyboard player and guitarist Rick Manwiller, previously from progressive rock band Steph, joined early that year.

[16] After working on new material during 1982, Dakota traveled to Los Angeles in early 1983 to record their second album, titled Runaway (MCA-5502) on the MCA label, engineered by Humberto Gatica and produced by Danny Seraphine.

The lineup consisted of Jerry Hludzik and Bill Kelly on guitars and vocals, Danny Seraphine on drums and Rick Manwiller on keys.

[1] Runaway was released in 1984, but in the absence of promotional- and tour backing from MCA Records the album did not achieve the chart success the band anticipated.

[1][15] In 2002 Runaway was re-released on compact disc and in digital format and soon garnered acclaim from critics and fans alike as one of the most underrated AOR records of the 1980s.

[17] Due to the strained relations with Columbia Records, as well as personal differences between band members, Dakota played their final performance of the 1980s at Scranton's Montage Amphitheater in 1987 in front of roughly 7,000 fans.