A host of top performances from the 40th Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships in Lincoln, Neb., have led to recognized honors in the Solo community for 2012. Scott Fraser, of San Jose, Calif., and Tristan Littlehale, of Saratoga, CA have been selected by the Sports Car Club of America Solo Events Board for Driver of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively, while an additional 11 drivers claimed Solo Triad Awards for their on-course skills.
Fraser was named Driver of the Year for his outstanding effort in winning the C Street Prepared National Championship by 1.2 seconds over defending champion Tim Aro. Fraser previously had won the class championship in 2010, and is widely known as an instructor who openly shares his knowledge with newcomers. Fraser, long known as a hot shoe in the San Francisco Bay area, got a boost in his effort after finding a teammate and car owner in Tom Kubo, with both drivers improving their finishes under the new setup.
Littlehale attended the Tire Rack National Championships for the first time in 2012 and left as the Street Touring Ultra National Champion. Littlehale won in a 1997 BMW M3 that is a dark horse car in a class dominated by all-wheel drive, turbocharged cars. The 21-year old college student is studying mechanical engineering and uses his National Championship-winning car as his daily driver.
Those awards sit hand-in-hand with 11 drivers who captured the prestigious Solo Triad Award this season. The Triad Award goes to drivers who win a National Chapionship, a Tire Rack Solo National Tour event, and a States Championship in the same class.
Seven drivers had fulfilled the requirements and claimed the award with National Championships in Lincoln in September, led by E Street Prepared champ Mark Madarash’s third such award in the four-year history. Jeff Kiesel claimed his second with an E Modified title, while Shelly Monfort (Street Stock Ladies) became the second woman to earn the award. Lane Borg (A Stock), Andy Hollis (Street Tire Front), Joe Tharpe (Super Street Prepared) and Carter Thompson (Super Street Modified) added their names to the exclusive list.
Four drivers joined the group following the Tri State Challenge National Tour at Blytheville in October. Armed with a National and States Championship title already, Bartek Borowski (E Stock) and Clemens Burger (B Modified) added their names to the three-time winners list, with Ladies Class champions Kim Whitener (Super Touring Sport Ladies) and Tara Johns (Super Street Modified Ladies) joining Monfort among the highly-decorated women in the sport.
More information on the Sports Car Club of America, the Tire Rack National Tour, and all of the SCCA programs is available at http://www.scca.com.
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The 2013 Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Series schedule has been announced with 27 total events spanning 7 months, covering 16 states and featuring 3 unique event formats. The biggest change for 2013 is the introduction of the Match Tour format, featuring the Evolution Super Shootout. In addition to the 9 Match Tours, the series will feature 10 ProSolo Rounds, 7 Championship Tour Rounds and the 2013 Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals.
ProSolo kicks off in Irvine California on the weekend of April 6th at the El Toro Air Base. The series features 9 regular season rounds with the traditional Finale event once again kicking off the week of Solo Nationals. Stops include returns to Mineral Wells Texas, East Rutherford New Jersey, Washington DC, Farmington New Mexico, Packwood Washington and Toledo Ohio for stand-alone ProSolo weekends. In addition, ProSolo events will kick off the double event weekends for Lincoln Nebraska’s Spring Nationals and the Fourth of July weekend Summer Nationals in Blytheville Arkansas.
Officially, the National Tour program is being split into two formats, the new format carrying the Match Tour nomenclature while the traditional Tour format will become the Championship Tour, reflective of it’s tie to Solo National’s format. Championship Tours are scheduled for College Station Texas, San Diego California, Dover Delaware, Packwood Washington and Wilmington Ohio for stand-alone weekends. There will also be Championship Tour events on each of the double event weekends in Blytheville Arkansas and Lincoln Nebraska.
The inaugural Match Tour will be held at South Georgia Motorsports Park on the weekend on March 16th. The Match Tours format feature class competition on Saturday and the Evolution Super Shootout on Sunday. The Shootout format allows the forty-eight fastest drivers to mix with the top four ladies, as well as twelve random drawn drivers in a four-ladder tournament to see who can take home the big prize. Held on a traditional, championship style course, Match Tours are the best of both worlds, blending long, fast flowing courses with the excitement of elimination competition. Additional Match Tour dates are scheduled for Wilmington Ohio, Peru Indiana, Mineral Wells Texas, Fountain Colorado, Milwaukee Wisconsin, Ayer Massachusetts, Blytheville Arkansas and St George Utah.
The biggest event of the year, the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals and is schedule for the first week of September, and once again begins with Labor Day weekend. This completes a 3 event series of major Solo Events on holiday weekends, with Spring Nationals once again on Memorial Day Weekend and the move of Summer Nationals to Fourth of July Weekend.
Click here to see the Combined Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Schedule and for Google and iCal downloads
Check Out the 2013 National Solo Series Preview Video:
