In only four days and four hours, the 2018 Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® Nationals reached its entry cap of 1,350 participants, an unprecedented feat for the Sports Car Club of America®.  Those who registered after the cap was reached have now been added to a waitlist.  If entry cancellations come in, persons will be offered a slot at the Sept. 3-7 event in Lincoln, Nebraska according to their position on the waitlist.

Howard Duncan, SCCA’s Rally/Solo Senior Director, said, “I have been working with SCCA’s Solo Department a long time and never imagined that the Solo National Championship could possibly sell out so quick! This is truly a testament to the ever-increasing interest in Solo’s top-tier event AND the welcoming environment existing in Lincoln each year.”

Last year, in 2017, the Tire Rack Solo Nationals set a participation record with 1,317 entries. That record may very well fall this year.  Whether it does or not, there is no denying the meteoric growth Solo Nationals has experienced over the last several years. A lot of that can be attributed to changes in the Solo landscape dating back more than a decade.

In the 1990s, Solo Nationals already had a strong following and a home in Salina, Kansas.  As popularity grew, a new site was found at Forbes Field in Topeka, Kansas to handle the influx of competitors. In 2000, the event first reached nearly 1,000 entries. In 2009, the Championship was relocated to its current home at Lincoln Airpark in Nebraska, and entry numbers continued to grow.

Beyond the location, strategic classing decisions have also played a significant role in the event’s popularity.  In 2011, there were 283 cars participating in Stock classes. In 2012, the Solo Events Board began taking steps to migrate Stock to the new Street ruleset.  Now in 2018, there are 440 drivers registered to participate in Street classes. That shift from Stock to Street accounts for half the event’s growth over the last seven years.

Of course, the addition of new classes has also aided in growth. New for 2018, the Solo Spec Coupe (SSC) class boasts more than 65 entries at Solo Nationals.  And the inclusion of Classic American Muscle (CAM) competitors is responsible for more than 90 entries this year.  These classes, along with the shift from Stock to Street, represent 82 percent growth in participation from 2011 to today.

What’s in store for the future of Solo Nationals?  Only time will tell.  But rest assured this top-tier, SCCA event will continue to be one of the world’s largest motorsport competitions for many years to come.

The Sports Car Club of America®, Inc., founded in 1944, is a 67,500-member motorsports organization that incorporates all facets of autocross, rally and road racing at both Club and professional levels. With headquarters in Topeka, Kansas, the SCCA annually sanctions over 2,000 events through its 116 Regions and subsidiary divisions. Much of the SCCA’s activities are made possible with support from the following Official Partners: Chevrolet, the Official Truck of the SCCA; Hawk Performance, the Official Brake Products of SCCA; Mobil 1, the Official Oil of SCCA; Sunoco, the Official Fuel of SCCA; and Tire Rack, the Official Tire Retailer of SCCA. To learn more, please visit http://www.scca.com.

After two days of competition at the Tire Rack Bristol Match Tour, competitors stuck around Bristol Motor Speedway for another two days of SCCA Solo® action at the Tire Rack Bristol Championship Tour. As the weekend wore on, attrition hit hard, but the comradery of SCCA came out in spades. So that drivers could continue competing, Cindy Duncan’s F Street Mustang came in as a relief vehicle for several. It was used in four classes by eight different drivers. Cindy’s generosity allowed drivers to complete their weekend and have some fun despite the mishaps.

On the first runs of day two competition, Johanna Foege suffered fuel problems in her ESP Mazdaspeed6 and she switched to Duncan’s Mustang for her third. Foege’s first run taken in the Mazdaspeed would prove to be enough to win ESPL, with Duncan herself finishing 2nd in a borrowed Ford Shelby GT500.

Jennifer Bedell showed up to Bristol with her new 2015 Scion FR-S, freshly prepped for SSC and still sporting temporary plates. In SSCL, Co-driver Chris Peterson led after day one, but Bedell fought back for the win in the 5-driver class.

All three trophies in A Street were won by blue Chevrolet C5 Z06 Corvettes, with the top two spots taken by codrivers John Wolf and William Bostic, with just 0.122 second between them. Cody Hunt followed in third, 0.682 second back from Bostic.

To break up the similarities, the two trophy-winning Mazda Miatas in Street Touring Sport couldn’t have been more different. Jacob Ronald’s winning car, affectionately named “Tetanus” for its natural appearance, was a stark contrast to second place Patrick Mayne in an extremely clean 1992 Sunburst Yellow edition. Ronald’s margin of victory was a commanding 1.266 seconds.

In Street Touring Xtreme, Kyle Herbst was on fire all weekend, taking wins in both the Match and Champ Tours. The margin back to Raymond Dsouza in second was 2.142 seconds, but Brian Karwan was just 0.005 behind for the third and final trophy.

B Street Prepared brings us back to a slew of mechanical issues throughout the event, with the top two cars in class both needing work late into the night after day one. The flat and level space between the two bathrooms in paddock provided a place for on-site suspension and alignment fixes. Gregory Hahn took the win, with Buckie Maxey 0.791 second behind in second and Heath Pemberton another 0.713 second back in third.

The 21-driver Street Touring Roadster class saw David Marcus take the win over Mark Shrivastava by 0.330 second with Marcus Pyne another 0.431 second back in third. Fourth and fifth place trophies went to Laura Campbell and Deana Kelley, Deana earning her first open class trophy. The sixth and final trophy spot was earned by Nick Babin.

In C Street, DJ Alessandrini put together a flyer on run three to come back from a small day-one deficit for the victory over Andrew Pallotta by 0.098 second. Dennis Barrett, Charles Krampert, and Chris Harp filled the remaining trophy positions.

CAM Contemporary was a tight battle with Jadrice Toussaint and Randy Adkins separated by just 0.043 second leading into final runs. Toussaint’s Mustang hit the stage cone while launching, leaving the door open, but Adkins only managed to improve by 0.001 second on his final run, resulting in the final gap between them being just 0.042 second.

Mike Casino’s SSP-prepared Chevrolet Corvette, less the Hoosiers, won CAM Sport, with the second, third and fourth place trophies of Chris Kirkland, Alek Tziortzis and Jon Nwanagu separated by just half a second.

Complete results from the 2018 Tire Rack Bristol Championship Tour can be found here.

Top 10 Overall PAX Results:

  1. Sam Strano, SSR
  2. John Vitamvas, DSP
  3. Kyle Herbst, STX
  4. Josh Luster, SSR
  5. Grant Reeve, SSR
  6. DJ Alessandrini, CS
  7. Andrew Pallotta, CS
  8. Eric Peterson, ES
  9. David Marcus, STR
  10. Matthew Glagola, SSM

Top 3 Ladies PAX Results:

  1. Maria Mayorga, CSL
  2. Johanna Foege, ESPL
  3. Jennifer McBride, CSL