LINCOLN, Neb. (Sept. 4, 2019) — Below are provisional results for each of 35 classes that concluded competition Wednesday during the 47th running of the Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® Nationals Championship taking place this week at Lincoln Airpark in Nebraska. Each entry contains the class, winning driver, hometown, car, winning margin and number of championships (Note: * Indicates not a Nationals Championship event.)
– E Street: Bartek Borowski; Elmwood Park, IL; Mazda Miata; 1.158 (ninth Nationals Championship, seventh in class)
– E Street Ladies: Casey Coughlin; Prairieville, LA; Mazda Miata; 4.306 (first Nationals Championship)
– F Street: Win-Hou Chow; Dublin, OH; BMW M3; 1.099 (first Nationals Championship)
– F Street Ladies: Denise Cashmore; New Berlin, WI; BMW M3; 2.841 (seventh Nationals Championship, first in class)
– H Street: Philip Mitchell; White Lake, MI; Ford Fiesta ST; 0.144 (first Nationals Championship)
– H Street Ladies: Laney Blume; Wichita, KS; Honda Civic Hatchback; 4.062 (third Nationals Championship, third in class)
– Street Touring Roadster: Brian Karwan; Frederick, MD; Mazda MX-5 Miata; 0.419 (third Nationals Championship, first in class)
– Street Touring Roadster Ladies: Tara Johns; Milton, TN; Mazda MX5; 3.819 (seventh Nationals Championship, first in class)
– Solo Spec Coupe: Adam Benaway; Fayetteville, NC; Scion FRS; 0.890 (second Nationals Championship, second in class)
– Solo Spec Coupe Ladies: Jennifer Bedell; Hillsborough, NC; Scion FR-S; 0.832 (fourth Nationals Championship, second in class)
– C Street Prepared: Billy Davis; New Haven, CT; Mazda Miata; 0.885 (fifth Nationals Championship, fifth in class)
– C Street Prepared Ladies: Katie Lacey; Apple Valley, MN; Mazda Miata; 2.793 (fourth Nationals Championship, second in class)
– D Street Prepared: Tamra Krystinik; Middlefield, CT; Mazda RX-8; 0.435 (third Nationals Championship, first in class)
– E Street Prepared: Jeff Wong; Moorpark, CA; Chevrolet Camaro SS; 1.213 (fifth Nationals Championship, first in class)
– E Street Prepared Ladies: Nicole Wong; Moorpark, CA; Chevrolet Camaro SS; 1.801 (ninth Nationals Championship, first in class)
– Super Street R: Grant Reeve; Sturbridge, MA; Corvette Grand Sport; 0.807 (second Nationals Championship, second in class)
– Super Street R Ladies: Shelly Monfort; Saratoga, CA; Chevrolet Corvette GS; 5.215 (eleventh Nationals Championship, fourth in class)
– D Prepared: Michael Maier; Livermore, CA; Toyota Starlet; 0.068 (tenth Nationals Championship, first in class)
– *D Prepared Ladies: Deanne Caraballo; Modesto, CA; Toyota Starlet; 6.374 (fourth Nationals win, third in class)
– E Prepared: Patrick Washburn; Wausau, WI; Honda Civic; 1.244 (first Nationals Championship)
– Super Street Modified: Robert Thorne; Newtown, CO; Honda S2000; 1.697 (fifth Nationals Championship, second in class)
– Super Street Modified Ladies: Amanda Thorne; Newtown, PA; Honda S2000; 0.123 (fourth Nationals Championship, first in class)
– *CAM-C: Mike Johnson; Glen Allen, VA; Chevrolet Camaro 1LE; 0.125 (sixth Nationals win, first in class)
– *CAM-T: Keith Lamming; Raymore, MO; Chevrolet Camaro; 1.126 (second Nationals win, first in class)
– *CAM-S: Jadrice Toussaint; Charlotte, NC; Chevrolet Grand Sport; 0.537 (third Nationals win, first in class)
– B Modified: Matthew Ellam; Boulder Creek, CA; Omnifab Cheetah; 0.572 (third Nationals Championship, third in class)
– C Modified: Anthony Porta; Yorba Linda, CA; Honda C-MOD; 0.201 (second Nationals Championship, first in class)
– *C Modified Ladies: Sue Eckles; Malcolm, NE; Reynard Formula Ford; 2.867 (seventh Nationals win, third in class)
– F Modified: Zak Kiesel; Poway, CA; Raptor F-500; 1.342 (third Nationals Championship, second in class)
– F Modified Ladies: Kencey Christopher; Rowlett, TX; NovaKar J9; 0.417 (fourth Nationals Championship, first in class)
– Kart Modified: Larry MacLeod; Ypsilanti, MI; Mod-Moto Tonykart; 1.199 (second Nationals Championship, second in class)
– Kart Modified Ladies: Dana Gill; Topeka, KS; KGB/Honda Pacemaker; 4.926 (first Nationals Championship)
– *Formula Junior A: Mason Herrick; McPherson, KS; CRG Kart Santana; 1.328 (fifth Nationals win, third in class)
– *Formula Junior B: Olivia Hammac; Cape Canaveral, FL; Margay Kart Ignite K3; 1.971 (first Nationals win)
– *Formula SAE: John Price; Mansfield, TX; UTA Racing F19; 1.100 (first Nationals win)
For a complete rundown of competition, visit the Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® Nationals Championship webpage. Also, follow all the action with live timing and audio at https://sololive.scca.com/, or keep track of the competition at the SoloMatters Facebook page. And tune in each morning an hour before competition begins to the Solo Nationals Morning Show at https://www.facebook.com/sccaofficial/.
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: Hagerty, the Official Insurance Partner of SCCA; Hawk Performance, the Official Brake Products 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.
Photo: Tamra Krystinik on her way to the D Street Prepared victory at the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals Championship
The Kiesel Clan — When you think of families that have been highly successful in motorsport, names like Andretti, Unser and Force come to mind. But how about the Kiesels? When it comes to the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals Championship, the Kiesels are easily the winningest family. Father Jeff Kiesel, mother Shawn, son Zak and daughter Kaila have combined to claim 25 championships even before the 2019 Solo Nats began.
Shawn, 46, was actually the first Kiesel to claim a Solo Nationals championship, earning the family’s initial victory in 2006 a couple hours before Jeff, 40, took his first win. But starting with that victory, Jeff went on to pull off 12-straight championships at Solo Nats — the longest winning streak in Solo Nats history — with most of those wins coming behind the wheel of the family’s 1958 Austin Healey Sprite featuring a turbo rotary engine with custom-fiber front and rear. Jeff leads the Kiesel clan with 12 victories, which is only one more than Shawn has to date. Zak, 19, then counts for two more championships. As for 18-year-old Kaila, she’s only in her second year of Solo Nationals competition — so there’s plenty of time for her to “chip in” on the family tradition.
Jeff, Shawn, Zak and Kaila are all entered in this year’s Solo Nationals, along with grandpa Mark Kiesel — the man responsible for getting Jeff involved in the Sports Car Club of America®. With five members of the family in the hunt this year, the safe bet is on the Kiesels adding to their grand total before the week is over in Lincoln.
Victory Circle — When the world thinks of motorsports victory celebrations, the images which tend to be the strongest involve drinking milk, spraying Mazza sparkling wine, and hoisting trophies. For the top finishers at the Tire Rack Solo Nationals, the goal is to stand on a stage at the championship banquets each year. This year the SCCA is trying something a little different to capture the on-site energy when it comes to recognizing the winners by having a victory circle — complete with podium — for the top-three finishers in each class for photos and celebration.
Adam Benaway won the Solo Spec Coupe National Championship in 2018 and by repeating this year the North Carolina driver became one of the first to compare winning without the winner’s circle to winning with it.
“Every other series uses a podium and it gives it a sense of immediate accomplishment,” said Benaway, who also won his class at the 2018 Tire Rack Time Trials Nationals a few weeks after his Solo Nationals Championship where he got to stand on the KONI Podium. “To bring that to Solo Nationals is really good.”
Dirty Little Details — When a car hits a cone, needs to be teched, timed or weighed, we know the worker positions which handle them. But when it comes to those hard to predict things which pop up constantly throughout the event, who is there with a hand?
“We used to call them the s**ty little detail officers or SLDOs,” said Marcus Merideth, B-street competitor and SCCA Area 4 Director.
The official — and more politically correct term — is “Logistic Experts” and this team of competitors and volunteers spring into action from the Tuesday before competition until the last SCCA truck pulls off site whenever a voice on the radio asks for help.
Though they certainly don’t get the fanfare other workers get, but when things go boom, this silent team goes to work — often with quick dry, brooms and shovels as they have had to do three times this week so far when cars littered the course with fluids and shrapnel, usually getting cars back on course within 20 minutes.
As always, “THANK YOU, WORKERS!”
Dawn of Day Two — It’s the second day of competition at the Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® Nationals Championship in Lincoln, Nebraska. Before tonight’s Tire Rack® Awards Ceremony at the Lancaster Events Center, we’ll have identified more than 30 drivers who make up the first batch of 2019 Solo Nationals winners. Follow all the action throughout the day with live timing and audio at https://sololive.scca.com/, or keep track of the competition at the SoloMatters Facebook page. And don’t forget to tune in each morning an hour before competition begins to the Solo Nationals Morning Show at https://www.facebook.com/sccaofficial/. If you miss the live morning broadcast, the show is archived at Facebook for you to go back and watch later. Oh, you’ll also find some event updates available periodically each day at SCCA.com.
Cart Art — And now we’ll take a moment to talk about carts. No, not racing karts — although there are lots of those here at Solo Nats and they’re really, really cool. But in this case, we mean golf carts. With Solo Nats eating up nearly 40 acres of space at Lincoln Airpark, golf carts are very helpful in getting around. And each year, many participants take the time to “spruce up” their carts with flags, banners and whatever else they can find.
Perennial cart art whiz Kevin Dietz, a member of SCCA’s Northwest Region and winner of this year’s Tire Rack ProSolo Finale, has outdone himself again in 2019 with a design fitting of the event’s “Game of Cones: After the Flood” theme. His cart is decked out to appear as if it’s a castle with tall, stone ramparts enclosing the entire vehicle. Behind the seats sits a throne made of nine plastic swords, and riding atop the mobile fortress is a smoke-billowing dragon! It’s a hoot to see Dietz rolling through the paddock and grid, and appears quite formidable. But it’s another example of what make the Solo community and Solo Nats so much fun.
SCCA In the Media: Solo Nationals — On Tuesday, local Lincoln TV station KOLN 10/11 NOW visited Lincoln Airpark to learn more about the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals. Reporter Kamri Sylve took in the spectacle and talked with a few drivers to learn what makes the event so special. In an article that can be read in full here, Sylve notes that “racers travel from as far as Hawaii and Alaska and even some parts of Canada to compete. In this competition, you’ll see some people driving everyday cars like Hondas, Mazdas and Cadillacs.” The article also quotes 16-year-old kart competitor Robbie Campbell who said, “My dad raced since I was little, so I was always into it. He didn’t make me get into it, but I liked racing my whole life. So, it’s fun. It’s like you’re controlling a roller coaster.”
Check out the full video news clip at https://www.1011now.com/content/news/Lincoln-Airpark-hosts-National-Autocross-Competition–559301861.html.
