The first of four gameplay days has come to a close at Lincoln Airpark for the 53rd running of the Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® National Championships at Lincoln Airpark. The gathering’s theme this year is video games, and Tuesday saw gamers across 54 car classes hit start and power through one of two autocross courses. Now, players get a break to contemplate plans of attack before mashing pedals once again on Wednesday.
The winners-take-all event – happening Sept. 7-11, 2026, in Nebraska’s capital city of Lincoln – will crown its first set of winners Wednesday evening. But before then there will be a whole bunch more action as drivers switch courses for a day of intense competition that easily rivals the “boss battle” of any video game.
Track Wednesday’s action in real time with an East Course live audio broadcast found here, and the West Course live audio broadcast here. Live results can also be eyeballed at the Solo Nats Timing webpage.
Below are recaps highlighting some of Tuesday’s happenings on both courses. Fans will find the information useful in discovering the classes where interesting battles are shaping up, kind of like matchups from Mortal Kombat.
East Course Tuesday Recap
The big dogs came out to play in Heat 1 on the East Course, and when the morning’s dust settled it was David Marcus and the Porsche Cayman GTS in the Super Street Touring® class lead. It’s not by much, and it’s a couple of horsepower machines, with Grant Reeve’s Corvette Z06 just 0.458sec behind. In third? The Nissan GTR of Justin Neal, another 0.419sec back.
As the Airpark started to warm up, ultimately topping out at an air temperature of over 100 degrees, Heat 2 brought forth the 68-car Xtreme B class. The leader in that group is Tom O’Gorman, who drove a Lotus Evora S to a 0.738sec opening day lead over Andy McKee and the rest of the field. A grand total of 16 trophies are up for grabs in the class, making the competition tight going into Wednesday’s runs.
If this were a video game, Christopher Dunn went full sim rules, leaving the damage switched to “on” in A Modified. Despite the cockeyed wing and a need for repairs tonight after the aero on his UTA-Mod lost the battle with the wind, the real damage was to the rest of the class. He leads Marshall Grice by 2.162sec after Tuesday’s runs.
Even with the influx of cars pumped into the class, Ron Williams shows the Civic Sport is not to be overlooked as he holds the lead in H Street by 0.455sec over John Rappa’s Volkswagen GTI. Van Townsend’s Mini Cooper and the Ford Focus STs of Nathan Hagerott and Brian Anthony aren’t far away, either, shaping up the battle for Wednesday.
West Course Tuesday Recap
We’ll work backwards through the day when looking at West Course highlights.
Heat 5 saw a ton of action in a healthy 16-car D Prepared class that was not lacking in cone strikes. After first runs that saw the day’s eventual top three lay claim to a total of four cones, Troy Acosta (who nailed two cones on his first run) managed to power down a clean second run, then a flier of a third, putting him 0.244sec up on Erik Strelnieks, who only hit one cone on his first run. Those two were the only ones in the class dipping into the 44s, though, with John Thomas sitting in third with a 45.337 after coming back from his first-run cone.
In Heat 4’s eight-car Solo Spec Coupe Ladies battle, Meredith Brown might have ended up with the first-day lead, but she had to overcome quite a deficit. Her first run was 11 seconds off the pace (something obviously went awry during that one), and her second run involved a cone. Her third run? Good enough for the lead, and she was also the only SSCL driver to go sub-51. Just 0.155sec back in second is Stephanie Wells, being chased by the final trophy position currently held by Molly Thore Maxey, barely 0.291sec behind Wells.
For Heat 3, let’s center in on Club Spec MX-5, as 30 drivers battle in the class that’s going for its very first National Championship title. Reed Gibson leads that battle, and in a spec class, it’s by a mile. His 0.653sec lead over Abdul Huuda is going to be hard to overcome, especially with Huuda having to look over his shoulder at Conrad Adams, who’s currently in third, 0.042sec back.
C Street Touring (CST) ran in Heat 2, and it’s anyone’s game. Daniel McCelvey leads that pack of 36, but it would be hard to call his 0.092sec lead over Ken Roller “dominating.” Behind Roller is Jonathan Lugod, another 0.011sec back, followed 0.092sec later by Jeremy Hebbel. Then it’s 0.028sec to John Hunter in fifth, 0.052sec to Francois Langelier in sixth and … well, you get the idea.
E Street in Heat 1, 39 drivers strong, is led by (of course) Bartek Borowski. His lead is a little more clearcut than that of CST’s, but still, 0.252sec isn’t a cemented win when there’s a second day of competition to be had on the East Course come Wednesday morning.
More Ways to Follow Solo Nats
Whether you’re in Lincoln or not, follow all four days of action at Solo Nats through the Tire Rack SCCA Solo or SCCAOfficial pages on Facebook. Fun can also be discovered on the SCCAOfficial Instagram page, and ridiculous stuff at the SCCAOfficial TikTok page.
Even more coverage will be posted to YouTube’s SCCAOfficial page. And don’t forget to check out SCCA.com for daily articles, with multiple articles posting per day during the Solo Nationals! Also sign up for the weekly SportsCar® News newsletter if you’d like those articles to end up in your email inbox.
Photo: David Marcus put his Porsche Cayman GTS in the Super Street Touring lead, but will he be able to hold onto that top spot come Wednesday’s competition?
Photo by Jay Bonvouloir
This year is the 53rd running of the Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® National Championships, and the 17th time in a row this marquee event has been held in Lincoln. With upwards of 8,400 runs being made across two courses in four days, it’s an understatement to say Solo Nats couldn’t happen without help from friends.
Behind the scenes, a great deal of aid has come from individuals who aren’t members of the Club. One such example is Dave Stremming, now a member of SCCA’s Hall of Fame who was key in obtaining Forbes Field as home for the Solo Nationals in the 1990s and early 2000s. Another example is the late Derek Feyerherm, who worked tirelessly to give the Solo Nationals a home at Lincoln Airpark.
Similar to how Forbes Field airport president Stremming helped turn a dream into reality with a move from Salina, KS, to Topeka, KS, giving the event plenty of room to grow, Feyerherm did the same for the Solo Nationals at its current home in Nebraska.
Feyerherm joined the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau in September 2005, and over the next two decades became the indispensable man of that organization. As Vice President of Operations and Development at the Chamber of Commerce and Visit Lincoln, Feyerherm worked extensively with the Sports Car Club of America™ to not only bring Solo Nats to Lincoln, but to make that relationship flourish.
Howard Duncan, another member of the Club’s Hall of Fame and the former Director of SCCA’s Rally/Solo Department, said it was 2008 when he was first made aware of the potential viability of Lincoln as a possible Solo Nats site. So Duncan reached out to the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau to perhaps facilitate a conversation.
“This is when I first met Derek,” Duncan said. “He, along with his boss at the time, arranged the initial meeting with the airport authority president. At that meeting they put their full support behind SCCA coming to Lincoln and convinced the airport president that it would be of great benefit to the community. The president had every reason to say no, but the persistence of Derek and his team got us our first contract with the airport for a three-year trial.
“Derek continued to provide assistance to us in those early years, both with promoting us to local businesses and a grant from the Chamber,” Duncan continued. “He was instrumental in maintaining our relationship with the airport and attended most of our planning meetings with them, always re-emphasizing the value of SCCA to the community. This was not only for Solo Nationals, but also for Spring Nationals and the FSAE competition held at Lincoln.
“Derek never wanted acknowledgement of these efforts either personally or for the Chamber, such as listing them as a ‘sponsor’ of SCCA events,” Duncan added. “In fact, the appreciation award we presented each year to the Chamber and the airport, he downplayed that and I’m not even sure he ever came on stage to accept the award.”
Feyerherm, 44, passed away on the morning of July 17, 2026, surrounded by his family after a nearly two-year fight against cancer. Jason Ball, current President and CEO of Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, said, “With his passing, Lincoln has lost a fierce advocate. What’s more, Lincoln’s tourism industry has lost a true innovator, and our team lost a cherished friend.”
The takeaway from this story is: More than 1,300 members of SCCA will be in Lincoln this week. However, there are way more people involved in making annual visits to Nebraska the perfect opportunity to have #funwithcars. No matter how your competition experience is going, please take a moment to say “thanks” to those outside the Club who make the adventure possible.
Photo: Aerial view of Solo Nats in all its massive glory.
Photo by Doug Prange
Cars are already on course and careening around Lincoln Airpark for the 53rd running of the Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® National Championships taking place Sept. 7-11, 2026, in Nebraska. A total of 54 different car classes are running Tuesday and Wednesday to sort out the first set of victors, followed Thursday and Friday by a second set of challengers across 40 other classes.
The theme for this year’s Solo Nats gathering is “video games.” The competition itself, however, is much more intense than Atari’s 1976 Breakout. This real-life experience includes smells, sounds, and sights that outdo even the latest iRacing or Gran Turismo offerings.
Overall it’s five days of fun and adventure with friends that far exceeds any gaming marathon.
Solo Town Main Street a Fun-Filled Arcade Monday Night
The Monday Night Welcome Party at Solo Nats has reached legendary status, and last night’s gig was no different. SCCA members wandered up and down Main Street in the paddock at Lincoln Airpark to reconnect with friends from across the country, laugh out loud, enjoy some music, and gobble up loads of fantastic food.
It’s truly amazing what delights can be formed outdoors on a giant slab of concrete at Lincoln Airpark. Made possible thanks to support from Visit Lincoln and the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, the outstanding aroma of fantastic food carried across the paddock on a light breeze all afternoon and well into the evening.
Those delicious eats were again part of what is considered the Battle of the Bites. Seven groups prepped the vittles and offered beverages this year to the hoard of gamers strolling by. Some of the fine cuisine offered was as follows:
Saginaw Valley Region/Two-Stroke Teams: Sliders and cherry BBQ chips.
Road Trip Racing Team: Tacos with chips and salsa.
St. Louis/Central Illinois Regions: Toasted raviolis and gooey butter cake.
Atlanta Region: Donkey Kong country boil, princess peach cobbler.
Northwest Ohio Region: Tony Packo’s hot dogs with sauce.
Steel Cities Region/Finger Lakes Region: Chicken spiedes, smoked sausage, smoked mac and cheese.
JXB/ChiWaukee (Chicago Region/Milwaukee Region): Italian beef and fresh cheese curds.
Tire Rack also hosted a Skee-Ball Challenge of sorts to honor the original amusement game. In all, a mega time was had once again, furthering the legend of Monday nights at Solo Nats.
Sunscreen and Water Consumption in the Forecast
The weather that greets Solo Nats attendees each year in Lincoln, NE, can be more mysterious than The Legend of Zelda. Will it be chilly? Maybe sometimes. Will it be hotter than the desert in Assassin’s Creed? It’s a possibility. Might there be rain enough to create flood conditions similar to that found in the game Halo? That’s not unheard of.
The best shot for rain this year is today, Tuesday, with a 45 percent chance of storms in late afternoon. After that, the chance of a showers drops to 20 percent Wednesday. Then there’s pretty much no chance of rain the rest of the week. But, of course, anything can happen at Lincoln Airpark.
As for temperatures, it’ll be toasty. Forecasters predict the mercury reaching nearly 100 degrees today. After that things settle down for the next two days as temperatures are anticipated to sit in the mid-80s. Then Friday might see the heat rise again up to the low 90-degree mark. Of course, those estimations are air temperature. What it feels like out on the concrete will likely be higher.
With that information, the mostly sunny skies and temperatures mean water intake will be critical for all on site throughout the week. Copious amounts of sunscreen are advised as well, and wearing hats with purposeful brims would certainly be a pro move.
Following Solo Nats Developments
If you’re in Lincoln or not, track all the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships action by following Tire Rack SCCA Solo or SCCAOfficial on Facebook. Fun can also be discovered on the SCCAOfficial Instagram page, and ridiculous stuff at the SCCAOfficial TikTok page.
Even more coverage will be posted to YouTube’s SCCAOfficial page. And don’t forget to check out SCCA.com for daily articles, with multiple articles posting per day during the Solo Nationals! Also sign up for the weekly SportsCar® News newsletter if you’d like those articles to end up in your email inbox.
Photo: Party people out and about during Monday night’s Welcome Party on Main Street in Solo Town.
Photos by Jon Krolewicz
