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The SCCA has a great tradition of blending the atmosphere of historical events while looking to the future of racing. Whether it's running club races at tracks like Daytona or Road Atlanta or bringing Solo events back to history venues like Crow's Landing, the mixture of classic venues and a new generation of racers always creates an excitement that always draws in big names and big cars. This weekend, we're lucky to experience that combination of a site that's a blast from the past with a new generation of drivers, ready to take on the 33 acres of runway at the Crow's Landing Naval Air Station. The SCCA previously used the Crows Landing airfield from the early 1960s up until 1992, when the U.S. Navy closed its base and transferred the land to NASA. Stanislaus County acquired 1,352 acres of it from NASA in October 2004, and NASA has retained 176 acres that are undergoing environmental cleanup by the Navy. With a great effort form the San Francisco Region SCCA (who helped run the original Modesto TA race), this is now one of the most looked forward to sites on the West Coast. Now, onto the class comptition preview...
One can't but miss the Jason's Rhoades' STX Camaro missing from STX this year due to a reclassification (write your letters here to bring the Rhoades Camaro back), especially since back in '67, 2006 SCCA Hall of Fame inductee Mark Donahue ran his famous Sunoco Camaro here to a 3rd place finish. However, that doesn't mean there isn't a preponderance of awesome STX cars like the Muresan's Type R, the Davis / Tsang's E36 325s, the dominating BRZ of Max Hayter, Kevin Shultz's Golf R and the Lam / Tran RX-8. The solid money is on Max after his performance earlier this year in El Toro and San Diego, but the Tsang brothers were hot on his tail and will look to challenge him after heavy testing and development of their E36. The big story here will be what tires everyone is running. With early adoption of most east coasters of the Version 2 Hankook RS-3, will the California contingent stick with Version 1s, move to Version 2s or give up on them all together and go to some combination of Toyo R1-R, Dunlop Z2, Yokohama AD08R or the venerable BFGoodrich Rivals?
Brian Peters hope to keep the pressure on the boost buggies with his 350Z in STU and David Rock will look to keep making strides with his Toyota Spyder. With Deitz, Endicott, Motonishi and Bjoin all in "spec" S2000s, it'll be a tough battle. Jeff Wong will continue to look for STC domination in his Toyo Tires / ProParts USA Honda Civic Si, but Kalman, Trotter, Yeoh and Ekstrand will all look to keep up the pressure in this almost true Spec class.
For bigger power and a throwback to the 1967 Modeseto Trans American Gallo Trophy winner, Jerry Titus, look to ESP for 5 Ford Mustangs (and a lone WRX) being run this weekend. Whereas the the 3 mile course ran back in '67 is going to be much longer than the dual Pro Solo courses seen this weekend, one thing that won't change is the attention (and noise) these cars bring when run at a Pro Solo.
SPA brings in a huge mix of SSP, ASP and BSP cars… from Evos to Elises to M3s, an Audi R8, a Porsche GT3 RS, a C4 Corvette and a Nissan 350Z. Let's be honest… we all want to see what the R8 will do in this class of high powered, european muscle cars. SPB will bring the Hollis One Lap CRX to the West Coast to run against everything from Doug Rowse's DSP BMW to Jay Yost's FSP BMW 2002. Everyone cross your fingers for 12 runs without anything broken on the Yost car. Is there any car more storied this year than the Hyman SM GT-R? Keep an ear out for it's mind blowing 60 foot times… especially with this abrasive and super grippy site.
Don't forget to tune-in at 9:00am PDT to uStream to listen to all the action in class competition and follow all our live results @ sololive.scca.com. Word is there might be fun runs to end Saturday!
