Who's Going?

We are quickly approaching Memorial Day weekend during which we will honor those who died fighting for our country. Apparently, the best way to honor our veterans is with motorsports. This weekend will host Formula 1 on the historic streets of Monaco, the Coca-Coca 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the 100th running of the Indy 500, and of course, SCCA Solo Spring Nationals at Lincoln Airpark.

Here are some of the storylines we can look forward to at the 2016 Lincoln Championship Tour:

In the Street Category, C-Street boasts the highest attendance this year. The class will be dominated in numbers by the Scion FR-S. 2015 CS National Champion David Ogburn III must have a BBQ planned for Sunday and isn’t making the trip up from Texas. But 2013 CS National Champion Daniel McCelvey is returning to the class in a 2016 Mazda MX-5 to prove if that will be the car to beat in the class. Attention should also be paid to Mike Bronson. Mike continues to participate at national level despite regularly be confused for Mike Brausen. This type of burden could strain most human beings but Mr. Bronson powers through.

E-Street brings a significant number of 2015 National Championship trophy winners. Chris Bailey (2nd Place at Nationals), Michael Ron (3rd), Eric Peterson (4th), Azmath Mohammed (7th), Paul Brown (8th) and Mark Groseth (9th) are attending. This class pits the Toyota MR2 against the older model Mazda Miata. Looks for some very close times at the top of the class.

The largest Street Prepared Class is SSP. Three of the top four finishers from last year’s National Championships are participating. Joe Tharpe and his Z06 Corvette will attempt to fend off Alek Tziortizis and Ryan Johnson yet again. Personally, I hope to get a look at Stan Whitney and Su Brude's 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo, they had one of the best looking Porsche Caymans around and upgraded to the 911 Turbo this year.

As with most events, STR is the largest class at the Lincoln Championship Tour with 27 registered drivers. The class has long been the S2000 class but this year a few 2016 Mazda MX-5s are appearing. Ricky Crow leads the list of S2000 drivers but he will have former D-Prepared National Champion Ron Bauer chasing him down in a 2016 MX-5. Now every region has that young fast kid in the crappy car, who mooches rides in other cars until the point his head is so swollen with his own abilities at the regional level that the veterans around him deem him fit for retraining. Houston region will be offering up ours, Landon Thompson, to the STR masters for a brief lesson in the big fish small pond theory of autocross performance.

Street Modified and Super Street Modified will have a few interesting attendees. Eric Hyman will bring his insane GT-R to Street Modified, and I’ll keep it brief because I’m sure Mike Brausen has drooled all over it in his "Lincoln ProSolo Tune In", but it is worth watching this car on the course. In SSM, Eric Anderson and Randall Wilcox will bring a car I describe as "The Most Fun You Can Have In A Miata With the Windshield On". And just because anyone who autocrosses a McLaren MP4 needs a mention, try to follow Jess Driggers in SSM.

Prepared is the category closest to my heart, and the largest class in the category is C-Prepared this year. Mark Madarash suffered some engine problems in his Trans Am during Nationals last fall, but spring should bring him a win in the class on Lincoln concrete. Look for Wayne Atkins and Chris Cargill to be competitive at least with each other while co-driving Wayne's beautiful red 1985 Camaro. Erik Strelnieks is bringing his FP Porsche Boxster to the event this year (and hopefully his RX7 parts because I sometimes need them) and should take the class, although Mike Brausen actually thinks he has a chance if he doesn't break his Evo during the ProSolo.

E-Modified is the class you end up in when you go off the deep end in autocross. RX-7 too heavy? Put a rotary in an Austin Healy Sprite. Your Camaro too to big? Make it shorter, narrower, and more powerful. Jeff Kiesel dominates EM so effectively, that he comes to the National Championship with the year already printed and ready to add to the back of the car. Jason Minehart has been continually developing his Stalker (a modernized Lotus 7 on steroids) and was rewarded with a close second place at Nationals. Third last fall was Ron Ver Mulm in what happens to be the only work of art/autocross car in existence. All three will be at Spring Nats, and if you like highly modified cars they are worth paying attention to.

Only competition will show what the real stories will be from this event, so be sure to tune in on Sunday/Monday and see how your favorites are doing.