Who's Going?
Just off an exciting weekend of ProSolo action in Lincoln during Spring Nationals, the National crew arrives in Mineral Wells, Texas this weekend. Texas Region is the host for the event and they have come out in full support with over 50 competitors registered for the weekend. Another 50 plus competitors come from other Texas regions (Houston, Alamo, Lone Star). Here are the storylines we can look forward to.
Ladies first of course. L1, L2, and L3 feature some of the most dedicated female autocrossers around. With likes Su Brude, Donna Marx, Jan Rowe, Jordan Towns, Meredith Brown, and Jennifer Maxcy competing, there is no need to look for more competition in the open classes because the competition exists right here. However, some top female drivers are registered in open classes, Beth McClure-Strelnieks (SSM), Kim Whitner (STF), and Jocelin Huang (SS) to name a few.
In AS, watch for David Hedderick to either win the class or collect the most cones for the weekend but not both. Nick Gruendler is abandoning XP for this event to compete in his Pontiac Solstice, so it will be interesting to see how he does with a windshield. STR as usual is the largest class, and the Honda S2000 is the weapon of choice. Ricky Crow should top the class, as long as his shocks settings don’t mysteriously change, but competition will come from Kerry Coughlin and Michael Willman among others.
CS will be headlined by 2015 CS National Champion David Ogburn III. It won’t be easy for him though, because 2013 CS National Champion Daniel McCelvey will attend and is coming off ProSolo and Tour wins during Spring Nationals. Tyler Kvetko also did well in Lincoln and could have a nice showing as his continues to perfect his 2016 Mazda MX-5.
R2 will feature Erik Strelnieks in his FP Boxster coming off victorys at the Lincoln ProSolo and Tour. His main competition will be his co-driver, Troy "Raw Time" Acosta, and multi-time National Champion Mark Madarash. Vitek Boruvka may have a chance to place well as long as he can overcome the boat anchor that is XP PAX.
Classic American Muscle will feature such “classics” as Brian Matteucci’s 2015 Ford Mustang and the Doug Willie/Jackie Mutscheler 2014 Camaro named "Snoopy". Terry Fair and Mark Council will pilot the most “classic” vehicle, a 2002 Chevy Corvette.
You can choose to go to a museum to see a work of art or you can pay attention to R1 and see Ron Ver Mulm's E-Mod Camaro. He will be making the trip down all the way down from Iowa to experience the expansive Mineral Wells site. It will be difficult for him to pull out a class win against the FM cars and fellow EM-er Jason Minehart but functional art wins every time.
Be sure to follow the action at the Mineral Wells ProSolo, and maybe next year come join the party.
