Who's Registered for the Packwood ProSolo and Championship Tour?
The next two weekends will have Packwood Washington hosting arguably the prettiest pair of race weekends in the whole schedule. With mountain views on all sides it also historically has some of the best weather averaging in the 70s to go with the amazing views. First weekend starting July 9th is the Packwood Championship Tour.
Reijo Silvennoinen is designing the Tour course and has a lot of experience on this site. Event chair is Jill Snell, another very experienced NWR solo member and National Champion driver. Things are coming together nicely. The Saturday night dinner party feast is again at the Packwood firehouse just a few blocks from the site. In NWR tradition, quality craft beer and wine is being provided, this year by Gigantic Brewery. The raffle is back again with several things from local businesses, Jim's Detail Shop, free entry to club events across the Pacific Northwest, and more!
A new bonus this year will be child day care service provided by a local Girls Scout troop, who are raising money for a big selective trip to Ireland next February. For a suggested donation the girls will provide supervision of children for a hour, a run group, or all-day in and out privileges. Girls are providing some games, coloring pages and snacks for the kids. They will likely be selling a few items such as bottled water, Girl Scout merchandise, and Otter Pops! While these girls are not licensed daycare personnel, they will be able to watch your children as you attend to your racing needs!
On to the racing! With 280 entrants already signed up, there are some nationals size classes for this event! Three classes have 18 entrants or more, with several over 12. The street tire classes along have at least 78 entrants between 4 classes (including ladies).
STR is really heating up this year with 2015 Nationals 2nd place finisher Kevin Dietz in his S2000 trying to stave off a ever charging Ron Bauer new to STR this year with his ND Miata, along with others in the 18 car class. STX now has at least 19 where local favorites Karl Coleman and Jerry Jenkins up from Oregon will have there hands full.
Another huge class is BS with 18 with a bevy of corvettes and s2000's, with a sprinkle of AWD STIs and a Golf R. Look for Brian Coulson to have a hard time taking the will over this vast field of international drivers.
Even CM looks to be a killer class with 8, With several national champion drivers like Joe Goeke, Andy Howe, Micheal Marich Eric and Jonathan Clements in the class, but everyone will be chasing Brian Heikotter who is able to attend despite his busy professional racing career. As one entrant stated, "Just taking home a trophy in this class will be one of hardest things to ever do in solo".
The following weekend is the Packwood ProSolo with Brent Glad as the event chair. With the huge site at Packwood, there are always good length ProSolo courses. Tim Weidemann is the course designer and has done several of the NWR Regional ProSolo courses in the past, so look for some great driving this weekend as well.
Some other details to keep in mind as you come to Packwood:
- No camping on site before 10:00 am on Thursday before the National Tour.
- For those who want to camp on site between the Tour and the Pro, the donation is $20 for the week. We will need names of those who wish to use this so we can notify Hampton Mills.
- Dumping of waste or garbage on site is prohibited. This includes use of sanitation facilities supplied for the events.
- The sound limit at Packwood is 96db.
Safe travels for all who are coming, and be sure to keep a look at for the herds of Elk near the roadway at dusk!
