Competition Update - Tuesday Morning
Ron Williams is the first driver to break into the sub-60 second raw times on the West course, but a cone keeps that time from being his best. After the first day of competition, he leads STS by 0.098 in his Honda CRX SI with a time of 60.365 seconds.
Testing, Testing – For Charity
Ask any autocrosser, and they’ll tell you: there’s no 20-minute practice session to learn the course. And, the course is different every time.
The downside of that- when do you test those shock settings? How do you get used to the car? Where do you donate to the SCCA Foundation to support Tire Rack Street Survival?
For the past several years, the Nebraska Region has given Nationals competitors a chance to do all of that at once through the Test N Tune course. Located way in the back of the area of the Lincoln Airpark set aside for the world’s largest motorsports event, competitors can take four runs on a practice course designed to showcase the traditional autocross elements – slaloms, sweeping turns, tight turns and transitions.
The rules: you get four runs in an hour, you need to sign up in advance, and you can’t run the days you compete.
The money collected by the Region covers expenses, but a portion of the proceeds goes directly to support the SCCA Foundation’s Tire Rack Street Survival program. With the funds, the Region annually donates between $8,000 and $12,000 to the cause – a great help to the program!
So, if you’re on site, head on back and see what time slots are still available. If you’re watching from home and would still like to donate, click here to do so online! < https://www.scca.com/products/19768-tire-rack-street-survival-school-donation >
Talent and Tacos Party People
Before competition began Tuesday morning, the annual Talent and Tacos welcome party went off Monday night. Thirty lovely volunteers used 351 pounds of charcoal to prepare 350 pounds of carne asada and 250 pounds of chicken breast. Nearly 3,600 corn tortillas were used to wrap up the delicious meats, and 20 gallons of salsa and unknown mounds of cheese were supplied as accoutrements.
As if that wasn’t enough, 32 cubic feet of chips were supplied according to Heyward Wagner, the designated Chief of Party, along with 70 cases of beer chilled in kiddie pools by 300 pounds of ice.
When it was all said and done, nothing remained. Meat: Gone. Chips: Gone. Salsa: Gone. Beer: Gone. And before satiated party goes walked off into the night, everyone helped clean up. Now that’s the Solo Nats spirit.
Photo: Thirty volunteers worked the grills Monday afternoon before the annual Talent and Tacos party.
