The May 5-7, 2023, Tire Rack SCCA® South Texas Solo National Tour at Chase Field saw 141 drivers take timed runs under breezy and sunny conditions on Saturday, with a dramatic weather change on Sunday to showers; lightning then caused a three-hour weather delay. Competitors and staff alike persevered, though, and once runs resumed, the surface dried within the hour and the event was still completed with time to spare.
To avoid confusion, in this case Chase Field refers to the South Texas airport in Beeville, not the home of Arizona’s Major League Baseball team.
The airfield layout utilizes multiple runways rather than a wide patch of surface, which creates a unique and challenging course that still featured a great balance of sweepers and offsets. To compensate for the unique space outline, the event was run with two heats and a single-grid format, instead of the typical Solo National Tour layout with a pair of grids.
Arrival day coincided with Cinco de Mayo – and Lone Star Region might be one of the best to celebrate that occasion with. The inspired dinner was hosted in the event’s “big tent” on site.
Class Battles
Small but mighty is the most accurate description for the Street Touring® Roadster (STR) class at Chase Field, and that doesn’t necessarily refer to the Mazda MX-5. While only three competitors ran in the class, won by Daniel McCelvey, both McCelvey and runner-up Vivek Goel were calculated as the top two best times of the weekend based on index. The cruel twist of fate? Because only three cars were in the class, only one trophy was awarded – so Goel went home empty-handed despite being the second quickest overall.
Conversely, D Street offered six trophy positions to the 18 competitors in class, and the competition was as close as you might expect. At the end, it was Javier Reynoso and his Honda Civic Type R edging Daniel Moore’s Subaru BRZ by 0.045sec after setting the bar on opening day.
The Reynoso car was popular at Chase Field, as Stephanie Reynoso drove it to the win in Ladies Street Tire Bump. Laura Harbour topped the Ladies Race Tire Bump class in a Toyota Celica prepped to FSP specs.
X Prepared came down to a pair of co-drivers trying to snag the top spot. Wes Hughson got the opening day jump in Jesse Waymire’s Honda S2000, and then the two ran nearly identical times on Sunday, allowing Hughson to hold on to the lead.
There was plenty of other action, which can all be discovered by clicking the results link below.
Looking Ahead
The next event on the Tire Rack Solo National Tour calendar is already on the rev limiter and deep into the wait list, with 335 autocrossers quickly hitting the event cap. Why? It’s Spring Nationals at Lincoln Airpark on Memorial Day weekend. A combo event with the Tire Rack ProSolo Series, this year’s Spring Nationals boasts four days of competition spanning May 25-29, 2023, on the same site that hosts the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale and Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships this September. Don’t miss the action!
Photos by David Hedderick
