Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee was the site of the July 1-2, 2023, Tire Rack SCCA® Bristol Solo National Tour hosted by Eastern Tennessee Region. It was a topsy-turvy two days that saw 294 drivers tackle not only rain and lightning, but also some very unusual developments.
The event kicked off with a Region-hosted Friday barbecue, with Saturday seeing two delays due to lightning and a pause to patch the pavement. Despite this, drivers were able to make all of their runs, and also enjoy hot dogs and burgers grilled up by the SCCA National Staff that evening.
Saturday afternoon, around 3:30 p.m. local time, though, a protest was filed while heats were still running. The protest concerned SCCA National Solo Rules section 4.9, which states: “No person may compete who has pre-run through all or any part of the course, in or on any wheeled vehicle … . All event officials, whether competing in the event or not, must use caution to avoid individual conflict of interest situations during the event.”
The protest was based on a belief that Saturday’s course in Bristol was identical to a layout used earlier in 2023, and that a handful of drivers entered in the Bristol National Tour had indeed traversed that similar course and thus had an unfair advantage. The extremely savvy and experienced Protest Committee on site found merit to the complaint, so all Saturday times for all competitors were disallowed.
The intention of the protest process is to allow the Protest Committee to move swiftly in rendering a decision, which indeed occurred. An appeal has been filed against the original decision, which now allows for more time and consideration on the full matter.
Nonetheless, all drivers got to carve around cones with cars both days, with the three runs on Sunday being for all the marbles. Stay tuned to SCCA.com, or the SoloMatters and Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Facebook pages, for updates on the Bristol appeal process and finalized results.
Sunday’s Provisional Rundown
The situation being what it was resulted in a handful of very close finishes. For example, the nine-entrant Super Street class margin of victory was 0.009sec with third and final runs making the difference. Laurence Casey was victorious there in a Porsche GT3, followed by a Tesla Model 3 driven by Mark McCrary. Dave Becker, driving a Chevrolet Corvette, finished third.
E Street was also decided by final runs on course. George Schmitt, in a Mazda Miata, won that 19-driver class by 0.070sec over Eric Peterson in a Toyota Spyder. Just 0.017sec back in third was Timothy Maxey in another Mazda. Robert Carpenter and Scott Bourne, both in Mazda Miatas, finished fourth and fifth. Rounding out the trophy positions in sixth was Kevin Lindley, who was co-driving with Peterson.
Keeping the “all or nothing third run” theme of the day was Street Touring® Roadster. The margin of victory there was only 0.061sec in the 17-driver class. Jacob Glover emerged victorious in a Mazda Miata. Marcus Pyne was second, Josh Luster third, Trevor Blackwell fourth, and Tim Aro fifth in a class dominated by Mazda MX-5s and Miatas.
The largest class of the weekend, also dominated by Mazda MX-5s and Miatas, was C Street with 24 drivers. Rob Clark won that class by 0.238sec over co-driver Will Teller, with both men turning their best times on final runs. Christian Kolmers was third, Will King fourth, Jack Crissey fifth, and David Prather was sixth. Andrew Aul closed out the final trophy position in seventh.
The Ladies Street Tire Bump class had a dozen entrants, and the top two finishers turned their best times on third and final drives through Sunday’s course. Hilary Anderson, in a Chevrolet Corvette Z06, came out on top by 0.757sec over Melissa Fehr in a Porsche Boxster S. Emily Brown was only 0.063sec back in third driving a Scion, and Megan Fehr was fourth co-driving with her mother, Melissa.
Three More for July
The 2023 Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour gets no rest as the July 7-9 stop in Packwood, WA, is this upcoming weekend. That's followed by the July 14-16 Tire Rack SCCA Chicago Solo National Tour taking place at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL; and then the July 28-30 Tire Rack SCCA Finger Lakes Solo National Tour taking place in Romulus, NY, at the former Seneca Army Depot.
Registration is open for some of these events leading up to the 50th Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships taking place Sept. 5-8 in Nebraska at Lincoln Airpark. Check the Solo National Tour webpage for more details.
Photos by Peter Bruschi
