During the July 14-16, 2023, weekend, Route 66 Raceway hosted the latest Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour, with more than 170 drivers making runs in the parking lot of the short track located just outside of Joliet, IL, on the southwest side of Chicago.
The event was the 11th on the 2023 point-paying Solo National Tour calendar, and one step closer to the ultimate prize – the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships, which takes place Sept. 5-8 in Lincoln, NE.
As expected, the action at Route 66 Raceway was plentiful, with numerous classes coming down to fractions of a second.
Class Competitions
The close competition began in A Street, where Dan Simms and William Damhoff battled in a pair of Corvette Z06 machines, with Greg Janulis joining the fray in a Porsche Cayman S. Simms came roaring back from third place with his last run of the weekend, and when Damhoff DNF’d his final run it was Simms by just 0.154. Janulis, the opening day leader, was another 0.148sec behind.
C Street tightened up even more. With Rob Clark just a tick quicker on the opening course, and William Keese almost equally quicker on day two, the final margin between the two Mazda Miata drivers ended up at just 0.013sec, with Keese on top.
Copy/paste that story in D Street, where Joe Schaefer had a slight first round edge and Alex Piehl came back in day two. In this class, it was a battle of the Toyota GR86 machines, with Piehl on top at the end by 0.059sec.
Simms not only topped A Street, but was the quickest overall on the weekend– at least when the Index was figured in. Brent Schneekloth won STU and came second in the indexed results, while Jason Frank’s drive in a heavily modified Audi S4 was 1.6sec quicker than co-driver and car owner Jay Bullington in Xtreme Street A, earning Frank third in the index.
Coming Soon
More Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour events are coming up soon.
The 2023 Tire Rack SCCA Finger Lakes Solo National Tour at Seneca Army Depot is July 28-30, which is the last chance to earn points before Solo Nationals in Lincoln. Registration for the Finger Lakes event is open, so don’t miss out – and don’t delay, because as of the moment this story hit the web, there were only a handful of spots left before the event would hit its entry cap.
Photos by Taylor Colletti
