Those about to rock Solo Nats – (FIRE) – we salute you as the 52nd running of the rock 'n' roll themed Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® National Championships tunes up for its Sept. 1-5, 2025, blowout in Nebraska’s capital city at Lincoln Airpark.
Rock ‘n’ Roll is a concept wide and varied, making it similar to SCCA Solo itself. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees span Dolly Parton to Peter Frampton, and The Band to The Beach Boys. Solo Nats participants are equally diverse, arriving from all around the U.S. to have #funwithcars in everything from a Mazda to a McLaren.
With slight hyperbole thanks to this year’s one-off theme, Solo Nationals is a sort of concrete Coachella for SCCA autocrossers. It’s a loud festival with camping, food, beverages, and two featured stages. But unlike the well-known music festival, Solo Nats has plenty of convenient parking and everyone gets to perform.
As showtime nears, keep in mind that those afar can follow the competition online at sololive.scca.com, which includes live timing/scoring, as well as audio coverage during each day. Be sure to monitor the Tire Rack SCCA National Solo and SCCA Official Facebook pages, too, for updates and photos over the next four days of #funwithcars.
If you want the full Solo Nats rock ‘n’ roll experience, be sure to catch the Solo Nationals Morning Show. That’s a daily video broadcast at the SCCA Official Facebook page that starts about an hour before cars head out on course. That’s where you’ll find knowledgeable hosts interviewing special guests that bring everyone up to speed on the experience.
Not enough Solo tunes to get you through the work week? Well, journalist Brian Bielanski will be chatting with participants around the paddock to uncover slice-of-life stories for special Inside the SCCA segments posting to The Racing Network YouTube page. And at SCCA.com, additional stories and updates will roll across like guitar licks during one of the biggest events SCCA conducts each year.
If you’re lucky enough to have tickets to SCCA’s ‘Solo’palooza, remember your presence doesn’t count if you don’t share it on social media. Tag your posts with #SoloNatsHasStarted and #funwithcars so others know you’re awesome and they could’ve been.
Two Stages Designed to Dance Around
Great stage design is integral to any successful rock ‘n’ roll show. Thankfully, this year’s Solo Nats has two fantastic course creators who poured on the showmanship for an experience sure to generate pyrotechnics!
One layout is positioned at the southeast edge of Solo Nats’ facility map. That course is known as being on the ‘plane side’ since it’s along a airport runway. Just west of that sits the second Solo Nats competition space, labeled the ‘corn side’ because it’s next to farmland. So, the East Course is nearest the airport, and the West Course leads to the rest of Nebraska.
This year’s East Course was devised by Ken Houseal and has been named School of Rock. Since joining the Club in 2013, Houseal has competed in more than 500 autocrosses, with this year being his seventh visit to Solo Nats. He started exploring course design in 2014, then got serious about that particular skill in 2019 before becoming Chief of Course Design in 2021 for SCCA’s Philadelphia Region.
This is Houseal’s very first Solo Nats course design effort, and he’s hoping participants find the layout an enjoyable experience with a flow that is relatively easy to follow but tricky to perfect.
“I’ve given you room to make mistakes … and give up time to other competitors,” he said. “I tried to make a course that is fun, but also rewarding if you do it right.”
With creative help from his wife, Amy, sections of Houseal’s School of Rock layout have been labeled with song lyrics. Amazingly, those lyrics actually offer a hint as to how each segment should be approached by drivers. For example there’s Baby, We Were Born to Run, Go Your Own Way, and I Can See for Miles.
The West Course for 2025 was developed by Charles Krampert and is titled Hold the Line after a song by the band Toto. Krampert, from SCCA’s Tennessee Valley Region, has been a Club member since 2015 with more than 200 autocross events under his belt over the last two decades. That history includes two Solo Nats victories in seven appearances, and one Solo Triad honor in 2021.
A mechanical design engineer by trade, Krampert has been doing course design ever since he started autocrossing. This year, however, is his first Solo Nats effort, so he set out to generate a design that is exciting for participants.
“I like a course that is easy to see but will be challenging at the same time,” he said. “I don’t like doing too many gimmicks.”
Opening with a section deemed Off to Never-Never Land, followed by Livin’ On a Prayer and I Can Feel It Coneing In the Air Tonight, Oh Lord later; Krampert said, “I think drivers are going to want to look to keep their speeds up by driving wide lines” if they want to be successful.
Now that both layouts are available for walking at Lincoln Airpark, click the links below to check out the two different course maps.
East Course Map West Course Map
Activity Playlist for Solo Nats
There better be lots of fun and parties if you’re holding a rock ‘n’ roll festival. Sure enough, Solo Nats got that all week beginning Monday at 2 p.m. local time with a Mazda Cornhole Tournament in the Tire Rack Event Center (TREC) VIP Backstage Tent, a space welcoming everyone unlike other rock ‘n’ roll gatherings. That’s followed at 5 p.m. with the annual Welcome Party in the same location. That’s also were attendees have a chance to participate in a free cone toss to earn raffle tickets for a giveaway of two Tire Rack Podium Drumkits later in the week. After that, everyone flows out to partake in Solo Nats’ Battle of the Bites.
North of the TREC VIP Backstage Tent, Solo Main Street will be hemmed by mouthwatering delicacies appealing to the finickiest of rock stars. Various meats marinated or smoked await at the Battle of the Bites, along with tasty sides and deserts. There will be some beverages, too, as well as live music carrying across the paddock thanks to the Backroads band performing in the Mazda Motorsports Tent.
Next on the can’t-miss schedule is the Tire Rack Solo Awards Celebration starting at 5:45 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Sept. 3, within the TREC VIP Backstage Tent. Free food and beverages will be on offer, as well as adulation for the year’s major Solo award winners. That is followed by the annual Sunset Remembrance Toast taking place at 7:45 p.m. local time near the impound scales located between the two Solo Nats competition courses.
Yet more fun comes Thursday, Sept. 4, with the Vitour Test ‘N’ Tune Challenge taking place between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the test ‘n’ tune course found just north of the Solo Nats entry gate. Then the whole shebang comes to a close Friday, Sept. 5, back in the TREC VIP Backstage Tent after 4 p.m. with a Tire Rack Solo Awards Celebration celebrating the day’s victors and more.
Of course, there’s lots more going on over four days of Solo Nats’ rock ‘n’ roll festival in 2025, such as endless paddock parties and social gatherings. Click the link below for an ‘official’ rundown of events; then keep your eyes and ears open for the ‘unofficial’ happenings.
Run/Work Reminder and Other Important Stuff
A very unique rock ‘n’ roll show where 1,300 people get to take the stage and play requires support from all involved, just like any other SCCA Solo event. As such, here’s a reminder that the show can’t go on, or run smoothly, without your help. Below is a link to the Run/Work program and assignments over the next four days. Please be prompt, or even a little early, with worker check-in so this concert runs without a hitch.
Lastly, tickets to this Solo National Championships rock ‘n’ roll show would’ve been a lot pricier if not for support from valued SCCA partners. So, for starters, we’ve got to thank Tire Rack as the longtime Official Tire Retailer of SCCA. Tire Rack has supported SCCA since 1995, which technically makes them a member of the Solo Nationals Silver Circle.
Then there’s Hagerty, the Official Insurance Partner of SCCA since 2019; and Hawk Performance, the Official Brake Products of SCCA since 2003. Thanks also goes to Sunoco, the Official Fuel of SCCA since 2001, which is coursing through the systems of many competition and tow vehicles throughout the paddock.
Mazda Motorsports is part of this rock ‘n’ roll experience, too, with support for competitors in many ways, including sponsorship of Monday’s SCCA Women on Track Brunch.
We certainly can’t forget SCCA tire partners Vitour, Goodyear, Falken, and Hoosier. These manufacturers can be spotted in the paddock, with Solo Performance Specialties on site in partnership with R&S Racing to support service for both Vitour and Hoosier.
Photo: The 2025 Tire Rack SCCA® Solo® National Championships got off to a damp start Monday.
Photo by Philip Royle
