If you wanted excuses, the Independence Day weekend at Bristol, featuring the Tire Rack SCCA® Bristol ProSolo® on Thursday and Friday (July 2-3, 2026) and the Tire Rack SCCA Bristol Solo® National Tour on Saturday and Sunday (July 4-5, 2026), could have provided them. But instead of excuses, the autocross community saw opportunities to come together during what is known as “Summer Nationals,” transforming the pair events that saw challenging conditions turn into uplifting stories of community during the long holiday weekend.
It all began with the leadership and hard work of the Eastern Tennessee Region, which has become an expert at hosting Summer Nationals. Jeff Cox pulled double (or was it quadruple?) duty, serving as Event Chair and Course Designer for both events. The Region hosted a Friday Night social that offered chicken fajitas and all the extras.
One of the unique draws to the Bristol site is elevation change, which is rare for an autocross. Cox made great use of it during the entire weekend, pulling out all of the stops for the Solo National Tour courses on the perennial site.
The competition was outstanding, with 241 entries for the ProSolo and 302 for the Solo National Tour. The on-course stories are coming, but the real story of the weekend was the community at large.
One Team
It’s no surprise – anyone who has ever attended an SCCA autocross knows the compassion that arises in a challenge. For five days, the community was in a parking lot under an extreme heat advisory, complete with Tennessee humidity. Participants were regularly seen offering water and electrolyte drinks to one another.
That heat broke a bit on Saturday evening with a massive thunderstorm that brought a flash flood to “Corvette Creek.” The challenge came with the campsites along the river and the rapidly rising water. Once again, everyone sprang into action, moving competitors and equipment to higher ground and doing their best to make sure everyone and everything was as safe as possible.
That changed the look of Sunday’s National Tour, as safety naturally became priority one. With everyone banding together, each competitor still got two runs on Sunday and everyone left safely at the end of the weekend.
Regardless of a driver’s placement in the event standings, the community acting as One Team made Summer Nationals a successful weekend.
ProSolo Action
B Street often shows close competition, and it was no different at Bristol. Charles Krampert and his Toyota Supra led the way, but not by much. Ivan Reid in a different Supra was second, just 0.302sec back, and Jeffrey Harris – again with the Supra – was in third but just 0.477sec behind the leader.
Sam Strano was the quickest overall in his F Street Ford Mustang, as judged by the Overall Index results. That showed up in his class battle, finishing 0.701sec ahead of Chad Englert’s Chevrolet Camaro in second.
The Street 3 index at ProSolo events is made up mostly of Club Spec Mustangs and Club Spec MX-5s in together, and Bristol was a real thriller. How much of a thriller? The difference between first and fourth was just 0.147sec, with the Mustang of Randy Adkins 0.017sec ahead of the Miata of Conrad Adams for the win. Thomas Blankenship was third in another Club Spec Miata, and Kevin Henry was fourth in a Club Spec Mustang.
Jordan Towns and Jennifer Bedell were neck-and-neck in Ladies Class 2 in separate B Street Supras. At the end, Towns was 0.035sec ahead of Bedell for the class win.
That’s only a taste of what happened – the rest can be found on the results sheet:
ProSolo Challenges
Bonus Challenge: Anyone who put their name in the hat for the Bonus Challenge at Bristol deserves kudos in Friday’s heat, but the biggest kudos are still reserved for the finalists. Will Robbins marched his way past Geoffrey Zimmer and Garrick Vogelsa to square off with Michael Donovan in the finals, where Robbins took victory.
Ladies Challenge: When Stephanie Wells won Ladies 4 in her Scion FR-S, she put out notice that the Bristol heat agreed with her. She qualified at the top of the Ladies Challenge, then eliminated Jen Fox, Olivia Hammac, and Jordan Towns on her way to knocking out Langlee King in the finals. The win was the first ever Ladies Challenge victory for Wells.
Super Challenge: That close battle in Street 3 should have alerted the field that Randy Adkins wasn’t going to fold under pressure. He was just the 18th seed entering the Super Challenge qualifying, but survived eliminations to make the final bracket. That set his move in motion, with Adkins taking down David Nolan, Jason Hamish, and finally Jacob Glover for the Super Challenge title.
Solo National Tour Action
Two Sunday runs didn’t hurt any of the competition in the Solo National Tour, but the difference in grip level between Saturday and Sunday may have mixed things up a bit.
We won’t blame it all on the grip, but Andres Rodriguez flipped the script on Hans Villanueva overnight in H Street. With each driving separate Mini Coopers, Villanueva held a narrow lead overnight. Rodriguez fought back on Sunday and left with a 0.215sec class victory.
Solo Spec Coupe told a similar story. Matthew Rusty English led the opening day but William Bostic fired off a near-perfect Sunday run to take a 1.383sec win in an impressive performance.
Josh Bane kept his Sunday runs clean in the tough conditions, which turned out to be key to his trophy performance. He trailed Austin Hampton on Saturday night, but Hampton’s Miata caught a cone on both Sunday runs and Bane escaped with the win.
The CAM categories brought their big motors to Thunder Valley, and it was the Contemporary class that ended up closest. Dave Whitworth took the lead on Saturday in his Ford Mustang and hung on during Saturday’s runs to top Jared Lubbert in the class.
The class results reveal how everything else unfolded.
Coming Up
There’s plenty of autocrossing available this month in the Tire Rack National Solo program.
July 17-19 features a pair of Solo National Tour events – one in Packwood, WA, at the Tire Rack SCCA Packwood Solo National Tour and the other in Bunker Hill, IN, and the Grissom Aeroplex for the Tire Rack SCCA Grissom Solo National Tour.
Stick around Packwood for another week and you’ll find the Tire Rack SCCA Packwood ProSolo on the same Hampton Mills site, a scenic backdrop for West Coast autocross competitors.
You can get more information here:
ProSolo Calendar
Photos by Eric Peachey and Steve Fehr
