If a finale should come with an exclamation point, the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Championship Finale delivered exactly that over the Sept. 4-6, 2026, Labor Day weekend at Lincoln Airpark in Lincoln, NE. Far from an opener, the co-headline to the week that includes the Sept. 7-11 Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships delivered the goods side-by-side, like every great ProSolo should.
It was hot (it’s end of Summer in Nebraska, after all) and it was a little bit damp on Sunday morning, complete with a lightning delay for safety (it’s the end of Summer in Nebraska, after all) but there were little to no complaints about the weekend.
As always, those who stuck around to work the Ladies and Super Challenges deserve special kudos. Yes, in almost all cases they are participants as well, but going above and beyond at a ProSolo allows the event to continue to its full potential. And did we mention it was hot and/or damp?
The focus at the Finale, as always, is scoring a class win and event win, the focus is also on earning the overall Johnson-Clark Johnson (JCJ) Cup and Fletcher Cup with Challenge success in Open and Ladies classes, respectively.
In Lincoln this weekend, all three went hand in hand.
JCJ Cup
Mason Herrick entered the weekend 57 points behind the incoming point leader, Manfred Reysser. With 12 points available for the top qualifier and 45 points available for a Super Challenge win, things were looking grim for Herrick.
But how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Herrick took the top spot in E Street Touring by 0.101sec over Eric Stoltz, giving him a pass into Super Challenge qualifying. He and his Mazda Miata survived the eliminations to take the top spot there, keeping him alive for the bracket portion of the showdown.
The former Junior Program standout, all grown up, had earned his first Super Challenge win earlier this season in (drumroll, please) Lincoln, NE, on the same surface the Finale is run on. Did that add confidence? Hard to know, but it certainly didn’t hurt when he lined up against Billy Davis in the opening round.
A win there and a second-round victory against Riley Heaton kept him alive to the final, where he met Jon Caserta head-to-head. Again, Herrick was aware that he needed a win – any loss eliminated his chance at the JCJ Cup.
With just one opponent standing, Herrick knocked off Caserta and took home an unlikely (if not improbable) Johnson-Clark Johnson Cup.
Fletcher Cup
The Fletcher Cup for Ladies classes was a wild ride.
Andrea Albin didn’t need to maximize the points available to stay alive, but she did need a bobble from her fellow competitors to remain in the hunt.
That began with a Ladies Class 1 index win in the F Modified Doof Wagon, getting her into the bracket. Kim Whitener (who entered as the point leader) eliminated Stephanie Wells (who entered second) in Round 2, and then Albin chopped down Whitener in the semi-finals to keep her hopes alive.
Meanwhile, fellow SCCA staffer Langlee King eliminated Tamra Krystinik in the second semi-final round. With Whitener taking the third-place contest, Albin still needed a victory over King in the final to clinch the Cup.
She did that, earning the Fletcher Cup for the glory of the class.
Onto Nats!
The conclusion of the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale and the season-long championship means just one thing: Solo Nats has started!
The Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships takes over the Lincoln Airpark space for the remainder of the week, with runs for National Championships coming Tuesday through Friday, with 1,300 autocrossers expected to hit the courses.
Follow along all week long from SCCA.com and the Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Facebook page for the latest news.
Photo by Jon Krolewicz
