SCCA Solo News

DOVER, Del. (May 1, 2013) – Last weekend’s Tire Rack SCCA Champions Tour fell in the shadow of Dover Speedway’s Monster Mile, and the action throughout the event was downright beastly.

The Jeff Jacobs-designed course, with assistance from veterans Tony Savino and Sam Strano, stretched across two adjoining speedway parking lots, with the newer east surface much smoother. The technical elements were designed to complement the dips and bumps in the eastern lot pavement, and laid out as a brisk yet challenging course.

Samuel Krauss (IAG Performance/Turnin Concepts Subaru WRX) put in a blistering time on his final run to win E Street Prepared by just 0.002-second on the final clock. Don Slevin (SJFPerformance.com/Stranoparts.com Ford Mustang GT) held the day one lead, and looked poised for victory. Krauss, trying to catch up, had coned each of his first two Sunday runs to stay behind. The third time was the charm, though, laying down a time that was more than a half-second quicker than Slevin’s best to take the top spot in the class.

In addition to assisting with the course layout, Strano (Stranoparts.com Chevrolet Corvette) turned in a final-run performance of his own that secured the win in Super Stock. Strano led after the first runs, but had fallen behind Grant Reeve (Chevrolet Corvette) by the time Strano pulled to the line for his final run of the weekend. Cool and collected, Strano ran the second fastest time of the day in the class (behind eventual third-place finisher Jason Burns) to pull in front of Reeve by 0.332 second.

Super Street Modified was a small class at Dover, but that didn’t dampen the action. Dawn Ammirata (SJF Performance Mazda Miata) led the opening day, but Charles Sudano (Mazda Miata) zipped past on Sunday to take a 0.198-second victory.

Brian Karwan (Karcepts.com Honda S2000) topped Street Touring R, the largest class of the weekend. Karwan took the opening day lead, and then hung on with the second-fastest Sunday time. Only Christopher Lin (Thanks James Mazda MX-5) went quicker, but had to settle for second-place on combined time.

Almost as deep as the STR class was Street Touring Xtreme, where Jeff Hurst (ANZE Suspension Mazda RX-8) led the opening day and then held on for a 0.581-second win. Michael Kuhn (Motion Lap Tuning/MAZDASPEED Mazda RX-8) crept close on the final day of runs, but remained in second place.

The Tire Rack Championship Tour – running the traditional National Tour format – returns to action with at the Lincoln (Neb.) Airpark for the Spring Nationals, May 26-27. The Lincoln Airpark is home to September’s Tire Rack Solo National Championship, with the Memorial Day weekend event doubling up with a Tire Rack ProSolo Championship round. More information on the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.

More information, including results, from the Tire Rack Atlantic Championship Tour in Dover is available at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5466.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (April 25, 2013) – Nick Barbato, of Wethersfield, Conn., and Learic Cramer, of Columbia, Md., took home the big prizes at last weekend’s Tire Rack SCCA New Jersey ProSolo in the Meadowlands. Barbato earned his first career Super Challenge win, with Cramer taking home gold in the Ladies Challenge.

With the Manhattan skyline in clear view of the course, the Saturday weather made for a cold, windy qualifying day in the parking lots of MetLife Stadium. Adding to the difficultly on the Dave Newman-designed layout is that it looked deceivingly simple during the course walk, but proved to be difficult to do correctly at the brisk pace during the runs.

Barbato got the qualifying times correct, though, topping the B Stock class in his GT Academy Got It Wrong Honda S2000 by 1.166-seconds to advance to the 32-car Super Challenge bracket.

Under the slightly warmer and less windy Sunday skies, Barbato knocked off Jeff Hurst (Street Touring X-class Anze Suspension Mazda RX-8) and Mark Labbancz (Nissan 370Z) in the opening two rounds to advance to the quarterfinals.

Round three was Barbato’s second visit to a Street Touring X competitor – this time versus the top-qualifying Andrew Pallotta (Stranoparts.com Scion FR-S). Like the opening round, Barbato advanced, and found himself in the semifinals.

Opposite Barbato’s bracket, the semifinal featured Jake Namer (ANZE/Tripoint/ParkItNY/Hamfist Racing Mazda RX-7), who qualified on top of the Super Street Modified class, and Eric Campbell (SoloRacer.com/MonoBalls.com BMW330Ci), who advanced out of the Stock/Street Index 2 grouping in qualifying.

Campbell advanced, and when Barbato topped Ryan Leach (JSCSpeed.com Mini Cooper)from H Stock, the final round was set.

Barbato continued his hot streak to claim the overall victory. Leach bested Namer in the consolation bracket for third place.

Learic Cramer earned her spot in the Ladies bracket by advancing through the Ladies Class 2 in her Nissan 370Z as the second qualifier. Cramer then topped Holly Schwedler (stranoparts.com/Automation Tool & Die Scion FR-S) and Shelly Monfort (StranoParts.com/Shameless Iced Tea Scion FR-S) in the quarter and semifinals – both from her qualifying group.

Once in the finals, Cramer topped Olga Bogdanova (SoloRacer.com/MonoBalls.com BMW 330Ci) - the fastest overall in Ladies Class qualifications – for her first career Ladies Challenge ProSolo victory.

Ted Descovich, of Chester, N.Y., earned the top spot in the Bonus Challenge.

Information on the New Jersey Round Three of the Tire Rack ProSolo Series can be found at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5465. More information on the entire Tire Rack SCCA Solo program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.

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MINERAL WELLS, Texas (April 17, 2013) – Mark Wortham, of McKinney, Texas, grabbed his first career Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Super Challenge victory last weekend in Mineral Wells, Texas, site of Round Two of the ProSolo season. Meredith Brown, of Los Alamos, N.M., captured the Ladies Challenge.

Wortham qualified for the Super Challenge round of 32 behind the wheel of his The Auto Counsel/Thanks Mark! Chevrolet Corvette as the top qualifier in the Super Stock class, knocking off Francisco Reynoso’s Street Touring Compact Honda Civic Si in the opening round.

With sunny skies shining down, Wortham had his first obstacle to overcome – in four previous visits to the Super Challenge, the second round had been his deepest venture. Wortham got that monkey off his back when he disposed of Road Tire 2WD qualifier Brad McCann’s Thanks Aaron! Hyundai Genesis to advance to the quarterfinal round.

Beginning with McCann, Wortham had to best three consecutive drivers from his area – drivers who he competes with on a regular basis, knowing that they’re highly skilled competitors. Wortham cleared that bar with wins over Jeremy Foley, who made the field in the Evolution Dynamics/AST/Recaro Mitsubishi Evo from Stock/Street Index 1, and Mark Sipe, Street Touring X’s top qualifier in the Cobb Tuning/KONI/Racing Brake Mazda RX-8.

The run through the Texas contingent slid him into the finals against Denver’s Kinch Reindl. Reindl’s Street Touring Compact YourFreedomPodcast.com Honda Civic topped Street Touring Sport’s David Whitener in his semifinal match up to meet Wortham.

Wortham, of course, topped Reindl for his first Super Challenge victory. Sipe bested Whitener’s Texas Track Works/Motion Control Suspensions Honda CRX in the consolation runoff for third place.

Meredith Brown won three Ladies Challenges in a row a season ago, and was the top qualifier in the season-opener in El Toro. A red light in the final round cost Brown the victory, and was still on her mind lining up in the semifinal round against Kim Whitener’s Texas Track Works/Motion Control Suspension Honda CRX. Brown’s Plastic PP Racing/MidAtlantic Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette topped the round, however, advancing to the finals.

Beth McClure-Strelnieks’ Hoosier/JC AutoSpec/Jungle Cat Racing Porsche Boxster was up next for Brown, and with a victory in the final, her first win of the year.

Whitener topped Rachel Saunders’ Hoosier LeGrand Mk25 Dragon in the consolation bracket for third.

The Tire Rack ProSolo season three-week trek across the country continues this weekend at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, New Jersey, April 20-21.

Information on the Mineral Wells round two of the Tire Rack ProSolo Series can be found at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5464. More information on the entire Tire Rack SCCA Solo program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (April 16, 2013) – Sports Car Club of America and Mazda North American Operations have announced a multi-year partnership that names Mazda the Official Car of SCCA through 2015.

Mazda Director of Motorsports John Doonan and SCCA Vice President, Marketing and Communications Eric Prill made the announcement on Tuesday morning during the Mazda Motorsports pre-season media day at the company’s headquarters in Irvine.

Mazda will be utilized as the official pace car at key SCCA events, including the SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, through the 2015 season. The annual SCCA Hall of Fame Hall of Fame Banquet will now be “presented by Mazda.”

“In the minds of many, Mazda and the SCCA were already partners,” Doonan said. “At the SCCA Runoffs, the Mazda contingent has been the largest of any car company. We love that our small organization is more popular on the race track than the combined efforts of many of our much larger competitors. We look forward to working with the SCCA to grow the sport for the next generation.”

“Mazda has been a long-time supporter of the SCCA and our competitors, so formalizing our relationship was a natural next step,” SCCA President/CEO Jeff Dahnert said. “On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas being raced than any other marque. We’re looking forward to expanding our relationship with Mazda and the new opportunities that come with it.”

About Sports Car Club of America
Founded in 1944, Sports Car Club of America, Inc. is a 45,000-member motorsports organization that incorporates all facets of autocross, rally and road racing at both club and professional levels. It annually sanctions over 2,000 events through its 115 regions and professional subsidiary. Landmark events and series for the Club include the SafeRacer SCCA National Racing Series, which includes the BFGoodrich Tires SCCA Super Tour and the U.S. Majors Tour; the Club Racing National Championship Runoffs® at Road America; and The Tire Rack® SCCA Solo National Championships and ProSolo Championship at Lincoln, Neb. For more information, please visit www.scca.com, like SCCA on Facebook at facebook.com/sccaofficial, or follow the club on Twitter @SCCAOfficial.

About Mazda, Mazda Motorsports, and MAZDASPEED
Mazda is the number-one brand for road-racers across North America. Thousands of Mazda powered grassroots racers compete in various classes with the SCCA highlighted by Spec Miata, the world's largest spec class with over 2,500 cars built. In 2006 Mazda Motorsports established the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder to assist racers in moving up through the ranks. In 2010 this was expanded to include the Mazda Road to Indy. Key to Mazda's success is strategic partnerships with the Skip Barber Racing School and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

MAZDASPEED Motorsports is managed by Mazda North American Operations (MNAO). MNAO is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.

Consumer information can be found at www.mazdausa.com with press information at www.mazdausamedia.com racers and fans can follow the action on facebook (Mazdaspeed Motorsports).
 

IRVINE, Calif. (April 9, 2013) – The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo season opened last weekend with the first of three consecutive events, and for the fifth time in six seasons got the season underway at El Toro Airfield. Jonathan Lugod, of Oceanside, Calif., escaped the weekend with his first ProSolo Super Challenge victory.

The popular Southern California site uses the abandoned runways of the decommissioned Marine Corp Air Station, combined with the taxiways, for flowing, fast courses. That continued in 2013, with many classes running laps comfortably under the 45-second target.

Lugod, fresh off a narrow defeat in the Tire Rack Championship Tour event a week prior, rebounded for a Street Touring R top qualifying effort, and slid into the Super Challenge as the 12th of 32 qualifiers in his OS Giken/Ankeny Racing Enterprises Honda S2000.

Lugod toppled Gary Thomason’s ProParts USA Dodge Viper in the opening round, marking the first time the defending STR-class Tire Rack National Champion had advanced into the second round in his limited ProSolo experience.

The challenge monkey off his back, Lugod dispatched Scott Fraser’s C Street Prepared 949 Racing/Ankeny Racing Enterprises Mazda Miata and Steve O’Blenes Ankeny Racing/Tripoint/Hankook Mazda RX-8 in back to back rounds to advance to the semi-finals.

The toughest test would come in that round of four against Ryan Otis’ Super Stock Chevrolet Corvette. Lugod made mistakes on the right side of the two-run elimination, falling behind by 0.7-second. Knowing now that a perfect, hard run was going to be a must, Lugod pulled off the comeback and advanced to the final.

The 25-year-old Lugod squared off in the final against a wily ProSolo veteran, the 19-year-old Jon Clements. Clements, of Alta Loma, California, became the youngest Super Challenge winner in ProSolo history with a win at 16 years old, and was back in the finals three years later. Clements C Modified Mondiale Formula Ford couldn’t keep the pace with Lugod, and Lugod captured his first Super Challenge title.

Morgan Trotter, who fell to Clements in the semi-final round, drove his Street Touring Compact C2 Motorsports/The RacersStore.com Honda Civic Si to a third-place finish over Otis in the consolation round.

Joining Lugod on the top of the podium was Ladies Challenge winner Nicole Nagler, of Moorpark, Calif. Nagler drove her Street Touring Compact Toyo Tires/ProParts USA Honda Civic Si to a final round win over Meredith Brown’s Plastic PP Racing/Mid-Atlantic Motorsport Chevrolet Corvette.

The win was the first for Nagler, a two-time runner-up – including at the same event a year ago.

The Tire Rack ProSolo season continues this weekend in the middle of the country at the Mineral Wells ProSolo, deep in the heart of Texas, April 13-14. From there, the series continues on to MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, New Jersey, April 20-21.

Information on the season-opening round of the Tire Rack ProSolo Series can be found here. More information on the entire Tire Rack SCCA Solo program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.

Follow the SCCA on Twitter @SCCAOfficial, or like the Club on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCCAOfficial.
 

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (April 2, 2013) – For the third consecutive week, the Tire Rack SCCA Solo® program was in action, this time for the Pacific Southwest Championship Tour at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

The Championship Tour event was the first as a course designer for 2011 Rookie of the Year Jonathan Lugod. Though the San Diego Region course traditionally flirts with the outer limits of the rules with regard to speed, Lugod’s Saturday course was highly technical and required supreme concentration and car placement. Adjusting on the fly, Lugod’s Sunday course design mixed both elements, filling the weekend with memorable races.

Very few events, of any kind, finish closer than the 0.008-second margin of victory in the E Street Prepared class. Britt Dollmeyer drove the BlackWatchRacing.com/Thx Tim! Ford Mustang GT to what looked like a paper-thin opening day lead of 0.022 seconds over Brad Owen’s Goodspeed Performance Subaru WRX. When Sunday’s runs rolled around, Owen was able to cut into the deficit – but only by 0.014-second, leaving him just the eight thousandths of a second behind for the class win.

Street Touring R has, in just a couple of short years, become one of the most popular classes in SCCA Solo – and it’s easy to see why. May Hayter, driving the Gearheads Garage/AST/Chasecam Mazda MX-5, led the first day of action in the 21-car group, but by the third run of the day it was clear that Brian Peters’ ProParts USA Nissan 350Z was in the mix as well.

Sunday became a shootout in the class. Kevin Deitz was the first to take over the lead, climbing up the chart in the Jim Daniels/EVO School Honda S2000. Lugod’s OSGiken/Ankeny Racing Enterprises Honda S2000 used his inside knowledge to climb into the lead on his opening run just a week after surgery to remove the screws and plates in his repaired right ankle. As the later runs for each of the contenders continued to slow, it looked like Lugod would hang on – until, for the second day in a row, Peters ripped off his fastest run on the third and final time on the course.

That run lifted Peters to a 0.459-second victory over Lugod, with Deitz and Hayter following – an eternity in the tightly contested Super Touring R class. The Nissan 350Z, Honda S2000 and Mazda MX-5 left three very different cars in the top four of the class – yet another reason for the success of STR.

The Tire Rack Championship Tour – running the traditional National Tour format – returns to action with the Atlantic Championship in Dover, Del., April 27-28. The Tire Rack ProSolo Championship opens this coming weekend at the El Toro ProSolo at El Toro Airfield in Southern California for the first of three consecutive events. More information on the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.

More information, including results, from the Tire Rack Southwest Championship Tour in San Diego is available at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5453.

Follow SCCA on Twitter @SCCAOfficial, or like the Club on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SCCAOfficial.
 

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (March 27, 2013) – The Tire Rack SCCA Solo® Championship Tour and the RallyCross® National Challenge opened last weekend just miles apart, with at least one driver – Brianne Corn, of San Marcos, Texas – taking wins in both events.

Corn split time between the Solo site at Texas A&M and the RallyCross site at Texas World Speedway, bouncing back and forth to get in her required runs at both locations. The effort paid off, with Corn taking the B Modified win in Solo in her Janco/Hoosier Le Grand Dragon as well as the Modified All Wheel Drive class win her Brianne Corn Racing/Rally Ready Driving School Subaru Brighton.

More than just wins, Corn also turned the fastest overall times at both events – a 111.278 combined time of her two best runs on the Solo pavement, and a weekend best 770.505 aggregate of all 12 runs on the RallyCross dirt.

Corn’s performance wasn’t the only notable one of a weekend that featured 157 drivers on the Solo course.

In C Stock, Kenneth Baker ran the best class time of the final day to close the first-day hole in his Autcross.com Mazda MX-5, but fell just 0.030-second shy of Daniel McCelvey’s JFA Racing/TrackTime Performance Nissan 370Z.

Like McCelvey, Mark Madarash opened up a lead in his class, then fought to keep it through Sunday’s runs. Madarash was the quickest E Street Prepared machine on Saturday, then posted a time in his Pontiac Trans-Am on Sunday that left him just 0.116-second ahead of Sunday’s quickest-in-class car, the Goodyear Eagle RS/Strano Parts Chevrolet Camaro Z28 of Dave Ogburn.

It was, however, possible to take a victory from behind on Sunday. Andy Hollis led the opening day of Street Touring R, behind the wheel of the Thanks Kyung and Michael Mazda Miata. With a prophetic team name, Jason Minehart erased that deficit in the Team Underdog Racing Mazda MX-5 to just sneak out a 0.095-second victory in the 14-car class.

On the RallyCross dirt, all 12 runs are combined for the final time. That makes the 2.963-second margin of victory of Kevin Corn’s Brianne Corn Racing/TexasRallySport.com Subaru Impreza in the Prepared All Wheel Drive class agonizingly close. Corn had consistently completed the course faster than runner-up Yohanan Harvey’s Norman’s Tire Service Subaru Impreza, but had 14 seconds in cone penalties – compared to just two for Harvey – to narrow that gap and nearly cost him the win.

The Tire Rack Championship Tour – running the traditional National Tour format – moves immediately to this weekend’s Pacific Southwest Championship at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. More information on the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Program is available at www.scca.com/Solo. More information, including results, from the Tire Rack College Station Championship Tour event is available at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5453.

Information on the RallyCross National Challenge program is available at www.scca.com/RallyCross. Details on the SouthWest Division National Challenge at Texas World Speedway, including final results, can be found at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5599.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (March 5, 2013) – The 2nd event on the Tire Rack Solo Match Tour schedule in Wilmington, Ohio, for April 6-7 has been cancelled.

Despite the inclusion on the original 2013 schedule announcement, the Cincinnati Region and the SCCA have not yet received FAA approval for the site at the Wilmington Airport.

The Region will continue to work with the FAA to get approval for the site in time for the Tire Rack Championship Tour event, August 3-4.

The first Tire Rack Match Tour event of the season is the Dixie Match Tour, March 16-17 in Cecil, Georgia.

TOPEKA, Kan. (February 26, 2013 ) – On Feb. 26, 1944, 69 years ago, a group of sports car enthusiasts met at the Boston, Mass. home of Chapin Wallour to form a club dedicated to the preservation of sports cars. Today, the Sports Car Club of America annually boasts 60,000 members and hosts motorsports events around the country.

While the vintage market was covered by existing car clubs focused on the “preservation of veteran motor cars, a worthy objective,” the seven founding members gathered that night with an eye on the then-current generation of sports cars. It was specifically identified in the minutes from that first meeting – the SCCA was to concentrate on cars made after 1914.

First, though, the question arose – what was the definition of sports car? It was decided that evening to include “any quality car which was built primarily for sports motoring as opposed to mere transportation. In other words, any car which rates higher than average in construction and engineering, and which, preferably, has open body work.”

The first meeting of the SCCA was a bit more exclusive than today’s members would recognize. The list of cars owned by founding members Everett Dickinson, John Duby, Arnold Engborg, Theodore Robertson, George Schulz, Robert Townsend, and Chapin Wallour sound like museum pieces today: a Duesenberg “J” double cowl Phaeton, a Lancia Lambda 5th Series Roadster, a Kissel Speedster, Stutz DV 32 Sports Tourer, Mercer series 4 Raceabout, Isotte Fraschini type 8A Castagna Convertible Coupe, a Rolls Royce Phantom I Ascot Phaeton, and on. Not a single BMW, Ford or Mazda in the bunch!

This wasn’t by coincidence. The constitution drawn up by Ted Robertson stated that membership in the Club shall be restricted to owners of sports cars, sponsored by one current member, seconded by another, and elected by unanimous vote of the officers. Then, that new member must pay the yearly dues within 30 days – three dollars.

These gentlemen took the “sports car” in Sports Car Club of America very seriously. Of the 592 words in the first constitution, more than one-third dealt with dismissal from the club! Some of the apparently treasonous actions included selling a sports car without first advertising the car for sale with the Club, or buying a sports car that another member, essentially, called “dibs” on first. Being “obviously at fault” in an accident involving another member was grounds for dismissal, as was voluntarily disposing of your last remaining sports car. Of course it was bad if you broke up your own sports car – but equally as punishable was permitting someone else to destroy a sports car, or even having knowledge of someone just possibly breaking up a sports car without telling an officer.

The founding members were true fanatics when it came to their cars.

Clearly, a lot has changed in the 69 years of the SCCA. The founders wouldn’t have recognized our thousands of female members – and the notion of Lisa Noble as the Chairman of the Board of Directors would have most certainly blown the mind of original President Robertson. Today, SCCA accepts all members, regardless of whether or not they own a sports car.

Not everything has changed, of course. The passion shines through in each member today, as it did 69 years ago. The care that SCCA members take for each other remains. The pride that today’s members have in the Club lives on.

From the humble origins of seven enthusiasts gathered on a cold Boston evening to today’s international contingent who feel the same, the original spirit of the club continues.

Happy Birthday, Sports Car Club of America – here’s to the next 69 years!

And, happy birthday to SCCA’s current President Jeff Dahnert. Coincidence?