Plans are coming together for our July 30 – August 1 Race weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. We are offering a full menu of regional road racing, as well as an opportunity to put your street legal or solo car on the track. We are expanding into the Time Trial option this year, and there is also an opportunity to participate in a 1-hour wheel to wheel race in your safety prepared car – even if you don’t have a competition license. With the relaxation of Covid restrictions, we expect to be able to provide in car coaches for novices.
We are always looking for volunteers to help with administration and also in the race support specialties, such as flagging, timing and scoring and grid. If driving fast is not your thing, but being around those who are driving fast is, this is your place to be. It’s fun to get up close and personal with the cars and drivers. Expectation is we will be able to have our traditional worker picnic with live entertainment.
Cincinnati Region is hosting Tire Rack Starting Line School on July 10th 2021 @ Traders World!
In addition to a full day of professional performance driving instruction, the $350 Starting Line Package also includes:
SCCA Track Night in America Event Entry – $150 Value
SCCA Tire Rack National Event Entry – $100 Value
SCCA Membership – $90 Value
Regional Event Entry – $20-40 Value
Starting Line Hat
SportsCar Magazine Subscription
Grassroots Motorsports Subscription
The Tire Rack Starting Line School is a partnership between the Sports Car Club of America and Tire Rack to give automotive enthusiasts at every level a professional, all-inclusive entry into the sport of performance driving and the chance to have some fun with their cars.
The full-day school introduces key concepts applicable to performance driving and offers participants the opportunity to develop motorsports skills while working with professional performance driving instructors.
Professional instructors teach:
Vehicle dynamics
Traction management
Vision and control
Tips and techniques custom tailored to match your needs and ability level
Starting Line participants leave ready for motorsports competition if that’s where their interest takes them, but everyone gains an understanding of the capabilities of their vehicle and is given the opportunity to have a little fun with it. In addition to a full day of instruction, the Tire Rack SCCA StartingLine package includes a complete motorsports starter kit. Participants receive an SCCA membership, entries for optional future events, as well as subscriptions to SportsCar and Grassroots Motorsports magazines, and a $15.00 off and free shipping coupon code for a Snell- approved motorsports helmet through Solo Performance.
For detailed information, school calendar / locations, autocross FAQs and more, visit the Tire Rack SCCA Starting Line website: Starting Line Info
Registration is open for Road Rally 3 “Delusional Drive to Daly Rd. Road Rally” on June 12th
Join us for an afternoon of Dashing thru Northern Hamilton County from Fairfield to Mt. Healthy to New Baltimore, along city streets and county roads. This is an easy, fun rally of 100 miles, and as many questions, to keep you and your navigator awake searching for the clues to the answers. There will also be a set of EZ Instructions, for those who would rather just enjoy the drive. The search is on for Daly Rd. and when you see it you’ll need to mark it down for extra points, or should I say for extra credit as the idea is to have the least number of points, not the most.
Meeting time will start at 9am behind Dunkin’ Donuts, 6641 Dixie Highway Fairfield, OH 45014. Safety meeting is at 10:15, with first car out at 10:30. You should finish up your drive around 2:30, and we will meet afterwards for food and beverages and scoring at Rick’s Tavern next door.
Bring your friends and neighbors and have your own private competition with them.
Please register on CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com to reserve your place, so we have enough sets of instructions without destroying more trees than necessary.
Hello Cincinnati Region SCCA Members and friends of the Region,
Spring is in the air and our event schedule is getting packed! With the most updated events calendar showing much more promise than it did a year ago as we were dealing with the “new realities” of our coronavirus lives. Updates are in this newsletter on the events we’ve already completed in 2021 with our Solo & Rally programs. And our upcoming calendar can be found at http://cincyscca.com/ and events that have registration open can be found at https://cincyscca.motorsportreg.com/.
It is with extreme sadness in my heart to inform you of the passing of one of our great members, Dennis Barnes. Dennis was a Cincinnati SCCA member over the last 25+ years. Dennis touched many people over the years and was a friendly competitor, resource, talent, volunteer and mentor to so many people. For many, many years Dennis was a licensed Safety Steward and supported our Solo & Track events. Personally, over the years with his Fiero’s and Miata’s, I’ll remember the caravans to solo events out of town, working together on the trailer(s), figuring out how to scrape seconds of time off of an old miata 🙂 Riding shotgun in his crazy modified tow vehicle, Dennis was never afraid of an aftermarket part that could help get better performance out of his truck 🙂 Lot’s of memories and fortunate to have them. Dennis will be missed dearly by our Cincinnati SCCA family. Final checkers are in your honor Dennis, we’ll miss you.
With that I hope everyone is as eager as I am to get outside and enjoy the fellowship of our brother/sister car enthusiasts as soon as you are ready to come on out. Take care and see you soon!
I am currently volunteering as a worker at a race weekend at GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, Michigan. As I’m taking a break from positioning cars on the false grid, I am reminded of the reasons I do this, which in no particular order include the sounds, the smells, the bone rattling vibration of standing next to a big bore car warming up before its session, and being with the friends I’ve made over the years. The excitement of watching a good on track battle, the anticipation before a race and the pure joy on the faces of the racers as they come off track after a good race are additional perks.
You WANT to be there. Trust me on this. There are many ways to do it with Cincy Region. Come to a SOLO (autocross) event or two and get your feet wet. Then put your car-solo prepared or daily driver-on the track at Mid-Ohio for our region’s event July 30-August 1. Come to work. There are lots of places to get behind the scenes and over the fence. Come to race or come to watch. Come to hang with friends and make new ones.
It’s cold and windy here today. And even if there was liquid sunshine dripping on us too, it’s still a better place to be than anywhere else.
The 2021 Solo Season has begun! Photo courtesy of Jeff Loewe
Apr 10/11 Test & Tune / Spring Fun Event 1
Our first two event weekends are in the book! We started out with a limited-entry Test and Tune (T&T) on Apr 10 followed by our first Spring 2021 Fun Event on Apr 11. The weather really didn’t cooperate as it was wet and/or cold, but we had 50 entrants who braved the weather on the 10th and 138 on the 11th even though both events were well over their registration cap limits leading up to registration closure. All in all, it was a good two days of learning (relearning) and competition, a good way to shake off the cobwebs and meet up with friends it seems like forever sine we saw last. As April 10 was run as a true T&T format, there were no times posted. Sunday was run as a fun event with 138 entrants using our standard four heat format and established the initial basis of our four heat system to be used the rest of the season. Run/Work will follow the same basic pattern with the same basic classes together, but it will shift one later each event (exceptions may be made as required for number of entrants, classes, critical work assignments, etc.) Everyone got five runs in an attempt to get dry runs for all but it didn’t quite work out that way.
The closest competition was a battle of the Mustangs in CAM-C where Krzysztof Zielinski edged out Ron Schoch by a mere 0.025 seconds. CAM again set the tone with 28 entrants, and the largest class was the highly competitive Street Open with 17 entrants followed closely by CAM-S with 15 entrants. I’m happy to report the Novice Classes are starting to make a comeback now that we have single assignment loaner helmets with nine (9) in Novice Street led by Christina Harp and five (5) in Novice Modified led by Zachary Eavers. Joel Zeller battled Jason Rector, both of HS for the top two PAX times. Results are posted on our website. https://CincySCCA.com/autocross/2021-solo-schedule-results/
Apr 24/25 Spring Fun Event 2 / Points Event 1
Spring Fun Event 2 – Our second event weekend came up very quick after the first, seemingly didn’t skip a weekend even though it really did. Again, the weather wasn’t real cooperative as rain was forecast for Sat in what looked like it would be a real soaker and cooler temperatures all day. Due to the forecast, we only ended up with 70 entrants on Saturday (down from over 100) and as a result chose to run it as a Test & Tune format. As it turned out, the rain arrived half-way through the day Sat making for a cold and wet day where times in the wet were lucky to be within 5 – 7 seconds of the dry times, but many of the entrants had eight or more runs. Still a definite learning experience as you never know what the weather will be like for the points events later in the season. The closest battle was again in CAM C where this time Max Mishcenko edged Krzysztof Zielinski by 0.002 secs. CAM again had a large contingent with 17 entrants between the three classes and CAM S had the largest class with 10 entrants. Results are posted on our website. https://CincySCCA.com/autocross/2021-solo-schedule-results/
Points Event 1 – For Sunday, our first points event, we had 197 registered (with a cap of 160), determined we could let in 180, and ended up with 175 entrants after all was said and done. The weather stayed dry, but was cool/cold throughout most of the day with the sun finally coming out late enough to give many their first sunburn of the year. With worker change-overs on the fly, and everyone’s cooperation being on time and ready, we were able to get everyone six (6) runs and be done running by 4:15 on what was described as a fast, fun, yet technical course where one had to really thread the needle. CAM continued to have a strong contingent with 40 entrants (of the 175) between the three classes and the single largest class of the event was CAM S with 24 entrants. The closest battle was in CAM T with Nathan Popp edging out Brian Coney by 0.135 secs in their very different but very fast Camaros. Novice classes continued their comeback with Novice Street being led by Louis Brinkman in his Civic and Corey Pooler in his Focus ST. PAX was dominated by the Pro Class with 6 of the top 10 and the top 5 all being in Pro with Rob Clark and Robert Pendergest in Rob’s C8 bookending Dave Montgomery in his Camaro SS 1LE. Unfortunately due to various delays, event trophies were not available for those who earned one, but will be available at the Novice 101 / Points Event 2 weekend May 15 & 16. Results are posted on our website. https://cincyscca.com/autocross/2021-solo-schedule-results/
Novice 1010 School – I already hinted at it, but our first Novice 101 School is Saturday, May 15. Registration is open, but entries are limited so we can provide full instruction.
Points Event 2 – Registration is open for our second points event Sunday, May 16.
I have the 2020 Year End Solo Trophies for those of you who earned one and still haven’t picked it up. Heck, I still have a few 2019 trophies too.
I will have the Points Event 1 trophies for those who earned one at the next event, May 15 & 16.
COVID – We are still under COVID procedures, please continue to social distance and wear a mask when you are close to others. Minor changes from late last year or this year: Passengers are permitted if both have face masks or full-face helmets with shields. We do have single driver assignment loaner helmets available.
Our events are popular thanks to you, please register early as we have been hitting the entry cap one to two weeks before the event. If when you register the cap has already been met, please go ahead and register on the waitlist. This will greatly increase your chance of making it in.
No charges will be made to your account until registration closes @ 10:00 pm on the Thursday before the event.
If you are registered and not going to be able to make the event, please cancel before Thur 10 pm so that others on the waitlist can attend. If you cancel after registration closes, there is no refund or credit toward the next event (exceptions apply) as you are preventing someone else from attending.
Please come to Tech Inspection with numbers and letters on your car. Numbers must be a contrasting color to the car and a min of 8” tall and letters 4” tall. If using painters tape for the first event or so, please use the 2” wide tape.
With the larger number of entrants, please follow the paddock guidelines so all can fit nicely (only large trailers/motorhomes along the building, trucks w/ up to 26 ft trailers in the middle, single cars in the front row or middle nose to tail.)
Sponsors:
Last but certainly not least, I want to thank the fantastic group of sponsors helping us make our program so successful:
Continental Motorsports is going to be on-site for all of our events to help you with all your racing goodies. Look for them between paddock and grid. http://www.continentalmotorsport.com/
Summit Racing, though not on site has provided a lot of random door prizes and 10% off certificates for all our entrants which will be handed out at the drivers meetings. https://www.summitracing.com/
Autocross Digits continues to provide top notch class numbers/letters, vinyl, and magnetic vinyl for your autocross needs. https://www.autocrossdigits.com/
Forgeline not only provides the ultimate wheels for your vehicle, but has also donated to the parking lot asphalt repair fund. Still attempting to make arrangements for repairs. https://forgeline.com/
Jeff Loewe Imaging Our region’s official photographer. Check out his website for your favorite moment! https://jlofoto.net/
It was a beautiful Spring Day….. Well maybe not so beautiful for the whole day, but it was a FUN day with 16 teams competing for top spot – actually 2 top spots, as half the field was first timers.
We did a good deed with each team contributing a book to a free library in Hanover Park.
The Kise’s prepared “Kindness Rocks” for each team to pick up at a point on the route. The rocks can be kept or hidden around town for others to find to brighten their day-it’s in conjunction with “FairfieldOhioRocks”, a Facebook group that Barb started during quarantine.
It was great to be able to socialize at the end of the event. The results can be found on the CincySCCA.com website.
Registration is open for the second road rally of the season, Saturday mid-morning May 8. The rest of the (tentative) dates are June 12, August 14, September 11, and October 30. This rally will be an observation and mileage accuracy 100-mile drive thru Kenton County, Kentucky. We will be meeting at an undisclosed location at the end of the rally for some socializing. You don’t have to be a member to participate in this kid friendly event. Registration is strongly encouraged at CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com.
