Race Report

We are getting down to it now. Our Track Event, Time Trial, Double Regional Race weekend will close out the month of July, 29th through 31st, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Registration pages for the Friday activities, the race and for our wonderful volunteers are open at cincyscca.motorsportreg.com.

On Friday, you can take your daily driver, or any other car you can get your hands on, out on course without fear of a speeding ticket. Never done this before? A little apprehensive? We will provide you with a driver coach to help guide you until you are comfortable with running solo. A seasoned veteran? Choose the Advanced Group, which allows you less restrictive passing rules. Have a race prepared car but no competition license? Run on Friday and stay over for a 1-hour bracket race on Saturday afternoon for wheel-to-wheel racing.

The divisional races on Saturday and Sunday count for the Divisional Championship and are qualifying races for the run-offs.

We feed the volunteers lunch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and dinner on Saturday. It’s your chance to get up close and personal with the cars and drivers or get out on a corner where the action is.

Something for all race and car enthusiasts. Register now and we’ll see you at the track. Questions? Drop us a line at roadrace@cincyscca.com or through the registration pages.

Road Rally Report

A number of factors collided in June that caused us to postpone the June 25th Road Rally. But we have pulled ourselves together and will run the rally on July 16. We were originally taking the month of July off due to vacations and the like, but two months off is just too much. On-site check-in starts at 9:30  am, with the safety meeting at 10:15 and first car out at 10:30. Starting location is the parking lot just off I-74 at the Rybolt Road exit, where Kohls and Meijer are. There is a McDonalds there as well for a coffee fix or breakfast. We will be traversing a wide variety of roads through the Delhi area and points beyond. There is a reason the name of this rally is “The RIGHT Stuff”. Come learn why. The drive should take between 3 ½ and 4 ½ hours, depending on how much backtracking you do to find answers. Registration is open at cincyscca.motorsportreg.com. Cost for the event is $30, with a $10 discount if at least one member of the team (driver, navigator) is a current SCCA member.

Mark your calendars for the following remaining dates:

8/13
9/17
10/29

Contact us at the email or phone number below for additional information. Want to be added to the email list and receive reminders, notification of open registration and additional information? Send us an email with the request and it shall be done! Want to suggest an area with awesome roads, we’re open to that too.

Gordon Benson
Christy Graham
roadrally@cincyscca.com or
CincySCCARally@yahoo.com

Solo Report, Solo Report, Solo Report

There, I said it.  It’s that time again, time for my monthly solo report.  After all, it is Jun 30 and it’s due today…  We are most definitely in the meat of the season where one seldom has a non-racing weekend (if you don’t want to)! 

June was a busy month and July doesn’t promise to be any more relaxed. June 10-12, thirty (30) Cincy members/regulars traveled to Grissom Aeroplex in Peru IN for the Peru National Tour.  During the following week TD Rack Paving came out and repaired 310 foot of asphalt including the one area which broke up at the previous event. On the next weekend, Jun 18-19, we hosted a SCCA Starting Line School on Saturday and had Points Event 3 on Sunday.  The next weekend (last weekend as I write this) was the DriveAutoX event at Traders World where again many of the Cincy members had a good showing.  This doesn’t include all the other events our crew went to either in mass or individually like the WOR/MVSCCC event June 5th, the Finger Lakes NY National Tour, Jun 17-19, the Great Lakes Div Solo Series events at Grissom Jul 18 & 19 or at SWVR Jun 25-26, or the CKR event Jun 26th, plus many others.   

As I said earlier, July promises to be busy too with a “Popp Up” Test & Tune this Sunday, and our second regional school “Cincy AutoX 101, on Jul 9 with Points Event 4 on Sunday, Jul 10.  Then, we will have Cincy regroup in force for the Toledo Pro Solo on Jul 22-24, DriveAutoX at Grissom Aeroplex on Jul 30-31, and the Oscoda MI ProSolo Aug 6-7.Jul 3rd..  Again, there are many other choices our group will attend too like the GLSS event July 10 at Toledo, or Jul 23-24 in Fort Wayne.

Peru National Tour Recap – Jun 10-12

Had a great time playing on the concrete @ Grissom with not only a bunch of Cincy members, but friends from all over the country!  There were 235 entrants in total, 30 of which I count as Cincy Region members/regulars not including a few support people who came but didn’t run!  By my count we were tied for largest number of entrants with NWOR or at least close due to dual memberships!!!  Congrats not only to the five (5) class winners and four (4) trophy winners, but also to those of us who went and gave it our all but came up short!  <pun intended>

CLASS RESULTS
SS 1T Rob Clark DSL 5 Tina Coil CAMS 6 Mark Minge
SS 11 Langlee King GS 3T Christopher Rudy CAMS 7 Jamie Elliott
AS 8 Kent Weaver GS 6 Cody Mills CAMC 3 Krzysztof Zielinski
AS 9 Ben Weaver GS 10 Keith Koegler CAMT 6 Bob Armstrong
CS 6 Charles Totten STH 5 Nate Chester CAMT 8 Gene Pooler
DS 3T Jack Burns FSP 2T Scott Giles XSA 4 Brandon Sewell (1stTour!)
DS 5 Scott Bourne FSP 6 Renee Hines XSA 6 Halie Sewell (1stTour!)
DS 9 Brian Yee XP 1T Dave Montgomery XSB 1T Nick Erlenbach
DSL 1T Cincy Duncan (would have been 3T DS!) DM 1T Christian Moist XSB 3Dave Rudy
DSL 2T Jo Jadeke (would have been 4T DS!) DM 2 Michael Wolf EV 3 Tom Mills – (1st Tour!)

 

PAX INDEX (Top 20) MASTERS INDEX
2 Rob Clark 7 Kent Weaver
8 Dave Montgomery 10 Jack Burns
  12  Renee Hines
19 Keith Koegler
28 Michael Wolf

SCCA Starting Line School – Jun 18 –  The school had twenty (20) students attend in various skill levels from a first autocross event level to those who have been running a couple years just trying to improve.  The school provides not only phenomenal instruction, but additional great value in an annual membership and waiver, entry to a Cincy region solo, a National Tour, and a track day.  All the students had great things to say about the school/instruction and really enjoyed themselves.  Tough to beat the value!

Cincy Points Event 3 – Jun 19 – The Sunday after the school we had 179 entrants, tying it with PE 2 for the largest event so far this year, but under the record of 189 for PE 8 in 2019.  The event went very well with 6 runs completed by 4:35 even with an hour downtime to clean up the course from an oil spill.  Thanks again to everyone who pitched in during the 4th heat and did the “Salina Shuffle” scrubbing in the cat litter/oil dry and sweeping it up in the heat.  Kudos to all getting us back running so all got their runs.  The closest battle was in CAMC (9 entries) where 7 of the 9 set their fastest run on the last run with the top four within 0.242 secs having Brad Davidson taking the win in his 2019 Mustang over Nathan Johnson in his 2018 Camaro.  CAM accounted for 41 of the 179 entries and the largest class was CAMS with 22 entries where Danny Popp took the emotional win by 0.142 secs over Marshall Reinert marking an amazing step in his comeback from a year ago!  Christian Moist took FTD in his DM Birkin with a 38.453 and  Chris Rudy took the top PAX time in his Honda Civic S with a 32.911, 0.305 secs over Myke Dziengel n his Subaru STi.

Finger Lakes National Tour – Jun 17-19

This event was held at the Seneca Army Base, Romulus NY.  Rob Clark and Langlee King had outstanding representation for Cincy taking first place in both of their classes, SS and SSL, respectively.  As I understand it, Rob made it interesting only having two clean runs all weekend, one each day, and coming back from 2nd after day one for the win.  He also placed 4th overall on the index.  Langlee also made it interesting day one, only having her 3rd run clean.   Congrats Rob and Lang, way to go!

DriveAutoX at Traders World – Jun 24-26

This event is focused on CAM type cars but also has classes for non-CAM cars and is not an SCCA sanctioned event.  Competitors got 11 runs Saturday on one course, 5 runs on a different course Sunday, and then the Challenge brackets with the top 8 qualifiers in each class over the two days combined.  Great time was had by all!  Cincy Region was represented well and quite a few got into the challenges and even won!  Congrats to those who qualified for the challenges and special recognition to the Cincy Region winners: 

Tim Schoch – GT
Marshall Reinert – GTU
Brian Coney – GTV
Tavis Spencer – SCN

 

Upcoming July Events – https://CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com

Popp Up Test & Tune – July 3 – The idea and opportunity for this event came up after our last points event as a fundraiser to help reimburse the pavement repair and of course help our competitors before their upcoming big events.   Note:  This is a limited entry event

AutoX 101 – Jul 9 – This is the second (and last) novice school we are hosting in 2022.  As of today, all of the 32 spots are filled; however, there is always the chance for cancellations if you are on the waitlist.

Points Event 4 – July 10 – Just like the AutoX 101 school, we met our entry cap of 175 entrants yesterday (29 Jun).  If you haven’t registered yet and are wanting to enter, please register on the waitlist.  Many waitlisted entrants end up making it in the event, but if you don’t enter it is unlikely for you to get in.  If you are registered but know you cannot make it, please go in and cancel to prevent being charged and help others get in the event.

Toledo ProSolo – If you have never run a ProSolo, you really, really should.  It combines a Christmas Tree start like at a drag race and two mirror image courses with challenge brackets on Sunday afternoon.  Toledo is already at its entry cap, but the Oscoda ProSolo Aug 5-7 still has openings.  By my count, we have 17 Cincy members/regulars attending the Toldeo ProSolo event.

SCCA ProSolo Finale (Sep 2-4) and Solo National Championships (Sep 5-9)
– Registrations – Registration is open for Tier 1 and 2 for the National Championships already on MSR. 
– Cincy Region Paddock – I have already started collecting names for our paddock area this year, last year we had 22 entrants.  Speak up soon so we aren’t scattered about and I can reserve a big paddock space for us.

Reminder: Numbers (8” min) and Letters (4” min), 1-1/2 to 2” stroke, must be on the car at tech, must contrast the car, be on both sides, and cannot be on the windows. See AutocrossDigits.com for great selections of vinyl or magnetic sets.

Solo Chair
Kent Weaver

Area 4 Director Update for July 2022

I thought June was going to allow me to take a breath…..but I was mistaken.  Yes, I had fewer events to attend in person but there were several more Zoom meetings, EVAC emails to write, etc., so I was still pretty busy this past month.

Next month I will be driving to Kansas City for the BoD meeting on 7/29, 7/30.  While there, I will also be sitting in on the CRB meeting on 7/28.

Video Conference Meetings:

  • Club Racing Board (CRB) (6/7): Much discussion was had about a new initiative called “Green to Checker” or G2C.  A myriad of decisions and policies over the years have led to poor performance on track during Club Racing events.  There are just too many sessions that are stopped by a black flag all (BFA) or under full course yellow (FCY) due to an incident on track.  G2C will try to change the course away from the trend of too many BFAs and FCYs which diminishes the race experience for all involved.  This policy is in the planning phase and I will report the results when the protocols are adopted.  While this was discussed by the CRB, rest assured this has also been discussed at the BoD level as well.  Changes are coming once we figure out the most effective way to alter the course of the program.  More work was done on the face-to-face meeting to be held in July (7/28).  The results of CRB rules changes can be seen here.
  • Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (6/8): We had guests for part of the meeting (Chris Robbins and Abby Scher) as we discussed how to train and educate the SCCA membership on how to interact with EVs when they participate at events.  We tied up some loose ends on the 2nd iteration of the SCREV.  We are also nearly finished with a package for Production cars and are continuing work on a package for formula cars. 
  • BSpec Advisory Committee (6/14): The BSAC group had some solid suggestions for how to modify our ESpec rules package. 
  • Touring Advisory Committee (6/20): The TAC folks had some sage advice for me on the ESpec rules as well. 
  • SCCA BoD Team Development (6/22): Those of us new to the BoD were asked to take a Myers Briggs Type Indicator Test.  That was done online a couple of weeks ago.  The results were revealed during a two hour Zoom call.  I had never done this type of personality analysis before.  All of this was done to allow the BoD work better together and be a more effective governing body.
  • Board of Directors (BoD) (6/27): We had a light agenda since we are meeting face to face next month.  We discussed the compensation for the President (Mike Cobb).  I gave an EVAC update.  We did more planning for our meeting in Kansas City next month.  We also received an update on the Haynes lawsuit.
  • Production Advisory Committee (6/28): Once again, a sub committee of the CRB provided some valuable insight on how we should modify the ESpec rules package.

 

SCCA Events:

  • FSAE @ MIS (6/15-6/17): Man oh man!  What a great time I had at this event.  To see so many college kids working together was truly uplifting.  There were teams representing schools from all over the country as well as several more from Canada.  As Chair of the EVAC, my goal was to see how the EVs were designed and built.  To that end, I hung out in the EV inspection area.  This allowed me to watch the inspectors go through the EV cars with a fine tooth comb.  Watching them helped me understand how the EVs were wired.  I was especially interested in the safety features of the EVs.  We are adopting some of these key safety features in our prototype and formula car rules packages.
  • WMR SCCA Double Regional @ Grattan Raceway (6/18, 6/19): This event was fun to attend as it brought me back to my roots.  I started out as an F&C guy way back when and that’s what I did this weekend.  I had the pleasure of working with a new member too.  It was another chance for me to “pay it forward” so the next generation of SCCA member gets the advice and counsel that I did when I joined.
  • I have updated my calendar on the GLDiv website with events I’d like to go to this season. Click here to see where I’ll be this summer.

Be sure and visit the GLDiv website for information about all of the SCCA programs within the division.  We have schedules, official’s contact info, standings, etc. for all the SCCA programs.

The various national schedules for 2022 are starting to coalesce and they can be found here: 

Pro Solo/National Tour, Time Trials National Tour, Hoosier Super Tour, Enduro.

Please take a few minutes and make sure your contact information is accurate in the SCCA database.  It’s important to have the correct information there so the club knows how to contact you.  Log in to your my.scca.com page and check. 

As I mentioned previously, there is a new path to getting your annual waiver.  You can now get it through the Member Account Portal (MAP).  Follow this link to get the instructions.  There is also a story about the program here.  I’ve done it and it only takes a couple of minutes. Be prepared to upload a headshot picture of yourself.

Just a quick reminder, if any region out there wants to have an “Ask the Director” session during your monthly meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me so we can schedule a visit.  I retired last summer so have plenty of free time and would thoroughly enjoy the chance to visit with your members.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you may have about any facet of the GLDiv. I want you to make the most of your membership and I will help out in any way possible to make that happen.

Dayle Frame

Track Event / Time Trial @ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Cincinnati Region SCCA is proud to once again offer this great event. On July 29th 2022 we will be having our Track Event and Time Trial at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
 
 

This is your chance to put yourself behind the wheel of your street licensed or solo prepared car on the beautiful Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. There are two options for participation – Competitive timed laps held under the National Time Trial Rules for advanced drivers and our traditional Track Event for street and solo prepared caps, with groups based on track experience. Novice drivers will be paired with an experienced instructor to show you the ins and outs of road course driving at speed. The 2.258 mile Pro Course configuration will be used in the morning and the 2.40 mile Club Course will be used in the afternoon. No competition license is required for this event – just a state issued driver’s license.

Time Trial groups(s) will have a practice session and a Time Attack session in the morning on the Pro Course and a practice session and a Time Attack session in the afternoon on the Club Course. Transponders will be available for a rental fee of $35.

* Successful completion of Friday activities will qualify advanced drivers to compete in wheel-to-wheel racing in a one hour bracket race on Saturday afternoon, regardless of competion license grade. (The car must meet the safety requirements and need a driver’s suit.)

Stick around for the weekend and volunteer as an official race worker and earn a $25 rebate on your entry fee. 

Cost for the Friday event is $240. You must be an SCCA member, but if you are not currently a member we will provide you with a weekend membership for $15. 

YOUR CREDIT CARD WILL NOT BE CHARGED UNTIL REGISTRATION CLOSES

DRIVER COACHES NEEDED

Track Event Coach Eligibility: One must hold a current recognized competition license (SCCA, NASA, IMSA, FIA, PCA, BMWCCA, etc.) or have equivalent racing, time trial, or track day experience, which is deemed satisfactory by the Track Event Lead Coach. If you have any questions about being a coach please contact Bill Niemeyer at 513-678-6728 or via e-mail at niemeyer65@hotmail.com

Show your support for ALS, in honor of the late Judy Cowie, long time Cincinnati Region member and Corner Worker. Stop by garage 20 anytime before 3 PM to purchase a ticket ($1) or 6 ($5) for a Split-The-Pot drawing.

The link to registration is here:
 

Todd Cholmondeley IT/SPEC*tacular Track Event info on Jul 29, 2022 (976391) | MotorsportReg.com

RoadRally Report

6 teams joined us for a beautiful drive on the twisty, hilly roads of Boone County, on a glorious day. The rain held off until we finished, or at least almost finished. There was a tie for first place which was decided by a couple tie breaker questions. A good time was had by all. This is the first rally I have actually been able to compete in for quite a while. I was surprised that I was a little nervous to set out on an unknown course. Let’s just say my (and my partner’s) finishing position is testament to the fact that I did not have prior knowledge of the route, questions and tie breaker questions. Full results and standings are posted on the cincyscca.com website.

Join the fun at the next event on June 25. The location is still in flux, but registration will open once the final details are confirmed.
Mark your calendars for the following remaining dates:

  • 6/25
  • 8/13
  • 9/17
  • 10/29

Contact us at the email or phone number below for additional information. Want to be added to the email list and receive reminders, notification of open registration and additional information? Send us an email with the request and it shall be done! Want to suggest an area with awesome roads, we’re open to that too.

Gordon Benson
Christy Graham
roadrally@cincyscca.com or
CincySCCARally@yahoo.com
513-658-4677

Solo Report

Wow, the season has barely started but is cranking already.

Shortly after I last made a report, we had our first event weekend Apr 9 & 10. As we came closer to the weekend the weather forecast wasn’t good for Saturday and only got worse the closer we got. Based on the forecast we decided it was best to ask you, the entrants, what you wanted to do and the answer was a resounding please cancel the event. We listened and that was a good thing, because by the time we got there (if you remember), Apr 8 and 9 were flat out freezing cold, wet, windy, and just downright miserable. We did course set up that afternoon and even had snow/sleet to validate the decision to cancel. Kudos for common sense…well, as much as any of us have such a thing… Sunday dawned far, far better; it was even sunny, and t-shirt warm. Heck, many of us came home with pretty solid sunburns! I’ll take that over cold frozen precipitation any day! Back to the event, we had 149 entrants on Sunday, got six runs and finished running by 3:00. Great job by all, thank you! The tightest battle was in the 17 entry Street Open index class where Keith Koegler edged out Joel Zeller by 0.024 secs. Top time of day went to Richard Sawicki in the FSAE car and top PAX went to Devin Taylor in Street Touring Open. Enough of the season opener tribulations.

Moving on to the next event weekend a mere two weeks later and true to Ohio, whereas we had accumulating snow earlier in the week, it was very sunny and we had temps in the upper 80s for both Sat and Sun, Apr 23 & 24 respectively. Saturday was the Miami Motorsport Club Fun event where the 68 entrants got to run it in a test and tune format the whole time instead of a fun event in the morning and test and tune in the afternoon. By 4:00, by far the majority had stopped running, because they had gotten all the runs they wanted to take.

Sunday, Apr 24, our first points event dawned just as nice weather wise with temps in the upper 80s/low 90s for the 178 entrants. The course was essentially the opposite direction as Saturdays’ course and had been designed with this direction in mind, but I have to say I enjoyed Saturday’s course a bit more personally. This event had so many tight competitions it was tough to keep track of as things changed by the moment all day long. SMF had Brian Gard edging out Brent Walsh by a mere 0.114 secs. In CAM T, Nathan Popp took the win by 0.173 secs over Cam Joseph. in STH Mike Kruetzkamp edged out Jake Favaron by 0.178 secs. D Street had mom over daughter by a “whopping” 0.180 secs with Jo Jadeke using that age and treachery to finish just ahead of Aleshia Findley. G Street followed suit with Jim Hardesty over Sam Oakes by 0.201 secs. CAM C had Ron Schoch over Ryan Wilhelm by 0.232 secs. CAM S had Paul Curley a snitch ahead of Marshall Reinert by 0.236 secs in our largest class with 22 entrants. In Street Touring Alexander Prand took first over John Custer by 0.260 secs. Open Street Open had Lang King putting the smack down on the other 17 entrants and beating Dean Rindler by 0.285 secs. Fastest Raw Time and PAX Time both went to Rob Clark in Pro class with a raw time of 39.208 secs just ahead of Crhistian Moist with a 39.390 and PAX time of 32.609 over Myke Dziengel with a 33.419 sec time.

Photo courtesy of Austin Hampton

As I type this, we are preparing for the Phase 1 and 2 Evolution Performance Driving School events this Sat, Apr 30th, and Sun, May 1st respectively. Twenty-four students are signed up each day to get some of the best instruction across the country.

Upcoming Events:
– Our next event (after this weekend) is our Autocross 101 school for novices on May 14th followed by Points Event 2 on May 15th. Please go to MotorsportReg and register before we hit the entry cap for both. (CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com)
– The following event is a Starting Line school on Jun 18th and Points Event 3 on Jun 19th. (CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com)
– Peru, IN (Grissom Aeroplex) National Championship Tour is open for registration already and is coming up Jun 10-12 where I hope we will bring a large Cincy showing and trophy raid.(https://www.scca.com/events/2000312-2022-tire-rack-scca-peru-national-tour-grissom-aeroplex)

That’s enough for now, I’m sure you are bored with my meanderings. See you on site sooner vs later!

Kent Weaver
Cincy SCCA Solo Chair