What a great year, thank you everyone! Happy New Year!
Not going to make a big summary, I’ve had plenty of long Solo reports throughout the year, you don’t need another one…. Just want to simply say I am very thankful for not only the fantastic solo committee who make our events some of the best run events in the whole country, but also all the competitors and family who play your part too! Can’t tell you how many people I have told about our hobby, sport, & region; but it always comes down to the people – the racing is fun, but it’s all about the friends and racing family.
2022 Year End Trophies – Thank you for all the trophy winners who replied quickly with orders. We will open up additional orders for those of you who want to purchase items (not just trophy winners.)
Look for info on the banquet elsewhere or even MSR. All are welcome whether you are getting a trophy or not.
Come join your fellow competitors and car enthusiasts for an evening of Good Food, Great Fellowship, Awards and Door Prizes!
This is your chance to dress up a little, celebrate achievements and put 2022 behind us while gearing up for the 2023 season.
We will be meeting in the Ohio Room, which is to the right from the main entrance lobby. Receptions Event Center is located at 5975 Boymel Drive, Fairfield, OH 45014.
Dress is Business Casual (or better).
Awards for solo, rally and road racing will be awarded, along with the annual Cincinnati Region awards. Drawings for door prizes will be scattered throughout the award presentations, including valuable $$$s off our competition events. Register and pay by January 23rd and you will receive bonus tickets for more chances.
6:00 – 6:45 PM Registration and socializing – hors d’oeuvres and cash bar
6:45 – 7:45 PM Dinner
7:30 – 10:00 PM Awards & Door Prizes
TENTATIVE BUFFET MENU
Carved, Slow Roasted Top Round of Beef with Demi Glaze & Horseradish
Chicken Parmesan
Pasta Primavera Farfalle (Vegetarian)
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Southern Style Green Beans
Tossed Salad w/ Assorted Dressings
Hot Rolls & Butter
Assorted Desserts
Unlimited Soft Drinks (Cash Bar available)
*The menu has not been finalized, and may change without notice.
Adults – $40 *
Children 10 & under – $15 (Additional $5 for Door Prize Raffle tickets)
Children 5 & under – Free (No Door Prize Raffle tickets)
You can also attend the awards portion of the evening without the Meal/Door Prize option for free, but please register so we can plan for seating.
* We regret that it is necessary to raise the fee due to the significantly higher cost to the club this year. This is the first fee increase since 2016. The region has always subsidized the cost to make it more manageable for our members, and always will. We appreciate your understanding.
Contact the event registrar with registration issues or questions.
Registration closes Wednesday, January 30. Late and walk up dinner registration will be extremely limited so PLEASE REGISTER PROMPTLY. Don’t miss out!
Egad, it is almost the end of the year, just doesn’t seem right! In that
spirit however; Happy Belated Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!!! Just a
few thoughts to disrupt you from your Christmas shopping for your loved
ones…yes, not only your car(s) but your friends/family too. Just a few
things of note to wrap up the year.
2022 Solo Year End Trophies
Sory for the delay, working through issues with availability, but we are
close to finalizing the trophy options and will send them out to the trophy
winners via email shortly. Watch for a post on our fb page and your email.
Non-trophy winners area also able to order and pay for merchandise/trophy
items if desired.
Trophies will be presented at the Cincinnati Region SCCA Membership
Appreciation & Awards Banquet on Feb 4, 2023 http://cincyscca.com/wp-content/uploads/SoloResults/2022/cincy2022__points.htm
2023 Schedule
We have a tentative Cincinnati and surrounding area schedule in work and
posted to the website. IT IS VERY TENTATIVE. Events in red are strictily
guestimates. National level events are also listed. 2023 Great Lakes Division and Area AutoX Schedule
Nov Fun Events
Thanks to all who came out and played one last time the weekend of nov 5-6
for our two fun events. Had a great time car-whoring (trying others cars)
and having a fun, relaxed event. Looking forward to next year already!!!
The winds are howling and the temperatures are dropping, it must be winter in southwest Ohio!
I have just 2 important announcements to make this month so I’ll jump right into the first one. SAVE THE DATE! Our Annual Awards Banquet has been renamed the “Cincinnati Region SCCA Membership Appreciation & Awards Banquet” It has been scheduled for February 4th, 2023 and will once again be celebrated at the Receptions location in Fairfield! Look for more information and details on registration to be announced very soon!
At our November Membership/Board Meeting the new 2023 Board of Directors for Cincinnati Region were elected! I present your 2023 Board!
REGION EXECUTIVE
– Jim Clark Assistant R.E.
– Brian Walker Treasurer
– Christy Graham Secretary
– Halie Sewell BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE (Serve from Jan 1, 2023 to Dec 31, 2024)
– Tacti Takagi
– Jeff Loewe
– Brandon Sewell BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE (Serve from Jan 1, 2022 to Dec 31, 2023)
– Jack Burns
– Tom Tomlinson
– A.J. Allen (appointed to finish Jim Clark term)
Thanks again to everyone that came out to the meeting, it was great to see some new faces! A reminder that our monthly meetings take December off and will be back on schedule for the next meeting on January 17. 2023 at the Shooters Sports Grill at 4981 Winners Circle Drive, Hamilton, OH 45011. ALL Cincy SCCA members are encouraged to come out to our meeting and socialize with our fellow Cincy SCCA Members!
The “off season” arrives and I wholeheartedly chortle…..it’s really the beginning of the next season for those of us working behind the scenes…..there really is no “off season” folks so I continue to work to help our divisional programs prepare for the upcoming year.
Video Conference Meetings:
Club Racing Board (CRB) (11/1): The CRB met and continued to move forward on a variety of topics. Some are very much long term, strategic in their nature. I’m glad to see that they’ve moved on from extended discussion about minute rules questions and are leaving that to the Ad Hoc committees. The results of CRB rules changes can be seen here.
Board of Directors (BoD) (11/7): We met off schedule with the Rally Cross Board (RXB) Chair (current and incoming) to discuss the future of the program. Once they gave us the “State of the Program”, they left and were able to have a conversation about the program. Some decisions wer made and we passed those along to the President (Mike Cobb).
Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (11/9): After a couple of months of stagnation, things are starting to move quickly. Our SCREV is getting some final revisions and will be presented to the BoD on 12/3. Our rules packages for Club Racing (P2EV, ESpec) are getting some last-minute polishing and should be ready for publication to the membership very soon.
Budget & Finance Committee (11/15): We received a preliminary budget from the President. After he outlined the details for us, we had some time to discuss the overall package. We met in Executive Session (only BoD members) and had a chat about how to move forward in these trying economic times.
Budget & Finance Committee (11/25): We met in a short session (45 minutes) to iron out some financial topics on the 2023 budget. As we are meeting on 12/3, we wanted Mike to juggle some of the budget items so the entire BoD could discuss the complete 2023 package.
EVAC (11/28): I decided that we needed an additional “off schedule” meeting to iron out some revisions to the rules packages before I head off to the BoD meeting.
SCCA Events:
None since it our off season.
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A quick reminder that the GLDiv Spring Meeting will occur on 3/3 and 3/4 at the same site as last year (Manchester University). Friday (3/3) will be a social event that evening and 3/4 will be the meeting. The meetings will be across all programs, so I encourage all members to attend. With more programs under the SCCA banner these days, we need to focus on teamwork to help each region put on the best events they can.
I will be introducing our new Club Racing Executive Steward at this event. Her name is Lauri Burkons and she will be taking over the reins from Duane Harrington. She has some large shows to fill and a lot of work to do so the expectations are high. But I know she’s up to the task as we move forward. She and I have already been working together to ensure that she hits the ground running in 2023.
As usual, Val McCammon is coordinating the event. She will send a “call for sessions” email soon. She also asked that I remind folks to contact her (pyramid@bluebirdview.com, 260.437.6707) with any topic or session ideas they would like to see.
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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.
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.
Our Member Appreciation and Awards Banquet (formerly the Year-end Award Banquet) is scheduled on Feb. 4th 2023 at Receptions Fairfield. The championship trophies will be awarded here but all are welcome whether you’re getting a trophy or not. (More details and registration will be available on CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com soon), so please join us!
Photo courtesy of Joel Spitsnaugle
Though our championship points events are all done, we still have two more fun events, Sat and Sun this coming weekend. Registration will close tomorrow night (Thurs. Nov.3, @ 10:00PM), so please make sure to register!
Like normal, you are reading this report because Tact reminded me yesterday it was due by the end of the month, almost seems like a trend, doesn’t it… One would think, since I must submit a monthly status/accomplishments report for my employer, it would remind me to do one for here…nope, nope, nope. Shoulda, coulda, woulda… For example, it appears I failed to provide an Oct Solo Report, thought I did, but… Therefore, this one will be long(er), but that is good because you need something to help you fall sleep, right? Now, on to the report:
Oct 23, 2022: SCCA Regional Solo 2 – Cincinnati Region at Traders World, Lebanon, Ohio
Fall Fun Events 1 & 2 – Nov 5 & 6
Now that it is Halloween today (I told you this was last minute…), it means it is sad to say, but we are basically at the end of our autocross season here in the “northern” states.Our last event is typically the first weekend of Nov and this year is certainly no different as our last events are the Fall Fun Events 1 & 2 on Nov 5 & 6.
These are meant as more relaxed events where you get to ride with other entrants to see how they are doing it, or drive another entrant’s cars, or try different things on yours in celebration of the end of the year.Heck, maybe you can use this to help you decide what you want to do for the upcoming year if you are still undecided.
o Sat, Nov 5 Fall Fun Event 1 will be run in a Test & Tune format (work one shift – typically an hour – free to run however much of the rest of the time you want.)
o Sun, Nov 6 Fall Event 2 format was planned to be a more standard event format with assigned heats, but that is highly dependent upon the number of entries. May very well also end up being T&T format. Again, still encouraging the maximum flexibility we can even if run as a normal event format.
Registrations are still pretty low, register now!!! (54 on Sat, 66 on Sun.) Weather forecasts are still pretty reasonable, Sat 76/60 Sunny, Sun 66/60 Scattered showers. Of course, who knows what the forecast will be as we get closer, two days ago both days were forecast to be nearly 70/50 and no precipitation.
2022 Year End Cincy SCCA Solo Championship Points & PAX Championship Points
There were many tight battles this past year and a number of classes came down to the last event for a number of trophy positions if not even the class championship. Not going to go into any real discussion here other than to say the results will be posted shortly (was pending any results challenges from PE8).
Please review your information to make sure we didn’t miss combining due to name or any other errors.
Year end trophies will be presented at the Cincy SCCA 2022 Banquet/Awards on Sat, Feb 4th (details to be announced in the future.)
If you earned a trophy, information will follow from Halie (Sewell) or me on trophy type selection.
I need to apologize since I didn’t report this last month, very sorry. We had eighteen (18) in our Cincy Region paddock group at Nationals this year. As always, I encourage everyone to travel to other events too, not only to other nearby regional events, but also to other divisional to national level events, and especially to the Solo National Championships. I started autocrossing in ’85, even went to divisional level events that year, but didn’t start going to National Tours or Pros until the early 90s and then to my first National Championships Event in ’94 in Salina, KS where I place 7th in CS with (if I remember right) over 60 other Miatas! Thankfully, I can say 2022 marked my 25th national championships event. There are many who have done more, even in our region, but it is still always a highlight of my year even though I didn’t trophy. Next year marks a big milestone for Nationals, definitely suggest you put it on your calendar! Now back to 2022, as always it was on the vast concrete of Lincoln Airpark, Lincoln NE. Lincoln welcomes us all and it huge, I think I figured out just the course areas (Nationals uses two courses) were 4X or 5X as all of our TW lot (paddock, grid, course). This ignores the practice course and paddock space for 1,200 entrants which dwarf all of TW. The two courses were in the low 50s (West Course) and low 70 sec (East Course) ranges. We all went, all had fun, got to hang out with friends from across the country, and have a great vacation! Where else do you get to go compete in a class of 40-60 or more drivers (this year DS had 60 entrants)?!? On a more personal note, thank you to Scott Bourne and Brent Cary for offering codrives for Ben and me after our Corvette broke two weeks before Nationals! Saw that scenario play out for others there too, like Jacob Glover did for Bob Armstrong and Michael DiGorgio! Congrats to one and all, but especially those who were able to bring home a trophy!!! Here is how we fared:
SCCA TireRack Solo National Championships – Sep 5-9
Class
Name
Car
Position
SS
Rob Clark
’20 C8 Corvette
8T
SSL
Lang King
’20 C8 Corvette
2T
AS
Kent Weaver
’08 Chev Z06 Corvette
20
AS
Brent Cary (Indy)
’08 Chev Z06 Corvette
26
CS
Will Teller (Blue Ridge)
’19 Mazda Miata
3T
CS
Will King (Blue Ridge)
’19 Mazda Miata
10 (1 out)
ES
Scott Bourne
’02 Mazda Miata
23
ES
Ben Weaver
’02 Mazda Miata
33
SST
Ziyi Wang
’17 BMW M2
2T
STS
Austin Hampton
’92 Mazda Miata
27
STH
Nate Chester
’05 Saab 9-2X Aero
14
STU
Myke Dziengel
’06 Subaru STi
16
STX
John Custer
’13 Scion FRS
25
STX
Ian Bahnsen
’13 Scion FRS
32
XP
Dave Montgomery
’72 Porsche 914S
2T
CAM S
Bob Armstrong
’07 Chev Corvette
7T
CAM C
Krzysztof Zielinski
’18 Ford Mustang
13
CAM S
Michael DiGorgio
’07 Chev Corvette
12
KM
Tim Sholar (DET)
’15 Tony Kart
7 (1 out)
SCCA ProSolo Finale – Sep 2-4
Class
Name
Car
Position
CS
Will Teller (Blue Ridge)
’19 Mazda Miata
2T
CS
Will King (Blue Ridge)
’19 Mazda Miata
8
STX
John Custer
’13 Scion FRS
8
S3
Rob Clark
’20 C8 Corvette
16
S4
Myke Dziengel
’06 Subaru STi
5
S5
Scott Bourne
’22 Subaru BRZ
23
L2
Tina Coil
’02 Mazda Miata
14
L2
Lang King
’20 C8 Corvette
4T
Great Lakes Solo Series (GLSS) Points Event 9 – Sep 17
88 entrants got 6 runs and were done and off site by 3:00 to go relax with friends and explore the area for those from out of town. This was the first day of two for our charity event benefitting Ohio Alleycat Resource & Spay/Neuter Clinic. For overall PAX and RAW Times, Rob Clark in his C8 Corvette held off Danny Popp in his C7 Corvette for Top Raw time by 0.579 secs and Krzysztof Zielinski in his ’18 Mustang by 0.720 secs for Top PAX time. Closest battle was in our Novice Street class where Tim Hammer in his ’17 VW Golf topped Ryan Dodds in his ’17 Focus ST by 0.047 secs (index) and 0.059 raw. Next closest was in Street Open where Scott Bourne in his ’02 Miata edged out Jason Norton in his ’22 BMW M4 by 0.164 secs. Third closest was Danny Popp in his C7 Corvette holding off Bill Hughes in his C5 Z06 Corvette by 0.241 secs.
GLSS PE 10 & Cincy Points Event 6
175 entrants got 5 runs on a fun course for the second day of the charity event again benefitting Ohio Alleycat Resource & Spay/Neuter Clinic. Happy to report we were able to raise $4000 for their service to the community! Rob Clark in his C8 Corvette held off Christian Moist in his Birkin 7 for Top RAW by 0.459 secs and Chris Rudy in his Honda Civic Si for top PAX by 0.864 secs. Tight competitions were the name of the day with five classes being decided by less than 0.1 secs! STS had the closest class competition where Brian Mason (in Ray Jason’s ’89 Honda Civic) edged out Austin Hampton in his ’92 Miata by 0.014 secs. Not to be outdone, E Street had the next closest competition where Tom Deutsch in his ’92 Miata held off Linda Smiley in her ’99 Miata by a mere 0.039 secs. SSM was another dog fight with Joel Spitsnaugle in his ’05 Lotus Elise taking the win on his last run by 0.050 secs over Ashley Ervin in his ’91 Miata. CAMS was another close battle where Marshall Reinert in his ’00 Corvette edged Danny Popp in his ’19 Corvette by 0.077 secs. STH had the other tight battle with Josh Smith in his ’14 Focus ST holding off Mike Kruetzkamp in his 1’17 Focus by 0.091 secs.
Points Event 7 – Oct 3
153 entrants got 6 runs on a Danny Popp course which had a great mix of technical and speed. Not so sure the course designer was real happy with it and the associated cone carnage, but lots of us really did. Seems the theme of the day, even with the cone carnage, was again tight competition. This time we had four classes where it came down to 0.1 sec or less. Rob Clark and Myke Dziengel had a big battle for fastest times with Rob Clark in his C8 Corvette edging out Myke in his ’06 STi, finishing 1 – 2 for Fastest Raw Time by 0.118 secs and Class/PAX by 0.052 secs. In class competition, the closest was in EM where Jeremy Porter held off his codriver Christian Patrick by 0.018 secs in the purpose built ’59 Zoomboni. Next closest was Street Open where Alex Kruetzkamp in his Ford Focus held off Nick Isaac in Max Mischenko’s borrowed Camaro by 0.075 secs, with Max a mere 0.329 behind them in 3rd. Lastly, we had Ziyi Wang in his M2 hold off John Custer in his FR-S by 0.108 secs for the win in ST Open.
We held our second Cincy Region Challenge Event on a reverse direction adaptation of the planned Sunday course by Nathan Popp. Glad to say this was a lot of fun too. We had 65 entrants and six runs in the morning to determine class winners and fill out the field of 32 for the Challenge. This year we changed the format up a bit in an attempt to make it fairer for all. To set the field of 32, it was based on class winners (18) and then the remaining top 7 on PAX from each heat. Once in the Challenge, the first round had two runs for each competitor to even out temperature conditions/advantages and we ran blind pairings to determine the 16 who advanced. The following rounds were based on amount of improvement over each competitor’s best times to that point. The competition was tight and a lot of fun to watch, lots of suspense, great driving by all – some advanced by time, others by cone penalties on their opponent. Third place was determined via a run-off. Congrats to all who made it in and to the final four: Richard Verret 4th (2021 Winner) GS Civic; Lang King 3rd, ASL C8 Corvette; Ryan Miles 2nd, DS GR86; and Danny Popp (Our 2022 Winner!!!), CAM-S C7 Corvette.
158 entrants got 5 runs on a Nathan Popp course which again offered a great mix of technical and speed although some confusion at speed and elements which required more braking than expected led to many DNFs. Nonetheless, this course too was a lot of fun and a great way to end the season points race. Once again, Rob Clark took top PAX and top RAW times in his Corvette, again edging Myke Dziengel in his Sti on PAX by 0.351 secs and Christian Moist in his Birkin 7 on RAW times by 0.219 secs. It should be noted, Rob dominated this year, winning Top PAX and Top RAW times at every Points Event he entered (missed PE 3), congrats Rob! The tightest margin of victory when to Abdul Huuda in his BMW 328 edging out Ziyi Wang in his BMW M2 by 0.022 secs. Next closest was STR where Justin King took the win in his ’01 Miata by 0.128 secs over Ian Bahnsen in his MR2 Spyder. Next closest was Street Open where I got to run my new Miata and was able to barely hold off Nick Isaac by 0.175 secs in the Camaro and Lang King by 0.249 secs in her C8 Corvette.