As day one of SCCA Targa Southland draws to a close and teams pack for the drive to Atlanta Motorsports Park after blazing around the high-banks of Charlotte Motor Speedway, the road-trip chatter will be about impressive performances and new friends.

First up worth mentioning in the “new friends” category is team Stranger Danger –  an odd name considering drivers Christopher Miller and Scott Willoughby know each other, but not so oddly named because they only met in the past few months at a Track Night in America Driven by Tire Rack event. The one thing these “strangers” are proving is that the SCCA is a great place to make new friends and have grand adventures.

Team Stranger Danger and the rest of the experiential participants were given a good run for their money by team HottieWheels, who brought fresh veggies to cook on the grill. As the sun set on day one, all the Advanced, Intermediate and Novice Experience competitors were tied for the lead in their respective classes.

It isn’t just the experience groups who are showing off interesting teams. One might expect adventurous couples to tackle Targa, and indeed there are multiple husband and wife teams along with a few pairs of brothers, but the family fun that stood out most on day one was the father daughter team of Mike and Kenzie Grumbles – known as “Team BYOG,” who have teamed up to drive a 2004 BMW M3 in Stock 3.

On the competition front, the first event of the day was an autocross at ZMax dragway where Exosperimental, Jason Owens, held onto the lead in class until a pulled-from the clutches run by Multi-time SCCA Solo National Champion Jadrice Toussaint laid down FTD in the Road & Track/Acura NSX and took the lead in Unlimited Class.

Tomorrow, Targa Teams will head to Atlanta Motorsports Park for more PDX sessions and a Time Trial, followed by a TSD Rally through North Georgia Saturday afternoon.