The only guarantee at Solo Nationals, is that there are no guarantees. Drivers who cannot be beaten are defeated, cars that cannot win are triumphant and records that will never be broken slowly but surely erode away. The 41st installment of the Tire Rack Solo Nationals was no different in this regard, as each run brought with it the chance to go down as one of the greatest of all time. Most of these moments are recorded in the pages of Rocky Entriken’s Solo Stats book, others are captured by the lens of photographer Perry Bennett and some only exsist in the memories of those who lived it. Here is a sampling:
While the overall health, direction and purpose of Stock classes can be debated; the quality of competition cannot be denied. The top 6 narrowest margins of victory all came from the category, with the narrowest of all being found between Michael Moran and Gordon Maciulewicz in GS. Their .004 margin is the 3rd narrowest ever recorded at the Championship event.
The 5 biggest open class margins were all from Prepared and Modified Classes and represented some of the biggest names in the sport. On that list is one of the newest names in the sport as well, Darren Seltzer. Driving an outdated chassis that was being monitored run by run for cracking, Seltzer put 3.419 seconds on the F-Modified field, in what was only his second National level event. It is noteworthy that Seltzer is now two for two in such events, having also taken the overall win at the Dixie Match Tour earlier this year.
The largest margins of victory in both Open and Ladies Classes belonged to Kiesel Family Racing. Jeff took the EM win by 6.048 while Shawn claimed EML by 11.139. Jeff’s margin is the 10th biggest on record for an Open class while Shawn now holds the 3rd largest for the Ladies. Added together, the duo’s winning margin is greater (by .529) than the margins of 36 of the 70 classes contested at Nationals, combined.
Quality course work was in high demand in 2013. Each course featured 6 workstations and most heats had 18-21 total workers. Factor in more than a few inviting cone walls and you have a recipe for workers running 3 ways at once.
At 59 Drivers in open Class, the 2013 STX field entered into a 3-way tie with 1995 C-Stock and 1982 F-Stock for the 7th largest class in Nationals history. 2007’s Super Stock holds the all time record at 67. As a note, there were also 10 different cars being run in the class this year.
Jeff Cashmore’s 9th championship moved him into a 3-way tie with the Garys (Thomason and Milligan) for the 5th highest total of all time. Of the 26 men and women who sit atop the “most championships” list, Cashmore was the only one to add to his tally in 2013.
2013 seemed to be one of the toughest Nationals on cars in recent memory. No heat had it worse than when the rule of 3s struck Thursday, Heat 3 on the West course. Brianne Maier, Briana Tate and Brianne Corn all fell victim to mechanical failures during the heat. Tate and Corn both experienced suspension failures while Maier’s Mustang ventilated its oil pan. Fortunately for Corn, car owner Tommy Saunders was available to help the course crew return the limping Dragon back to grid.
Several first time champions were crowned at this year’s event but none with more fanfare than Tom O’Gorman. O’Gorman’s 3.291 margin on F-Prepared capped off what has been dubbed “the dream season.” In 2013 O’Gorman took 13 wins in 14 National Series starts covering 6 different classes. Those wins accounted for 7 Top Pax scores and an average index finish of 4.92.
The Maier engine repair was certainly one of the most talked about moments of this Solo Nationals. At 1:30pm Brianne left the line on what would be her only day 1 run in the car, finishing the run in a cloud of oil smoke. By 3:03 (time stamp of the photo shown) the needed parts had been delivered, a forklift had been borrowed from a local shop and the engine had been removed and torn down, rebuilt and was ready to be reinstalled. A little before 4:30 the car appeared in the CP open grid where it delivered Mike’s 5th consecutive championship and Frank Stagnaro’s 10th place trophy.
Of the 333 trophies awarded at Nationals, Stagnaro’s may have been among the 3 most historically significant. Bill Goodale and Frank Stagnaro each claimed the final trophy spot in their class extending their Solo Nationals trophy counts to 32, keeping them tied at the top of the list. Meanwhile, Jodi Fordahl (show here) claimed a 2nd place trophy in CSPL, giving her a total of 22 and breaking her tie with Karen Babb for second on the ladies list. Jodi is now just two behind Patty Tunnell.
The effect of the SEB's "3 driver minimum to crown a champion" rule was felt in 2013 as the total number of classes contested dropped from 86 in 2012 to 70. Of those 70, 2 were classes of less than 3 drivers and 7 were supplemental leaving 61 crowned champions for the year. The average class size in 2013 was 14.97, 1.85 higher than 2012 and only .16 off of the all time average of 15.13. The highest average class size of 19.77 was in 1978, the year before parallel ladies classes were introduced. Since then, the highest was in 1997 at 18.40. The lowest average on record, 12.00 was in 1984.
To view all of Perry's images from the 2013 Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals visit autoxpix.com
