Hi Folks,

First of all, my apologies for not getting something out sooner about the 2015 Tire Rack ProSolo Series. I had fully expected to do this several weeks ago, but got sidetracked.

You may have read about the reorganization of departments and staff here at SCCA. While I believe in the long run this is good for the Club and Solo, in short term it has made things a bit frantic. This is particularly true when added to the mix of other things going on such as the budget season, the Board of Directors quarterly meeting (2 actually), searching for a site for the 2015 RallyCross National Championship, and helping with a revised National Convention. Anyway, finishing up the ProSolo Rules for 2015 always seemed to be taking a back seat to other matters.

The actual ProSolo Rules will be posted on the SCCA web in early January, so what follows here is a summary of the parts of rules we know you really want to know; classes, index, and any major changes. However, before that summary, which will be in bullet point form for brevity, I would like to touch on our long term plans for the Series.

I had been laying the groundwork during 2014 for implementation in 2015 a plan to create a "Pro" category with a limited number of classes, along with the regular compliment of Solo classes in the “Club” category. I will not go into the details now, but it was basically a ProSolo version of the model NHRA uses for its big events. However, for this to be truly successful it required a lot of planning, marketing, and execution that would involve a number of resources here at the World Headquarters. With the re-org mentioned above and some other Club initiatives that are being launched this year, there simply was not the bandwidth to take this on for 2015. It is my plan to go forward with this plan and get it into the overall queue of SCCA projects and to discuss it with you through a series of letters like this during 2015 so we can get it launched in 2016. Look for the first letter in the spring, but for now a summary of the classes, rules, index, and other news for 2015:

• We will be stepping away from the pre-bump index class structure we have used for the last couple of years. It will be replaced with a market based system where you, the competitors, will determine which classes are subscribed enough to warrant entry into the Super Challenge. These are the traditionally scored (no index) classes for 2015:
  
  • Street Category – 9 classes (HS, GS, FS, ES, DS, CS, BS, AS, SS)
  • Street R Category – 1 class (SSR)
  • Street Touring Category – 5 classes (STF, STS, STX, STR, STU)
  • Street Prepared Category – 7 classes (FSP, ESP, DSP, CSP, BSP, ASP, SSP)
  • Street Mod Category – 3 classes (SMF, SM, SSM) (Exception; Nissan GTR in SSM)
  • Kart Mod Category – 1 class (KM)
  • CAM Category – 3 classes (CAM-T, CAM-C, CAM-S)
  • Formula Junior – 2 classes (JB, JA): NOT ELIGIBLE for CHALLENGES
• The Index Scored classes will continue to be the race slick classes (R1 and R2) and the Ladies Classes (L1, L2, L3).
• You may have noticed above the classing exception for SM. This is the first time we have done this in over 25 years, as we have always resisted making classing changes because it would just put us down the road of endless requests and debates. However, the GTR has proven to be a car that is truly worthy of a classing exception and with any luck it will be another 25 years before another exception is put in place.
• In addition to the five index classes above, there will be up to 4 Bump classes that will be scored on index. If any of the traditionally scored classes above do not have 5 drivers they will be placed in a Bump Class based on their Run Group. Any undersubscribed classes in Run Groups 1 and 2 would be place in Bump 1 (Run Groups 3 and 4 into Bump 2 and so on). If that bumping does not result in at least 5 drivers in a Bump class, those drivers will be place into another Bump Class that is the least disruptive to the administration of the event until there are 5 drivers. We expect that there will typically be no more than two Bump Classes at most events.
• We will use the standard 2015 PAX/RTP Index for the ProSolo Series. Since things are still in transition from the recent classing changes, we simply did not think that there was sufficient data to support developing/using a unique ProSolo index. Additionally, except for the rare instance noted above (GTR), we have not had special classing of cars for ProSolo, so using the standard index is consistent with that philosophy.
• The Shot Clock for 2015 will be set to 15 seconds to give us more flexibility in the spacing between cars, thereby allowing a potentially higher entry caps. While this may seem on the surface like a very short interval between cars, when you factor in the reset time and the activation of the tree, it really is the same interval we use at Tours.
• We have a new trailer sponsor (details later) and there will be two new trailers at all ProSlo and Champ Tour events in 2015, along with some new/refurbished equipment. This is a part of the move to the NHRA model – improved operations/presentation.
• The NJ ProSolo at the Met Life Stadium will have a $25 surcharge over the normal entry fee to cover the high cost of renting this facility. Normally we maintain a standard entry fee across all events, except the Finale, and expenses even out over the year, but the costs for this facility are so high we needed to employ this surcharge to make it feasible. By the way, it is our expectation that we will alternate the northeast ProSolo event between NJ and DC from year to year if the sites are available on the dates that work for the Series.
• I do not have details now, but we will be starting a package deal for ProSolo regulars to enter three events at one time before regular registration opens. Look for news after the Holidays.

All for now, have a great Holiday!

H.