Photo Credit: Andy Seipos
TOPEKA, Kan. (March 6, 2015) – The SCCA Tire Rack ProSolo® season opener in Blytheville, Arkansas, has been rescheduled for May 1-3 following its postponement for inclement weather.
The date is the best available at the Arkansas Aeroplex, the host site of the event.
While it does fall the same weekend as the Tire Rack Match Tour at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, recent investments in equipment and the expansion of the National Solo field staff allow operations of two events on the same weekend at the same high standards.
"We've been fortunate enough to work with the airport president to reschedule the Blytheville ProSolo event after nine inches of snow on top of three inches of ice caused our March cancellation," Howard Duncan, Senior Director of Solo and RallyCross, said. "Setting up the event would have been impossible, but more importantly it would have put our fellow members in harm’s way trying to get there.
"However, the rescheduled event is not perfect, falling on the same weekend as the season opener for the Match Tour program in Bowling Green," Duncan continued. "This will cause some angst for some folks, specifically those in Tennessee and Georgia, but Blytheville has traditionally been supported by those in Texas and the Midwest Division, while Great Lakes Division autocrossers will be the base of the Match Tour events. We’re sorry for anyone now forced to choose between the two, but we’re glad to keep the ProSolo schedule intact."
The SCCA ProSolo is comprised of 11 events across the country featuring mirror-image courses with drag race-type starting lights. Each event has a class-based component that ranks competitors based on their best time around each course within a particular class. Points are allocated to top finishers in that portion of the competition. Those class results are also used to determine seeding for the Challenge rounds, where drivers go head-to-head in drag race fashion with start lights that are staggered based on class performance.
The Match Tour format has been revised for 2015 with more class runs and simplified qualifying for Sunday Shootouts. The goal is to provide drivers a stepping stone to move from Regional to National competition. The traditional class-based competition makes up the first part of the weekend’s activities, with competitors getting nine runs at the course, with head to head match-ups on Sunday afternoon for those who qualify.
The Tire Rack Solo season gets underway with the Dixie Championship Tour at South Georgia Motorsports Park, March 13-15, under the traditional autocross format. This weekend marks the first event in the Speedway Motors CAM Challenge, at Crows Landing, California, run under the Match Tour format for Classic American Muscle cars.
More information on all of the Tire Rack SCCA Solo programs, including detailed rules on the Match Tour format, are available at SCCA.com/Solo.
