THE 1999 TIRE RACE SCCA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
by Carl, Denise and Matt Wieman
This was the first time that Denise and Matt Wieman have competed at a Solo II National Championship. Carl Wieman competed once in 1982 when it was held at Gurnee, IL. Things have changed a lot since 1982.
The 1999 SCCA Solo II National Championship, presented by the Tire Rack, was held September 13-17, with the Pro Solo being held the two previous days, September 11-12, 1999. This made for a week of Solo II competition all at one location, with the nation's best drivers and cars, all going for their respective championships.
This was all held at Forbes Field, Topeka, Kansas. This is an old Air Force base that has a concrete surface that is old and weathered smooth, with the joints breaking up. The joints and holes that come apart during each day's competition are filled with an epoxy at night for the next day's competition.
The Solo II National Championship is divided, with 28 classes competing on Tuesday and Wednesday and the other 24 classes on Thursday and Friday. This totaled 947 drivers for these four days of competition.
G-Stock and G-Stock Ladies was on Thursday and Friday, which is where the Wiemans competed with their 1999 Ford SVT Contour. Thursday we ran the north course and Friday the south course. Denise was the first to run in GSL. When she crossed the finish line, the announcer said, "Denise has just set the fastest time
in GSL." A few seconds later, he followed with the statement, "when you are the first to make a run, you always have the fastest time, until someone else happens to better it." The competition at the national level is very competitive. Most of the top competitors have been competing at this level with the very best race-prepared cars for many years. They will all tell you that to be a national champion, you need to practice as much as possible, and go to as many events as you can to get as much experience as possible. Some of the people from different parts of the country told us that they have so many entries, they only get two runs sometimes at a local event. These people were envious of us when we told them that we have two to three practice runs in the morning followed by four to five timed runs all in the same day. One person from Chicago said he would like to come to Minnesota to be able to try different set-ups and get more seat time, and he may check out the LOL website for dates for next year.
Many of the top competitors have been competing in the Pro Solo Series all year, and know the hot car and set-up for each class. In the stock classes, like road-racing, some cars have an edge over the others when you get to this level of competition. In G-Stock, the top three cars were Acura Integra Type R's, with only 0.126 seconds difference over the two days' times. G-Stock had 13 different models of cars with Matt garnering a 25th out of 36 entries. He also had the fastest time of all the four door sedans in the class. Carl earned a 32nd in the same class. And Denise came home with an eighth in G-Stock Ladies.
On the way home Matt's comment was that he would like to have had
been in an equal car to see how he would have done. We all agreed that we did meet our goal, which was to have fun and experience some national level competition.
We recommend it to anyone that wants to try a very competitive Solo II, against the best in the nation, and are not afraid to come home without a trophy on their first attempt, because it will probably take more than your first year of competing at the national level.The highlight of the year for Denise was when she earned a first place at the Solo II Divisional in August on her 23rd wedding anniversary date.
Nov. 9 (Tuesday) LOL Board Meeting, 7:00 pm, Murray Motorsports, 11409 Excelsior Blvd., Minnetonka. Nov. 13 AWARDS BANQUET. Jax Cafe, 20th & University Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN. Get your reservations to: Donna Tirpak 3138 Quail Avenue North Golden Valley, MN, 55422 by November 8th.
Tonneau On-Line November 1999
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Copyright 1999, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: November 5, 1999
