A gritty, gray, pockmarked expanse stretched away from me in every direction. A little bit like the surface of the moon, but smaller craters and taller American flags.
A temporary city had sprung up on this barren wasteland in Lincoln, Nebraska. A city called the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships. Somehow, I’d never been here before, so I parked my lunar rover (a rented Jetta) and set out to explore a whole new world.
I had a million excuses for why I’d never been to Nationals. At first, it was school, then college, then the unreliable schedule of a twentysomething, then my family, then professional obligations, then blah blah blah.
The reality is, though, that I just didn’t understand it. Sure, I’d read our coverage of the event and knew it was autocrossing’s mecca. And sure, I’d watched the annual week of social media posts where every single one of my race car friends was at Nationals without me.
And I’d grown up autocrossing, first in Formula Junior before monthly events in a string of different cars. Despite all this, and despite identifying as an autocrosser, I still just didn’t understand why so many people would suffer for a week in exchange for maybe 6 minutes of driving.
Clearly there’s a reason, since by participation numbers, Nationals is the largest motorsports event in the world, with more than 1000 drivers. Yet it’s held on this pseudo-lunar expanse with no permanent infrastructure, no buildings, no running water, nothing. And no offense to Lincoln, but it’s not exactly New York City. I finally decided that to understand Nationals, I’d need to see it for myself.
The biggest hurdle was actually pretty easy to clear: finding a car, preferably a competitive one. I can’t thank Eric Sienkiewicz enough for inviting me to co-drive his Club Spec Mustang, meaning I didn’t have to worry about the hard part of Nationals: building, testing and sorting a car.
[Love at First Drive: The SCCA Club Spec Mustang class]
Photography Credit: Tom Suddard
Instead, I’d be able to jump into Eric’s and focus on the experience instead of the build. Think I’m a lucky prima donna by doing this? Then ask the hundreds of other co-drivers at Nationals who reap the competitive and financial advantages of sharing a car. Co-driving at Nationals isn’t weird or imposing. It’s apparently the norm. Chatting in the paddock, I heard countless stories that boiled down to, “My…
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