Good afternoon —

Over the past week, the SEB, SCCA National Staff and Solo Nationals Chairmen have been in deep discussion over the proposed changes in run days for the TireRack SCCA Solo® National Championship. In recent history, the event has grown significantly. We have been running at or over capacity for the past few years. The membership has communicated we cannot dilute member experience of Nationals by:

• Oversubscribing the event
• Pushing the envelope of available daylight
• Scheduling allowances that do not account for extreme weather events or other significant delays

In 2019, we crowned 72 National Champions when you combine Open and Ladies classes. Not all the 1250 plus competitors that attend this event have hopes that they will become a National Champion. Some are vying for their first Nationals Trophy; The goals and success of Nationals are as individualistic as each of our members that attend. We know the current format is challenged by:

• It mimics a Champ Tour that doubles in size. Then repeats
• Members that compete on Tuesday/Wednesday have very little opportunity to interact with members who compete Thursday/Friday.
• The community is segregated into two separate events.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of Solo Nationals Championship in 2022 we look to improve the value of our event to our members without sacrificing the sanctity of competition. Competition is #1, AND we can do more to improve the social and community aspects of the event.

The run order change proposed for 2020 was presented and discussed with membership at the 2019 and 2020 SCCA National Conventions, and the 2019 Solo Nationals Town Hall. Data was also compiled from past Solo Nationals event surveys that showed the desire for the change. In addition, feedback on the idea was solicited directly from 200+ members by leadership over the week of 2019 Solo Nationals. Member feedback was overwhelmingly positive, but outlined both benefits and disadvantages:

• Additional course walking opportunity
• Additional preparation/repair time
• Unified community
• Some members will be pressed to add one more day to the trip
• Some members will find the day off between may disrupt their competitive momentum

After reviewing member feedback, we believed that the new run order would be a positive change to the Solo Nationals experience. We realize that change is difficult, but we also believe that we need to try new things in order to keep our sport fresh and relevant.

Having said this, we are compassionate and want to do what we feel is right for our membership. The extensive member feedback received since the Convention has made it clear that there are aspects of this change—and others—that we need to reconsider. For 2020, we will forego the run day change, continuing the discussion and searching for better options for 2021. The reality is that, as in all organizations, leadership makes decisions on behalf of the membership on a daily basis. It is the nature of large organizations. However, there are issues that have significant impact on the membership at large, and deserve more formal, broader input. This is clearly one of those issues.

For this reason, we are committing to analyzing input received to date, and request that members submit additional input on this proposed change. Please submit letters to: crbscca.com and specify Solo Events Board and choose Event Operations. A survey will also be submitted to membership at a later date addressing any possible changes to the future of our Solo Nats event allowing all to submit even more feedback. We look forward to seeing all of you at the 2020 Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championship.

Thank you,

Mike King
Director of Solo & Rally
Sports Car Club ofAmerica