Gretchen Everett, of Kent, earned her fourth Sports Car Club of America National Championship Friday at the 41st Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships at the Lincoln, Neb., Airport.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Driving a Mitsubishi Evo, Everett toppe\u00add three other competitors in the Street Touring Unlimited Ladies class to win the two-day competition that pits drivers from throughout the country in a single-event, winner-take-all format.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Diane Bollenbeck, of San Diego, Calif., finished second, 0.677-of-a-second behind Everett in aggregate time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Held for the fifth straight year on three million square feet of concrete at the Lincoln Airport, the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships is the largest motorsports competition in the world, where more than 1,000 drivers compete for titles in 66 separate car classes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The event is the pinnacle of autocross competition in the United States, where two distinct courses are set up on the tarmac with traffic cones. Competitors are afforded three runs on both the East and West courses over two days, with the fastest aggregate time of the two courses determining the winner.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
While extremely skilled, SCCA race drivers are classified as amateurs, meaning they compete for the love of the sport rather than for money.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
SCCA holds more than 1,200 Solo competitions across the country each year, culminating with the Tire Rack Solo National Championships each September. Half of the entered drivers competed Tuesday and Wednesday, with the other half competing Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n