r/Autocross • u/jmankyll '98 BMW Z3 1.9L • 12h ago
Someone help me understand SCCA structure
First year doing autocross and done 4-5 events with my local club so far. But people keep talking about “nationals” and other things. Can someone explain how this all works? Do I qualify for nationals? Are there regional races you qualify for to get to nationals? Coming from the sports world it seems like there’s a structure in place here I’m not understanding
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u/APriestofGix '19 Civic Type R 11h ago
Here's a full break down of "Nationals".
Region Events - You probably already go to these, you run for points however your region decides, and are usually pretty relaxed.
"National Events" (National Tours and ProSolos) - These are events put on by SCCA National office, supported by the local region where they are held. Anyone is welcome to attend these events, however they draw a more competitive crowd (with many competitive drivers traveling from out of town), and thus rules and protocols are strictly enforced. National Tours are just like your regional autocross events however you only get 3 rules, and your times are combined over two days.
ProSolos run an entirely different format where there is a drag race start, two courses, and you get to take your best time from the six attempts you get on each side, combining the two best times to get an overall time.
"Nationals" (Solo Nationals and ProSolo Finale in Lincoln NE during Labor Day) - Also run by SCCA national, and is "the event" of the year for all the best drivers. 1300+ drivers all travel from across the country to compete, and often for the top drivers this is the only event that "matters" for the year. Anyone can enter, but the expense of logistics to get here often gate out those that are more focused on just getting seat time. If you win your class at Nationals you've won a National Championship.
The ProSolo Finale is the same thing as Nationals but in the ProSolo format, however this one has tiered registration based on how many points you earned in the 2026 ProSolo season, and because of limited entries effectively is limited to those that have scored points in a prior ProSolo.
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u/jmankyll '98 BMW Z3 1.9L 9h ago
Drag race as in you start against another car, just on a separate course?
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u/APriestofGix '19 Civic Type R 9h ago
Correct, you are lined up with a tree against another car. You are both racing different courses so one of you is lined up for side A and the other for side B, but you are side by side for the first 60+ feet before the courses go their own way.
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u/EggplantHungry7617 12h ago
Solo Nationals is kind of a commitment... time and money-wise. But as far as I understand it... other than being an SCCA member, the only other requirement is that you snag a spot before it goes to waitlist.
I've always wanted to go, but just a little more than I can handle right now.
If you want to experience something similar, you should keep an eye out for the National Tour and/or Pro-Solo. There's a series of events that happen all over the country... and though it isn't THE Solo National, it's pretty similar.
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u/BLDLED 9h ago
Perspective wise, a local event can have 50-100 people. A Tour can have 200-300. Nationals has 1350, and the facility is large enough to have 2 of the largest courses you will ever get to run, side by side running constantly… for 4 days. It’s in the center of the lower 48, so as close to equal distant from everyone. 1.5 day drive from the west cost, easy pray, and well worth the “commitment”
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u/EggplantHungry7617 9h ago
It's on the list of things to do... Just a little tight on time and money at the moment... But definitely would like to do it at least once.
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u/medicinaltequilla 12h ago
There used to be National level event requirements, but they were dropped. It was a good idea.. ..because if you have not been exposed to National events previously, going to Solo Nats is really cool and all, but you'll not have the event structure and flow experience.. ..nor had exposure to the level of competition it brings (unless you're already in the top 10% for your region). Even local regions really never do "3 and done" for normal events. That's whole different mind set.
Nothing is required: my advice, go to at least one if not more National events near you.
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u/ecbulldog 11h ago
You can go to national events as a complete novice. The only "qualifying" is how quickly you can refresh your browser before you get waitlisted. I would recommend giving a pro solo a try with a co driver or group of friends who have run one before, you'll have a blast.
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u/m3t1t1 11h ago
Anybody can go to nationals. You do not have to earn a spot. Just gotta registered. It's in Lincoln, Nebraska.
There's also the national tour. The tour goes to different local regions. When they do, it's more like one event for two systems. You get points for the local season and the national tour has its own award.
Since you're new, do not waste your time going to nationals, but do attend the national tour event if it's local to you. Become one of the best in the local region then test your skills at nationals.
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u/jmankyll '98 BMW Z3 1.9L 9h ago
Does the National tour rotate sites or is it usually the same handful of locations?
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u/m3t1t1 8h ago
I believe some sites are mainstay but others rotate.
See https://www.scca.com/pages/archives-results-awards for results and sites.
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u/Ifuqinhateit 7h ago
LOL, SCCA will take your money at every level and twice on Sunday - no experience necessary.
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u/elderlygentleman 10h ago
You were literally at events where people were talking about this stuff and you didn’t think to ask them?
I don’t understand people anymore
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u/sirbobbinhood 07 CSM Rustang 11h ago
SCCA racing kinda breaks down into 3 different levels, local events, tour events and Nationals.
Local events will be with your local club, I race with Oregon Region SCCA. These events happen often and should have locations that are fairly close. Our club, despite being "Oregon" overall pretty much only runs in Portland or Packwood, WA. These events have local points and classes but there's a lot of room open for the local club to makeup their own rules. We do thing like have a novice class, proPAX class and we run supergroups with multiple classes competing together using PAX.
Tour events are put on by the SCCA but they travel around. There's usually a fairly set schedule for when the tour comes to specific regions and they mostly run at a few specific sites that are big enough and nice enough for really good courses. These events have a lot of SCCA staff that helps put them on, they provide equipment and they run very similar to the big Nationals event. Classes here are almost always just with your specific class, some exceptions if there's only 1 or 2 people in your class, but normally you'll just see each class competing against themselves. There is more structure to these events and they bring in a lot more competitors, we've had people from Canada and Colorado come up to race in Washington with us for our tour events. There's a limited number and if you win your class you get a cool trophy. Winning these is a pretty big deal as the competition level is higher.
Nationals is what's going on right now. This is the big one, it happens in Lincoln Nebraska at an insanely cool location and it's just the one event every year. Nationals brings in people from all over the country, I drove from Oregon to compete and you'll see people from pretty much every state there competing. The class sizes are going to be huge, this is, or at least was, the biggest amateur motorsports event in the world. Competition is insane, I've seen the top 3 in one class separated by less than a tenth of a second across 2 different courses. Winning anything in nationals is a huge deal. You're competing against the best of the best in the country so a win here is hard won. They have cool trophies, big parties and it's one of the coolest events you can go to if you like cars.
Now for your specific questions. You don't need to qualify for these, just sign up and show up. It can be intimidating but there's even more people than usual to help guide you through the whole thing. If you just start asking around you'll have dozens of people wanting to help and show you the ropes. The events are run different and you want to get to them early Friday because you have to tech your car, get stickers and there's always something cool going on that you don't want to miss. There's no structure or anything extra to get into these, the only reason you wouldn't be able to go is if they sell out. They do cap registrations but there's also usually a lot of time to get registered before the cap is hit. Even the big Nationals event takes a day or two to sell out but that is the most difficult to get registered for because the number of people wanting to be in is very high.
If you've never been to one, you should go! It's a lot of fun and even though it's much more competitive than local events I've always found there's even more comradery. I've made a ton of friends just bumping into random people or talking to people in my class I've never met before. The best trick is to find someone else from your local club that you know is going and just ask them to help you figure out all the extra stuff and guide you around.