BMW Guy Kicks Autocross Butt In Nebraska

Here’s a little tale to put a spring in the step of any propellerhead: The 40th Tire Rack Solo National Championships—the SCCA’s autocross nationals—got underway this week in Nebraska. One of its more competitive and interesting classes is Street Touring Ultra, and while an exposition on class rules is beyond the purview of this article—okay, okay, beyond the knowledge I possess—the sort of equipment one typically finds taking the honors in STU is light, modern, four-wheel-drive, and turbocharged—and, to borrow a great line from our own Sam Smith, as Japanese as deference and rice.

 

But not this time.

 

Remarkably, in his first-ever foray into the ferociously competitive world of SCCA nationals, Northern California’s Tristan Littlehale won the class—in a BMW. Littlehale is youthful; the car is not. 

 

Street Touring Ultra is owned this year by a 1997 E36 M3, in Dakar Yellow. Booyah!

 

How on Earth did a seventeen-year-old Bimmer and a young rookie from Californ-eye-yay best Nippon’s finest? The owners of Nippon’s finest had much the same thought: Endless poring over the car followed the final run; minutes stretched to hours, with Littlehale unwilling to accept congratulations until it was official. The result was sufficiently incongruous to sire a raft of rumors to the effect that the car must have illegal modifications.

 

Credit where it’s due, however. Even those disgruntled competitors, having pored over every inch of the car—and if cars have female souls, as I suspect, this aging lady must have been loving it: “I haven’t had my chassis inspected this closely in a decade!”—could find no reason to protest the win.

 

And so it became official: Mr. Littlehale could start accepting the handshakes, the fistbumps, the Duuuuude!s Not just bragging rights, either: a trophy—and, almost as if this were Augusta, a winner’s jacket, too!

 

Never, ever underestimate what is possible in a fundamentally good, well-balanced car, when you put that car in the right hands. Tristan, I don’t know you—you can thank Ralph Conway for bringing this to our attention—but, Duuuuude! Kudos! Beers on me when we meet.—Chris Wright