NMCA West Auto-X: Season Opener
February 2021
Presented by USAutomotive
Auto-X — short for autocross— is a form of motorsport that has been around for decades and has provided many drivers a safe and technical place to test their skill and machine. Auto-X race courses do not require a permanent track, instead the events are typically held in large parking lots and the courses are designated with cones and designed to be very technical with a combo of sharp turns, long sweeping corners and high-speed straightaways all confined within a mile to a mile and a half circuit. Drivers are timed on how fast they navigate the course while staying within the cones and time is deducted if cones are hit.
You don’t need a fancy, purpose-built racecar for Auto-X; you can compete with just about any form of car, from a small compact to an SUV— although I would not recommend doing it in a 4X4. Besides that, you could even do it in a rental and, believe me, many have. Like drag racing, the cost to get started is really low, all you really need is to find an event, like the NMCA West Auto-X, pay the entry fee and pass tech inspection. A helmet is required but other than that, you don’t need any expensive equipment.
At the NMCA West event we spotted several high-dollar cars from a new mid-engine C8 Corvette, a Lamborghini Gallardo, a car the C8 would like to be, several Porsche 911s and an assortment of resto mod pro touring classic muscle cars. You would think the Lambo would be the most expensive option, but you’d be mistaken. With the desire to go fast while looking good, most pro touring builds tend to surpass the six-figure mark. The bodies tend to ride on custom-built frames equipped with the most modern suspension technology powered by late-model drivetrains.
As a matter of fact, one of the fastest cars of the weekend was a 1967 Ford Mustang driven by Chad Ryker, which ran a blistering time of 46.48711 just .233 slower than the event’s fastest car, a 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS driven by Tom Berry with a time of 46.25411.
One of the things that made the NMCA West event such a huge success is the team of Racing Byrd and their leader Robert Byrd. Robert is a seasoned promotor and has the program dialed in to give participants the biggest bang for the buck saying:
“As a competitor we understand the importance of value. We limit the entries to 100 cars so that we can make sure everyone gets plenty of runs and no work! The biggest problem we have is we have sold out every event for the past two years and the tickets are gone in less than a minute. It is the greatest thing that totally sucks! We wish that we could allow everyone that wants to race a spot, but we must maintain the value.”
The NMCA West Auto-X is a six-event series with daily class awards based on the fastest laps in each class. The classes consist of Compact, Truck, Modern Muscle, Classic Muscle, Sports Car and Super Car. There is also a Pro group for each class— as a driver wins awards each day they are moved up to the Pro group giving more people a chance to win a class. The event winner is determined by averaging all the runs from Saturday and adding them to the average from Sunday; the lowest combined average for the weekend is the overall event winner. The series champion for each class is based on the five best events for the year. There is also a ‘Grand Champion’ trophy that is awarded to the best of the best.
The top five for the season opener weekend were:
Driver Car Class Time
Tom Berry 16 Porsche 911 GT# RS Super Car 92.79967
Chad Ryker 67 Ford Mustang Classic Muscle 93.44233
Paul Molina 17 Ford Mustang Modern Muscle 94.63233
Robert DeuPree 13 Lamborghini Gallardo Super Car 94.813
Tom Kamman 87 Corvette Sports Car 94.91033
For future events or to get tickets please visit https://www.nmcawest.com
