Autocross

Autocross is where a race course is laid out with traffic cones, normally in a large parking lot. The driver runs the course as fast as they feel comfortable without knocking the cones or pylons over or having incidents where they go off course, missing cones, resulting in a "Did Not Finish" or DNF. In a Low-speed autocross, the car does not go over 80 mph. High-speed autocross are normally held on a race track and the car goes as fast as the driver wants. In both High and Low speed autocross, there is either only one car on the track at a time, or the cars are separated from each other on the course. There is no "wheel to wheel" racing, you are only racing against the clock, to compare your times to those of your class competitors. You need a "high speed license" to compete in High-Speed auto-crosses. Those that have participated in high speed education events at local tracks or tracks sponsored by Corvette/GM, or by demonstrating skillfully completing a number of low-speed auto-crosses will be qualified by the Regional Competition Director and a high speed license will be awarded. This also qualifies you to participate in high speed time trial events which are different than high speed autocross in the way they are run.

Helmets are required for these events. We recommend that you have a Snell Auto rated helmet. made after 2020. The 2015 SA Snell Helmets will no longer be usable when the new SA2025 rated helmets come out. Depending on any modifications to your Corvette, additional safety equipment may be required.

Please read the Autocross 101on how to get started.

Drag Racing

Yep, we stage up and go on yellow like you have seen many of the pro drag racers do. We have three categories of drag races:

Record Drags: There is a record book of drag races for both the 1/4 mile and 1/8 mile. You try to break out and beat that record. If you do break a record, you will have to back it up with a second run. The car will then have to be inspected to ensure it is in compliance with the NCCC Rule Book. Top Eliminator is determined if we are doing multiple types of drags in a day. Long ago there were only record drags at NCCC events. That's why Top Eliminator is bracketed off in Record Drags. It was to give people more opportunities to break the record. Records are adjusted for elevation, temperature, and humidity in a magic formula.

Matching Times: You run two passes down the strip. You try to match your times each run. So if you run 7.62 the first pass. You want to do that on the second pass. And yes, we have had to go to the 100ths of a second to determine a winner.

Brackets: This is the same at any drag strip where you state your time and you try not to break out or red light or you lose.

LCC has a storied history with drags. Often we place 1st in both men's and women in the region. Though there isn't a "national" trophy, when our members go to NCCC National Convention, we do very well there too.

Currently our sister club, COAST hosts the only drag races not held at the NCCC National Convention. We run the registration and organization for the event. Please check the calendar for when we will do drag races next. It is truly amazing to see the skill of a driver in a 1989 Vette walk a 2024 Vette owner on the drag strip.

You will need a helmet for this event. Again we recommend getting a Snell approved helmet for automobiles. Many tracks also require that you wear cotton pants, long sleeve cotton shirt, closed toe shoes, and socks. You may be required to add safety equipment based on the modifications or speed of your vehicle.

Here's video of our storied member, Sarah House running the strip.

We are working on a NCCC Drag 101 article but here are Drag Racing Terms.

Car Shows

If you are not a racer and want to try being a waxer, there are several kinds of shows in NCCC. The ones that are often hosted in the Southwest Region are NCCC Car Shows or People's Choice. Many of us use our cars daily and don't want to get the toothbrush out to polish the seatbelt tensioner. Many members participate in local judged shows and do quite well at Corvette Invasion and a few other events. This is where your car is judged based on certain specs. There is a new national NCCC Trophy for non-speed events. The Heins trailered their 1980 and had a quite a good time participating in Denver at the Natoinal Convention car show in 2019. They also competed in a rallye and a funkhana. They had a great time also exploring the area in their Vette.

We highly recommend you visit the NCCC Competition Manual, Chapter 7 on the different types of car shows and judging criteria. Most shows do not allow trailer queens so your vintage Vette can be towed to the event but must move on its own power to be parked for the show.

LCC hosts a non-sanctioned show in the fall. Check the club's calendar for the date. We sometimes look for sanctions so we can do rallyes and such along with the charity show.

You don't need a helmet. We asked our members that do more judge shows than the webmasters on what they know gets good results with the judges. Read their articles here. We will leave the product recommendations to the forums and such online. Or if someone wants to sponsor our club, please let us know.

For this non-speed event you are not required to have a partner. But you can have one. So if you are traveling to an event with a set of sanctions being used for car shows, funkhanas, and rallyes, you and a partner earn a lot of points. FYI: most of the time the entry fees for these sanctioned events are cheaper compared to autocross and drags.

Rallyes

Sarah House, a storied member, and her husband, Billy House started the Sweetheart Rallye many decades ago. This event in 2025 used some sanctions to host 3 different rallyes. They were a gimmick rallye, chance rallye, and time-speed-distance rallye. These are the three main genres. Now the subcategories are vast.

A gimmick rallye, you will be given a list of questions that you have to find the answers to while driving a preset route. For example, you may be asked "Who sells eggs?" Or you could be tasked with putting the photos in order along the route. It depends on the rallye masters.

A chance rallye, is your good ole fashioned poker rallye. The style of poker may be different. We are fond of Texas Hold Em so we don't have to have volunteers standing out in the potentially cold weather of February, when we do the Sweetheart Rallye.

Time Speed Distance is where you are given the route and you are expected to arrive within a certain time or mileage.

A sanctioned rallye has to be at least 10 miles. Say three rallye sanctions are going to be used in one event, then the minimum rallye distance is 30 miles. These rallyes are not supposed to be tricky, but sometimes the rallye masters can have a sense of humor.

You will need to make sure your car is street legal, all safety equipment in order, have current registration and insurance. Plus, you are required to have a driver and a navigator. Your partner does not have to be an NCCC member. Helmets are generally not required.

For more info on rallyes, please visit the NCCC Competition Manual.

Funkhanas

It's hard to explain exactly what is a funkhanas. These events can vary widely. But mostly think of your "MInute to Win It" or "Baby Shower" games. You do a series of these tasks/games on a timed course with a partner. There is a driver and a navigator and each could be assigned different tasks to complete. You could have to carry something with you as you do all these tasks and if you leave, you have to go back and get it. Let's just say, you don't normally need a helmet but a Corvette is involved in the event. You may get two runs to go through the series of events and the better time is recorded.

You are required to have a partner. If you go to an event where there is a car show, rallye, and funkhana but don't have a partner in fun, contact the chair to see if there is someone else who needs a partner. Never know you could make a friend for life because you had to sing "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson and win. The teams are classified by Male-Male, Male-Female, and Female-Female. Male and Female teams are sub-categorized as to Male Driver and Female Navigator or Female Driver and Male Navigator. It's up to you to figure out how you want to compete.