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Carol Kolk and the 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP she drove to win the 2007 SCCA Solo National Championship in the A Stock class.

(Photo courtesy of Carol Kolk)

Area graduate finds her place
in racing at Solo courses

by JERRY W. MATTSON
Observer Special Writer

      Last September, in Topeka, Kansas, Carol (Golanski) Kolk won the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Solo National Championship driving a Pontiac Solstice GXP.
       In her A Production L class, she came back from being in third place to win the event the second day of racing. She competed at the Nationals against 10 other drivers who drove cars such as a Honda S2000, a Subaru STi, other Pontiac Solstices and a 1989 Corvette.
       This was the fifth time she had entered the championships with her best previous finish being third place in 2006, driving a Chevrolet Cobalt.
       Kolk, 33, and a 1992 Romeo High School graduate, began Solo racing while attending Kettering University in 1995 with the school-sponsored Firebirds Car Club. There, she drove a 1988 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo sub-compact. It was her first exposure to competition driving and she loved it.
       She graduated from Kettering, located in Flint, in 1997 and now works as a calibration engineer for GM at their Proving Grounds in Milford.
       Driving for the GM team, she has competed in Detroit Region SCCA events at several locations, including courses set up at the DTE Energy Music Theater, The Palace, and in Ypsilanti and Oscoda.
       SCCA Solo events are often set up in parking lots with a large paved area and are all about a driver's ability to accurately and precisely maneuver around a pylon-marked course in the fastest time possible.
       There are no practice runs with the cars. The competitors can walk the course as many times as they want to try and memorize it. They get three timed runs over the course to determine the winner.
       To qualify for the Nationals, you must first run in one SCCA National Event. It isn't how you finish in this event, just that you attend and see how the event is run. There are many jobs that have to be done at an event and the competitors end up doing much of the work.
       "We don't just show up and drive," said Kolk.
       For 2008, she will again be driving in the SCCA Solo events. The season-opener this year is on May 4, at the DTE Energy Music Theater. A total of eight events in the Detroit region will be run in 2008, with the final event back at the DTE location on Oct. 10.
       Would she ever like to do some SCCA road racing?
       "I would love to road race some time. It is a huge goal of mine," she said.
       In the past, she has done some ice racing.
       Competitive driving is a family sport, as her husband, Jason, also competes in Solo events.
       Although the class she runs in is a "Stock" class, it is not as simple as taking a car off the showroom floor and competing in it. There are nine pages in the SCCA rule book covering what can and can't be done to a car in the Stock class.
       The SCCA Web site, www.scca.org, has a lot of information about the organization, local contacts, rules, schedules, event results and more.
       The GM Proving Grounds team consists of 18 people, eight of them drivers. The Solstice she drives is owned and maintained by GM.
       In 2002, she set the goal of becoming the Nationals champion. Now, she has done that. Listed among the Nationals champions for 2007 were several repeat winners.
       Perhaps Kolk can join that group after the 2008 Nationals.

» Schedules

Parks/Recreation

School Sports

Games are home
Varsity schedules
(unless specififed)

varsity schedules unless specified.)

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 1

Golf
@ Dakota
time tba.
Tennis
Stevenson
4 p.m.
JV tennis
@ Stevenson
4 p.m.
9th football
Dakota
4:30 p.m.
JV football
Dakota
7 p.m.

* * * *

THURSDAY, SEPT. 2

Golf @ Fraser
time tba.
9th soccer @ Stevenson
4 p.m.
JV soccer @ Adams
5:30 p.m.
Football @ Dakota
7 p.m.
JV football
Dakota
7 p.m.
Soccer @ Adams
7 p.m.

* * * *

TUESDAY, SEPT. 7

9th soccer
Grosse Pointe North
4 p.m.
9th volleyball
Stoney Creek Mch
4 p.m.
JV volleyball
Stoney Creek Mch
5 p.m.
Volleyball
Stoney Creek Mch
6 p.m.

* * * *

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 8

Golf @ Stevenson
2:30 p.m.
Tennis
Grosse Pointe South
4 p.m.
JV tennis @ Grosse Pointe South
4 p.m.
JV soccer @ Utica
5 p.m.
Soccer @ Utica
6:30 p.m.

* * * *