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Five days. Four tracks with multiple configurations. 750 highway miles. And for a little more than $1000? That was the formula for SCCA Targa Texasland, and it’s similar to the one applied to the club’s upcoming SCCA Targa Southland in June and SCCA Targa Chicagoland at the end of July.
“Targa is both an incredibly comprehensive introduction to track driving, a bucket-list vacation adventure journey and a motorsports competition for people who like to have fun with cars,” explains Heyward Wagner, SCCA’s VP of Rally/Solo and Experiential. “It’s transit. It’s barbecue. It’s race tracks. It’s autocross. It’s adventure. It’s fun.”
For four of the five days, you compete in Track Sprints, full course time trials and road rally-like challenges. On the final day, SCCA Targa culminates with the Tire Rack Time Attack Challenge event.
The format appealed to seasoned racer Mat Beck, who competed in Targa Texasland with co-driver Jonathon Huffman in a Solo Spec Coupe Scion FR-S. Mat’s experience includes autocross, time trials and wheel-to-wheel racing.
“[The format] spoke to me in terms of how I like to interact with motorsports, which is give 110% of your brain right then and there, and get it done,” Mat says. “We ran the Track Sprint in one direction and the time [trial] laps the other direction. It felt like we were getting two tracks per day.”
Photo courtesy Mat Beck.
On the flip side, Mindi Cross is a relative newbie to on-track action. She’s done some SCCA Track Night in America and SCCA Time Attack Challenge events, but most of her experience comes from autocross and rallycross. She shared a ride with her longtime boyfriend, David Webb. She also used a Scion FR-S, but one set up for D Street Prepared competition.
“Being an autocrosser, you drive a different course every event,” Mindi says of the similarities between SCCA Targa and autocross, and then proceeds with the differences. “This was the first time I’ve ever driven anything with topography. The blind corners and track [surfaces] disappearing were challenging and interesting.”
The idea of doing a long weekend with different tracks appealed to Mat. Despite living in Austin, Texas, he had never ventured to two of SCCA Targa Texasland’s tracks, MSR Cresson and MSR Houston.
“There are so many good tracks in Texas, it’s been a pipe dream to do something like a Drag Week,” Mat says. “I’ve got a four-year-old son at the house, busy with work and life. It’s a smart idea to pack it all in there, where you’re piggybacking on one vacation. You only have to talk with your boss once. You only have to negotiate with your wife or partner once. You got one car and one set of tires. It’s great.”
Photo courtesy Mat Beck.
While track time is always a focus, SCCA Targa also includes Road Rally-like elements. Teams get bonus points for doing things in transit such as taking a photo at a Buc-ees or a Whataburger. The transits, however, can be the most challenging aspect, especially with inclement weather and a car geared toward the track more than the street.
“We hit a retread in the road with like zero visibility [in the rain], and ended up breaking an exhaust hanger,” Mindi says. “That was fun [with] the exhaust hitting the transmission. I ended up wearing earplugs on one of the transits. We stopped at a Home Depot and bought some wire and wired it back together.”
Photo courtesy Mat Beck.
That leads us to some advice: Be prepared. That’s a lesson Mindi carried with her from crewing for rally teams.
“My good friend is an instructor for DirtFish and a co-driver in rally–I kind of ripped off and deployed one of her transit plans,” Mindi says. “We knew where we were going. We knew where the hotels were. My car runs on ethanol, so we planned out where we were able to buy E85.”
Preparation doesn’t only include route planning.
“An FR-S doesn’t have a ton of space,” Mindi concedes. “We had to really think about what we needed to bring. We brought a compact spare, some spare parts and things to repair things along the way. Luckily, we didn’t have too many problems, with the exception of the exhaust coming loose.”
New to something like SCCA Targa? Don’t worry too much, Mindi advises.
“What’s really great about SCCA is that they’re open to novices,” Mindi says. “I’ve been autocrossing since ’99, but I’m still pretty new to track stuff. They make the events feel safe. They also make you feel comfortable, like you’re not causing a problem for other people. If people think they can’t do this or they’re too slow, give it a shot. This was pushing me outside my comfort zone. I’m really glad I did it.”
Mat Beck, Jonathon Huffman, Mindi Cross and David Webb. Photo courtesy Mindi Cross.
With a welcoming environment, you might make a few friends, too.
“The comradery is great,” Mindi says. “You’re driving around, we stopped, we had dinner with each other. You get to know people who you compete with. You learn how fast each other were. There’s a lot of cooperation because everybody wants to go out and have a good lap. It’s a fun atmosphere.”
And for seasoned vets, like Mat, it offers something for them, too. “The amount of product you get for the amount of money is hard to replicate in motorsports,” Mat says. “The event felt very intimate. We got to know pretty much every one of our competitors. You don’t get that doing a time attack event or a wheel-to-wheel series. Everybody’s busy. Everybody’s working on their cars. This one, everyone’s chatting with each other. I didn’t go to this event to make friends, but it was very cool to meet all these new people who were very awesome.”
The Scion FR-S of Mindi Cross and David Webb. Photo courtesy Mindi Cross.
The next SCCA Targa event, Targa Southland, takes place June 11-15, 2025. Tracks include Atlanta Motorsports Park, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research and Carolina Motorsports Park.
The last SCCA Targa of the year, Targa Chicagoland, occurs July 31-August 3, 2025. Tracks include Autobahn Country Club, Putnam Park, Tire Rack headquarters in South Bend, Indiana, and GingerMan Raceway.
Heyward offers three reasons to consider SCCA Targa. “The first reason: Maybe there’s a part of the country that you haven’t gotten to one track and getting to it for one time isn’t in your reach,” Heyward pitches. “Being able to get to four or five tracks across five days means you get a real taste of that part of the country’s offerings.
“The second reason: It’s a great learning opportunity for people who have never been on track or been on track only a little bit or have never done time trials,” Heyward continues. “It’s not what we invented it for, but it’s clearly been a value to a lot of folks coming into this green. Targa is a great way to have that competition learning experience.
“The third reason: It’s just a lot of fun,” Heyward concludes. “People who come to these events tend to be more of the motorsports adventure mindset than a hardcore competition mindset. There’s a lot of activity going on around and in between the tracks we go to. We try to get everybody to the same hotel so that we can hang around the pool or enjoy a local watering hole.
“It’s intense, but also a very laid-back approach to motorsport that drives a lot more social connection, friendship and getting to know each other more than a track day,” Heyward sums up. “All these things come together, and it’s just really fun.”
The Scion FR-S of Mat Beck and Jonathon Huffman. Photo courtesy Mat Beck.
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