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01-16-2019, 07:47 AM

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YOU ARE INVITED! 2nd Saturday of every month. Insty Tune & Lube 14783 N. Dale Mabry H

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01-16-2019, 09:28 AM

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SCCA saw IMSA as being a threat...called for boycotts and excommunictions

IMSA 1969-1989: The first race at Pocono

SCCA saw IMSA as being a threat...called for boycotts and excommunictions of race workers.

Bill France Sr. and John Bishop enjoy a laugh before the race at Pocono. Image by IMSA Collection/IMRRC

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By: Octane Press | January 15, 2019 8:37 AM As we build up to this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, RACER.com is pleased to bring you a series of excerpts from IMSA 1969-1989 by Mitch Bishop and Mark Raffauf. The soon-to-be-released inside history of IMSA’s first two decades is currently available for pre-order from Octane Press, and as a RACER.com reader, you can get $10 off by applying the discount code RACER19 at checkout. Click here for ordering information, and look for the next excerpt on Thursday.

Just two weeks before the inaugural IMSA event at Pocono, John Bishop received an urgent call from Dave Montgomery, the track president, who told him that he was going to have to cancel the race due to pressure from the SCCA. The club was threatening tracks and workers with excommunication if they participated in any IMSA events, a tactic borrowed from the early days of the road racing wars in the late 1950s and early 1960s.Although it was barely off the ground, the club viewed IMSA as a potential rival. Ultimately, this approach didn’t work and was abandoned, but the short-term threat to IMSA was quite real. Track owner Joe Mattioli did agree to lease the track directly to IMSA but could not agree to more for fear of losing SCCA dates the following year.Deciding that IMSA’s credibility was on the line, Bishop swallowed hard, then borrowed $10,000 to lease the track and solidify the prize money. He scrambled and called on friends to help with timing, scoring, pit marshal duties, technical inspection, and safety roles. The race was back on. Inver House Scotch came on board at the last minute to help with prize money and promotion.

The program cover for the first IMSA race ever held. The Formula Ford event, which took place on October 19, 1969, was run on Pocono’s short 5/8-mile oval. Image by Paul Pfanner

On October 19, 1969, the twenty-four teams that showed up were immediately treated to some refreshing changes from the way things were done at the SCCA. There were apples and friendly faces at registration, and prize money was awarded to everyone that started. Ray Heppenstall helped Charlie Rainville with technical inspection as they introduced another innovation; teams didn’t have to line up. Instead, Ray and Charlie went around to where the competitors were parked in the infield and did their work on the spot. It was a revelation to competitors.“Charlie Rainville came over to us at our first race and did his tech inspection right there on the spot, we didn’t move the car an inch,” recalled Sam Posey about his first IMSA race. “As silly as it sounds, it was a really big deal.”Promotion for the event had appeared in Competition Press & Autoweek, but very little marketing had been done locally. Still, 350 curious spectators showed up. Everyone in the Bishop family pitched in. Peg ran registration and worked scoring. Marc, on leave from the navy, along with John’s brother, Peter, sold tickets. Marshal directed traffic in the parking lot and Mitch worked timing and scoring. Drivers’ wives were also pressed into service to score the race. It was an “all-hands-on- deck” exercise. Bill France Sr. made sure to lend his support by flying in, giving the event instant legitimacy.Some of the best Formula Ford drivers of the day showed up: Skip Barber, Bill Scott, Jim Jenkins, and Fred Opert, among others. Almost all of them had no experience on ovals and many guessed at the proper setup. One of the guys who guessed wrong was George Alderman, an experienced SCCA racer who backed his car hard into the outside retaining wall during qualifying, ending up in the hospital overnight with a concussion. The car was not so lucky, it took months to rebuild. Alderman came back to become an IMSA regular and won the 1971 and 1974 IMSA RS series titles.

A rare shot of the driver’s meeting for the inaugural IMSA race at Pocono. Bill France Sr. is on the far left, wearing the hat and long coat. Bill Scott talks with Carson Baird in the foreground. John Bishop is by the tow truck in the back. Image by IMSA Collection/IMRRC

The race itself was a 200-lap affair. The pace was frantic on the flat, 5/8-mile oval. Timing and scoring was being done from the grandstands; there was no covered area to work. The scorers, accustomed to longer road courses, were overwhelmed by cars completing laps in just twenty-six seconds. It was all done the old-fashioned way—by hand.At the end of the race, Jim Clarke was declared the winner and a modest Victory Lane ceremony was held. Post-race analysis, however, revealed that an error had been made and the second-place driver, Jim Jenkins, had actually won. But the ceremonies were over, the spectators were long gone, and teams were packing up to go home. Bishop decided to let the results stand. They were never corrected.“Don and Ruth Nixon were running timing and scoring for us that race,” Bishop recalled. “The rest of the scoring team was largely made up of drivers’ wives. When Carson Baird crashed on lap thirty-one, his wife Betsy stood up and screamed. Peg told her to sit down and keep scoring. Somehow, we missed the real winner. Jim Jenkins should have won the race but instead the win was given to Jim Clarke. I remember Don Nixon running down the grandstand shouting, ‘Don’t give out the checks!’ but by then it was too late.”After all the drama and hard work, IMSA had pulled off its first race. Yes, the crowd was small and there were issues, but the sanctioning body was off and running.

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01-21-2019, 05:34 AM

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Hall of Fame ceremony closes '19 SCCA National Convention

Hall of Fame ceremony closes '19 SCCA National Convention

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By: SCCA 23 hours ago Seven individuals who made significant contributions to the Sports Car Club of America and the world of motorsports became official members of the SCCA Hall of Fame Saturday evening during the Awards Banquet that closed out the 2019 SCCA National Convention at South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Ammen, Dr. Frank Falkner, George Follmer, Patricia “Patc” Henry, John McGill, Dorsey Schroeder and Henryk Szamota make up the 2019 Hall of Fame class.

David Ammen
An SCCA member for more than 60 years, Ammen spent nearly half that time as a competitor who made 20 consecutive National Championship appearances through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. An accomplished driver, the New England Region member is also well known for his hard work behind the scenes. He was a Road Racing Steward until the 2000s, participated on the Competition Committee, served consecutive years on the Board of Directors, and is a Woolf Barnato Award winner.

Dr. Frank Falkner
Born in England, Dr. Falkner moved to the United States in 1956 and soon joined the SCCA where he became a Regional Executive and helped host an SCCA National Convention. In 1960, Dr. Falkner became a member of the newly formed SCCA Competition Events Committee, and served as the Committee’s Chairman one year later. It was during his tenure that the Club introduced the Stewards program. Also during the ’60s, Dr. Falkner was elected to the SCCA Board of Governors, became Vice Chairman in 1965, and Chairman of the Board a year later. Under his leadership, the Club evolved from an amateur-only racing organization to a Club that supported and ran professional events, including the Formula One races on U.S. soil. After retiring from the Board of Governors, he became a member of SCCA’s Professional Competition Board and was a Woolf Barnato Award winner.

George Follmer
Follmer started racing in 1959 and was immediately successful. Over the following two decades, he competed in virtually every form of racing, including the United States Road Racing Championship, USAC, NASCAR, IROC, Fast Masters, SCCA’s RaceTruck Challenge, Formula 5000, Formula One, the World Endurance Championship, IMSA, and both SCCA Trans Am and Can-Am. In 1972, he earned the unique honor of winning the Trans Am and Can-Am championships in the same year — the only driver ever to have done so. In 1999, Follmer was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Patricia “Patc” Henry
Henry has been a member of SCCA for 54 years. During the first 18 years of her membership, she was a vital member of the Nebraska Region, filling many positions and winning many awards. And while her string of accomplishments in the early days left a strong impression on the SCCA locally, it is her work both in SCCA Road Racing and SCCA Pro Racing for which she became nationally and internationally known. During her ten years at SCCA Pro Racing, her detailed and dedicated work made her a fixture on the professional sports car racing scene in the United States. Henry later moved to the SCCA Road Racing department and became known for her extraordinary work in managing all of SCCA’s Road Racing activities. In that role, her experience guided a booming racing program and its crown jewel – the National Championship Runoffs®

.John McGill
McGill was a longtime member of SCCA and a Regional Executive of the Mahoning Valley Region. But what he’s perhaps best remembered for is his untiring work as track manager of Nelson Ledges Road Course in Northeast Ohio. During his tenure at the track, McGill helped bring about use of “tire walls” to improve safety. Because of his dedication, SCCA created the John McGill Award in 1975 that honors those that make a significant contribution to the Road Racing program, and McGill was the first person to receive that award.

Dorsey Schroeder
One of the youngest drivers to earn an SCCA competition license more than 45 years ago, Schroeder went on to become an accomplished competitor in SCCA Road Racing, SCCA Pro Racing, IMSA, IROC, Grand Am, ARCA and NASCAR. He has been a broadcast television race commentator for many years and continues to serve the motorsport community today as Race Director of SCCA’s Trans Am presented by Pirelli. Additionally, Schroeder is Competition Director for the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) series, and formerly worked as Race Director for Pirelli World Challenge.

Henryk Szamota
A member of SCCA’s New York Region since 1950, Szamota was an active and dedicated SCCA competitor, supporter and patron. His commitment progressed through Region involvement that included Race Chairman, Assistant Regional Executive and many years as Regional Executive. Beyond his own region, Henryk is credited with founding the North Atlantic Road Racing Championship (NARRC), collectively run by the New York, North Jersey, Mohawk-Hudson and New England Regions for many years. In 1961, Szamota was elected to the National Board of Governors. There he served for 14 years, but then decided fresh leadership was instrumental for the Club and helped create the two-term Board of Directors limit that stands today. For his work and dedication to the Club, Szamota received in 1977 the Woolf Barnato Award.Below are some additional honor recipients from Saturday’s ceremony:

Woolf Barnato Award: Karen Babb, Northwest Region
This is SCCA’s highest award and is presented to a member who has made an outstanding, long-term contribution to the Club.

David Morrell Memorial Award: Laurie Shepherd, Oregon Region
This award is presented to encourage continued participation in the Steward’s Program by recognition of an active National Chief Steward who has exhibited outstanding performance and dedication to the sport and the highest principles. The winner is selected by the Chairman of the Stewards and the Executive Stewards.

President’s Cup: Michael Varacins, Chicago Region
Presented to the driver demonstrating ability, competitiveness and success at the National Championship Runoffs. The winner is selected by the Stewards of the Meeting and the Chief Steward of the National Championship Runoffs along with the President and CEO of SCCA. The inaugural presentation in 1954 was performed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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01-27-2019, 09:29 AM

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Davis Yagel named General Manager of SCCA Pro Racing

Davis Yagel named General Manager of SCCA Pro Racing

Image by Gavin Baker

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By: SCCA | January 10, 2019 10:05 AM SCCA Ventures Inc, has named Sydney Davis Yagel as General Manager of SCCA Pro Racing. After joining SCCA Pro Racing last spring, Yagel quickly fit into her role as the Senior Manager of Race Operations, where she showcased her leadership capabilities. Not only is Yagel the first female to lead SCCA Pro Racing, she is also the youngest General Manager in SCCA Pro history.“We are pleased that Sydney has accepted the position of General Manager for SCCA Pro Racing Division located in Indianapolis,” said SCCA Ventures President Dan Helman. “Sydney’s varied background and passion will be a big asset in leading our SCCA Pro Racing Team.”Prior to joining SCCA Pro, Yagel spent 10 years managing MSR Houston events and schools. During her tenure at MSR Houston, she also held positions as the Circuit of the Americas Motorsports Operations Marshal Coordinator and as the Houston and Louisiana Grand Prix Race Chair.

"I didn't get here because of some damn liberal women's equality hogwash. I worked my butt off."“I am very much looking forward to stepping in to this new position with SCCA Pro Racing,” said Yagel. “The 2019 season is shaping up to a fantastic one for all of our series and sanctioning partners. Our staff, the SCCA Ventures board, our partners and I all have goals to achieve this year, and I can’t wait to start marking them off our lists.”Yagel, a 27-year member of the SCCA, embraced her role by extending her expertise to serve as the Houston Region Race Chair for 10 years. She then moved on to serve as its Regional Executive. Her volunteerism within the SCCA did not go unnoticed as she was awarded Worker of the Year in 2014 for her efforts in race administration and the SCCA Member of Excellence in 2016.

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02-08-2019, 01:34 AM

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The Optimizer: SCCA GT-3 Runoffs champ is in a class of his own

The Optimizer: SCCA GT-3 Runoffs champ is in a class of his own

Images by Richard S. James

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By: Philip Royle | February 6, 2019 5:09 PM In the 56-year history of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs, only eight drivers have entered the championship event more than once and gone undefeated. Scott Lagasse, Lewis Kerr, Earl T. Jones, Paul Jett, and John Greenwood are all two-for-two; Dave Vegher and Skip Barber set their records at three-for-three. Collin Jackson, meanwhile, is the sole person in the SCCA’s history to go five-for-five. Want to know his secret? I did, so I asked. And, you know, I think he told me.“Do everything within your power to understand the variables, and optimize,” Collin explains to me. “If you don’t do your homework and your maintenance, you’re really there as a spectator for the guys who do.”That said, Collin also lets loose another little secret, one that has been hiding in plain sight for anyone willing to do the research.

“People are making a rather big deal of [my Runoffs record], but I didn’t go to the Runoffs as a rookie,” he reveals. In fact, by the time Collin entered his first Runoffs in 2003, he was actually a nine-time racing champion. But his racing story starts long before that.“I’ve been into racing my whole life,” Collin tells me of his early days. “My aunt and step-uncle raced cars when I was a kid and I was absolutely mesmerized by it. At 8 or 9 years old, there was nothing better than racing cars. My uncle had a sports racing car that I loved. I learned enough by being obsessive about it and going to as many races as I could.”As Collin turned 14, a family friend by the name of Ron Householder was attempting to campaign a Formula Atlantic car on the West Coast, and Collin quickly signed up for the ride. “It was a 1973 Brabham BT40,” Collin says fondly of the car, “and I thought this was even cooler than the sports racer since it had wings.”So, in 1975, Collin started working with this Formula Atlantic team. “Ron went about teaching me what we needed to accomplish during a race weekend in order to be successful. I quickly was able to do those things, and I wanted more. By the time I was 16, I was pretty much telling him what to do. We were very successful together.”His family was fairly poor, Collin explains to me, so Householder assisted in putting him through college, where he became a mechanical engineer. When Householder passed away, he willed the Brabham to Collin. “We were very close,” Collin says of the friendship that altered his life in so many ways.Solidly in the workforce, Collin stepped into the driver’s seat, this time racing a Datsun 510. “Regionally I was quite successful,” he says. “And then an SCCA semi-pro series came along called NASPORT. I really liked that formula, so I started running NASPORT exclusively from 1987 through 2003 and I won nine NASPORT championships.”But contrary to what you might think, I don’t believe Collin was attracted to the series due to his ability to win; conversely, it was how hard it was to do so.

“The level of competition in that series was absolutely spectacular,” he points out. “Mike Lewis won several GT-3 Runoffs titles while he was running NASPORT, and Ken Murillo won the Runoffs when he was running NASPORT. The people I was racing in NASPORT were top-flight drivers, and that competition makes you better.”When NASPORT began to dwindle, Collin shifted focus to club racing and SCCA’s GT-3 class where his NASPORT racecar fit, and that’s when he made his “rookie” debut at the Runoffs.“I went to the Runoffs in GT-3 in 2003 as a nobody,” he laughs. “Nobody had heard of me because I guess people weren’t paying close attention to NASPORT. We were very successful; in 2003, I won and my teammate Dave Humphrey was second. In 2006, I went back to the Runoffs in Topeka and I finished first and Dave finished third. In 2014, I went to Laguna Seca and finished first and Dave finished fourth. Then at Indy, in 2017, I went by myself and I won that one, too.”Then in 2018, he returned to the SCCA Runoffs once more, at what is essentially his home track of Sonoma Raceway. There, he won again, although not easily.Now add to this impressive feat the fact that he’s accomplished his success with a small, tight-knit crew. “My team is my wife, Glenda; a longstanding friend of mine who is 85 years old now and is really my car chief, retired Air Force mechanic Jack Back; and Andy Pearson, who owns Specialty Engineering in Delta, B.C., Canada.” With Andy busy with work, the Jackson paddock space is populated simply by Collin, Glenda, and Jack.

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02-27-2019, 06:16 AM

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75 Years of SCCA: SCCA Goes Racing

75 Years of SCCA: SCCA Goes Racing

SCCA Archives

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By: Pete Hylton | 22 hours ago 75 years ago today, the Sports Car Club of America came to be. Since then, the SCCA has made a lot of history — and done a lot of racing. Truth be known, the SCCA has made more motorsports history than most automotive clubs combined. And to celebrate this milestone accomplishment, RACER.com will take you through a historical journey this week.Yesterday we discussed the very first day of the SCCA. Today, we discover more about what happened next: SCCA’s first meet-ups.The earliest record of an event that actually involved cars, as opposed to being purely social, was the first weekend in May 1944, when the weather in Boston turned unexpectedly pleasant, and a number of phone calls rounded up some early members for a tour. It began at Chapin Wallour’s estate and traveled cross-country to the Charlie Fisher estate.Things began to grow and change in 1945. The most obvious change was in the name of the SCCA newsletter, which changed its name from The Sportwagen to SportsCar magazine — as it remains today. Second was that Russ Sceli started up a new chapter, or “region,” of the SCCA in Hartford, Conn., and was appointed the first “Regional Executive,” overseeing activities in his local area.On July 22, 1945, once World War II had ended and fuel rationing had come to an end, members of the SCCA gathered at Thompson Speedway, a half-mile, paved oval with 15-degree banking, for the Club’s first speed event. Timed runs from both a flying and standing start were conducted, with George Weaver’s Bugatti turning the fastest lap in both formats.In 1947, on June 22, SCCA conducted its first true race, at Langhorne, Pa. It was a preliminary event to the AAA Big Car races that afternoon. Seven Mercers and one Mercedes took to the one-mile dirt oval for a five-lap sprint in front of about 35,000 fans. Alec Ulmann won in a Mercer, giving the crowd a look at a completely different kind of race car than they were used to. Not long after, on July 26, the biggest SCCA time trial event to date was held at the oval track at Thompson Speedway in Connecticut. A variety of timed runs were made for all cars, along with gymkhana-type handling challenges and a few two-car pursuits. Another type of time trial debuted that summer, with single car runs up the Fairfield Hillclimb in Connecticut.

Things got serious in 1948, when it was announced that SCCA would organize a “Grand Prix” for sports cars at Watkins Glen, N.Y., in October. Cameron Argetsinger was appointed General Chairman of the event and Bill Milliken was named as Chairman of the Technical Race Committee. After months of preparation, the course was laid out down the main street of the village, then winding along local country roads and through the park that contains the scenic gorge for which the town was named. Frank Griswold won the main event driving an Alfa Romeo, with an average speed of 63.7mph over the eight-lap, 52-mile race.By 1951, there were enough drivers competing and enough races on the schedule that the SCCA was able to conduct a national championship series. Drivers could score points toward this championship by competing in any class in any event anywhere around the country, including races, time trials, hillclimbs, and rally events. John Fitch was the winner of that very first championship.Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway was the only purpose-built road-racing track in the 1951 series, and the first such track used by SCCA. The 1951 track utilized a quarter-mile oval inside of a half-mile oval. The event consisted of two-lap time trials around the large oval followed by four-car match races in which cars ran clockwise around the outer oval, then made a sharp turn onto the inner oval and ran three quarters of a lap before making another sharp turn onto the outer oval again. This formed a sort of mini road course that included a pair of quite challenging corners.Also in 1951, one race, virtually forgotten today, changed the perception of the SCCA beyond our national borders. Argentina had an internationally recognized racing program in that era. A number of top drivers, led by Juan Manuel Fangio, had come from the South American country. Speed Age magazine and Road & Track, America’s top racing publications of that time, included regular coverage of the racing activities south of the equator. An invitation was sent to the SCCA president from the Automovil Club Argentino, inviting the American club to send a team of cars and drivers to Buenos Aires to compete in a challenge race between the two countries. The inspiration for this was the Pan American Games being hosted in Argentina. When Fitch took the checkered flag at the end of 40 laps, there were U.S. drivers in first, second, sixth, and seventh.

This early international expedition was one of the events that led to the growing recognition of the SCCA in particular, and American sports car racers in general, as being world class. Fitch went on to gain international acclaim racing in Europe along with Briggs Cunningham, another SCCA member who built the first American cars to challenge the Europeans at the highest levels.Back on American soil, this moment in time also marked the birth of dedicated road racing circuits — something SCCA encouraged and SCCA drivers dominated on. Tomorrow, as our “75 Years of SCCA” series continues, we’ll learn exactly how that happened.

SCCA, US Racing History, SCCA / SportsCar Magazine

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02-27-2019, 06:18 AM

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75 years of SCCA: Day One

SCCA Archives

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By: Pete Hylton February 25, 2019 3:59 AM 75 years ago this week, the Sports Car Club of America came to be. Since then, the SCCA has made a lot of history – and done a lot of racing. Truth be known, the SCCA has made more motorsports history than most automotive clubs combined. And to celebrate this milestone accomplishment, RACER.com will take you through a historical journey this week. And today, we’ll take you to SCCA’s day one.On Saturday evening, Feb. 26,1944, seven car enthusiasts from Boston, Mass., met at the home of Chapin Wallour with the intent of forming a new club specifically for those with an interest in the new breed of automobile that many were calling “sport cars.” These cars provided a more enjoyable driving experience than the run-of-the-mill vehicles of the day. These sport cars tended to be lighter, faster, and handle better than those developed for mere transportation. However, they also tended to have a rougher ride, fewer driver and passenger amenities, and, when driven hard, required a bit more maintenance and repair. Thus these cars were not destined to be the choice of the common driver. Instead, they would find a place only in the hearts of those who enjoyed driving for the fun, or “sport,” of it.

At that first meeting, a draft constitution, which had been prepared by Ted Robertson, was reviewed. The constitution required that a member own at least one sport car and that if a member sold his car to a non-member without first offering it to the other members, he was to be dismissed. Dismissal would also occur if any member sold his last sport car and was no longer an owner.

The constitution was adopted that evening and Robertson was elected the first president of the new Sports Car Club of America. Wallour was elected vice president and presented a draft design of the SCCA emblem, which used a stylized wheel and tire. As the story goes, the emblem was sketched from the wheels on Robertson’s Mercer Raceabout, which was sitting outside. The logo was adopted and remains the SCCA logo today, 75 years later. The SCCA immediately began a newsletter, which the founders named The Sportwagen. The name was chosen because it seemed to be the most commonly used term, worldwide, for cars of a sporting nature. Volume 1, Issue 1 was sent out in March 1944 as a stapled packet of mimeographed pages.

But the SCCA’s founders didn’t stick to logo designs and mimeographed monthly bulletins for long. After all, it’s only natural for a group of sports car enthusiasts to meet up and bring their sporting vehicles. But at the time, World War II was raging and fuel at home was being rationed, so options were limited. So tomorrow, we’ll find out exactly what they decided to do, and how the SCCA began the process of becoming the definitive amateur motorsports organization in the US.

SCCA, US Racing History, SCCA / SportsCar Magazine

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02-27-2019, 06:20 AM

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SCCA: 75 years of setting the bar

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By: Philip Royle February 22, 2019 4:36 AM At the SportsCar magazine office, kittycorner to RACER’s editorial HQ amidst a glorious cubical maze, sits a massive magazine archive. The archive contains nearly every issue of SportsCar magazine, the official publication of the Sports Car Club of America, dating back to the creation of the SCCA in 1944.Because SportsCar has not always been produced on a monthly basis, I have no clue as to how many issues of the magazine are there, but it has to be more than 750.Regardless, that’s tens of thousands of pages capturing SCCA’s history — America’s motorsports history as it happened. Flipping through any of those issues is an adventure through the SCCA’s incredible 75 years. And next week, on February 26, SCCA will celebrate another milestone as it turns 75 years old.

As SportsCar magazine’s editor, I have unfettered access to this glorious and rare archive, so to illustrate just how amazing SCCA’s 75-year history is, I randomly grabbed the September-October 1957 issue from the shelves to see what motorsports gold I could find.On the cover: SCCA Hall of Fame member and motorsports icon Carroll Shelby piloting a 4.5 Maserati at a national club race at Virginia International Raceway (incidentally, a circuit that will be the 2019 home of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs).

Also in that issue was a feature on the SCCA’s latest purchase: a clubhouse. For the first time in SCCA’s history (back then, the first time in 13 years), the SCCA had an office building (located in Westport, Connecticut) to operate out of.A few pages later, following race reports featuring the likes of Shelby and Walt Hansgen, and near an advertisement for Lucas, “the world’s most respected name in electrical equipment for British automobiles,” was a feature on roll bar safety.“Your Officers and Contest Board feel that it is not unreasonable to require that certain precautions be taken in events sanctioned and supervised by the Club and its Regions,” the author wrote. “It is also honestly believed that the observance of such safeguards will not dampen the enjoyment derived by participants or spectators.”Back in the 1950s, the SCCA was pleading with its members to install race car rollover protection. One suggested option was a roll bar tripod hidden in the headrest. At least they were wearing helmets.

“If I thought I was going to crash, I wouldn’t be racing,” was the general opinion back in those days. Contrast that to today, where road racers wear fire-resistant race suits, head and neck restraints, and utilize some of the most thorough and researched roll cage rules in the industry.Any issue of SportsCar, from any decade, is a slice of motorsports history — and what a history! The SCCA has been the lifeblood of American motorsports for decades, and this month the SCCA celebrates its 75th anniversary.Unfortunately, many motorsports enthusiasts don’t know the history of the SCCA. Consequently, we’ve assembled a multi-part historical primer that will appear on RACER.com next week.But if my ramblings here teach you anything, it should be that the SCCA and its 60,000-plus members are all part of something incredibly special. The SCCA isn’t just a motorsports car club, it’s the name in amateur and professional motorsports, and it has been for 75 years. In short, SCCA set the bar.

US Racing History, Insights & Analysis, SCCA / SportsCar Magazine

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02-28-2019, 06:46 AM

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75 Years of SCCA: Road racing domination

75 Years of SCCA: Road racing domination

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By: Pete Hylton | 23 hours ago 75 years ago today, the Sports Car Club of America came to be. Since then, the SCCA has made a lot of history – and done a lot of racing. Truth be known, the SCCA has made more motorsports history than most automotive clubs combined. And to celebrate this milestone accomplishment, RACER.com will take you through a historical journey this week. In our journey so far this week, we’ve seen how SCCA began and played witness to its early motorsports events. And while those early days were fun, SCCA’s determination to be the best in motorsports meant things got serious very fast.

In 1953, the shape of road racing in America changed. The 1952 Watkins Glen main event had been cut short at two laps when SCCA President Fred Wacker sideswiped the crowd on the main straight, killing a small boy and sending several other people to the hospital. It had become obvious that street racing was no longer acceptable, and permanent road racing facilities were needed.While the design of circuits such as Road America and the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Circuit was underway in the mid-1950s, in the interim it was America’s airports that supplied the racing circuits that kept SCCA alive and thriving into the 1960s.By 1954, there were enough SCCA races and racers that national championships began to be awarded in each class. However, competing for one of these titles still required a driver to travel around the country to events. That same year, the SCCA President’s Cup was inaugurated and was presented to SCCA’s top competitor, with the inaugural award presented to Bill Spear by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.The criss-cross-the-country format for determining national champions lasted until 1964 when SCCA divided the country into geographic divisions and allowed drivers to compete for points only within them. The top competitors from all the divisions came together for an event in the fall that became known as the SCCA National Championship Runoffs.During this time, the SCCA continued to adhere to a strictly amateur policy, even suspending the licenses of drivers who ran events for money. Meanwhile, other organizations around the U.S. were hosting professional races, and this led to an extremely divisive year, 1961. Many on the SCCA Board of Governors held to the traditional position supporting amateurism, while a more liberal wing felt that SCCA should embrace professionalism.

In the end, the Board of Governors voted to not only allow SCCA drivers to compete for money, but also to begin sanctioning professional SCCA events in 1962. This led to creation of the United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) series in 1963; the Trans-American Championship (Trans-Am) series in 1966; the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) series in 1966; and the SCCA Continental Championship series in 1967.

Basically, the moment the SCCA decided to embrace professional racing, the landscape of racing on American soil changed. SCCA had the best drivers in the country, and suddenly the gates were opened and those drivers were welcome to flood the professional ranks.While it can’t be said that all SCCA drivers rocked the early ’60s world of motorsports, many did, including the likes of Phil Hill, Roger Penske, George Follmer, Dan Gurney (who in the ’50s ran afoul of the amateur status requirement), Mark Donohue and many, many more.None of that is to say the SCCA pivoted to become solely a professional racing organization. The fact is, most of the SCCA embraced its amateur roots – and tomorrow in our look back at SCCA’s 75 year history, we’ll discover more.

Can-Am, Trans-Am, US Racing History, SCCA / SportsCar Magazine

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02-28-2019, 06:49 AM

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Retro: Trans-Am's 1969 season

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By: Richard S. James 19 hours ago When the 2019 Trans-Am season kicks off at Sebring this weekend, it will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the most epic seasons the series – or any race series – has seen. 1969 was full of intrigue, with teams seeking fueling advantages to shorten pit stops, acid-dipped cars with vinyl roofs to hide the thin sheet metal, and a tire war between Firestone and Goodyear that damaged relationships to the point racers were trying to purposely take out others on track.In its fourth year, Trans-Am had hit its stride enough that manufacturers were using their substantial resources to win, and Pontiac was willing to pay $5 per car to use the name of the series on a special model of its Firebird (ironically, that model’s engine was too big to be used in the series).Big names in the racing world, and some that would soon be, were involved, and the manufacturers were keen to claim the title. It was primarily a Ford vs. Chevrolet battle, with Pontiac and AMC being bit players. Bud Moore led the charge for Ford with Parnelli Jones and George Follmer driving, while Chevrolet had tasked Roger Penske to win the championship with Mark Donohue leading and Ronnie Bucknum and Ed Leslie playing supporting roles.The series then was still all about production-based Pony cars, but teams were beginning to get creative. Dipping the bodies in acid to make them lighter was becoming commonplace – there was a minimum weight, but by getting the car as far under that weight as possible, the teams were able to add ballast where they wanted it, low in the car. Penske even went too far with one of its cars, causing the team to apply vinyl roofs both to save money on painting and to hide the wavy sheet metal of the too-thin roof.

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The vinyl tops, while not specifically prohibited in the rulebook, were disallowed mid-season. So was Penske’s 20-foot-tall fuel rig, designed to get fuel into the car as fast as possible during pit stops. But that rig never quite fulfilled its promise, and by mid-season the teams had figured out more efficient refueling methods anyway.Moore’s Mustangs had chopped radiator supports to get the nose as small and low as possible. Penske followed suit with its Camaros. Penske and Donohue had dominated in 1968 and worked to improve the car for the following season, trying a lot of relatively radical stuff, but ended up with a car that, as Donohue wrote in The Unfair Advantage, started out awful and ended up only just as good as the 1968 car.Meanwhile, Bud Moore Engineering came in after Ford pulled the plug on his Mercury racing efforts to try to win the championship. Ford wanted redemption after Penske had beaten Carroll Shelby’s Mustangs in ’68. In the early part of the season, it looked like they might get it. The Firestones the Moore team was running were better than the Goodyears Penske had on its cars, especially in the wet, and the first race at Michigan International Speedway was in the rain. That rain also kept Penske from proving the worth of its extra-tall fuel rig, as the team was changing from wet to dry tires and back nearly every pit stop.That race was marred by a scoring error that at first left Donohue the winner, but Moore and Jones protested and Jones was declared the winner. Legend has it that there were some insults hurled at Penske in the process, strengthening his resolve to win the championship againThe next race, at Lime Rock on Memorial Day weekend, was missing Donohue, who was off racing at Indianapolis; Bob Johnson drove the Camaro. Sam Posey won that race, the lone bright spot for Shelby during the season. Bucknum won for Penske at Mid-Ohio, and Follmer for Moore at Bridgehampton. Jones was the first driver to win more than one race with a victory at Donnybrooke in Brainerd, Minn after a furious battle with Donohue, whose Camaro broke late in the race.

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Through five rounds, the defending champion who so dominated the previous season with 10 wins had yet to find victory. But that changed at Bryar Motorsports Park. By then, SCCA had decided that several things about the Camaros weren’t right, including some holes in the doors to duct air to the rear brakes and the vinyl top, not to mention the 20-foot fuel rig (Penske would come up with a new fast fueling rig by the next race). Donohue led Leslie, who had taken over the other Camaro due to Bucknum breaking his wrist in a highway accident, to a one-two finish.From that point forward, a Penske Camaro won every single race. Donohue took victories at Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, Sears Point, and Riverside; Bucknum won at Sears Point. But the late season had other drama. Donohue managed to get a hold of the new Firestone tire for a test at Sears Point, discovering that they were indeed faster. And when those tires landed in the hands of Goodyear, there was much discord in the paddock. In the final race at Riverside, Jones and Donohue came together twice, but Donohue survived to win the race and secure another championship for Chevrolet. Chevrolet had eight wins to Ford’s four, with Pontiac and AMC shut out.That 1969 season is considered by many to be the high point of Trans-Am’s early years. 1970 saw Penske switch to the AMC Javelin and Ford take the manufacturers championship. The gas crisis a few years later made muscle cars passé, the series switched to FIA Group 4 cars, and many thought the glory years were over. But the series continued, changing form and introducing more modified and then finally tube-frame silhouette cars.Today the Chevrolet vs. Ford vs. Dodge battle continues, but it’s more about the drivers such as Ernie Francis Jr., Lawrence Loshak, Chris Dyson and Amy Ruman. There are no more tire wars thanks to partnership with Pirelli. But the battles on track remain fierce. They resume on March 1-3 at Sebring International Raceway.Terms of use: These images are licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0. They are attributed to Dave Friedman collection held at the Benson Ford Center and have been cropped slightly from the original. Originals available
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