One Fateful Night In February..or How The Scca Founding Fathers Became Heirs To Racing Legacy

eful night in February..or how the SCCA foundingWorld War II brought an end to racing, and, as it
fathers became heirs to racing legacyturned out, ARCA.
Sounds like the beginning to a mystery. In fact, itThe gap left by the end of ARCA would change the
was a February evening, in 1944, when sevenfate of the SCCA. The original seven SCCA members
well-healed gentlemen met at a Boston estate. Theconsidered themselves more collectors than
gentlemen shared not only wealth and privilege, butsportsmen. According to Hylton, if ARCA had
also a love of driving and owning the speciallysurvived, the SCCA would have remained a club of
engineered and built vehicles they called “sportsautomobile collectors, if it had survived at all.
cars”. The group elected officers, drafted a“I honestly think that if ARCA had started back up
constitution, including strict membership rules designedafter the war, SCCA would not be here today. If the
to invite only their kind into the fold and gave theirfolks who wanted to participate in speed events had
club a name.been given the opportunity to participate with ARCA,
This was the rather staid beginning of the Sports CarI think it would have filled the void that became
Club of America. The club was formed more toSCCA’s destiny, and probably ARCA would
promote the preservation and restoration of earlyhave began a slow expansion into a nationwide club,
sports cars than to host racing events. SCCAfollowing much the same track that SCCA eventually
historian Pete Hylton recalls an interview with Tedtook,” Hylton said in a recent interview. “If that
Robertson, one of the original founders and its firsthad happened, then I think that SCCA’s
president. Robertson, by his own words, had afounders would have kept the club closer to its
different vision of what the club would become.original purpose, which had nothing to do with racing
“His focus when he wrote the draft of the clubor speed contests. SCCA would have remained a
constitution and called together some of his similarsmall, niche organization for owners of vintage sports
minded friends for the first meeting was to create acars and I doubt that it ever would have become
club of ‘owners of elderly sports cars to insurevery large. As the old Mercers and similar cars
their preservation’.”became less and less obtainable, I suspect SCCA
Ironically, the founding meeting of what wouldmight have quietly faded into the night while ARCA
become an internationally recognized racingtook the spotlight for sports car racing in this
organization was marked with a significant lack ofcountry. “
vision. According to Roberston,But, as happens when men meet cars, SCCA racing
“On looking back to that faithful gathering ofevents soon followed. There were more and more
seven enthusiastic owners of early Americana onevents as years passed and the SCCA expanded
that Saturday evening on 26 February 1944, one factinto other regions, earning the club its recognition as
stands out quite clearly,……we didn’t knowa premier sanctioning body.
what we were doing.”In his newest release, “The Gentlemen’s
The founding fathers weren't planning on filling a voidClub: The Growth and Transition of American Sports
in the racing world. In the years before WWII, theCar Racing”, author Pete Hylton traces the
Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) organizedevolution of the club and the sport from its rather
road racing events. As with the SCCA, ARCAstaid roots as an elite organization of seven to the
members were largely from moneyed families fromranks of more than 50,000 members from all
the East coast, who had the means to acquirebackgrounds.
expensive European automobiles. But the beginning of