Ever wonder how you could get into auto racing? The SCCA, also known as the Sports Car Club of America, provides motorsports enthusiasts places to go race. The organization is broken into 2 divisions - pro racing and club racing. The pro racing division is highly competitive, high dollar, and showcases series such as the SPEED World Challenge and Mazda MX-5 Cup - not a place for beginners!!
However, club racing caters to novices and people who for the most part do not have professional racing aspirations (although some start in club racing and move up). SCCA club racing is further broken into 3 types of competition:
1) SCCA Solo - Usually done in parking lots with cones being used to set up challenging temporary race tracks. Great to learn car control techniques, and since you are on the course alone racing against the clock, very little chance of crashing your car.
2) SCCA Rally - Racing against the clock on a variety of surfaces - everything from asphalt to dirt to snow. Often requires a co-pilot in the car to navigate courses.
3) SCCA Road Racing - Compete on race tracks across the country door-to-door against fellow competitors. Requires certain safety modifications to the car, a driver's suit, and helmet. Some SCCA classes can be fairly inexpensive to compete in (relatively speaking), while others can require a huge budget. There are different grades of competition licenses, starting from novice permit to regional to national and finally pro. If you are new to the sport with no prior experience, the SCCA will require that you take two of their driver schools first before being allowed to get a license. There are also several racing schools like the Skip Barber School that can fulfill the requirements for an SCCA license.
One of the great benefits about joining the SCCA is they have a class for just about any type of car you want to race. To find out more, visit the SCCA - Sports Car Club of America website.
