IMSA and the SCCA are two of the biggest motorsport sanctioning bodies in the United States, particularly when it comes to sportscar racing. Now, both are partnering up to increase involvement in American motorsport in a variety of different ways.
It makes sense, considering that the two organizations are fairly strongly intertwined. There’s a good chance that most folks in IMSA—be they drivers, marshals, or what have you—learned their craft through the SCCA. Why not pool your resources and see what you can do?
The new effort notes that there are both passive and active motorsport fans: the people who contribute to competition in some way, and the people who just watch.
The main goal is to get more people to become SCCA members and head to the track to offer some kind of service, be that driving, marshaling, or volunteering in some other way.
Part of that initiative involves the “SCCA Got Me Started” program, which highlights the personal stories of motorsport professionals who found their roots through SCCA in some way. As per SCCA president and CEO Mike Cobb:
Sports Car Club of America has been working to demystify motorsports for auto racing enthusiasts. SCCA Track Night in America and the longstanding Solo program offer low-barrier options for people to explore motorsports. If they wish to dive deeper into auto racing, the Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing program provides that opportunity for drivers, crew and volunteers. This new collaboration with IMSA is another spoke in SCCA’s wheel of influence for those looking to expand involvement and realize a professional career in IMSA road racing.
Both series are also looking to collaborate on the creation of regulations that dictate certification in certain areas of racing. So, if your goal is to be a race official in IMSA one day, SCCA and IMSA will have developed a curriculum for you to follow to meet that goal one day. It’ll be the same thing if you want to be a crew member. It sounds like a pretty relaxed version of a trade school program.
It’s a smart initiative, and I’m honestly surprised it took so long for American motorsport to unite in this way. It sounds like SCCA and IMSA are aiming to make sense of an often complex path to professional racing, where there is no one set path that gets most folks into the big leagues. Honestly, many people I know don’t even realize how many positions there are in the racing scene.
Specifics are still a little sparse, but it’s a damn good idea that I’m excited to watch grow.
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