Watching the heat rise from a sea of cones laid out in a seemingly random pattern at the local high school, I still remember waiting to catch a glimpse of my dad as he put our family econobox to the test. He'd added some X-11 goodies to our Chevrolet Citation because he thought it would be more fun to drive. Of course, if you're going to add a little extra oomph to your family hatchback, the best place to see how it performs is clearly at your local track.. but we didn't have one of those. The next best thing? Local SCCA chapter events.
Did he win his class? Honestly, that's not what I remember from that day. My best memory was watching the cars move around the track, and the excitement of the people involved. Were the numbers important? Sure they were- but they weren't the only thing that mattered. As far as I can tell, that still holds true at today's SCCA events. It's all about the driving. (And hey.. maybe I'm naive and don't have a clue. It wouldn't be the first time.)
I remember my return to SCCA events, sometime back in 2011. Again, it was to watch my dad race his car. At this time, he was driving my old '98 Cavalier RS. It was a relatively stock 2200 with a 5 speed. Nothing special, really. At the time, I remember feeling a little embarrassed. Most of the other cars at the course that day were Corvettes, Miatas and a few other miscellaneous sports cars. No one was racing the official car of sorority girls everywhere. Well, no one except my dad.
Fast forward to today and I finally understand what I was missing. These people are here to drive. They don't care what you're driving, so long as it's safe and it fits within a class. Some of the most fun I've seen at the local SCCA events are in cars you wouldn't normally expect to see on a track. An automatic Chevrolet Lumina with a 3100? I HAD one of these and would've never thought to have this kind of fun in it. A non-SRT Neon, on 3 wheels as it rounds a cone? Is this real life?
I took way more shots than these. Wanna see ‘em? Check out my Facebook page!