How Do I Get Involved?

Membership Information

Are you an automotive enthusiast interested in competition, making new friends, learning how to handle your car, family fun, social events, and seeing racing from the best seat in the house? Then the Chicago Region SCCA is for you.

SCCA | Solo Events | Road Racing | Rallies | Vintage | Chicago Region

SCCA : A club with many interests for all

Many-faceted in its endeavors, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) might best be described as a service organization. It serves over 50,000 members throughout the United States by sanctioning and administering a variety of automotive-related activities through approximately 100 independently - chartered regions.
No other single motor sports organization in the world conducts more events than the SCCA. These events range from SCCA amateur and professional road racing to rallies, Solo II events, hill climbs and auto shows.

The SCCA is an ever-growing organization for the automotive enthusiast. Because SCCA is member-oriented and member-operated, the club stresses participation on a broad basis. Regardless of your experience or background, if you are an automotive enthusiast there is a place for you in the SCCA.

In order to successfully sanction and conduct a comprehensive road racing program, a multitude of experts in timing, scoring, communications, safety inspection, medical, flagging, race control, and other skills are needed. Schools are held to train the workers and various degrees of worker licenses, varying from novice to chief of specialty, are awarded based on the worker's knowledge, ability and experience.

A common interest in the love of fine automobiles has made the SCCA the most active membership participation organization in the history of motorsports.

Solo Events

Solo events are a form of automotive competition in which one car at a time negotiates a prescribed course in the shortest possible time. The solo events program is intended to provide a large segment of the club with an inexpensive, safe means of testing their driving ability and car performance. Solo events are single car, non-speed events which place a greater premium upon precision driving than all out speed.

Solo events, which are also called autocrosses and slaloms, are open to anyone who has a sports car, compact, or small sedan. The only requirements to compete are a valid state drivers license and a car which will pass a safety technical inspection. Competitors under the age of 18 must also have parental consent. Depending on our particular interest, there are competitive classes for: stock cars which are basically in the identical condition they are driven on the street, street prepared cars which allows the use of after market bolt on performance items; prepared cars which can be prepared the same as road racing cars ; and modified cars which can be almost anything. The cars are divided into designated classes based on their potential performance and handling ability and each driver competes against the other drivers in his or her particular class. Drivers are scored on their fastest time through the course plus any penalties and the top finishers in each class receive trophies. At the completion of each season the top drivers in each region compete in Divisional and National Championships.

Road Racing

Road racing is wheel to wheel competitions on race tracks which duplicate the type of conditions - straights, curves, hills, etc. - that are normally encountered in everyday driving. The road racing tracks are designed to test the driver's ability to handle a car in a variety of driving conditions.
SCCA road racing program ranges from low-pressure regional events to internationally prestigious championship series such as the Trans-Am Championship. In the amateur racing program, drivers compete for Regional Championships and an opportunity to represent their area of the United States in the SCCA National Road Racing Championship.

To become a driver an individual must be at least 16 years of age and have a valid driver's license, attend at least two SCCA sanctioned driver's schools and accumulate at least six hours of on-track instruction from qualified senior drivers. Competitors under the age of 18 must also have parental consent. If a driver passes these requirements, they may compete in local races under the direct observation of race officials. If they show proficiency, they can then progress to a regional drivers license and finally a national license.

In SCCA road racing there are a wide variety of car makes and models that can and do compete in the several different classes for production, formula, sports racing, and showroom stock cars. Of primary concern at all races is a stringent safety inspection of all cars entered in competition. The cars must undergo a comprehensive technical inspection and the drivers must have all necessary safety equipment such as roll bar, shoulder harnesses, safety fuel tank, protective helmet, and flame-resistant uniform.

Rallies

Rallies are non-speed skill events which are conducted on public roads - at or below legal speeds. The types of rallies put on by SCCA range from fun rallies (gimmick type) to time-speed-distance (TSD) rallies.
The most popular and well-known type of rally is the TSD or time-speed-distance rally. In TSD rallies, a driver/navigator team tests it ability to follow a given route at prescribed speeds. Each team is scored on its ability to arrive at unknown control points neither early nor late, but exactly on time. Teams are usually separated into one of two categories of competition based on the equipment they have to aid them in accurately following the designated route at precisely the right time and/or speed. One category is for the teams that depend only on the basic essentials such as the family car, watch, and rally tables. The other category is for the devoted TSD rallyist who uses sophisticated electronic equipment such as special odometers that read to the nearest hundredth of a mile and electronic computers which automatically calculate speed and provide a continuous indication if you are ahead, behind, or on time.

Vintage

Taking people back to the roots of our club's road racing heritage.
Th program is open to anyone who has an interest in sports cars from an era gone by. Sports cars and other cars which are over twenty five years of age and have a place in SCCA's history make up the Vintage groups basic interest. The group organizes vintage cat concourses, exhibitions, gymkhanas and tour type rallies to give members a chance to meet and have conversations with others with the same goal in mind. The vintage group wants to preserve a part of our club's past, and sports cars that started it all, and also to provide a forum for active participation of older sports cars.

Chicago Region

Since the 1950's when it brought sports car racing to the Midwest, Chicago Region has been a major factor in the growth and development of the SCCA. Chicago Region is currently one of the largest and most active regions in the United States. Each year Chicago Region's activities normally include: two drivers and workers schools - one for road racing and one for Solo II events; three regional road races; one National road race; three professional races at the famous Road America race track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin; eight regional Solo II events; regional rallies; vintage activities; and several special events such as ice race weekend, auto shows, and an annual dinner dance. In addition, Chicago Region also conducts many social events.
General membership meetings are held on the third Wednesday of the month during January, April and October at 7:30 p.m. Solo meetings are held the second Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Please visit the SCCA Chicago Region Website for exact dates and locations.

So, you wanna be a race car driver?
SCCA's guide to obtaining an Competition License

For more information about Chicago Region and the Sports Car Club of America or specific information about events, please contact:

Chicago Region:
706 Waukegan Rd. #207, Glenview, IL 60025 847-729-2211

Membership Information:
Judy Hurtt, Membership Chairman, membership@scca-chicago.com

Sports Car Club of America
P. O. Box 19400, Topeka, KS 66619-0400 800-770-2055