February 9, 2021
We know the legal language, some of us by heart over the years – “The SCCA Foundation supports hands-on education and safety programs, recognizes excellence in automotive engineering education and promotes the SCCA’s heritage and club history. The goal of the SCCA Foundation is to give back to our communities.”
Yeah, yeah – but what does the SCCA Foundation actually do? We’re glad you asked, because the Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit charitable arm of the Club, actually does a lot.
Jeff Jacobs, the Foundation Chairman, helped to fill us in on what the Foundation worked on a year ago, even through the challenges of the pandemic.
“This has been an extraordinary year for the SCCA Foundation, the SCCA as a whole, our members, and indeed the entire nation,” Jacobs said. “With exceptional resolve, we have pulled together to make it through these challenges. While the Foundation’s primary fundraising through experience-oriented sweepstakes, like trips to the U.S. Grand Prix and Jay Leno’s Big Dog Garage, were not possible this year, generous SCCA members have continued to support our programs.”
SCCA Archives: The 76-year history of our club is contained in the SCCA Archives housed at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen. Thanks to the continued work by the Archives staff, an impressive 85 percent of the collection has been sorted, catalogued, and stored in archival-quality folders, boxes, and files. The next phase of the will include digitization of the collection to facilitate preservation and access for future generations.
Teen Safe Driving: Tire Rack Street Survival schools were among those events that slowed during the hiatus, for good reason. The good news is that the Foundation was on a record pace at the start of the year before the May shut down. The Foundation’s Street Survival Coordinator, Scott Dobler, has not paused his planning for the resumption of schools in 2021. The Foundation not only puts on these events, but helps keep the costs low for young drivers to learn.
Veteran Motorsports Opportunities: In 2020, the Foundation assisted dozens of veterans with service-related injuries to participate in SCCA Champ Tour, ProSolo, and regional autocross events as this program continues to grow in its outreach to our national heroes. The Foundation also provided a grant to Racing for Heroes, whose current project involves the modification of a CS6 Corvette racecar with the necessary harnesses, seating, and roll cage to allow for veterans with severe mobility issues to ride in the passenger seat at the Racing for Heroes Headquarters facility ocated at Virginia International Raceway.
Women In Motorsports: The Foundation funded two of three Wendi Allen Scholarships to facilitate the development of female autocrossers to become more successful drivers and future leaders of the Club. Samantha Bray of the Detroit Region, Emily Brown of the Colorado Region and Amy Wunsch of the Northern New Jersey Region were this year’s awardees selected by a distinguished panel of top women drivers.
SCCA Foundation iRacing Program: While much of real-life motorsports were shut down through the first half of the year, extraordinary attention turned to sim-racing including on iRacing.com. The Foundation established its own presence in the virtual racing world by hosting an iRacing league series, which served the dual purpose of educating participants (even non-SCCA members) about the Foundation and raising funds through voluntary donations by race participants.
To borrow some language from PBS, all of these projects are made possible from “viewers like you.” Making a tax deductible donation to the Foundation has never been easier, as it can be done through the secure SCCA Member account portal here at my.scca.com (or by mailing a check to the Foundation at the Topeka office).
Any little bit helps – if each SCCA member were to donate just the cost of a tank of gas, the Foundation’s programs would be funded and grow.
But every once in a while, the Foundation also gets bigger grants from the SCCA world.
In January, a 1965 Factory Five Racing Type 65 Daytona Coupe replica was donated to the Foundation by Ben Lambiotte in memory of Wade Chamberlain of the DC Region SCCA. That amazing car was auctioned on January 9 at the Mecum Auction in Kissimmee, Florida, and raised a whopping $55,000 for the Foundation!
As always, the Foundation thanks the SCCA members as a whole for their generosity and support. It’s these generous donations that allow the Foundation to do what it does best – helping others.