February 4, 2022
The Member of Excellence doesn’t necessarily pick the “best” SCCA member from the past year, because what would that even mean? But rest assured, those who pass the nomination committee and the Board of Directors to earn the distinction are certainly among the most valuable – and George Laws passed that test.
Laws was described in one (of many) nomination form from those in the Chicago Region and beyond as a, “one in a million” member and currently holds the thankless and arduous job as CenDiv scheduling Chairman.
While that’s the latest task he’s taken on for his Club, it certainly wasn’t the first. Laws began his SCCA career in 1972 in Flagging and Communications, but that was really only the start. He’s been the Chicago Region RE and helped pull the division together for scheduling and event consistency.
He developed the Region’s PDX/Track Day program well before Track Night in America made it “cool” to do so, and then hung on to serve as Chief Steward for many of the events responsible for bringing new members to the Club.
Oh, and he continues to drive in track day, road racing and rally events to top it off.
So, it’s without reservation that Laws was selected to join past winners that include Carol Cohn, Arnie Coleman, Sydney Davis-Yagel, and last year’s winner Bob Crawford among those who have earned the honor since its inception in 2008.
“I was honored to be recognized by our National organization as the person representative of a much larger group of members who contribute to the daily wellbeing and success of the SCCA,” Law said in acceptance of the award. “I was mentored and befriended by many fellow members who taught me and placed their trust in me to carry on their efforts. And I’m thankful for a life-long partner in Mary Jane who paved the path to SCCA and participated beside me.”
And while the true honor is being recognized by fellow members for your accomplishments, the Member of Excellence comes with another spectacular prize – a trip to any motorsports event, anywhere in the world.
Thanks to a very generous grant at the start of the award by an anonymous member, the winner gets travel expenses to the event. Thanks to the SCCA’s continued standing in the motorsports world, passes are arranged. This has been used to visit exotic Formula One race destinations, the 24 Hours of LeMans, and more – and now Laws gets his choice.
“There were so many superlatives shared in support of this nomination it was hard to narrow it down to just a few,” SCCA President Michael Cobb said. “He’s a cornerstone of CenDiv… the sounding board for new ideas. He is the true definition of Member of Excellence.”
So when George and Mary Jane board the plane to head off on their trip, it will be well deserved.
Just please, someone – remind George that he’s there to relax, and isn’t responsible for making the event happen.
Photo courtesy of the Laws Family
