SCCA creates autocross classes for pre-1975 sports cars

Posted on Jul 18, 2022 in Featured | 2 comments

The Sports Car Club of America has announced the creation of two classes for pre-1975 sports cars in its popular Solo autocross program, giving owners of classic cars a way to participate against cars of similar technology. The rules for the new classes, Heritage Classic Street and Heritage Classic Race, can be found on the SCCA’s website.

Howard Duncan, the SCCA’s director of Solo and Rally, said in an email that the new classes are intended to address rules that have evolved to keep pace with modern automotive technology, leaving behind the older cars that were essential to the SCCA’s founding in the first place. “HC is intended to be a tool for our local Regions to employ to make their local Solo events more appealing to this left-behind group of enthusiasts by offering up a pair of classes where classic car enthusiasts can run with each other in a manner of their choosing,” he said. “The rules are very simple by the usual standards of SCCA, a real ‘run what you brung’ approach.”

“The idea for HC came to me after reading an article in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car about vintage racing where the reader was encouraged to first try their hand at running their car at a local autocross before making the larger time and resource investment required for racing,” he continued. “As I thought about the wisdom of that advice, it hit me that the environment at an SCCA Solo event might not be as inviting and pleasant as it could be to a classic car owner, as the rules and structure had become much more designed for newer vehicles and less experienced enthusiasts (younger crowd) where they may not feel fully welcomed.” While the SCCA is best known for road racing, Solo is bigger. SCCA chapters conduct about 1,100 autocross events each year, drawing 75,000 entrants.

Howard notes that the HC classes have only recently been launched, and that local governing boards may not yet be aware of them – so it’s probably a good idea to double-check with organizers before bringing your model year 1974 and older imported sports car, coupe or sedan to an event.