Starting your SCCA journey

The Sports Car Club of America is, without a doubt, one of the best automotive and motorsports clubs around, allowing anyone with a dream to jump into motorsports. The SCCA came into existence in 1944 with the purpose of creating a sports car club in the United States. While vintage car clubs existed in the 1940s, the founders of the SCCA wanted a club specifically for sports cars. The definition of a sports car – for their purposes – was a car that was newer than a 1914 model and was built "primarily for sports motoring as opposed to mere transportation." Ahh, the good old days.

Since then, the SCCA has grown in just about every way imaginable. Tens of thousands of members now make up the SCCA, and they participate in everything from wheel-to-wheel racing to autocross to rally and beyond, and they're all out there doing it affordably and for fun – what a great hobby! Each member makes the SCCA what it is and, in turn, the club grows and becomes stronger because of its members.

Step one is to join. Membership dues are affordable, especially with SCCA's First Gear program offering a massive discount to members under the age of 25, a military discount for those serving our country, and the family membership, which makes it very affordable to put an SCCA membership card in the hands of your entire family. Just head to www.scca.com/join or call (800) 770-2055 to get started. As a benefit of membership, you'll also receive SportsCar magazine.

The next to know is that no matter what you choose to do, your first weekend will be a nerve-wracking one. You won't know what you're doing, you'll think you got everything wrong and you might assume everyone is judging you. Fear not – every member at the event is not only not judging you, they're willing to give you tons of free advice.

Every SCCA member has had a "first event." They've all been there, and they know just how overwhelmed you feel. Talk to them, and they'll answer all your questions. This is one of the reasons people often refer to their SCCA competitors as their "SCCA family." Everyone might all be competing against each other, but they're all there to have fun, and it's more fun if everyone's having a good time.

How the SCCA works

Believe it or not, the SCCA is actually a club. As such, from the regional level to the national level, members have a say in the rules, and everyone can even run for any elected position.

The SCCA revolves around rules. No matter which part of the club you're talking about, there's a rulebook containing what you need to know. From how an event is run to roll cage requirements to car classifications and modification allowances to mandatory sticker placement, it's all in the various rulebooks. But who comes up with those rules?

There are several boards that are responsible for getting the rules into the rulebooks. There is the Club Racing Board (CRB), the Solo Events Board (SEB), the RallyCross Board (RXB) and the RoadRally Board (RRB), with those boards having committees for the various categories that make up their type of racing. The individual boards then meet with the national Board of Directors (BoD) with rules changes and competition adjustments, and the BoD either approves or rejects the recommendations.

If you want to suggest a rules change or competition adjustment for your class or specific car, you can contact the any of the various boards by going to www.crbscca.com or www.sebscca.com and selecting the appropriate pull down selection.

Any rules changes and competition adjustments are then printed in Fastrack News, which is available at www.scca.com/fastrack, with a new issue being released on the 20th of each month.

As you become more knowledgeable about your class and the SCCA, you might decide you want to help maintain the rules, and for that you can apply to the individual boards to become a member. If a more global view of the Club is for you, you can even run for a position on the BoD.

The SCCA is, indeed, a Club. The more involved you are, the better the Club becomes.

You're almost ready to start

In the coming days and weeks, we'll present more information about the specific competition areas in the SCCA. We'll tell you how to get started in amateur road racing, autocross, RallyCross, and RoadRally, and how to volunteer (often referred to as "the best seat in the house").

By the time you're finished reading this series, you'll know all there is to know about how to get involved in the SCCA. Well, almost. But if you're ever in any doubt, ask someone – SCCA members are a friendly bunch of car lovers.

• This story originally appeared in magazine, the official publication of the Sports Car Club of America. For more information on the SCCA, head to www.scca.com.