21 replies to this topic

[island]

Hi, I am looking for race reports & results in the SCCA`s Sports Car magazine.

 

Road Atlanta, May 6; Charlotte, May 20; Mosport, June 3; Watkins Glen, July 8; Michigan, July 15; Brainerd, August 19; Watkins Glen, October 6.

 

Does anyone have 1979 Sports Car copies?

[racinggeek]

I have some of them via Sports Car; might have others in my Formula/Racecar magazine collection but haven't yet checked. How are you looking to get these reports/results?

[island]

Thanks, racinggeek. I sent you a PM.

[Allen Brown]

Island, I have 1979 Sports Car and I've just emailed you a first report to check it's what you're after.

Edited by Allen Brown, 28 January 2017 - 16:07.

[E1pix]

I have all those, and Racecar, and Autoweek, but they're at a friend's race shop in Milwaukee and we're not. :-(

Have you tried SCCA? I wonder if they've digitized them.

[RA Historian]

Have you tried SCCA? I wonder if they've digitized them.

SCCA turned all its archives over the the IMRRC a year or so ago. They may be the better source.

[E1pix]

Well done, Tom.

http://www.racingarchives.org

[Allen Brown]

I have already sent island what he asked for.

[island]

Thanks, Allen.

[DCapps]

Have you tried SCCA? I wonder if they've digitized them.

 

No, the SCCA seems not to have digitized anything in its archives, something which the IMRRC will now be tackling for some time to come. I have seen the material at the IMRRC and it is literally massive and will take quite an effort to digitize. They will get it done, but, as with any digitization effort, it is very time consuming, far more than people realize.

[E1pix]

I hear that, I'm an image archiver anymore!

(42 years of imagery)

Can't imagine SCCA not understanding this -- despite the overwhelming nature of it. My archives were scanned but if doing it over they may be better repro-duped on a large-sensor camera with a Micro lens. Would work splendidly for paper as well.

Edit: yet to test this, but with a 110mb capture it should be dynamite.

Edited by E1pix, 06 February 2017 - 22:06.

[RA Historian]

Bear in mind that the SCCA staff is small. They simply did not have the manpower to assign a person
to digitizing all their material. However, it is moot now, as all their archives have been given to
the IMRRC.

An overseas acquaintance of mine has digitized many years of Sports Car, and was kind enough a while
back to send me all the 1960s. So, coupled with the hard copies in my library from my own membership,
which is approaching 50 years (gasp!) I now have all from Jan. 1960 to present. The main trick is finding
the proper issue, as they are kept in storage boxes scattered all through my basement, den, and garage.

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 07 February 2017 - 14:31.

[E1pix]

Moot or not, it would have been worth doing to show an online world market where they've been, of past glories they really should wish to reconstruct. It's almost like they're trying to forget.

If of interest to the IMRRC, it certainly should be to the originators! The project might have involved 1,000 pages per year, and that's not that big a job.

The SCCA's been long disconnected to what made them great, and that's partly why it's just a participant's club now.

[raceannouncer2003]

There were two publications from SCCA, right?...the SCCA national Newsletter and Sports Car magazine.  What years did these coexist?  I have the newsletter on my computer from 1952 to 1958.

 

Vince H.

[RA Historian]

I have several years of the newsletter also, and my supply runs out in the late 1950s. I suspect
that is about the time that it was discontinued.

As far as SCCA is concerned, their archives have been outsourced for decades. That is, they were not at
National HQ but were in the possession of a succession of volunteers who stored them, often in their
garage, and never had the time or means to digitize them. Hence, that project was always out of their
immediate reach. It is only in the past 10 - 15 years that the digitization process has become widely
available, and SCCA never had possession of the files to do anything. Even if they had the physical
possession I doubt if they had manpower and funds to do the project. However, with the IMRRC now in
possession, only good things can happen.

[E1pix]

It is with great fortune that we have/had the Argetsingers -- and everyone involved with the IMRRC -- and am likely to donate all of my images and materials there someday. I'm not even sure we can yet fully recognize the enormous value of their efforts.

[raceannouncer2003]

There are some SCCA Sports Car magazines from the 50s on eBay now.  They range in price from $9 to $25.  Does someone on the forum have these?  Maybe we should start a new thread, if there isn't one already.

 

Vince H.

[Allen Brown]

Sports Car magazine up to 1970 was digitised some years ago and available for sale on CD.  I have those, and also most from 1971 onwards into the 1990s in "dead tree edition".  Some years they were very good indeed; some years they were rubbish.

 

The SCCA published much more than just Sports Car of course.  Every SCCA Region was at one time obliged to publish a newsletter, and some of these, notably San Francisco Region's The Wheel, Cal Club's Finish Line, Chicago's Piston Patter and New England Region's Pit Talk, were excellent publications.  I continually try to buy more of those from the 1960s and 1970s, but they can be difficult to locate.  

 

I put together this list a few years ago.  My knowledge of some is exceedingly sketchy, but Chris Townsend and I have acquired a very large collection of The Wheel, and I have hundreds of others.  

http://www.oldracing...l-publications/

[Rupertlt1]

There are some fragments from Nebraska here:

 

http://nrsccahistory...s/reprints.html

 

RGDS RLT

[RA Historian]

Sports Car magazine up to 1970 was digitised some years ago and available for sale on CD.  I have those, and also most from 1971 onwards into the 1990s
in "dead tree edition".  Some years they were very good indeed; some years they were rubbish.

I have the 1960s in digitized form, and every copy from April, 1967 to date in hard copy. Of course, trying to find a specific copy or article
is a bit of a chore, what with 600 paper issues stored in various boxes in various places.

I will take a bit of issue with the statement that some were rubbish. Of course, I am obliged to say that as I have been a Contributing Editor
of the magazine since 1980.

Tom

[E1pix]

Good one, Tom -- and good work. :-)

I concur it remains a valuable resource, hence my earlier diatribe.

[E1pix]

There are some SCCA Sports Car magazines from the 50s on eBay now.  They range in price from $9 to $25.  Does someone on the forum have these?  Maybe we should start a new thread, if there isn't one already.
 
Vince H.

Can't recall how many I have, but they're housed not far from the aforementioned contributor.