The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) has added to its Marketing and Communications team with the addition of Jim Llewellyn as the new SCCA Public Relations Manager.
In his position, Llewellyn will be responsible for the promotion and public relations of SCCA Club Racing, Solo, Rally and Experiential Programs within the Club and externally through media relations. He will be tasked with overseeing and implementing an overall communications strategy for SCCA, Inc., and develop plans to grow that communication inside and outside the Club.
“I grew up watching SCCA events and honored to now be a member of the team,” Llewellyn said. “This Club is filled with wonderful people and wonderful stories, and I look forward to sharing those stories with Club members and journalists alike so others can better understand why we are all so passionate about our sport and Club.”
A graduate of Kent State University’s journalism school, Llewellyn has spent more than two decades working in communications. His background in automotive and motorsports includes work with a NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year, and a Baja 500 Trophy Truck team. He has done freelance work for Lucas Oil and MAVTV, and worked driving programs for Mazda, Car and Driver, and Chevrolet. In 2015, he helmed public relations activities for SCCA Track Night in America Driven by Tire Rack.
An SCCA member for more than a decade, Llewellyn comes to Topeka from Los Angeles where he has lived for nearly 20 years. A Midwesterner at heart, he grew up in Northeast Ohio and spent his formative years at tracks such as Nelson Ledges and Mid-Ohio. He earned his SCCA competition license in 2004 and has spent a lot of time pounding around autocross courses.
“Jim has unique experiences in both journalism and public relations venues, but his passion is motorsports, and the SCCA,” Reece White, SCCA Sr. Manager, Marketing & Communications, said. “His work with us as a contractor last year to launch Track Night in America driven by Tire Rack really boosted that program in it’s inaugural season, and we’re looking forward to using those skills to reach even more of the SCCA programs.”
It’s probably way too early for most of us to think about this, but if you want to get a jump on planning your 2016 Nationals, we’ve released the 2016 Tire Rack Solo Nationals run / work days! Click here to learn when you’ll be running / working!
After becoming one of the fastest growing Solo classes in 2015, the CAM Challenge powered by SCCA is set to return this year with four events and some rule changes intended to draw even more competitors.
In 2016, the CAM Challenge will begin its season April 29-May 1 outside Los Angeles at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The second event will be May 20-22 at Mineral Wells in Texas. Next comes the August 12-14 event at Grissom Aeroplex in Peru, Indiana. The season will then wrap up with the invitation-only competition to be held September 3-4 during the Tire Rack ProSolo Finale at Lincoln Airpark in Lincoln, Nebraska. Registration for CAM Challenge events will open February 22 at MotorsportReg.com.
Once again this year, the CAM Challenge will operate under the Match Tour format with three events in one package. The event is broken into four sessions. Sessions 1 and 2 are on Saturday. Each consists of a traditional three-run autocross with the best run from each session added together to determine class rankings. Session 3 on Sunday gives another three runs to determine Challenge qualifiers.
Class Champions will be crowned at each event on Saturday, as well as Challenges for each class on Sunday. Additionally, Evolution Driving School sessions will be held the Friday before events for competitors to enter if they wish.
Howard Duncan, SCCA Senior Director of Solo and Rally, said the new CAM Challenge rules have been available for review since last November. But the two big changes for 2016 are that all muscle cars from 1954 to 1989 will be in the CAM-T class, and Corvettes up to and including C-6s are now allowed in CAM-S.
“The purpose of the CAM Challenge powered by SCCA is to attract automobile enthusiasts who are interested or already participating in ‘classic’ vehicle events for North America manufacturers,” Duncan said. “The SCCA is excited to provide these avid enthusiasts a ‘home’ within our Club, and Regions are very much encouraged to incorporate CAM Challenge classes into autocross events so even more enthusiasts can join in the fun.”
The three CAM Challenge classes (CAM-C, CAM-T, CAM-S) were developed to give traditional and contemporary American muscle car sedans and coupes — with front-engine, rear-wheel-drive configurations — and American sports cars from the 1960s and 1970s a place to compete in a controlled environment. Each car must be street legal, licensed and insured, have intact interiors and use a 200 treadwear street-legal tire.
The 2016 Cam Challenge powered by SCCA is made possible with sponsorship support from Wilwood, Detroit Speed, Ridetech, Speedway Motors, Goodguys, Skunkworks, Mike Maier Inc., Hoosier Performance Engineering, F-Body.Com, Vorshlag Motorsports, Evolution Performance Driving School, SPS and SKF.
For additional information on the Tire Rack SCCA Solo or the CAM Challenge rules, visit http://www.SCCA.com/solo.
