Those in the Sports Car Club of America® who knew Northern New Jersey Region member Bob Dowie, knew a person who should be listened to when he spoke. Bob’s knowledge of SCCA Road Racing and the Club was equally expansive and respected, with him offering that knowledge selflessly through years of service to the SCCA. It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of this 36-year Club member and friend.

A resident of Chester, NY, where he owned Village Auto Works for more than 40 years, Bob spent 10 years serving on the Club Racing Board (CRB), with him stepping down as the Chairman in 2011. He also held Divisional Scrutineer and Full Competition licenses, racing in GT-5 and GT-Lite.

In his final monthly CRB column in the January 2012 issue of SportsCar magazine, Bob discussed many of the lessons he’d learned over the prior decade, along with his experience working with the SCCA Board of Directors (BoD). “I would be lying if I said I was never frustrated [with the BoD], but those tough issues are few and far between and, for the most part, the BoD lets the CRB do the job the CRB members were appointed to do.”

Four years after departing the CRB, Bob ran for a position on that very same SCCA Board of Directors, joining the BoD in 2016 for Area 1, representing SCCA’s New England, New York, and Northern New Jersey Regions, where he served two full terms, ending in 2021.

“I first got involved in the Club in the early 1970s as a spectator at Lime Rock Park,” he told SportsCar in 2016 shortly after joining the BoD. “As I got to know some of the competitors, I would occasionally help them in the paddock. In 1980, I opened my own import car repair shop and wanted to get involved in racing. I had come to realize that I really enjoyed road racing and was looking for someone to work with.

“As luck would have it, as I was pulling into a local gas station, I saw a guy pulling out with a Showroom Stock A 260Z on a trailer. I followed him home, introduced myself, and told him I’d like to work with his racing effort. It was the start of a great friendship….”

Bob’s SCCA membership spanned from June 25, 1987, until his passing on June 30, 2023, at age 71.

“I first met Bob when interviewing for the President/CEO job,” said SCCA President and CEO Mike Cobb. “He asked some tough questions — but he was always fair, and if we ever disagreed, he would win in the end as he would always close with that trademark ‘Dowie smile and laugh.’ He was a friend to many, had a real passion for the Club and the people in it, and spoke his mind while being open to hearing other perspectives. I truly enjoyed working with him and for him, and we are a better Club because of folks like Bob Dowie.”

Bob is survived by his wife, fellow Northern New Jersey Region member Leslie Dowie. A celebration of life will be planned by friends and family, taking place at Village Auto Works.

For renowned racer, team owner, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner, and SCCA® Hall of Fame member Roger Penske, trophies are a fact of life. In fact, Penske’s team recently earned him his 19th Baby Borg during the 2023 Indy 500. But when it comes to motorsports, there are trophies, and then there are trophies. For Penske, the weekend he collected another Baby Borg was also the same weekend he was presented with a racing trophy he earned some 65 years earlier during an SCCA race, but had lost track of.

RACER.com recently told the story of a silver cup Penske had won during an SCCA National race in Maryland in 1958. As RACER reported:

“Penske the driver first got his feet wet in amateur road races, but in 1958 he decided to up the stakes and acquire a used Porsche RS for SCCA events. The payoff was immediate — he won the 1500cc class in the SCCA National at Marlboro Raceway in Maryland — and he received an elegant silver cup for his efforts.

“He continued to have success in sports cars for the next few years, including wins at the Riverside California Grand Prix and the Pacific Grand Prix in 1962, and the Nassau Tourist Trophy in 1964. But in 1965 he hung up his helmet to focus on his rapidly expanding business interests, and over the years that followed, that first trophy from 1958 became lost.”

Recently, motorsports buff Mike Teske happened upon this exact trophy at an antique shop in California.

“I actually have a couple of NASCARs and I was searching for trophies, and I found a couple that were for cars that I had,” Teske told RACER. “So I’ve always kept an eye out for them, and when I saw this one… I didn’t even really know about Marlboro Raceway, so it piqued my interest. The guy in the antique store didn’t know what it was, so I had to do a little research.”

How did Teske discover this was Penske’s trophy, and how did he get in touch with The Captain himself in order to return it? Click the link below to find out.

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