Gone Fishin’ at GingerMan Majors

There’s lots of racing and action on track during SCCA U.S. Majors Tour events.  But there are ancillary things to do, too, during these exciting weekends.  And not all the activities are for adults.

Take for example the recent SCCA U.S. Majors Tour at GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, Michigan.  During the planning process for the Northern Conference event, Race Chair Jeff Luckritz thought there should be a special activity just for kids during the weekend to get them involved.  The concept of a simple, fun fishing tournament emerged and, well, snowballed into a fabulous affair that came together thanks to the great work of several folks.

South Bend Regional Executive Dennis Jennings reached out to some friends who love fishing to see if they would host the tournament.  A week before the race, GingerMan’s small paddock pond was stocked with 200 bluegills, the cost being shared between the track and South Bend Region. To help out, the track manager also bought some fishing poles and got the bait donated.  Then the tournament hosts called a couple places to scare up some door prizes and even hauled to the track their bass boat for kids to explore.

With everything in place, the tournament started at 9am Saturday morning and ran until noon. In all, 14 kids joined in and caught 208 fish in three hours.  While the kids didn’t get to keep their catch, many of them did receive pretty cool trophies Saturday night in front of 300 people attending the evening’s dinner soiree.

The Sports Car Club of America is all about having fun with cars.  But it’s more than that.  It’s also about having fun with friends and family … and that was achieved in spades during the GingerMan Majors.