This article first appeared in the September 2002 edition of SportsCar magazine. Just announced, the 2016 President’s Cup was won by Brian Linn for his demonstration of skill and success in his Championship drive during the H Production race of this year’s SCCA Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB. The award will be presented at the 2017 SCCA Hall of Fame Banquet on January 21, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nev.
The History of One of the Sports Car Club of America’s Most Distinguished Awards, the President’s Cup, Is Long and Notable
By Dave Roethel and Richard S. James
Two months ago, major auto racing returned to the nation’s capital as the racers of the Trans-Am Series, World Challenge and the American Le Mans Series raced around RFK stadium in the Cadillac National Grand Prix in Washington D.C. That event brought back memories for many Sports Car Club of America members of the glory days when the first auto races were organized by the Washington D.C. Region of SCCA at nearby Andrews Air Force Base near Forestville, Md. The feature of that program was the President’s Cup Race that featured the day’s top drivers in Ferraris, Maseratis, Jaguars and other high-performance sports cars. To underscore the caliber of that event, a new major trophy was created for those races—the President’s Cup.
The President’s Cup is one of the oldest perpetual awards presented annually by the SCCA. Most SCCA members are familiar with the award as one presented to a driver who best demonstrates ability, competitiveness and success at the Valvoline Runoffs. However, its history begins well before the first American Road Race of Champions, the original name of the Runoffs.
The President’s Cup was donated anonymously; but it is now well known that the Coca-Cola Company and its president, R.W. Woodruff, was the benefactor. According to its terms, the Cup was to be presented annually by “the President of the United States to the sports car driver who wins the feature race designated as the President’s Cup Race.” In keeping with that charge, Dwight D. Eisenhower presented it for the first time in White House ceremonies on May 2, 1954, to Bill Spear—who, in a Ferrari 4.5, won the inaugural President’s Cup Race. The event was a national championship event organized by D.C. Region that drew about 75,000 spectators.
The second presentation of the Cup was to Sherwood Johnston, who drove a Jaguar D-Type in the President’s Cup Race on Oct. 16, 1955. That year, the race was held at the Fairchild Airport in Hagerstown, Md. The Cup was presented by presidential appointment secretary Bernard M. Shanley.
After a hiatus in 1956, the tradition continued in 1957, this time moving off the Strategic Air Command airfields and onto a purpose-built track. The third President’s Cup race was held at the new Virginia International Raceway near Danville, Va., on Oct. 27 of that year. There was also another twist to the President’s Cup that year; The Cup was won by two drivers, Walter Hansgen and Charles Wallace. Wallace actually drove the winning D-Type Jaguar for two-thirds of the race, but gave it up to Hansgen, whose own D-Type had retired. However, the SCCA records only credit Hansgen with receiving the Cup, since he was driving when the checkered flag came down. The trophy was presented that year by Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
For the next several years, the President’s Cup race was contested at VIR and Marlboro Raceway, then the new home track of the D.C. Region beginning in 1955. On hand for some of those presentations was General Curtis LeMay, who was presented the first President’s Cup at Andrews AFB and also made the many SCCA races at Strategic Air Command bases possible. The winners in those years included Hansgen two more times, Don Sesslar, Roger Penske (three times), and Ed Lowther.
It is perhaps significant that in its long history only two drivers—Hansgen and Penske—have won the President’s Cup more than once.
For 1965, the President’s Cup Race was the feature race at Chicago Region’s June Sprints at Road America. Jim Hall, running the only non-professional event he would that year, won the race in a Chaparral 2.
In the years after 1965, when the American Road Race of Champions began, the Cup was presented at that event to honor driving performance at the Runoffs and the recipient was chosen by the Chief Steward and the Stewards of the Meet. As a result, the array of recipients and their cars changed markedly. The first winner in that format was Horst Kwech, who won the B Sedan title at Riverside.
The decision to shift the President’s Cup from a Washington D.C. Region venue to an award presented at the Runoffs was made by the SCCA Board of Governors (now known as the Board of Directors). Although the reasons for doing so are unclear, there a couple of theories as to why this happened. The first is that there was a concern that the significance of the Cup might be diluted were it presented to a winner of a feature race at Marlboro, a track considered by some to be a minor facility. In addition, by the mid-‘60s, some of the luster had faded from major sports car racing, with the Ferraris, Jaguars, and Porsches being replaced by Zerox Specials and Genie Fords. While these specials were no slouches by any means, the names didn’t carry the recognition and weight of the cars from Maranello, Coventry, and Stuttgart.
The second possible reason for the shift in the awarding of the President’s Cup is that the Governors were seeking a way to upscale the then-young Runoffs and bring more attention to the event. Awarding the Cup to a driver that did particularly well at that event seemed like a way to gain some recognition for the event.
The list of winners since the President’s Cup became an award presented at the Runoffs is as distinguished as the first winners and reads like a Who’s Who of American auto racing. It includes both those who became well known outside of SCCA for their racing endeavors and those who have left a significant mark in Club Racing.
Notable winners include Jim All, Skip Barber, Jerry Hansen, Bobby Rahal, Paul Newman, Dave Weitzenhof, Anatoly Arutunoff, Jimmy Vasser, Michael Galati, and Warren Stilwell. Most of the winners were National Champions the year they won, and sometimes won two races in the same year; but not all won the race for which they were awarded the Cup. The most recent was Howard Landon, chosen for his stunning drive from 21st to a silver medal in a very wet Formula Vee National Championship race in 1999.
The President’s Cup resides at the SCCA headquarters in Centennial, Colo. (soon to be in Topeka, Kan.) and each year is engraved with the name of the winner. The winner receives a letter from the President of the United States congratulating him or her on winning the President’s Cup.
President’s Cup Winners 1954-2016:
1954 - Bill Spear
1955 - Sherwood Johnston
1956 - Not Presented
1957 - Walt Hansgen
1958 - Walt Hansgen
1959 - Don Sesslar
1960 - Roger Penske
1961 - Walt Hansgen
1962 - Roger Penske
1963 - Roger Penske
1964 - Ed Lowther
1965 - Jim Hall
1966 - Horst Kwech
1967 - Ron LaPeer
1968 - Rich McDaniel
1969 - Paul Spruell
1970 - Skip Barber
1971 - Jerry Hansen
1972 - Bob McQueen
1973 - Harry Ingle
1974 - Bill Schmid
1975 - Bobby Rahal
1976 - P.L Newman
1977 - Dave Wietzenhof
1978 - Don Courtney
1979 - Cat Kizer
1980 - Wayne Moore
1981 - Anatoly Arutunoff
1982 - Terry McKenna
1983 - Fred Fiala
1984 - George Fizell
1985 - Paul Decker
1986 - Jim Vasser
1987 - Stevan Davis
1988 - Al Beasley, Sr.
1989 - David Finch
1990 - Bob Boig
1991 - Ray Stone
1992 - Juan F, Montalvo Jr,
1993 - Steve Hussey
1994 - Michael Galati
1995 - Dan Camichael
1996 - Bruce May
1997 - Warren Stilwell
1998 - Brad Stout
1999 - Howard Landon
2000 - John Baucom
2001 - John Heinricy
2002 - Larry Hansen
2003 - Rennie Clayton
2004 - Jeff Loughead
2005 - Kent Prather
2006 - Mike Miserendino
2007 - Andrew Aquilante
2008 - Niki Coello
2009 - Sam Halkias
2010 - Andrew McDermid
2011 - Elivan Goulart
2012 - Jim Drago
2013 - Tim Kautz
2014 - Andrew Longe
2015 - Jonathan Goring
2016 – Brian Linn
Illustration by Paul Laguette
