Numbers have always been important to Milwaukee Region member Scott Anger – and scoring cars, he says, is something that “kind of comes naturally to me.” Naturally or not, his work and dedication to the sport earned him the Timing & Scoring SCCA® Worker of the Year Award Presented by Mazda in 2024.
His adventure began at an early age.
“I was one of those kids at 9 or 10 who kept track of the cars – the top ten,” he says. At Turn 5 at Road America, the same people would often show up to watch the races. This was a time before big screens, and the track speakers were (as they often still are) bad. People got to know that he kept track of the cars in every race and would often ask him who was in which position.
“So, since I was young, I’ve been doing it,” he says. Timing & Scoring is truly something he gravitated toward.
Although Scott didn’t become a member of the SCCA until 2006, he had considerable experience in Timing & Scoring at a variety of tracks. After college, he worked T&S at the Milwaukee Mile in the 1980s. Each car had a scorer, and the scorer would mark the car’s time on the score sheet. When he did a NASCAR race at the Mile, he was given three cars to score – it was a test to see if he could do it, and he passed. He went on to work pro races, including some IMSA weekends.
When Milwaukee Region lost some of its T&S volunteers, he was approached to work at some vintage and SCCA races as a non-member volunteer. He continued to do that until racing slowed considerably at the Milwaukee Mile. Without the Mile, he focused on SCCA as a member. That allowed him to do more T&S at Road America and Blackhawk – that’s what he’s been doing since 2006.
Now that he’s retired from the “real world,” he wants to work T&S at more tracks – all kinds of tracks – “and do the thing I really love to do, T&S,” he says. “I really enjoy it.”
Being an SCCA member allows him to do what he really enjoys doing, which is being involved in racing. “I find it hard to spectate,” he admits.
Scott has become known for his mastering of the Orbits Timing System. His first race using the Orbits system was a Formula Ford race with 100 cars in it. Some of them didn’t have transponders. He and his crew had to learn the system on the fly. It was a challenge, but they made it work.
He doesn’t consider himself an expert, but he does pay attention to how the system works – and there is a secret. It’s critical, he says, to be surrounded by other like-minded people. “There’s no way I can do what I do without having good people around me,” Scott admits.
Are there any other specialties he’d like to try? His answer was a quick no. Timing & Scoring is what he enjoys, and it’s what he’ll continue to do with the SCCA.
Want to work races like Scott? Head to scca.com/trackside and begin your own adventure.
Photo courtesy Scott Anger
