The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America stands as a cornerstone of the racing world. Recognizing luminaries of the sport, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America has inducted motorsport legends of all kinds, including numerous who cut their teeth in SCCA® competition, like Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant, Briggs Cunningham, Mark Donohue, John Fitch, George Follmer, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Dan Gurney, Jim Hall, Phil Hill, Tommy Kendall, Ken Miles, Augie Pabst, Scott Pruett, Brian Redman, Carroll Shelby, and Bob Tullius, to name a few. In the listing of 2026 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductees is another racing legend whose ties to the SCCA run deep: John Morton.
The official induction ceremony was held during the 38th Annual Induction Celebration Presented by Toyota Gazoo Racing on March 9-10, 2026, in Daytona Beach, where Morton was in attendance.
Here’s what the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America had to say about John Morton:
“The ageless Morton first made headlines in the early 1970s as lead driver for 2022 MSHFA [Motorsports Hall of Fame of America] inductee Peter Brock and his BRE Datsuns, winning consecutive SCCA C Production national championships (1970, 1971) in the outfit’s 240Zs and consecutive Trans-Am Under 2.5 titles (1971, 1972) in BRE 510s, winning 12 of 19 starts. Nevertheless, Morton didn’t attract many top professional rides until the late ’80s. He won twice in 11 starts in 1987 in underpowered Group 44, Inc. Jaguar XJR-7 GTPs owned by 2018 MSHFA inductee Bob Tullius and four times in eight starts in the top-rated Electramotive Nissan GTP cars in 1988. Other noteworthy results include a stunning second overall and first in IMSA GTO at the 1979 Rolex 24 at Daytona in a Ferrari 365 GTB/4, first in Group C2 at the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans and first overall in the 1985 L.A. Times GP in a Porsche 962. He continued winning into the 2000s. At the 50th annual SCCA Runoffs in 2013, Morton, age 71, started 13th and finished 10th despite having only a few practice sessions in the car.”
While the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America’s description captures numerous high points of Morton’s racing career, there’s a lot more to the story – and for that, SCCA’s SportsCar magazine featured him on the cover of the March 2016 issue.
For instance, there’s his humility. As he told SportsCar’s editors in that issue: “Racing has changed so much since I started, and it’s interesting to have lived through all that. I was pretty good, with a lot of dedication, but I wasn’t overly burdened with talent. If I started racing at 21 today, there’s no way I would get anywhere.”
Read the entire SportsCar magazine feature article on John Morton here:
Photo by Justin Barby
