Welcoming new participants into the fold has been a goal since the founding of the Sports Car Club of America™ in 1944. It was not easy then, and it’s not easy now. Still, there are many ways to grow the Club, with SCCA®’s Ohio Valley Region (OVR) opting to invest directly in the next generation. For 2026, OVR is offering a $100 scholarship for up to 20 first-time drivers who enter an OVR Time Trials event.

As OVR Board member Norm Murdock puts it: “The idea is to tease new drivers onto the track and get them hooked to racing. We, like lots of Regions, are seeing new drivers less and less from younger, as well as more economically stressed, age ranges.”

The Region’s $100 Time Trials scholarship puts real cash back in the pocket of those first-time drivers when they most need it.

Why Time Trials and not SCCA Road Racing? Time Trials events are one of the most affordable entry points to driving on the track, and by OVR helping subsidize those entries for new participants, the Region makes it more affordable for them to get to their first event in their own street car.

“The considerable investment for a GCR-compliant full racing car would render this program ineffective in its goal to ‘plant the seed’ with on-the-fence new drivers,” Murdock explains. “Maybe a driver gets turned onto SCCA via this one-time scholarship as a novice with their street car, but then jumps in with a racing car and joins the road racing program later. Or, maybe they have such a good experience that they tell a friend, and now we have multiple new Time Trials drivers who keep coming back because they were welcomed by this scholarship.

“Ultimately, it’s all about getting more drivers to more events.”

OVR’s criteria for someone receiving the Region’s $100 Time Trials scholarship are threefold:

• Must be a full SCCA and OVR member
• Must be a true novice (no prior on-track experience)
• Must complete the event safely and with good sportsmanship

Drivers pay upfront for the event (usually around $375), then OVR issues a $100 refund after a successful event.

“We’re putting our Region’s funds where our mouth is to help the sport,” Murdock says. “We encourage every SCCA Region to look at their own planning – how can you lower the barrier to entry and invite someone new to the grid?”

Applications for the scholarship will be linked on the event registration page and in the event’s Supplemental Regulations. Links to the scholarship will also appear on the Ohio Valley Region Facebook page and website.

For more information on Ohio Valley Region and its various programs, click here.

Photo by Robert Yorde