The era of early street road races ended abruptly after a series of serious accidents in the early 1950s. The SCCA racing program was saved by sports car owner and enthusiast General Curtis LeMay who was head of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command.
He opened up the SAC bases to racing as a way to generate funds for his Airman’s Living Improvement Fund. While the runways and taxiways of the bases presented few elevation changes and challenging corners, there was little to hit, a selling point after the dangers of street courses. For three years, the SCCA had access to bases in Washington, Nevada, California, Nebraska, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Georgia, and Florida.
LeMay was never allowed to race his Allard J2, but it was campaigned by SCCA President Fred Wacker, Roy Scott and others at the Offutt Air Force Base (Nebraska) events where LeMay was stationed. The partnership suited the needs of both the SAC and SCCA. Both prospered from the events in the three years of the “SAC era.”
For his contributions, LeMay was presented the Woolf Barnato Award in 1954 and inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame in 2007.
To read more about LeMay and the SAC era, visit the following links:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/10/racing-heroes-general-curtis-lemay/
http://www.velocetoday.com/people/people_55.php
http://carshowsafari.com/news/2014/07/30/on-land-with-the-air-force/
SCCA offers discounted membership rates for active military personnel. For more information, click here.