Bob Dowie was an impressive 36-year SCCA member with an equally impressive record of service to the Club. Through the years, Dowie held a Divisional Scrutineer license as well as a Competition License, where he competed in GT-5 and GT-Lite. For 10 years, he served on the Club Racing Board (CRB), with many of those years serving as the CRB chairman. After departing the CRB, Dowie ran for Area 1 Director on the Club’s Board of Directors, serving two full terms from 2016-’21.

Dowie’s involvement with the SCCA began as a spectator in the early 1970s. He then became involved, not surprisingly, by helping racers. After opening his own repair shop in 1980, he then decided he wanted to race.

Always willing to bring new people into the Club through programs like road racing, Track Night in America, Solo, flagging, and more, Dowie, who passed away in mid-2023, is remembered as a fair and valued resource to various Club boards and officials, as well as any member who might ask for his opinion or assistance.

“Being involved with Club Racing for so many years, I’m not sure how I would describe myself,” Dowie once said in an article in SCCA’s SportsCar magazine. “I think I’m a racer first, but I’m also concerned with the nuts and bolts of how the Club works, and I truly enjoyed the decade I spent on the Club Racing Board. Folks ask how I handled being in such a thankless position for 10 years. The fact is that it really isn’t thankless. Serving on the CRB puts you in the position to make positive changes in the program. Yes, you take some heat from members who felt you are not considering their point of view, but you have to keep in mind how passionate our racers are and not take it personally. Yeah, it was lots of work, but if you think about it, how bad is it that you spend a few hours a month on phone calls talking about racecars and racing?”

Dowie received SCCA’s John McGill Award in 2012 and the Woolf Barnato Award the following year.

Bob Dowie was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame on Jan. 17, 2025.