Cary
I think what eventually became the " runoffs" started off with an event
called the ARRC that was at least partially organized by Sports Car Graphic
(SGC) Magazine in 1964. The event involved invitations to the top cars in
their respective divisions and for the first few years it alternated
between Riverside and Daytona. In trying to put together the history of a
TR3 that I own that took part in the 1966 event at Riverside, I contacted
the late Harry Handley who was the SCCA Archivist and learned a bit about
what the race was about at that time.
I had the impression from Harry that most of what records he had of that
era were in the form of race reports from Sports Car (the magazine of SCCA,
not to be confused with Sports Car Graphic). For $10 Harry mailed me a copy
of the issue that had the ARRC results from 1966 that I was looking for. I
recall him emphasizing that the 1966 race was the first true National
Championship event where a single winner was recognized by SCCA. I
understood him to say that the two prior years had crowned ARRC winners, but
with respect to SCCA, National Championship status was conferred upon each
divisional champion in each class based on their results running National
races within their division. Kas or someone who was there might have a
clearer recollection of all of that. Without digging into some old info,
I'm not sure when the "Runoffs" term came into play, but it was not used in
1966. I want to say it was sometime after the race settled into an annual
event at Road Atlanta in 1970 or thereabouts.
Regarding your question about information about SCCA classes and when
Triumphs were involved; the old GCR's and production car specifications can
answer a lot of those questions. There is some good information on the
SOVERN website regarding both SCCA and FIA regulations and classes for
various years. If your question goes to how many TR's were raced and by
whom in which year, I would think the old copies of Sports Car, Competition
Press (Autoweek's precursor) and SCG would be great resources. In reading
the SCG report of the 1966 Riverside race you would learn that some guy
named Bob Tullius was driving a Dodge Dart in A Sedan (in addition to a TR4
in D Production). I have been told that some SCCA regions have maintained
archives that may go back some years; whether you could dig up anything back
in the early days of the TR2's I don't know. I'm not sure who took over
the SCCA National post after Harry Handley died although I seem to recall a
piece in Sports Car in the last few years that of described the new person
and the daunting task of making sense of the mountains of boxes he
inherited.
You are right about the popularity of TR's in the early days, at least
at the ARRC. The 1966 event saw 10 TR3's in F Production and 9 TR4's in D.
The next year the TR3's were bumped up to E Production and I think the only
TR3
that ran was Lee Midgely (although he won the race). When it comes to rules
and how to level the playing field, some things never seem to change. You
are also right in suggesting that a piece on the history of TR's racing in
this country would be nice. Thanks to Kas and the Triumph Competition
Department making the cars, the advice, and the special bits very available,
there were a hell of a bunch of them being raced for years by a lot of
everyday people. For twenty-some years they were the backbone of club
racing in numbers that appear to exceed almost every other make. I'm always
led to wonder (at least at vintage events here in the Northwest) where have
people dug up all these damn MG's and conversely, where are all the TR's
that used to be around in swarms?
Dave Talbott
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