[DON S.]

Although I am not an SCCA competitor, a fellow on my staff has raced at the SCCA national level for 30+ years. Based on my extensive conversations with him, Alain is dead on with his observations about SCCA classes and racing. In order to be competitive in SCCA, my friend's Lotus Super 7 is about as "stock" as a NASCAR stocker. Also, wrangling over rules and cheating seems to be perpetual, with more lawyering going on at SCCA Competition Board meetings than at your local courthouse. Finally, the unfortunate "if you can't beat 'em, then run 'em off the track" philosophy that has infected NASCAR has invaded SCCA as well. Exercising your GT40 by hooking up with a Porsche club, as has been suggested, is a good idea, although some PCA regions may frown on non-Porsche powered cars. For my money, commercial companies like "Car Guys" offer the best opportunity to have fun on the track with your own car. They start with classroom chalk board sessions and then up the excitement in a gradual manner, first with lapping with an instructor driving, then the instructor as a passenger, and finally with you solo. Passing, and any kind of wheel-to-wheel proximity, are very limited, but that's fine by me. Car Guys holds sessions at a number of tracks up and down the east coast.