After 80 years of continuous publication, the January/February 2024 Issue of SportsCar magazine is the final regularly published issue. It is also the last SportsCar produced by Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Our company has published the magazine since January 1984, since then we’ve delivered 462 issues, which represents exactly half of the SCCA’s existence. This 80th anniversary edition of SportsCar is available for FREE in digital format.
What follows is the farewell commentary from RACER’s founder and CEO, Paul Pfanner, that was published in the Jan/Feb 2024 issue of SportsCar. In 2022 Paul was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame, and most recently, he was presented the SCCA’s highest honor, the Woolf Barnato Award, during the SCCA’s 80th Anniversary convention in January 2024.
In January 1984, Apple debuted its new Macintosh desktop computer with a powerful Ridley Scott-directed TV commercial that aired only once, in Super Bowl XVIII. It echoed the theme of rebellion against conformity found in George Orwell’s dark 1949 novel, set in an imaginary future. Titled “1984”, it was an ominous vision of a bleak society controlled by devotion to patterns of the past, fear of change, and blind allegiance to an oppressive authority known as Big Brother.
Scott’s homage to Orwell’s “1984” was the green flag in a tech and media race that accelerated humanity’s immersion in the digital age, and it foreshadowed a revolution in global media, marketing and communications powered by access to information and individual choice.
Coincidentally, the January 1984 issue of SportsCar was the first published by what is now Racer Media & Marketing, Inc., at the beginning of SCCA’s 40th Anniversary year. However, that journey to now actually began in May 1983 when Nick Craw began his transformative, record 17-year tenure as SCCA President.
On day one of his presidency, Nick persuaded the SCCA Board of Directors to say “yes” to the small company’s proposal to publish SportsCar. Nick’s direction to the SportsCar team was to reflect the quality programs and the lofty ambition of the ‘new SCCA,’ along with conveying the vibrant energy and competitive spirit of the members of our great Club. In stark contrast to the slow growth of the previous SCCA eras, the Club’s membership soon soared as dynamic new initiatives were regularly introduced, and the Club miraculously became financially stable with substantial cash reserves.
Nick embraced change like no SCCA President before him, and he used it wisely to redefine what was possible. During those early days of our company’s developing relationship with the SCCA, I was invited by Nick to share my views on numerous important matters and his new programs. Nick is an accomplished racer, and he was the unstoppable driving force behind the introduction of the affordable new Sports Renault (now Spec Racer Ford Gen3) that was rapidly outpacing the robust sales of the recently-introduced Swift DB1 Formula Ford, that I’d created the branding and marketing campaign for.
The truth is that 29-year-old me believed that it was unfair for the SCCA to compete directly with the Formula Ford cottage industry that I’d been so devoted to for the previous decade. Nick addressed my concerns by softly saying, “We would all like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.” Those powerful words were originally spoken by the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on the morning of November 22, 1963 …
Now these words help me accept that it is time to turn the page on SportsCar. History proves that JFK and Nick were right. The future always wins. So, for this life-changing insight, I offer my sincerest thanks to Nick, who has been the best friend and mentor I could have asked for.
Which brings us to the now that we all share as SCCA members. The SCCA of 2024 exists in a competitive marketplace with infinite choice and 24/7/365 access to goods, services and instant gratification. Like Ridley Scott’s iconic 1984 Apple TV spot, we are not slaves to the patterns of the past or our fear of change.
As the Sports Car Club of America celebrates its 80th anniversary — and SportsCar’s final regularly-published issue that you are now reading — both of our companies are turning a page to embracing change and focus on creating what comes next.
And what comes next is all about you and the power you hold in this digital age. The SCCA National Office team is working on driving change to benefit everyone who is a member of our very special Club of doers and over-achievers. And I’m certain that whatever will fill SportsCar magazine’s place in the SCCA information ecosystem will be built to win in the ongoing race to share the stories of passion, teamwork and commitment that define the Club.
It will also be accessible, compelling and engaging in the ‘always on’ era of media and marketing.
Continuing the theme of passion, commitment and teamwork, I’ll salute current SportsCar Editor, Steve Nickless, who began this great adventure with me in the Winter of 1977/1978 when the previous publisher, Paul Oxman, won the contract to publish this magazine. The younger me was directly involved in creating the SportsCar proposal for Mr. Oxman, so I became the Art Director and Managing Editor, and Steve became SportsCar’s new editor. Steve stayed for just three issues in early 1978, before my odd California man-child behavior contributed to him leaving. Thankfully, he returned to Paul Oxman Publishing in December 1979, after I spectacularly flamed out as Editor and abruptly left to launch a company (after realizing I was unemployable).
In addition to editing SportsCar, Steve also found time to launch On Track Magazine in 1981. Not long after we won the SCCA/SportsCar contract, Steve came aboard as publisher, and he served in various important roles during the years that followed. He was central to launching RACER magazine in 1992 and was later a key player in the development of what is now known as our Racer Studio agency. In late 2022, Steve came out of retirement to again serve as SportsCar’s Editor and finish the race to the future we started together in the winter of 1977-’78.
Now, 46 years later, Steve and I are taking the checkered flag together in this amazing race that spanned six decades and two centuries. As will be the case in the next SCCA era, what we did for so long has been about celebrating you, our fellow SCCA members. Along the way, you’ve inspired us to do our best and live our lives with passion and commitment.
I’ll close by thanking teammates who’ve made a real difference. First, thank you to our wonderfully talented SportsCar art director Ree Tucker. Not only is Ree the longest serving art director in the magazine’s history, she is also the best.
I’ll also thank our Managing Editor, Molly Binks for her tireless service to the Club and our company, where she also serves as the Producer for Racer Studio.
I also extend my sincere gratitude to the SCCA staff and our internal RACER team. Finally, and most importantly, thank you to the wonderful writers, photographers and illustrators who’ve made the magazine so enjoyable and meaningful for so many years. You are the true heroes of the SportsCar story.
Onward to the future for the Sports Car Club of America and Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. We’ve been good together, and I believe that the best is yet to come for the RACER brand and SCCA as we expand our horizons. We’ll be doing our part to tell the SCCA story in RACER magazine, on RACER.com, in Vintage Motorsport magazine, on VintageMotorsport.com, and in whatever comes next for us in the evolution of our RACER brand and in media.
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Once-in-a-lifetime cover art triple play
Our Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. team salutes our Artist-in-residence, Paul Laguette for his outstanding work during January 2024. For the first time, Paul illustrated covers for all three of the magazines we publish: SportsCar, Vintage Motorsport and RACER. This is unlikely to happen again because SportsCar’s Jan/Feb 2024 edition is the last published in regular frequency. Paul has twice served as the Art Director of SportsCar and his artwork has graced the covers of eight issues of the magazine.