High School Goat

I'm new to Corvette ownership but grew up in a Corvette household and attending NCCC autocrosses was a normal family activity. I am looking to get into things myself now but I'm having trouble finding clubs who still race. Can anyone point me in the direction of a club in the Charlotte NC (or surrounding) area that does more than drive to dinner? Thank you.

flyby763

Checks the region events page. The clubs that hold the autocross especially are usually the ones that race.

69autoXr

http://www.carolina-region.com/

eogel

Here are a couple for autocross.

Tarheel Sports Car Club based in Rocky Mount & Raleigh, NC
www.thscc.com

Triad Sports Car Club based in Greensboro,NC http://www.auto-x.com/

Bill Dearborn

I did the same search two years ago. I had been a member of NCCC for 32 years and was Regional Competition Director for the NE Region for 3 or 4 years. I couldn't find anything in the Charlotte area. Closest active club may be in Shelby but they don't answer emails. The closest club that has been holding events and is the home club for the Carolina Region RCD is in Greenville, SC. Take a look at the SCCA and Tarheel groups. If you want a good track club join the Tarheel Chapter of the BMW CCA. That is what I did. Great group of people and they run 3 week end events a year at VIR. If you are an instructor or advanced driver that means you can get 9 track days per year in 3 events. There are a couple different Mustang groups, one runs two events per year at VIR and the other runs at least one event per year at CMP which is about 60 miles south of Charlotte. However, as one other C6Z driver told me you don't bring your best equipment to CMP as the track surface will grind it down.

Tarheel Chapter of the BMWCCA has close to 3000 members across North Carolina and they have sub groups that meet in the major NC population areas. We have one of those in Charlotte. When you have 3000 members that means with the normal 10 percent that are track dogs you have a pretty sizable group.

Bill

SouthernSon

Years ago when I was competing in NCCC I found that visiting chapters to a distant track weren't always treated with the same courtesy/workload of supporting staff. Hard feelings quickly kill events. NCCC should institute same policies and staff support for all clubs. I also found there could be one person running the show with unique ideas that really didn't address some situations very well. But, as I said, that was years ago.

High School Goat

Back in the 90s my Dad was pretty heavily involved with Queen City Corvette club and was even president for a few years. Club was small and really focused on racing, unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be able to get that again.

brkntrxn

All of the Corvette clubs that I have encountered around Charlotte are all waxers and showers. I do not autocross, but the SCCA-Carolina Region has a pretty good following and you cannot go wrong with Tarheel Sports Car Club. THSCC has had a strong autocross following since the club started in the 60's.

If you are interested in tracking the car, there are tons of organizations that do them within a couple hours drive of Charlotte.

FKING1

Competing at NCCC events away from my home base I have found the people to be extremely friendly and helpful. Help to get me registered, park in the paddock and answer any questions.
My club does the same for out of area people at our NCCC events.

Bill Dearborn

The problem in Charlotte is there aren't any local Corvette clubs that autocross or do track events. The closest active NCCC club is at least a 90 minute drive away. There is no benefit in becoming an NCCC Member at Large since the regions basically ignore them. NCCC clubs like all other Corvette Clubs have been taken over by the inactive meet and eat types.

Bill

savage

The best event I ever did was the NCCC convention in Charlotte 1991, we all stayed at the Adams mark? High speed was Charlotte super speed way, low speed was the Rock and drags were at the Rock? I think, long time ago, I went to eat At local spot and ended up at Benny parsons birthday party, free dinner and drinks on Brett Bodine, this year I was at the ponoco convention and it's just not the same, (no people) there was 80 people in speed events, I FTD group two in my c7 vert(low speed) and I'm not that good, I get crushed at scca regional events. I hate to say it but the NCCC is not what it once was.

vettehardt

Unfortunately i know the Carolina region doesn't do too much anymore. They held one event in greenville, SC last year. The closest region to you that does quite a bit is the south east region. They put on events in Knoxville, TN, Huntsville, AL, and will be doing events at the Museum motorsports park and Roebling road.

Sounds like there might be enough interest, why not start your own NCCC club and start holding events. That might be a way to get more people exposed to it and want to join in on the fun.

You should really make a visit up here to the Indiana region. We have a very healthy autocross season starting in June and going through October. The Midwest region also has a very heavy schedule. The clubs are very friendly and welcome out of state drivers. We routinely have drivers come from georgia, north carolina, tennessee, nebraska, and sometimes florida to our larger events at Grissom air base. Great times had by all!

FYI, I am the Indiana region Competition director.

rfn026

NCCC usually involves some long tows.

I would look for SCCA events. SCCA rules are standardized for the entire country.

NCCC and PCA rules are unique to those clubs. If you build a car to win in those clubs you will lose in any SCCA event.

Since track events are not competitive none of it matters. I found track events more fun because there are no winners and losers.

Then again when I was running solo events I won a national championship. Then I stopped.

Richard Newton
The Best Solo Corvette - Ever

flyby763

Every NCCC club should be following the rulebook set by national.

Bill Dearborn

Yes, they should but the national rules are different than SCCA. The number of classes for Vettes is drastically different. You can setup to run a specific NCCC class and find you are non competitive in the class SCCA puts you in. Using NCCC rules in the NE it became obvious that everybody was racing for FTD since that was the only way you had somebody to compete against due to all the single car classes. Sort of NCCC's version of everybody gets a trophy.

Bill

flyby763

I get that. He said each club has its own rules in NCCC. They don't, or shouldn't, a group 1 car in the Florida region is a group 1 car in Carolina.

Matt_27

If you are looking for autocross in the Charlotte area you need look no further than CCR-SCCA. 10ish events per year mostly at the unparalleled zMax site, my favorite autocross site in the entire southeast. Great competition in the Pro class, usually 5+ National champions at every event, 150+ cars in total. I have been running with them for 3 years now and it is an awesome program with very friendly and fun people to boot. Great course designs too, prepares you well for SCCA National competition.

Bill Dearborn

There are some clubs and regions that follow their own rules. The clubs don't sanction their events and simplify the rules so they basically have 4 classes of cars. That works well for them and makes it easier to accommodate non Corvettes into the structure. It is absolutely imperative for them to accept non Corvettes since a venue can cost $500 to $600 and if you only have 7 or 8 Corvettes the only way to defray the cost is to invite everybody.

Bill

savage

I started with a 100 member corvette club in 1990 ) north east pa, we never had less than 60 corvettes only show up for one of our events, I would go Susquehanna pa event and it was the first 160 corvettes only, in 1990 I had a 2 e car( 1988 with spoilers) and at Hershey event I was one of 36 in that class! I miss those days, as I said at NCCC convention this year at ponoco there was less than one hundred in speed events. There are few corvette only events that I know of of, soon to be one, NCCC convention's

FKING1

The Corvette Club of Michigan runs 3 NCCC Corvette only autocrosses each year.