Yahoo Autos SCCA Hall of Fame Class of 2024 announced
The Sports Car Club of America has announced the distinguished group of five who will next enter the SCCA Hall of Fame. Anatoly Arutunoff, Bruce Foss, Victoria “Vicki” O’Connor, Terry Ozment, and Fred Wacker Jr. will join the SCCA Hall of Fame as the class of 2024, joining the barely 100 others who have been presented with the honor since the creation of the SCCA Hall of Fame in 2005.
Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Fred Wacker Jr. (center); Anatoly Arutunoff; Terry Ozment; Bruce Foss; Vicki O’Connor
Anatoly Arutunoff, Bruce Foss, Vicki O’Connor, Terry Ozment, and Fred Wacker Jr. will officially join the SCCA Hall of Fame during the 2024 SCCA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, held online on Jan. 19 as part of the 2024 SCCA National Convention. The presentation will be streamed on SCCA’s official Facebook page and YouTube channel, with members and non-members alike encouraged to view the ceremony.
Below is a summary of accomplishments made by those who will be inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame as the class of 2024.
Anatoly Arutunoff
To say Anatoly “Toly” Arutunoff is a racing renaissance man would be an understatement.
His exploits began with the SCCA membership he purchased for $25 when he bought his Porsche Carrera Speedster GS in 1958. He was in for life after purchasing a lifetime membership in late 1958 when the price went up to $120. The history from then is as amazing as it is crazy and includes everything from SCCA grids in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s (including 19 Runoffs starts between his first Runoffs appearance in 1967 and his final Runoffs race in 1996), a couple Cannonball Runs, Pikes Peak Hill Climbs, and the very first One Lap of America, plus multiple stints in Italy’s Targa Florio, owning a Ferrari dealership, and so much more.
While Arutunoff earned SCCA’s H Production National Championship title and the Club’s President’s Cup in 1981 (that award likely coming due to his run from 11th on the grid to win the championship by more than eight seconds), his real impact to the SCCA comes in the form of a racetrack in Oklahoma – a 1.8-mile, 11-turn road course named Hallett Motor Racing Circuit. Arutunoff built the circuit with very little landscaping, which resulted in a course boasting 80 feet of elevation changes that could be run in both directions.
Hallett has become a mainstay of racing in the middle of America, hosting everything from IMSA, Trans Am, and the final Can-Am race in 1986. But mostly, Hallett is a club track designed for the amateur driver, and features as one of the mid-season races on the Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour schedule.
Arutunoff once said: “I’ve always told inquisitive folks that it’s the people the cars have brought that makes the Club; seeing people every several months at a race that would’ve been close friends if we lived, well, closer.”
Bruce Foss
The commitment Bruce Foss has to the SCCA is undeniable and has been ongoing for decades. Since 1984 when he initiated the development of Hoosier Tire’s sports car tire program, Foss has been an unwavering supporter of the Club, building both personal relationships with competitors across the United States and business relationships with the SCCA itself.
Thousands of SCCA drivers may not have achieved such a level of success without his dedication to developing tires to meet the requirements of their SCCA classes. It’s easy to say that SCCA competition programs from all levels would not have realized the strong growth they have enjoyed without Foss’s unwavering commitment.
Through the years, Foss has been instrumental in funding hundreds of thousands of dollars in contingency awards and free tire programs for SCCA members, making it possible for Club members to compete in even more events. He has also established a long-term partnership with SCCA in some of the Club’s most important programs, such as the Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour and a myriad of programs and classes like Spec Miata, Spec Racer Ford, and Formula Vee.
Foss is also on the Road Racing Drivers Club’s (RRDC) Mark Donohue Award selection committee, taking on the role of Membership Chairman, continuing to give back to the sport he loves.
Victoria “Vicki” O’Connor
Victoria “Vicki” O’Connor became involved in the SCCA in the 1960s when her husband, Bill, raced in Formula B. Hers was not an unusual introduction to the sport, but what she did next most certainly was.
Her motorsports career began with working for Carl Haas as his personal secretary. She was so effective that she became the natural choice to head up the Sports 2000 Racing Series. Based on that success, in the mid-1980s, SCCA Pro Racing asked her to organize and run a new series for Formula Atlantic on the East Coast to enhance the West Coast Atlantic Race series (WCAR), so O’Connor established the ProMotion Agency Ltd to run SCCA’s East Coast Atlantic Racing (ECAR) series.
Under O’Connor’s guidance, the ECAR series grew and prospered, attracting Toyota as the series sponsor and engine provider in 1989. This was the start of the hugely successful Toyota Atlantic Series. In 1991, WCAR was merged into ECAR, creating a national championship series – and O’Connor was tapped to head the organization. Also that year, Gerry Forsythe, one of CART’s founding members, bought ProMotion Agency Ltd., placing O’Connor and her staff into the CART organization.
From its SCCA roots, the series now gained prominence on a national stage.
In accepting the challenge, O’Connor helped design a hugely successful series that would launch drivers like Scott Goodyear, Dan Wheldon, James Hinchcliff, Danica Patrick, Graham Rahal, Simona de Silvestro, and more, into prominence.
There is so much that happens behind the scenes of a successful series that is integral to its success, from hiring staff, procuring insurance and contracts, arranging publicity, getting sponsors, developing schedules, securing contracts, overseeing advertising – the list is endless, and O’Connor did it all.
Terry Ozment
Terry Ozment has a long and illustrious history of involvement in SCCA leadership at the Regional, Divisional, National, and professional levels.
Joining Land O’Lakes Region in 1980 and serving the Club in many capacities, Ozment held licenses in Flagging and Communications, Registration, Race Chairman, Timing and Scoring, and Steward, and served as the CENDiv scheduling representative for five years. She was also on the Region’s board as treasurer, and served on the 1983 National Convention Committee, conducting seminars in creativity and volunteer management.
In 1986, Ozment moved to Chicago, serving on that Region’s board in multiple capacities and spent two years as the Regional Executive. She was also active on many Divisional committees and was an active steward, including terms as Chief Steward for the June Sprints and Chief of Protest Central at the Mid-Ohio Runoffs.
In 1996, she joined the SCCA staff. Ozment’s accomplishments as SCCA’s Vice President of Club Racing include implementing a member-friendly attitude toward customer service, defining volunteer positions, and updating the structure of the volunteer program. Ozment managed the Runoffs efforts at five different venues and directed preliminary planning for a sixth, applied for – and received – a $50,000 grant from the McLaren Foundation to fund training and annual reviews of track safety, led the staff launch of the U.S. Majors Tour program, streamlined the Club’s competition licensing program, and more.
Even though she was no longer a Wisconsin resident, Ozment was awarded the state’s Governor’s Cup in 2013 in recognition for her long-time service in motorsports. Then in 2015, a year after departing the SCCA staff, she was presented with the John McGill Award.
After leaving the SCCA National Office, Ozment was hired by SVRA and then migrated to a leadership position with the Trans Am Race Group, both of which are collaborators with SCCA Pro Racing. In those roles, she continued to implement changes to improve the racing experience for participants, officials, and course workers.
When dealing with any issue, her first question was: “What is the right thing to do for the members?” SCCA is most certainly a better organization due to her attitude, example, and dedication.
Fred Wacker Jr
Fred Wacker Jr. was an early and – it could be said – founding member of the SCCA. Wacker was the co-founder of SCCA’s Chicago Region in which he served as Regional Executive for three terms from 1948-’50. Then in 1952 and ’53, Wacker served SCCA as its president.
An accomplished racer, Wacker participated not only in the States, but also in Europe in Grand Prix and Formula One racing. In fact, Chicago Region’s Driver of the Year Award is named in Wacker’s honor.
But in the early years of racing, there were no dedicated racing courses, so SCCA races were held on the streets of cities such as Watkins Glen, where Wacker was an active participant. Unfortunately, Wacker was involved in an accident while racing at Watkins Glen in 1952, resulting in spectator injuries and one fatality. This accident prompted him and his peers to place more emphasis on safety issues as well as securing permanent racing environments that would increase safety for spectators as well as drivers.
Alongside Jim Kimberly (SCCA Hall of Fame, class of 2009), the two set out in Kimberly’s plane searching for land for a racetrack – a search resulting in what is now Road America. But the search didn’t end there. With his peers at his side, Wacker met with General Curtis LeMay (SCCA Hall of Fame, class of 2007), helping convince him to allow the use of air bases for road racing activities.
The act of moving racing to dedicated circuits and airports placed road racing and SCCA in front of the public with a safer and more secure environment, ultimately changing motorsports into what it has become today.
About the SCCA Hall of Fame
Through their induction into the SCCA Hall of Fame, Anatoly Arutunoff, Bruce Foss, Victoria “Vicki” O’Connor, Terry Ozment, and Fred Wacker Jr. join a distinguished group of SCCA members in the world of motorsports that includes Roger Penske, Briggs Cunningham, Jim Hall, Bobby Rahal, Walt Hansgen, Phil Hill, and more.
