Upstate NY Autocross

Local events are a lot of fun, but have you ever thought about taking yourself to the next level? The SCCA offers two kinds of national autocross events: National Tour and ProSolo.Jim Perrin has been attending national SCCA events throughout the Northeast and beyond since the early 2000. In this episode, Jim joins host Mark Mangicaro to discuss what you can expect at a national eve

Mindfulness, to me, means being acutely aware of what your are doing in the moment with an intentional deep focus on the activity or task at hand. To perform at your highest level requires you to be mindful and have a high degree of both situational awareness and discipline. In this episode we take inspiration from Togi Berra's quote that "90% of baseball is mental; the o

Competitive driving is a lot of fun, but how hard have you thought about the different options for getting the car to the event? Do you drive it or tow it? Are the more options? In this episode we explore several options and I bet one of them will surprise you.Most of what is discussed in this episode can also apply to RallyCross, HPDEs, Time Trials, and even some club racing, so f

We talk a lot on this podcast about changes and the evolution of the sport. There is no standing still. If you are not moving forward, you are falling behind. Yet, it can be easy to fall into the trap of changing things for the sake of change. Decades ago my mentor, Bob Jubinville, and I came up with a phrase that has guided much of what I have done since then: “Variety may be th

A couple of episodes back we discussed how to get better at autocross. In that episode we encouraged people to get instruction – especially new participants. So… we figured it was about time to do an episode on the other side of that equation: teaching people how to autocross (and how to get better at it).Greg Turner is a retired music teacher with three decades of experience h

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of driving and take safety for granted. That is probably not the best way to approach your day. :-) With the season about to get started, we decided this would be a great time to talk safety. Jim Gary has been an SCCA solo safety steward since the 1980s, a solo safety instructor for 20 years, and is the current Divisional Safety Ste

Jim Perrin has been running events in Western NY for decades and in 2022 he will be running a number of test and tunes at Seneca Army Depot where Jim and some other experienced drivers will be offering instruction on how to get better at autocross. In this episode, Jim joins host Mark Mangicaro for a discussion on how to improve your autocross driving. Topics include getting in the

“What class is my car in?” If you’ve spent anytime at the registration table of an autocross event, you have probably heard this question more than once. Veteran autocrosser and former CNY SCCA autocross chair Scott Newton has answered that question countless times over the years. Scott joins host Mark Mangicaro to help shed a little light on SCCA autocross classing. Since a

This episode is the 7th and last in a series of UNYAX episodes that focuses on each of the general SCCA autocross categories. (A summary episode will be next.)Xtreme Street is the newest category in SCCA Autocross. It consists of two classes XS-A and XS-B and was first offered in the abbreviated 2020 season, so 2021 was its first full season. With a few rare (and exotic) exceptions

This episode is the 6th in a series of UNYAX episodes that focuses on each of the general SCCA autocross categories.CAM is an acronym for Classic American Muscle and is one of the newest categories in SCCA Autocross. As the name implies, cars (and pickups) that run in this category must be made in the USA. While most of them are decades old, late model Camaros, Challengers, Mustang