The SCCA traces its roots to the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), founded in 1933 by brothers Miles and Sam Collier. ARCA was dissolved in 1941 when the United States entered World War II. Its former members later regrouped in 1944, taking on the function ARCA had performed before the war.
The SCCA began sanctioning road racing in 1948 with the inaugural Watkins Glen Grand Prix, an event organised with the help of Cameron Argetsinger — an SCCA member and local enthusiast who would later serve as Director of Pro Racing and then Executive Director of the club. In 1951 the SCCA National Sports Car Championship was formed from marquee events around the country, including Watkins Glen, Pebble Beach, and Elkhart Lake.
During the early and mid-1950s, many SCCA events were held on disused air force bases, facilitated by General Curtis LeMay, the Strategic Air Command chief who was a passionate sports car racing enthusiast. LeMay loaned out SAC facilities to the club while the American road racing scene made the transition from street circuits to permanent venues.
By 1962 the SCCA had been entrusted with managing U.S. rounds of the World Sportscar Championship at Daytona, Sebring, Bridgehampton, and Watkins Glen, and was also involved in the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. That same year the club dropped its amateur-only policy and began sanctioning professional racing.
Executive Director John Bishop was central to shaping American road racing in the following years. He helped create the United States Road Racing Championship for Group 7 sports cars, founded the Trans-Am Series for pony cars and the Can-Am series for unlimited Group 7 machinery, both of which launched in 1966. A professional open-wheel championship debuted in 1967 as the SCCA Grand Prix Championship and continued under various names until 1976.
Internal tension over the autonomy of professional racing led Bishop to resign in 1969. He subsequently co-founded the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), which became a significant rival sanctioning body.
The SCCA's autocross programme operates under the brand name Solo. Drivers run individually on cone-marked courses laid out on large paved surfaces such as parking lots or airport runways. Competition runs from regional events up to a national championship held annually in September. Since 2009, Solo Nationals have been held at the Lincoln Airpark in Lincoln, Nebraska.
A variant format called ProSolo places two drivers simultaneously on mirror-image courses with drag-racing-style starts, including reaction and sixty-foot timing. Class winners and qualifiers then contest a handicapped elimination bracket known as the Challenge.
The SCCA sanctions RallyCross events on unpaved surfaces, structurally similar to autocross but held off tarmac. Road rallies are contested on open public roads and are exercises in precision and navigation rather than outright speed; competitors must arrive at undisclosed checkpoints within a precisely defined elapsed time.
Club Racing is the SCCA's road racing division. Competitors hold either regional or national licences and race on dedicated circuits or temporary street courses. The field encompasses lightly modified production cars, heavily modified cars retaining only the original body shape, and purpose-built formula and sports-racer machinery. The vast majority of Club Racing participants are unpaid amateurs, though the programme has served as a pathway to professional careers for many drivers.
The annual national Club Racing championship, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs, has rotated among a range of venues. Past hosts include Riverside International Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Road America, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, and Virginia International Raceway. The all-time record for Runoffs national championships is held by Jerry Hansen, a former owner of Brainerd International Raceway, with twenty-seven titles.
Track Night in America is a low-barrier track experience programme sanctioned by the SCCA. Events are held on weekday evenings, typically Tuesday through Thursday, at circuits around the country to reduce costs and avoid consuming participants' weekends. The programme runs approximately 150 events per year, attracting close to 10,000 entrants annually, and as of 2024 had been operating for a decade. Participating venues range from well-known circuits such as Road America, Virginia International Raceway, Sebring, and Lime Rock to smaller club tracks.
The SCCA groups higher-speed non-race events under the Time Trials umbrella, including Performance Driving Experience (PDX), Club Trials, Track Trials, and Hill Climb events. PDX events are non-competitive HPDE-format experiences combining classroom instruction with on-track driving.
Current SCCA-sanctioned professional series include the Trans-Am Series, GT World Challenge America for GT and touring cars, and the Global MX-5 Cup. Open-wheel championships include the F1600, F2000, and Atlantic Championship Series. SCCA Pro Racing has also sanctioned professional classes for select amateur categories such as Spec Racer Ford Pro and Formula Enterprises Pro.
The SCCA is organised into six conferences, nine divisions, and 115 regional clubs, each responsible for running events in its local area.