Jessica Black vividly remembers the moment that set forth her trajectory in the world of autocross. In 2008, a co-worker slipped a flyer for an upcoming event into her cubicle at work, and it tugged her interest.
At the time, the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) Cone Killer Classic competition was next on the club’s docket of events, and Black’s co-worker thought her 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR Edition was well-equipped to handle the challenge. So Black saved the flyer and decided to check it out.
“I went and I got signed up, and I had an instructor go with me,” Black says. “I got addicted at that point. We started slow and worked our way up from that point. I came in the middle of the season that year. The next year, I came to more events. After that, I got into more of what goes on in the background.”
Seventeen years later, Black now presides as president (regional executive) of the Central PA Region of the SCCA. She’s held the title since 2013, three years after she joined the chapter as a full-time member. Today, more than 120 autocross drivers fill the roster of the Central PA Region chapter, which is among the oldest chapters in the country.
Autocross, or Solo in SCCA vernacular, involves drivers competing in time-trial events on cone-lined courses. For the Central PA Region, those events are held at the Centre County Public Safety Training Center in Pleasant Gap and Philipsburg’s Mid-State Regional Airport on six weekends throughout the year.
“We’re never going more than 65 miles per hour at the very most,” says Chris Paveglio, chapter assistant regional executive. “The median speed is between 35 and 45 miles per hour. But when you’re pushing your car to 100% of its limit at that speed, it’s still really eye-popping for someone who’s never done that kind of extreme g-forces in a vehicle.”
Paveglio relocated from Lancaster to State College in 2014. He first learned of the SCCA by chance in 2001 when he and a couple of friends attended a computer parts show. As the trio walked into the venue, an SCCA event was happening nearby. As Paveglio watched the vehicles traverse the course and listened as their engines hummed, he traveled back to his childhood.
Television shows like “Smokey and the Bandit,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” and “Knight Rider,” along with the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, had entranced Paveglio as a youngster. He bought his first Trans Am in 1977 as a senior in high school, and the vehicle — albeit in different iterations — has since occupied a spot in his garage.
“Me being a car guy, and my other friend being a car guy, and my other friend, not so much but still was interested, we were like, ‘What’s going on? They’re racing their cars. This is awesome,’” he says. “We found out where the club meeting happened and went to a club meeting dinner.”
After a decade of affiliation with the SCCA chapter in Lancaster, Paveglio quickly joined the Central PA Region chapter not long after his move to State College. Membership has expanded significantly during that time. He currently competes in a stock Saturn Sky he purchased in 2020.
“We’ve grown — it’s been great,” he says. “If I remember correctly, the first year [I joined], our membership number might have been around 65 or 70 or so.”
Central PA Region drivers come from all walks of life. Cyber security, information technology, auto maintenance, and graphic design are just a few of the occupations held by the chapter’s members. The chapter is part of the Northeast Division, and neighboring regions include Alleghany Highlands, Susquehanna, Steel Cities, and Philadelphia, in addition to six other division chapters.
Every month, members gather at a local establishment for chapter meetings. In July, they occupied a back room at Hoss’s Steak & Seahouse on North Atherton Street. The group consumed food and conversation before Black unboxed her gavel to open the meeting.
Saeed Parvin serves as the club’s treasurer and SCCA tech. His role is one of the club’s most vital, as he ensures that each vehicle meets safety requirements before every event. With competitions starting at 10 a.m., Parvin arrives two hours before to begin his checks.
“I usually start at 8 in the morning when people start showing up,” he says. “Sometimes, I have a few people that help me out with doing it. I’m usually going for almost the whole two hours, an hour and a half, just looking at parts, making sure that everything is safe.”
Those checks include everything from inspecting a vehicle’s brakes and checking for loose wheels and loose wheel bearings to confirming that battery hold-downs are secure.
“Going at 45, 50 miles an hour and coming to a stop, things fly,” Parvin says. “We can’t have that.”
Parvin’s tech background serves the Central PA Region chapter well. The Houtzdale resident has worked in the automotive industry for nearly two decades, and he’s an ASE-certified master tech. He currently works at one of State College’s automotive dealerships.
“I grew up collecting Hot Wheels and a bunch of other stuff,” he says. “My mom said I was born with little cars in my hands. It’s just something I love to do. It’s a passion for me.”
Parvin joined the Central PA Region chapter nine years ago and competed in what he described as “an old beat-up Honda using junk tires.” These days, he competes in a 2014 Volkswagen Jetta GLI. While the competition and adrenaline rush keep Parvin going, he says the camaraderie and friendship among members are equally attractive.
“This group of people we have here, we keep it running pretty smoothly. … This next event, I think we have around 50 to 60 people already signed up, and making sure that those people have a good experience is fun.”
When it comes to autocross, the courses are almost as unique as each vehicle that competes. For the Central PA Region chapter, Ryan Lower is tasked with creating the group’s courses. Those who knew Lower in his younger years would hardly be surprised.
Throughout school, Lower says he was drawn to things centered around mechanical engineering and engineering design. He even explored the curriculum in college but ultimately switched to a different major.
“The goal was always to try and be involved in auto racing with a NASCAR team or something,” he says.
Lower joined the chapter 20 years ago and currently serves as events chair and safety steward. He completed a two-hour online training course and shadowed an active safety steward to receive his safety steward designation for the chapter.
Unlike some course designers who might take an aerial picture of a race site and use that photo as the starting point for their design, Lower prefers to design the flow first by drawing a line on the course’s footprint and then building the course out from there.
“That way I’m not tied to a specific thing on a map,” he says. “I can effectively build the course or rebuild the course map after the fact.”
Lower builds every course with one aspect in mind: balance. It’s a concept he keeps at the forefront with each of the approximately 100 courses he’s designed for the SCCA.
“My design philosophy is to try and design a course that’s balanced, that tests all aspects of the vehicle,” he says. “A Mazda Miata or a Honda Civic, or my Mini Cooper, are going to do things a lot differently, and in some cases a lot better or a lot worse, [than] a Corvette. It’s always a trick to try and set up a course that doesn’t favor one vehicle or one type of vehicle.”
Charlie Faris is one of the longest-tenured members of the Central PA Region chapter. The 74-year-old has been an SCCA member since the late 1960s and recalls competing in association events on Penn State’s campus.
“Parking Lot 80, which is where [Berkey] Creamery is, right across from East Halls,” Faris says. “It was a nightmare of students walking right onto the track. Every week, there was an autocross. Either Penn State Sports Car Club held one there or the SCCA held one there.”
Faris left Centre County for North Carolina before returning to Happy Valley. During his time away, he found a new SCCA home in the Central Carolina Region. He was crowned the North Carolina-South Carolina champion in 1997, and he finished second in three consecutive years. Additional accolades for Faris include being named regional champion 10 years in a row in three different classes in three different vehicles.
Faris retired from competition two years ago, but he remains just as active. He’s replaced his driving gloves and skills with his sense of humor and wealth of experience. After nearly 60 years with the SCCA, the fellowship keeps him coming back.
“Everything hurts all the time, so now, I just come here for the chili,” Faris says with a laugh. “I help out where I can and then talk about the good old days when these kids weren’t even born yet.”
Witches Rallye: Fun for the Whole Family
The annual Witches Rallye is a costumes-encouraged road rally, family-friendly scavenger hunt, party, and charity fundraiser for the Jana Marie Foundation. The Central PA Region of the Sports Car Club of America is holding this year’s rally on Saturday, Nov. 1, starting at the Centre County Public Safety Training Center in Pleasant Gap and ending with a free dinner at a location disclosed only after participants follow the clues to complete a timed route.
“Keep looking for clues, find them all, that’s your aim,
as you pass by a lane marked with what woman’s name.”
Participants follow clues like this while driving about 75 miles, gaining points for answering questions correctly, checking in at three checkpoints, and proceeding in a timely fashion, with bonus points for wearing Halloween costumes, donating to Jana Marie at the start of the rally, and bringing food for the Bellefonte Food Bank. Anyone can enter in any road-worthy vehicle with a seatbelt for each person, but every team needs at least a driver and a navigator. Additional passengers watch for clue locations along the way.
Entries are $50 for a driver/navigator team, plus $10 for each additional passenger; kids 10 and under are free. Learn more and sign up at scca-cpr.com.T&G
Elton Hayes is a freelance writer in State College.
