Bill Claren - NASCAR Driver

Date of Birth: 1928-05-31 Place of Birth: Clifton, NC Favorite Track: N/A Current Residence:  Port St. Lucie, FL Sponsor: N/A Owner: N/A Crew Chief: N/A Car: N/A

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Bill Claren - Bio

By Art Maxim-Update April 2007:

Bill Claren started his racing career in the post WWII “Golden Age” of Midget Auto Racing. He learned from the top pros of that era and gives particular credit to Bill Schindler and Pappy Hough for a through education in the sport.

Claren took the knowledge he acquired in Midget racing and became the first pro sports car series champion in U.S. racing history (1954). As president and co-founder of SCODA, Sports Car Owners & Drivers Association, Claren started writing a club column as well as booking the club events.

SCODA supplied the majority of the sports car entry for NASCAR’s Linden Airport road race in 1954. Claren made a deal to create NASCAR’s first sports car division in 1955 and for several years the club was called NASCAR-SCODA. In the mid 60s it reverted to just plain SCODA. He now thinks this was a big mistake, but at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.

The writing of a club column evolved over the years to writing for many trade and local papers in New Jersey. Claren wrote for the Star Ledger in the early 60s and later for a period of 15 years in the Morris County Daily Record. In 1994 he began writing for Gannett Times Beacon Newspapers and recently added the Gannett Ocean County Observer of Toms River, NJ.

In 1976 Claren created the American Formula Ford Association. AFFA became the first US pro series training ground for Indy Car drivers; it predated the Indy Lights Series started by CART. Among the drivers who got their professional start in AFFA are Michael Andretti, Scott Goodyear, Davy Jones, Chip Ganassi and Chip Robinson, to mention a few. At one INDY 500 race, nine AFFA drivers were in the starting line up. AFFA closed shop at the end of the 1984 season. At that point and time Claren felt tired of fighting with one particular amateur sanctioning organization. He needed time off and he took it.

In addition to newspaper writing Claren was also active as a track announcer for Atlantic City Speedway and New Egypt Speedway. He served as PR director for SCODA, ARDC, AFFA, Atlantic City Speedway, New Egypt Speedway and Truex Motor Sports. Claren covered major NASCAR and Indy Car races for ABC’s “World of Sports” for a period of seven years. At one point he had nine shows a week on several New Jersey radio stations.

In 1995 he was elected to the Living Legends of Auto Racing Hall of Fame. His company, Motorsport Associates, is still active doing consulting work in the marketing of automotive products. He continues to write columns for 5 Gannett papers and is a panel member on a one hour Monday night NASCAR radio show on WSTU, in Stuart, Florida.

By Bill:

I became interested in auto racing because my father used to take me to the races in the late 30s and early 40s. One track I went to several times was the Nutley Velodrome. The midgets at Nutley were the most exciting auto racing shows that I have ever witnessed. Nothing today can come close. That speedway closed shortly before WWII, several deaths occurred and the city closed the track. The track was built for bicycle racing; the midgets ran 5-6-second laps. You had to see it to believe it.

I said to my father while watching the races at Nutley that I wanted to race when I grow up, he laughed patted me on the head and said, “sure”. By the summer of 1947 I was racing in ARDC against many of the drivers that I had watched at Nutley.

By 1950 stock cars, NASCAR, had replaced midgets as the number one racing attraction in the northeast. I raced a few NASCAR Sportsman races at Rupert Stadium in Newark, NJ. In 1953 I started to race sports cars and in 1954 was lucky enough to win the first organized sports car series in the USA.

My driving ended in 1968. After that I owned several cars that I did not race, including a TQ midget and Formula Ford driven by my son Will. The most important thing that I gained from the sport is the friendships I established and the people I have met.

Bill Claren - Statistics