Interview with
Jerry Doctor

by Patt Buell
Published January 4, 2004
Updated February 25, 2007

I think every one in NRSCCA knows Jerry Doctor. And most of MiDiv knows Jerry Doctor. Even National Office knows Jerry Doctor. I guess you could say he's well known. Maybe famous/infamous!

He showed up at his first sports car event in the late summer of 1969. Jerry had seen an ad in the Omaha World Herald (OWH) for an Omaha Camaro Club event. (We use to list events in the OWH under "automotive want ads, sports cars".)

The event was a solo and he drove a red Fiat. Perfect. It was fun. His first rally was a Corvette Club event and from then on he was hooked. He continued to run more Camaro Club, Corvette Club, Mustang Club, SCCA and other auto clubs events that year.

In April 1970, Jerry joined the NRSCCA and hit the floor running. By the end of 1971, he had won the top award for Activity Points and the Gymkhana Driver of the year. And, most of all he had fun!

In October of 1971 Jerry was elected to the NRSCCA Board of Governors (BoG). And he has been re-elected every two years since. His next term will be for 2006-2007. That makes 18 consecutive times he's been elected, and at the end of 2007 he will have served 36 consecutive years on the NRSCCA Board.

In May of 1973 Jerry went to his first Driver's School at the Sunflower Aerodrome in Hutchinson, Kansas (commonly called "Hutch") in a Autodynamics Formula Vee. Through this year he completed his 2nd school, and ran two Regional Races, the last one in October at Mid America Raceway in Wentzville, Missouri. After this race he decided racing wasn't as much fun as rallying - I don't know why? He had an all girl crew at the last race - they forgot to check the air in the tires and he had 20, 25, 45, 32 lbs. for practice. We thought it was a nice variety. Oh yes, and we'd found a crack in the frame of the Vee, after his first practice and it had to be welded. No, his crew was not trying to kill him.

Jerry decided going flat out into a checkpoint was more fun than flat out into a corner. He said racing was fun but not as much fun as he had rallying.

In 1974, Jerry was elected Regional Executive (R.E.). He has been R.E. for Nebraska Region nine times 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1993, 2003, 2004 (NRSCCA's 50th Anniversary Year), and 2005.

Through the years Jerry has won 38 of the Region's top awards; the Woody Dunn 4 times, the Flesher trophy 11 times, the Byers trophy 7 times, the Rally Driver trophy 10 times, the Bly-Gross Memorial (best rally) 4 times, plus the Gymkhana Driver trophy in 1971 and the Worker's Cup in 1992.

Through the years he has always been in the top of the activity points list and many times part of the 100% club. He has driven or worked most of the Solos, ran or worked most of the Rallys, raced in Club Racing in MiDiv and even run Divisional and National rallys. He has taken a million photos since 1970, but then, that's just an estimate. Jerry continues working for the club. In the year 2000 he won a 3rd place National trophy as Editor for the Exhaust Notes. A very prestigious record!

Jerry still gets excited when he talks of the Nebraska Region's future. He has seen membership go from under 100 to over 300. He's seen a race track built in the area and watched Nebraska grow to become a racing region. He's watched the new rallycross program go from table talk to reality. "It's new and there seems to be a lot of interest," he says, "we'll have to see where it goes from here."

With the opening of MidAmerica Motorplex (near Glenwood, Iowa) Jerry has worked registration from the start and is now a Nationally Licensed Registrar.

He stated, "Times have changed - the new breed of solo entrants don't want to put in the time as they once did 10-15 years ago."

"Putting on events is more complicated with insurance reporting and the paper work. Minor releases must be kept track of until the minor is 20 years of age. These things could change and may become more complicated."

But he thinks the NRSCCA has a good future, "We have some enthusiastic members that are starting to get involved with the club in all aspects. It's a start. We'll see where we go from here."

Even though I've known Jerry since we both joined NRSCCA in 1970, actually seeing his accomplishments on paper is impressive!