Bill Scott passes
December 7, 2010

I just found out that Bill Scott, professional race car driver and long time owner of Summit Point Motorsports Park passed away this morning, December 7, 2009. It is a sad day for the NASA Mid Atlantic family and a sad day for road racing. Bill touched many lives directly or indirectly. In the coming days and weeks there will be many that will do a much better job than I can regarding sharing his storied history, but I am strongly compelled to share with you some of my thoughts and feelings of Bill Scott.

The amateur road racing community has lost a champion and I don’t mean a champion driver, which he was, but I mean a champion for the grassroots motor sports enthusiast. As the Director of this NASA region I had the pleasure of dealing with Bill personally. In the beginning, however, I was VERY intimidated. Every word I spoke was careful and measured because I knew this man held the future of our organization in his hands. Good weekend dates at Summit Point are gold and he got to choose who he gave those dates to. He really didn’t know me from the next guy, but luckily he knew Marilyn and Don Aston as well as Bob Zecca from Driving Impressions (the owner of the pro shop at the time) and they both supported NASA. As a result, Bill chose to allocate two dates to us in the 2000 season. I had high hopes for that first season but entries were never what one might call high and they came in very slowly. The first event we ever had was scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in 2000. Three weeks prior to the event I reviewed the event and, fearing that our participation would be woeful called Bill to inquire about cancelling. It was the last thing I wanted to do but at the time NASA was not known and NASA Mid Atlantic (known as NASA Virginia at the time) couldn’t absorb what looked like what would be a five figure loss. I was truly anxious as I sat on “hold” waiting to talk to him. He picked up the phone and slowly I explained the situation. He asked me a few questions, which I answered, he paused, and then said. “Don’t cancel it, see what it brings in and I’ll work with you until this thing (NASA in general) gets traction.” In the end the entries DID come in and we were able to fulfill our end of the contract. Luckily I never had to make that call again but I’m sure that if I would have had to Bill would have been willing to help this organization to “get traction”.

What I didn’t know at the time but came to realize was that Bill loved the amateur racer. He truly understood what both the drivers and the organizers were faced with and wanted his facility to be accessible, reasonable. But he was more than just a racer or car guy. In subsequent years I developed a relationship with Bill and loved the meetings I had with him. The first meetings we had were all business and focused mainly around our shared event HyperFest but as the years went by the meetings became less about business and more about other interests that Bill had or that we shared. He loved music, explored multiple genres, and would make CDs, eclectically formed, to share with anyone interested in listening. It was not uncommon for Bill to create a pile of CDs that would be left in the front office with a sign that said “take one”. He made them without knowing who might pick one up, but this one simple action provided a new listening experience for me and, I’m sure for many others. We both loved history and got to talking about WWII once. He was very impressed with a documentary focusing on the war from the Russian perspective. Having mainly approached WWII from the American perspective, I expressed an interest in that documentary. About three weeks later a box showed up on my door, and upon opening it found the five tape documentary of which we spoke, a gift from Bill.

We had a lot of meetings and there are a lot of stories, but in the end NASA Mid Atlantic and I, personally, can thank Bill Scott for his unwavering support of amateur racers, and specifically for NASA. He was truly one of a kind and it was an honor to know him. He will be sorely missed and the NASA Mid Atlantic family sends their deepest condolences to the Scott family.

I would wish to Bill “God’s” speed, but….. I think Bill may actually be faster.

Services will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville , Va. Please call 304-725-8444 for further details.

Chris Cobetto
Director NASA-Mid Atlantic Region
Director HyperFest™ Events
804-883-7669 office
703-940-7193