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SCCA’s highest honor, the Woolf Barnato Award, is presented annually to a member who has made the most outstanding long-term contribution to the Club. The 2023 award winner is Paul Pfanner, co-foun…
The Woolf Barnato Award is presented by the SCCA annually to a member who has made a significant long-term contribution to the Club. The 2023 recipient of this prestigious award is Paul Pfanner, the co-founder and CEO of Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Pfanner has been instrumental in publishing SportsCar Magazine for half of the SCCA’s 80-year history, along with founding RACER Magazine and RACER.com. Alongside SportsCar, Racer Media & Marketing also publishes Vintage Motorsport Magazine and VintageMotorsport.com, and operates the Racer Studio Agency.
In his acceptance speech, Pfanner expresses his gratitude to his SportsCar teammates for their consistent excellent work. He was introduced by Rocky Entriken, a longtime contributor to SportsCar Magazine and the previous recipient of the Woolf Barnato Award in 2022. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. has been publishing SportsCar Magazine since January 1984 and will produce its 462nd issue in January/February 2024, coinciding with the SCCA’s 80th anniversary.
The company was initially known as Pfanner+Catheron+Brown, Publications, Inc. and was founded in 1979 with the aim of securing the SCCA SportsCar contract. Pfanner, who was an active SCCA Formula Ford racer, started as the Art Director/Managing Editor in 1978 and took over as Editor in 1979 under the previous publisher, Paul Oxman. Steve Nickless, the first Editor of SportsCar during Pfanner’s involvement, later became the founding Editor of On Track Magazine and joined Racer Media & Marketing in 1985 as publisher. Nickless played a vital role in the launch of RACER Magazine in 1992. Ironically, Nickless returned to the SportsCar editor’s role in 2023, marking the end of the magazine’s era as Racer Media & Marketing closes a remarkable chapter in SCCA’s and RM&M’s history.
After careful consideration, both Racer Media & Marketing and the SCCA have mutually agreed to end their 40-year partnership, leading to the discontinuation of regular SportsCar Magazine publication. The team at Racer Media & Marketing is grateful for the successful relationship that spanned five decades and two centuries.
