Bobby (Roberta) Champlin
Celebrating her 45th anniversary with the SCCA, Bobby (Roberta) Champlin, SCCA member #2741, has been an active participant. She’s been a volunteer at many a race track, but local folks will remember her best for her smiling face on the Grid, or helping out at Registration and with hospitality duties at the Louella Cook Memorial SEDIV Double National or Double SARRC at Roebling Road. That’s no surprise since Louella was one of Bobby’s best friends and an active Club member when Bobby first joined up, back in the day.
How did she get here? Bobby, now 83 years young, joined the Club in 1970 down in Florida, after she and her husband Fred raced their Fiat Abarth in local time trials events with a club called “Equipe Rapide”. Unfortunately Fred passed away in 1972, but the friends Bobby made in the Club kept her coming back to help put on our events. Bobby volunteered at the RunOffs 23 years in a row. She holds a Senior Level license in Race Control, and a National in Race Administration, as well as a Regional license in Registration. Now retired to Haysville, North Carolina, out in the westernmost part of the state, along with her long-time friend, Bruce Carlson, Bobby sends a special hello to her old friends in our Region, Sara Snider and Buddy Matthews, and to Sue Roethel of Georgia, who’s still a member of DC Region. Hey, y’all! By the way, Bruce too is a member of Central Carolinas Region and an active volunteer in hospitality after retiring from Grid duties. Bobby’s message to everyone is “”Don’t be ‘chintzy’ with your volunteers. Keep them happy and they will keep coming back. Disrespect them by not having some rewards, then you can expect their numbers to dwindle”.
