SCCA Pro Racing Ltd., the wholly owned professional auto racing subsidiary of Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Inc., has named former Toyo Tires (U.S.A.) Corp. executive Earl Knoper president.
Mr. Knoper, 64, joined the SCCA Pro Racing staff Feb. 6 after retiring as senior vice president of marketing for Toyo in 2005. At Toyo, Mr. Knoper was instrumental in launching the tire maker's passenger car and light truck program and making it one of the top selling ultra-high performance, passenger and light truck brands in the U.S., according to an SCCA Pro Racing press release.
Mr. Knoper also founded the company's racing activities and put Toyo on the map for performance and sport compact car enthusiasts through its involvement with such events as Hot Import Nights, projects like the movie ``The Fast and the Furious'' and SCCA Pro Racing's own SPEED World Challenge Championships.
Mr. Knoper said he is ``really excited about this opportunity. I've been passionate about motorsports since I was young and have been fortunate to focus some of my professional efforts on racing. I'm excited to now focus 100 percent of my energies on SCCA Pro Racing.''
``Through my past experience, I've learned that SCCA Pro Racing already has the best sports car racing product and is the best-run racing organization. I plan to enhance what we're already doing in order to grow our partnership potential and improve our racing product for our teams, sponsors, and most of all, fans.''