NATIONAL MUSCLE CAR ASSOCIATION
TeamWORK
The formula behind NMCA ’ s rise to success
By Ainsley Jacobs
Photographs By Kevin DiOssi
O ne person can only accomplish so much on their own , but if they surround themselves with a team of other talented , competent , and motivated individuals , together the group can achieve greatness . Steve Wolcott , president and CEO of the National Mustang Racers Association ( NMRA ) and the National Muscle Car Association ( NMCA ) is a prime example of how one can make a big impact simply by focusing on the value of teamwork as his organizations have had a dramatically positive influence on the sport of drag racing .
Growing up in northern Hollywood , right down the street from NHRA ’ s former headquarters , Wolcott , now 50 , always had an interest in cars . “ I bought an ’ 85 Mustang GT when I turned 19 and kept it for about 10 years ,” he shares . Originally , he didn ’ t set out to change the world . Instead , he studied history at UC Santa Barbara in his home state of California . Wolcott graduated in 1990 and wound up getting into advertising sales with
Petersen Publishing selling small ads in the backs of magazines like Hot Rod , Car Craft and more . “ I had a lot of great mentors like John Cobb , Ralph Panico , and John Diana , and was able to grow as a result of their help .”
Around 1998 , Wolcott was promoted to publisher of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords and Max Speed magazines and traveled to lots of races and events as a result , including the Holcomb Motorsports 5.0 Civil Wars at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina , and the first World Ford Challenge at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green , Kentucky .
“ Those events are really what got me interested ,” Wolcott recalls . “ James Lawrence [ current owner of Power Automedia ] was the associate editor and helped me get in tune with who racers are . We got to talking about events and came up with the idea for the NMRA . There was this movement going on surrounding late model Mustangs , and no association for them .” Wolcott and Lawrence saw the opportunity to create one and believed from what they saw with the magazines that there would be a lot of support from racers and the community as a whole – they were right .
Towards the end of 1998 , the two men quit their jobs to focus solely on their new idea . The NMRA ’ s inaugural season in 1999 included events in Phoenix , Arizona , Bowling Green , Kentucky , and , incredibly , the Ford Motorsports Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania thanks to an invite from George Case , who believed in what Wolcott and Lawrence were trying to do . “ The 1999 NMRA Ford Motorsports Nationals was a huge hit . Billy Glidden raced Pro 5.0 and won , and guys like Don Walsh Jr , Joe DaSilva , Job Spetter Jr , and more came out to support us ,” Wolcott proudly remembers of the year that started it all . Additionally , Race Pages magazine was also launched that year to provide coverage for the series and its participants .
Amazingly , NMRA ’ s initial success was so huge that the following year , the schedule had grown from three races to five , and a championship series with a contingency program was added for the 2000 season . “ The racers really responded to what we were doing . They wanted something different , something more professional , and we were able to provide that ,” adds Wolcott . Early on , the organization gained attention from big-
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