Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs (CASC) was the national governing body for

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

from 1958 to 1988. Its origins stretched back to 1951, when three independent car clubs met in Kingston, Ontario to found the Canadian Auto Sport Committee (CASC). In 1951, inventor, engineer and MG race driver Marshall Smith Green came from Montreal to meet in Kingston with designer Jack Luck. Green asked Luck to design the Club's logo. The name was changed to the ''Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs'' (CASC) in 1958, when Regions across the country were developed. To get permits for International Races, CASC was affiliated with the Royal Automobile Club (

RAC plc RAC Limited, called The RAC, is a British automotive services company headquartered in Walsall, West Midlands. Its principal services are roadside assistance and general insurance, and its subsidiaries include RAC Motoring Services Ltd, RAC Fi ...

) of Great Britain until 1967, when it was recognized as a full member by the FIA as Canada's governing body of auto racing. The nation's motoring interests, meanwhile were represented to the FIA by the CASC's roadgoing counterpart, the CAA. During its lifetime, CASC developed strong national series', such as the Canada Class; the original Honda Michelin series, the Players/GM Motorsport Series, and the

Rothmans Rothmans may refer to: * Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, a Canadian tobacco company * Rothmans International, a former British tobacco manufacturer, founded by Louis Rothman See also

* Rothman, a surname * Rothmans 12 hours, a series of sports car r ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

Cup series'. It also worked closely with its US counterpart, the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...

, to develop and co-sanction the

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987. The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variet ...

, and

Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club ...

series'. As Canada's national governing body, CASC sanctioned such major events as the Player's 200 sports car races, th
Shell 4000 rally
the 24 Hours of

Mosport Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi- track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville in Clarington, Ontario, Canada, approximately 75 kilometers (47 miles) east of Toronto. The ...

, and the

Canadian Grand Prix The Canadian Grand Prix () is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports car event, before alterna ...

, which alternated between Mosport and

Circuit Mont-Tremblant Circuit Mont-Tremblant is a race circuit located approximately north of Montreal, Quebec, in the city of Mont-Tremblant, Canada. It is the second-oldest existing race track in Canada, and was originally known as Circuit Mont-Tremblant-St-Jovi ...

. The organization's demise came as a result of a boycott by

Bernie Ecclestone Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is a British business magnate, motorsport executive and former racing driver. Widely known in journalism as the "F1 Supremo", Ecclestone founded the Formula One Group in 1987, controlling the c ...

's FOCA of the Canadian Grand Prix in 1987, as detailed in Terry Lovell's Ecclestone biography, ''Bernie's Game''. CASC's FIA accreditation was revoked at the international body's next General Assembly, and its powers were instilled upon a single associate of Ecclestone's, Benoit Mailloux, the president of the Federation de l’Automobile Quebec, until handed over to a new body, ASN Canada FIA, in 1990. Many of CASC's records were handed over to its Ontario Region, which re-affiliated as a territory to the new ASN, while other CASC regions were disbanded and replaced by re-formed territorial organizations. Details of the CASC history can be found in the book ''The Chequered Past: Sports Car Racing & Rallying in Canada 1951 - 1991'' by David A Charters. CASC history can be found at the archives of the

Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame (CMHF) is a hall of fame run by the Canadian Motorsport Heritage Foundation as a not-for-profit charitable institution that "honours and recognizes the achievements of individuals and institutions that have ma ...

References

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