Alex Keller began his love affair with racing and the SCCA as a young attorney in Denver. He followed a typical course, driving an Alfa Romeo in races and hill climbs, as well as assuming leadership positions in the Colorado Region. What was not typical was his vision for growing our sport.

Keller was a principle in building Continental Divide Raceway, the first permanent road course in its area. This facility became the anchor for motorsports in the Rocky Mountain Division, hosting both amateur and professional SCCA events. He also was a driving force for creating professional formula car road racing in the United States with the SCCA Grand Prix Championship series. He then joined SCCA’s Board of Governors, where his vision of the sport flourished.

First elected to the SCCA Board of Governors in 1966, Keller became Vice-Chair the next year and between 1969 and 1975 served six terms as Chairman.

One of Keller’s big accomplishments was to move the Club from being a collection of Regions with greatly different membership requirements and racing standards to a national organization with uniform practices and Regional bylaws. At the time, the SCCA had roughly 16,000 members, with nearly one third of them competition license holders.

While Chairman, Keller was central to the establishment of the SCCA Professional Racing management structure, including the policies allowing the Club’s Executive Director to directly sanction events with tracks and promotors. He also was a strong voice for amateur racing, which included the establishment of the Showroom Stock classes. He recognized that the Club’s strength was based on the membership’s participation.

Keller also championed national Stewarding standards, including establishing and serving as Chairman of the National Court of Appeals, which was intended to assure fairness and compliance with the GCR. He was an active Steward working everything from the smallest Regional races to being the Chief Steward of premier U.S. motorsport events. His reputation for competence and fairness put him in great demand.

The late 1960s and early ’70s were a time of awakening for racing safety. Regions were not guided by standardized safety requirements for track design or safety of workers and spectators. Regions were free to organize an event at any venue they could secure access to. As a result, workers operated at track edge, spectators were close to the tracks in unprotected areas, and dangerous obstacles in high impact areas were common. Under Keller’s leadership, the Club established new requirements for roll bars, seatbelts, helmets, fire suits, and many other improvements. He also championed new standards for road courses, including a certification process that included representatives from the SCCA, insurance brokers, and local Regions. Taken together, his work stabilized the SCCA’s insurance market and made the Club a leader in motorsport safety and insurance coverage. The Club’s current GCR requirements are largely based on that work.

Keller received SCCA’s Woolf Barnato award in 1974 and is a member of the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Alex Keller was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame on Jan. 17, 2025.