Pete Hylton

Pete Hylton (born January 30, 1957) was the archivist and historian for the Sports Car Club of America . He is the author of four books: Ghost Tracks: A Historical Look at America’s Lost Road Racing Tracks, Sports Car Club of America 60 Years in Photos, More Ghost Tracks: A Historical Look at More of America's Lost Road Racing Tracks, and The Gentlemen's Club: The Growth and Transition of American Sports Car Racing.

He was also the founding Director of the Motorsports Engineering Program for the Purdue University School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), where he led teams of university students in running several race teams while training for careers in the motorsports industry. These included wins in the annual Purdue Grand Prix collegiate go-kart race, as well as wins in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition, and being the first collegiate team to achieve an invitation to the SCCA national Championship Runoffs in 2009.

His combined efforts in these two areas led to his being awarded the SCCA's highest honor, the Woolf Barnato Award (2006) as well as admission into the SCCA Hall of Fame (2014).

Engineering

Hylton graduated summa cum laude in 1979 from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, he went to work as a test engineer for General Motors Alison Gas Turbines in Indianapolis. He earned his M.S.M.E. on a General Motors Graduate Fellowship at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. After completing his graduate education, Hylton continued his career with Alison (which was bought out by Rolls-Royce) until 2003. He became an associate professor in 2004, directing the department's Motorsports Technology program. in the converted Grandison Eaton house, which was built in the 1860s and is one of Hendricks County's historic buildings.

Books & Published Articles

Ghost Tracks: A Historical Look at America’s Lost Road Racing Tracks (2007) Sports Car Club of America 60 Years in Photos (2004) More Ghost Tracks: A Historical Look at More of America's Lost Road Racing Tracks, The Gentlemen's Club: The Growth and Transition of American Sports Car Racing. List of published academic articles Numerous articles in the SCCA's monthly magazine, SportsCar.