SCCA Expenses

[RacerBill]

As a side topic to the insurance thread, but not to get caught up in it - I renewed my membership in January. Later in the month, I - and my whole family - received THREE copies of our membership/license cards, all in separate mailings. Did anyone else get three copies? If they did, that's $.80 per member, X 60,000 memebers, comes up to about $48000.00 in postage alone, not including the cost of the cards themselves.

Leaves me scrataching my head.

[Andy Bettencourt]

Just one here.

[spnkzss]

Going along with that same thing (I got one and my wife got one), why can't they have all of the information for you and your family in one renewal form, and when they send the family, send the families all at once in one envelope. Take that 60000 divide by lets say 2 on average and you cut your postage in half. I'm sure you would save some overhead cost too if you did one family once instead of multiple times.

That has been one of my pet peaves since I joined the SCCA.

[RacerBill]

Going along with that same thing (I got one and my wife got one), why can't they have all of the information for you and your family in one renewal form, and when they send the family, send the families all at once in one envelope...
[/b]

If by information, you mean licenses, probably because official's license renewals generally require logbook documentation for participation verification, and sending in multiple logbooks with one form would be confusing (I am really being generous here). BTW, I have held official licenses since 1966 and have long ago given up keeping logbooks since the grade of my licenses doesn't mean a thing. Hell, I have even been asked by a chief steward to be a specialty chief for a weekend when I didn't even have a license (of course I had held a national license for 18 years).


They have found a way to recognize one family at one address and send only one copy of Sports Car. Why can't they send out one mailing with all of my family's membership cards? And only once, not three times?

[spnkzss]

It should be even easier when your spouse is not racing and just needs to renew her/his crew status. Personally, I think it should all be done online, but I'm sure we will get there eventually.

[Joe Harlan]

If by information, you mean licenses, probably because official's license renewals generally require logbook documentation for participation verification, and sending in multiple logbooks with one form would be confusing (I am really being generous here). BTW, I have held official licenses since 1966 and have long ago given up keeping logbooks since the grade of my licenses doesn't mean a thing. Hell, I have even been asked by a chief steward to be a specialty chief for a weekend when I didn't even have a license (of course I had held a national license for 18 years).
They have found a way to recognize one family at one address and send only one copy of Sports Car. Why can't they send out one mailing with all of my family's membership cards? And only once, not three times?
[/b]
Well, I would suggest that since we have the ability to renew on online that we should just be able to print our membership card out online. In this day and age it really seams silly that we don't have that option. I am sure there would be fear of false documents but the fact is any 6 year old kid could duplicate what we use now. If you get busted with a false document the penalty would be severe.

Joe

[JeffYoung]

Joe, we now file court papers electronically, so the tech exists to do this.

All it would require is a scanner. You scan in your race results and med forms and send them in. Up to the SCCA to check documentation once it gets there.

This is something they should do.

[Joe Harlan]

Joe, we now file court papers electronically, so the tech exists to do this.

All it would require is a scanner. You scan in your race results and med forms and send them in. Up to the SCCA to check documentation once it gets there.

This is something they should do.
[/b]


If everyone was using AMB them I would think the Technology exists to report your results to licensing automaticly in a data file... National is already tracking participation numbers so a break down of that information should not be hard to do......Agreeing 2 days in a row Jeff people are gonna talk....... :birra:

[downingracing]

I'd like the ability to opt-out of getting SportsCar with my membership. The renewal for my family with racing license (for me) is $190.00. Drop the mag. and lower the cost. :blink:

[JamesB]

The magazine wont lower your renewal enough unless they nix the entire thing. Then they have to spend money on another way to get you news and information. And yes it could be online, but then likely I wouldnt read it often since sportscar usually only gets my attention when im in the office.

[downingracing]

Get rid of it. It is a complete waste of printing. Nothing but a huge advertisement for safety equipment this issue. They don't list Regional results anymore, and the whole thing just gets a quick thumb-thru and straight to the trash. (all IMHO)

And what 'news' do they give me in SportsCar? Any news I need comes from the website and most of the news I care about is Regional news. My region does a great job of getting me information!

[RSTPerformance]

I would hate to see Sportscar go, and I doubt it ever will. Personally I prefer Sportscar to any other "automotive" sports magazine... It gives me the updates on the "speed" series stuff, not to mention some interesting reads about the National series stuff. In addition to that it reminds me of other options to vent my speed to such as Rallycross and Autocross. To top it all off, generally every issue has some sort of article that involves a friend or two.

As for bringing out negatives (I hate doing that) but you might find it amusing that this year I personally got 2 copies of the exact same '07 GCR, one in my "drivers" package, and one in my "Stewards" package... I am sure that mistake only happens to a few, but it surely is a wast of money... Well actiually I gave it to a crew person whom doesn't get a GCR, so I am glad they sent it.

Raymond

[RKramden]

National is already tracking participation numbers so a break down of that information should not be hard to do......
[/b]
Missed it by that much.....

"National" doesn't do it. The unpaid volunteer divisional pointskeepers (like my better half...) track the numbers for their own divisions, and then the information is merged by someone at "National", just once (or twice) a year, normally July and September.

I have a set of spreadsheets with all the numbers for the Northeast Division, detailed enough so I can tell you things like: in 1997, there were 17 GT5 cars at the Glen for their national race.

[RacerBill]

Get rid of it. It is a complete waste of printing. Nothing but a huge advertisement for safety equipment this issue. They don't list Regional results anymore, and the whole thing just gets a quick thumb-thru and straight to the trash. (all IMHO)

And what 'news' do they give me in SportsCar? Any news I need comes from the website and most of the news I care about is Regional news. My region does a great job of getting me information!
[/b]

Matt, I respectfully submit that Ohio Valley Region publishes an outstanding magazine (it is way above being called a newsletter). Many members of regions that are not as fortunate depend on the information that is published in SportsCar.

As Ray said, I often see news of old friends that I met in SCCA 41 years ago (in last month's issue I found out that one of them is still a member!)

I would like to see SportsCar stand on it's own financially, and without seeing the statements, it looks like it does from all the advertising.

One other thing to consider, there are members who cannot or will not embrace technology, and therefore cannot take advantage of electronic media. I have a friend who took years to get a phone answering machine, and more years to get it right!

Anyway, providing an option to 'opt out' from receiving the magazine is ok, as long a smaller run count per issue does not result in a greater overall cost to the club.

BTW, I can't wait to see the publication of regional results online - long time coming.

Matt - Thanks for all you do for SCCA and OVR. And thanks for all the help with my clutch last October.

[gran racing]

I really enjoy getting Sports Car magazine. Keep it in print vs. online - the printed magazines are still plenty popular.

I was looking at Road & Track magazine's circulation numbers. 720,000 paid circulation...not bad! :D One stat they provide threw me off a bit - average readers per printed copy is 7.69. That brings the total readers to over 5 million people. At first I disbelieved that number, but gave it more thought as to how that could be true. Maybe we as members (myself included!) need to help by putting the Sports Car magazine somewhere others could read it after we are done with the magazine. Now I realize that the average readers per copy will probably never come close to Road & Tracks, but even increasing the number by one per house hold can help the club. I never really thought of this before and typically just throw mine out when done reading it. I wouldn't hurt to drop it off at the barber shop, leave it in the company's cafe, give it to the guys at the auto parts store, whatever.

I don't understand why some people complain about advertisments being printed in the magazine. For one, it helps pay for the magazine. The other, it gives companies who are in the business of selling racing products & services exposure to us. I for one like to flip through the pages, see what neat products are available and figure out how I will become poorer but hopefully faster.

By the way, if you know of some interesting articles you'd like to see, why not send the editors information on it?

[RSTPerformance]

By the way, if you know of some interesting articles you'd like to see, why not send the editors information on it?
[/b]


Good call!!!

Maybe we (The IT.com group) should submit a monthly news tid bit. Maybe each month pick out 2 or so people who are "hot" at the moment and feature them. It would be great exposure not only for those drivers but also for the IT community as a whole (earn a little respect amongst those "old timers" who still think we are the "lowest" of the "low" smashem up derby guys/gals)

I would think at a min we could get a 1 page article??? IT is one of the largest groups among SCCA, and I would think that they would encourage and welcome a well written article.

Dave, I nominate you to be the article writter and to set eveything up, you have the experience and have already proven to be a great writter as sceen in your book!!! lol

Raymond "so far off topic" Blethen

[CDS]

I would love to see more regional coverage in Sportscar. I think dropping the regional results was a bad decision, makes it seem like regional racers aren't as important. Since the regional results are gone, the most useful part of the mag to me are the ads. Its a good source of info about suppliers and parts that is hard to get elsewhere. Otherwise, I don't spend a lot of time reading it.

[Joe Harlan]

Missed it by that much.....

"National" doesn't do it. The unpaid volunteer divisional pointskeepers (like my better half...) track the numbers for their own divisions, and then the information is merged by someone at "National", just once (or twice) a year, normally July and September.

I have a set of spreadsheets with all the numbers for the Northeast Division, detailed enough so I can tell you things like: in 1997, there were 17 GT5 cars at the Glen for their national race.
[/b]

Sorry, I forgot to include every level of particpation that has an effect on these things getting done.....Next time I will remember to pat myself on the back for writing the check that causes the need for all this information..geez

If you divide what we pay (expense) for sports car by the number of members claimed it works out to about 10 buck per member. But we all know there is not 65000 copies being mailed so it may be much more. It looks like we expense roughly 600k per year in cost of production and I don't find an income side of the magazine(advertisement income) I would bet the c osts are close to fixed so any reduction in distribution will be spread in cost over the balance of the membership.

[ddewhurst]

SportsCar March 2007

65 pages addvertising

6 pages of Ghost tracks

71 pages sub total

98 pages total

27 potential pages worth reading.

Yesterday my 3 year old grand daughter was sitting on my lap reading a Chicken Little book & her comment was gramp pa you speed reader because you finished your book first.

[JohnRW]

I believe (but haven't checked lately) that all "mailed" magazines, publications etc. must file an annual Form 3526 with the US Postal Service - "Statement of Ownership, Management & Circulation" - which includes full distribution data for the publication - How many were mailed, how many were given away free, how many were thrown out, how many were used as bird-cage liners by HQ, etc. I think it's still required that publishers actually include this statement once annually in their publication. Usually small print, buried in the back.

Find one for SportsCar. Gotta be someplace. It's not really an SCCA publication...it's actually published by Haymarket Publishing's Racer Magazine group. Never actually looked at the 3526 for SportsCar, so I don't know if SCCA or Racer Magazine is the 'listed' owner.

Current arrangement is that Racer has a 'production contract' with SCCA to produce SportsCar monthly. Don't know any details of the contract, but from reading the SCCA annual financial statement for 2006 that the Club funds Racer about $500-600K, and gets none of the ad revenue. Is this a good deal ? It is if you're Racer Magazine.

Not going to trash-talk Racer...they're actually very nice people do deal with, and the ad rates in SportsCar are, comparitively, a "screaming deal" (IMO). Had occasion over the last 7-8 years to book display ads in SportsCar for "thank-you" ads for some sponsors, manufacturer & people who have helped us out (a rarity in sports car racing, but very common practice in motorcycle road racing...are car guys just "cheap, unappreciative bastards" ???). Racer Magazine people were GREAT to deal with. But...is their deal with SCCA the best deal that SCCA could come up with ? Is that Racer Magazine's problem ? No.

10+ years ago, I was involved (involved = B.O.D. for several elected terms) of a large, ISO / ANSI standards-setting technical society serving several multi-billion dollar industries. Society has had a "journal" published since 1916...'self-published' within the organization...sent to all members...full color glossy...with a small but quality amount of manufacturer advertising. None of the ad stuff is 'impulse buy' - image ads from technology companies or widgets that you'd have to dig $50K-500K out of the capital budget to buy - and the editorial stuff was really dry technical stuff....not the kind of stuff you'd find in your dentist's office or in the rack next to your potty. But...with a monthly page-count of 60-90 pages, it ran at a slight net profit or loss each month.

I'm not suggesting that SCCA go into the publishing business (oh gawd NOOOOO), but maybe it's time to take a good hard look at what SportCar costs the Club. Is the contract with Racer Magazine really good for the Club ?

I've raised this issue with my area Director several times over the past few years. I'll keep asking...and maybe when that contract comes back up, we can have some other options for a club publication.

[Mattberg]

This is sort of a "tweener"...

By that I mean that I'm uncharacteristically undecided. I think SportsCar is a big expense but my own personal situation makes me think twice. I've gone through periods of inactivity due to business and the only way to keep abreast/involved is done through receiving my SportsCar Magazine. Not sure that applies if you could get it electronically though.

I think that this is probably not an uncommon deal. There are plenty of "inactive" members out there that pay their annual dues just to have their membership and GET SportsCar. If that's the deal then maybe the BoD feels getting rid of it would put those that pay memberships but don't participate, into a lapse mode. I do know the BoD is obsessed with membership. Would I have forgone my membership without SportsCar in those periods where I was too busy to participate directly? Yea... I think I probably would have. Seems silly but getting the publication somehow meant something.

I think the solution is an electronic version. That would be good enough for me. Not sure about others.

[lateapex911]

I was looking at Road & Track magazine's circulation numbers. 720,000 paid circulation...not bad! :D One stat they provide threw me off a bit - average readers per printed copy is 7.69. That brings the total readers to over 5 million people. At first I disbelieved that number, but gave it more thought as to how that could be true. Maybe we as members (myself included!) need to help by putting the Sports Car magazine somewhere others could read it after we are done with the magazine. [/b]

You mean my bathroom isn't a high enough traffic zone???

;)


(I'd think that there have to be better things to dump than the mag. It's not exactly "deep" reporting, but it's fine. I'd hate to see it go.)

[RKramden]

Well, my industrial spy network has informed me that everyone will be getting ANOTHER membership card in the mail in a month or two.

This time, it will have a barcode on the back that can be scanned to track what you are doing. (e.g. driving, crew, worker, etc.)

Big Brother is getting closer and closer.

[Matt Rowe]

That would be interesting considering that very few regions are set up with a bar code reader. Now, having bar codes would make it more attractive for regions to add that functionality to speed up registration, but I don't see why we would need to suddenly replace everyone's card. Let the normal renewal proces do that. Unless there is some immediate program set up to handle barcodes but I can't think what that would be.