Development of mentor program?

(Cross posted from roadraceautox, but know some don’t post over there.)

For a few years now I’ve pitched the idea to SCCA of developing a mentor program. They liked the idea, but for whatever reason it’s just never happened at least on a larger scale. From what I understand there are a couple of regions out there that have some form of a mentor program, but I’m not aware of them. If NASA has a mentor program, it’s certainly not easy to recognize at least from their national website.

As you might guess, I have quite a bit of contact with people new to motorsports. I’m in the process of creating a new website where the contents will be available to people for free, and Ryan Davies volunteered to create a chat form (thank you!) where people can ask various questions. Even with all of this, I know there would be quite a bit of value in establishing a mentor program. So why not?

Might any of you be interested in helping with something like this? It could be anything from making yourself available as a mentor, assisting with the creation and implimention of this program, contacting regions and/or other clubs to make them aware it exists, to other tasks. You choose how much you’d be willing to put into this.

Prospective Mentors: you don’t need to have a considerable level of experience in which ever type(s) of motorsports. The goal is really to make someone new to the sport more comfortable. You also don’t need to commit to a significant amount of time. Could be as simple as introducing yourself, answering a few e-mails, possibly being okay with some phone calls, to whatever you decide. I (hopefully we) will develop a questionnaire for mentors and students to appropriately find suitable matches.

At least in the beginning, I want to keep this fairly basic otherwise it’ll become too overwhelming and probably stop with this thread. What suggestions do you have to develop a mentor program? Anyone interested in helping with this? Think there are too many obstacles and efforts should be spent differently? Nice idea, but too much work?

- Added onto this, wondering if a similar volunteer mentoring program would be worthwhile.

Dave--A fine idea.

What I see sometimes at the track is maybe a reluctance of new drivers to approach any one for help, advice or just to chat, until they are desperate. There is a natural defensive mindset at play here...obviously.

One way to resolve it could be to have a Steward go up to them and tell them to make sure and chat with Mr. so and so (real good if in the same class or race group) and tell him where Mr. so and so is paddocked.

Mr. so and so could be warned in advance by the Stewards so when Mr./Ms. rookie drops by, Mr. so and so can greet him/her as "mr./Ms. rookie"...glad you stopped by!

NER had talked a little bit about that last year. Possibly having mentors at the track wearing special shirts or hats IDing them as mentors.

Yeah, I found that to be the case with myself too. It's pretty intimidating asking some guys (especially the fast ones!) for advice. It would be nice for each region to have someone call every new member with a quick "welcome to the club, if you have any questions about the process don't be afraid to reach out to us / me."

If anyone has suggestions on what it would take to make this a success, tips on it, or other ideas, please post them.

I think it starts before a person gets to the track for the first time. I bought a car and was like WTF do I do now? I went to a few events first, but, like people said, it's a little intimidating just to walk up to someone and start asking them questions. Especially if they're busy working on the car. That's where the "Mentor" shirt could help - assuming you see said person. I posted on here to try and get some help. Bowie and Tristan were cool enough to meet up with me and help me get going. That was invaluable and I think I still have the list of stuff I wrote down somewhere.

I've always thought it would be good to have a list on the SCCA website of people newbies could contact. Break it down by region and then cities within the region. Maybe even have different people for different classes. Someone for IT, someone for Prod, etc. Someone looking to get going could contact a local person racing in their class.

I'd be up for helping out however I could. There are lots of IT people in the Atlanta area, most much more knowledgeable than me, but if someone needs a contact then I'm up for it. I'm definitely no mentor for driving. :) We all know that part of the fun of going to the track is the camaraderie and I think the more that we can include new folks the more likely they are to stick around. I certainly know the meeting I had with Bowie and Tristan made me feel much more comfortable.

David

Why do you have to wait for the new guy to come to you? They are usually easy to spot and always open to "Hi Im dan ,need a hand with your tent thats taking flight" pretty soon everybody in the class knows them. The northeast guys are pretty open to new guys and helpful if for no other reason than our car breaks and we can help someone else. Cool club to be in if you ask me.
Dan 77 IT7

Dan, while I agree but that's pretty late in the game if you ask me. By that time they've figured out much of the basics. How they even get to that point is the challenge.

When I originally heard the numbers, it shocked me. On average for the past several years, SCCA gain 10,000 members!!! That's quite a few. The sad part is we also lose an average amount of 10,000 members. So the goal here really is to reach out to those people that join and need some extra help. A written resource is nice and all, but sometimes having an actual human voice is what it takes to make things work out.

Club racing is only a part of this. Autocross and HPDE as well. My thought was that since SCCA is lacking a quality HPDE program (okay, so some regions host a PDX from time-to-time), a mentor program like this could help build a bridge into Club Racing for those that have that interest.

I personally think it's seriously as simple as someone speaking with a person before their first HPDE, a follow-up afterwords, and open line of communication. Maybe I'm totally off base with all of this? It wouldn't be the first time or the last.

David - it's not about racing lines or becoming a winning driver. It's primarily just about being there and what do I do when I arrive at my first event at Road Atlanta? In fact, sometimes I think someone whose still quite new to the game can be an even better mentor in some aspects compared to a seasoned veteran. The reason is people who have been in the game for a while sometimes take too many things for granted. A relatively new person to the scene vividly remembers what it was all like. There are positives to both experience levels.

Now I got it.. Duh Didnt read first before I spoke,sounds like a cool idea.:cool:

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Originally Posted by Dano77

"Hi Im dan ,need a hand with your tent thats taking flight?"
Dan 77 IT7

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I'm using that line! From now on good looking girls, fame and fortune are mine!

Dave's right about the need. I did some PDX instruction and those guys were prime candidates for next steps. I've since spent a couple years getting questions/updates from and providing guidance to some of those students.
If we can get enough interest in folks interested in volunteering as mentors, then we need to set up the infrastructure. Sounds like it could be web-based once some guidelines were established.
Regards,
Chuck

I'd be interested in having a mentor. There has always been an excuse for me not to race - be it work, fear due to lack of knowledge on how to get started or worry about the financial aspects of racing.

I've been spending a lot of time this year just going to SCCA events in Nor Cal to watch a recently made friend race. Prior to meeting that friend, I'd go and walk around during a race weekend and strike up conversations with people in different series. Its hard to know who to approach. Some people are easy to talk to and helpful. Others are busy. Others are just not easy to talk to and don't communicate effectively. Gathering sufficient knowledge to feel comfortable is a long process - at least to someone like me.

I've been doing HPDE since 1988 on and off depending on how busy I've been or how crappy my car was. I stopped for a while to race karts which was a great learning experience. I now feel too old to race karts (my back isn't what it used to be) and recently acquired a free Miata that is being transformed at my leisure to a race car. My current plan is to do some HPDE NASA events to get familiar with the car and slowly get it prepped. Target for my first race is late 2010 or early 2011. I'll probably be too busy with work in the first half of this year. Having someone I can talk to (not just exchange messages on forums) would definitely make it easier.

I think I've read every book on the topic. Hopefully this is my year. :)

Managing the program behind the scenes is where I'm at complete a loss. I agree, using some type of software such as a web based tools would be a huge plus. As it stands now, the only thing I can of doing sending out Word doc prepared questionnaires - one for students and one for mentors. Then taking that information and manually putting it into Excel. I realize that's not at all efficient or the best way to do it.

If anyone would be willing to help with this, there a ton of different areas where your help could be used in addition to mentors.

I've heard that a few people have attempted this in the past but it kinda fizzled away. I don't think this is something one person can effectively do by themselves.

Alberto,

Actually, you could provide some initial help with this project as well. Even if it's as simple as reading the student questionnaire, and asking "how will this work" from a student's perspective. Sometimes as we gain more experience, we also take a lot for granted. If you'd be interested in assisting in this way, PM me your e-mail address along with first & last name.

For those interested in obtaining a mentor, the best way I could think of managing the communication was to implement a newsletter. (This website will be undergoing a significant amount of changes in the near future.) To sign-up for the newsletter, you can go to the below link.

http://www.goaheadtakethewheel.com/Newsletter.html

Good Idea. Count me in. MM

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Originally Posted by gran racing

Alberto,

Actually, you could provide some initial help with this project as well. Even if it's as simple as reading the student questionnaire, and asking "how will this work" from a student's perspective. Sometimes as we gain more experience, we also take a lot for granted. If you'd be interested in assisting in this way, PM me your e-mail address along with first & last name.

For those interested in obtaining a mentor, the best way I could think of managing the communication was to implement a newsletter. (This website will be undergoing a significant amount of changes in the near future.) To sign-up for the newsletter, you can go to the below link.

http://www.goaheadtakethewheel.com/Newsletter.html

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I can help you out building the web site. Pm incoming.

Why dont we address the questions here?? The webmaster could add a heading, the noobs could post questions, place and date, the old coots could make the conection here. find each other at the track ,or shop, It could be love at first sight..
MM

Something like this could be done here too, but my goal is to expand this well beyond IT racing to include autocross, HPDEs, and all categories of Club Racing. Also, as much as I'm a huge SCCA supporter, I'd also like to have this set-up so people interested in participating with other organizations such as NASA will have access to a mentor.

The thought of actually moving forward with a mentor program came about as I was working on the development of my new website where all of the contents from that book I wrote about getting into racing will be made available to people. I will also be adding information about general driving techniques among may other topics. SCCA having a mentor program is something I've often thought as another missing piece, and I suppose that I either need to put up or shut up. Now only if I could get SCCA to contribute financially to this to help get closer to that far away break-even point with this resource effort. :(

NASA is a lot more noob friendly. Just by their race license program alone. We ran NASA for the first time last summer and I was very impressed. Lots of new blood,lots of cash in the cars. SCCA has missed some things, that NASA has picked up. The spec classes seem towork,etc.

Don't forget about other race organizations - BMW, Porsche, Rally, Motorcycle stuff etc.

The Boston Chapter of the BMW CCA has a really good mentor program for their driver's school program. If you volunteer to be a mentor (typically the Group 1 and Group 2 advanced students), you get assigned a novice participant. You're supposed to contact the novice some weeks prior to the event, chat about what to expect, their goals for the school, give them the lay of the land, etc. It then helps to arrange to meet at the event - paddock next to them, etc. and keep checking in during the day. Even just knowing where to park and who to talk to for what, can be intimidating for some on top everything else going on at a first event.

I was gratified to see students I mentored initially get completely hooked into the sport, eventually becoming club racers..

This site is full of mentors. Everyone on this site has given me help, advice and/or encouragement.

Dave,

As you may know, at least ion NER, autox has a novice program. You get walk arounds, you get classed with other beginners and race based on an index etc. It works well.

Whomever has volunteered to be the drivers reps should attend the last few classroom sessions at each school. Introductions, etc. They would be the go-to people for any questions and issues. I think it may already be built into the system, we just have to expand it a little.

My orginal thought and personal experiences were that much of the challenge isn't necessarily finding help once a person actually gets to the track be it autocross, HPDEs or Club Racing. Having someone they can physically speak with before to add that one more piece of comfort level is where I was thinking it would be useful.

Do you think something like this wouldn't be of much value then? Quite truthfully, in many respects I'd rather not attempt to coordinate putting something like this together (realization of how big a project it would be). I'd be curious to hear more of your thoughts.

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Originally Posted by Andy Bettencourt

Dave,


Whomever has volunteered to be the drivers reps should attend the last few classroom sessions at each school. Introductions, etc. They would be the go-to people for any questions and issues. I think it may already be built into the system, we just have to expand it a little.

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My opinion is that is the responsibilty of the instructor. I don't feel that our responsibility ends after the school. I've always made sure that they have my contact information and encourage them to contact me with ANY questions. I take a great deal of pride in the fact I keep in contact with most of my students and have become friends with many of them.

I think Dave hit the nail on the head. It's getting those people who want to get on the track but don't know how or don't realize how easy (relatively speaking) it is.

Since last summer I've been listed as the "New Driver Ambassador" for NER and even wrote an article for Pit Talk but have had only around 10 people contact me. And I think all of them had already been on track in one form or another.

Maybe you/we could get the different organizations to post a link on their websites saying something like: "So, you think you want to get on the track, click here" and have it feed into the site you're thinking about. Would they all do it?? I don't know. PDA, NASA, SCCA, SCCA regions, EMRA, COM, etc. Too bad the magazines wouldn't allow us to put an ad in for free...........

A form E mail to other sites as a public service A, might be well recieved.
Keep in mind that POC, BMW, clubs really dont think a lot of the SCCA racers, for some reason.. Maybe the spec Miata videos??
Just a email for region questions( iwould use the word" iquiries" if I could spell it) , make up a list of contacts to send out, etc. IMHO. MM

After Andy's post, I began to wonder more about the worth of doing this. I posted on another site where I know several novices go to and got my answer. I was actually a little surprised with how many PMs I received from people asking for this to happen. In addition to those, a couple of people involved in NASA also volunteered to help out with things. Maybe in reality people won't enroll in it but at least it will be made available to them.

Jeff, there might be ways to get some magazines to print a press release about this.

Do you think putting a free "ad" (basically small logo) on the mentor page and in the student welcome package for clubs who promote this program would entice them? Have mixed thoughts on this.

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Originally Posted by gran racing

After Andy's post, I began to wonder more about the worth of doing this. I posted on another site where I know several novices go to and got my answer. I was actually a little surprised with how many PMs I received from people asking for this to happen. In addition to those, a couple of people involved in NASA also volunteered to help out with things. Maybe in reality people won't enroll in it but at least it will be made available to them.

Jeff, there might be ways to get some magazines to print a press release about this.

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I agree with you. I'm active on other forums and the "how to get into racing" question comes up very regularly. I refer them to your book of course but having a means to locate a local mentor and go to the track would be helpful to a newbie.

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Originally Posted by gran racing

Do you think putting a free "ad" (basically small logo) on the mentor page and in the student welcome package for clubs who promote this program would entice them? Have mixed thoughts on this.

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It might help. Anyone that has already become a member of a club like SCCA or NASA is pretty far down the path and somewhat informed already.

It sounds like you guys are already convinced but...one new person's opinion,
The idea of a new drivers' information packet is excellent. All you get when you register for your first school is the Supps!
In my very little experience, sometimes you don't have intelligent questions to ask at first and just being asked to sit in and listen to veteran 'bench racing' after a session on the track is invaluable! The instructors and helpful drivers that have pulled me along so far are the only reason we keep trying! Well that and it's fun!
I hope you do get a form of this going...Can I still get a Mentor?
Denise

Denise,
I've actually decided to keep moving along with this and am plugging away at it. Kai helped give me the extra nudge and there's little to lose by at least giving it a go.

There have been a few things that I've been working on such as how to administer the program. At first the plan was quite simple and I'd have someone complete a word doc created in Word then I'd take the information and consolidate it into an Excel spreadsheet. One of my co-workers / friends laughed at that idea. I knew that was far from perfect. So instead she's finalizing on-line student and mentor applications where the information gets put into a database and reports can be run against it. IF this program were to actually grow, that will make life much easier!

I spoke with SCCA national about the mentor program and am sure they'll make an announcement as one of their top stories. It's moving along and will be ready this Spring. Several people have already volunteered to help with this and not only from SCCA. Pretty cool!! (I'll send some type of brief update shortly to those who contacted me with interest in helping out.)

If you need a list of all the dumb newbie questions for a possible pamphlet I have plenty of them. I think this is a great idea and could be very beneficial to us new guys.

As someone who is currently building an IT car and plans to go to a drivers school in the next year or so, this would be a neat program. I plan on attending some club racing events at NJMP this year and it would be nice to chat up some guys (who arent too busy during the event) who don't mind letting total noobs like me in on the process and intricacies . I'd be interested to see everyone's best ideas. I know from reading "take the wheel" and autocrossing with the Philly SCCA the last 3 years that the veterans are usually pretty accepting and knowledgable, but having a set program would make the transition from aspiring racer to racer that much easier.

Yes, I'd be interested in getting those questions. In addition to the mentor program, I'm in the process of making the contents of my book as well as additional information into an online resource. That would be helpful. Send them to [email protected] . Thanks!!

A mentor program is a great idea. I'm not sure how formal it has to be. I think the hardest part is getting ready for a rookie season before you get to the track for the first time. This is when rookies need the most help. I was fortunate enough to make a few contacts from message boards and driver's school to get all the info I needed.


At the track should be easy. If a rookie needs help they need to approach somebody and ask questions. The drivers that have been at this a while can spot a new driver and should lend a hand or a few pointers.

I think it's a fantastic idea and I volunteer myself down here in South Florida.
Any questions and or work on your track or race cars. count me in

David Tuaty
www.TuatyLeiraMotorsports.com
305-216-5390

I'm new enough at racing to remember all the worrying for nothing and stress that I felt as I took the steps to get into racing. So let me throw in my two cents.

I don't know if all noobs go through this or if it is just my personality type, but I worried about every step of becoming a racer starting from downloading the medical form on.

It would be ideal if there were a link somewhere on the SCCA site, preferably near the medical form and novice application form download site that would say "If you would like to be assigned a mentor to guide you through the steps click here".

Ideally, a racer from your region would contact you well ahead of your first school and guide you through such matters as the physical, novice permit application, school registration, car tech, and it would be great if they could be present during the first school.

Email exchanges prior to the school can go over things like safety gear, tow rigs, parking at the paddock, camping at the track, etc.

I'm sure this sounds like basic things to veteran racers, but these were the things that I worried about. I had a load of track days under my belt when I finally took the leap, the driving on the track was the least of my worries.

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Originally Posted by gizmo83

It sounds like you guys are already convinced but...one new person's opinion,
The idea of a new drivers' information packet is excellent. All you get when you register for your first school is the Supps!
In my very little experience, sometimes you don't have intelligent questions to ask at first and just being asked to sit in and listen to veteran 'bench racing' after a session on the track is invaluable! The instructors and helpful drivers that have pulled me along so far are the only reason we keep trying! Well that and it's fun!
I hope you do get a form of this going...Can I still get a Mentor?
Denise

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When I went through super school with Cal-Club almost 4 years ago, I recieved a Drivers training manual. It covers the basics of skills of race driving.

Dave,

You might want to contact Jim Bishop, Cal-Club's chief instructor, for a copy rather than starting from scratch. (I just noticed it copyright 2004 Danny McKeever's Fastlane Driving shcool)

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I don't know if all noobs go through this or if it is just my personality type, but I worried about every step of becoming a racer starting from downloading the medical form on.

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Could be somewhat related to personality type, but I felt the same way too.

James,
Fortunately I'm starting off with a ton of information that’s already put together. (All of the topics from this page http://www.goaheadtakethewheel.com/Contents.html will be on the site.) There's a quite a bit of other topics I want to add to it such as driving techniques, but at the same time I'm trying not to get too bogged down with that yet.

SCCA continues to be supportive of this and based on my recent conversations, they’ll add links in places people will see. I also have 10,000 flyers that I had printed which will be inserted into the new membership packages. A more challenging task will be attempting to get regions to add it to their sites, and getting people to actually take advantage of peoples’ willingness to help.