Feb SARRC/ECR/Pro-IT On-line

The Supps for our Feb 25,26 weekend at Road Atlanta are up on www.Atl-SCCA.org. We had a lot of problems with Registration at the ARRC, so we're doing a "semi-manual" system for this event. You'll notice entry fees have gone up due to increased sanction & insurance costs from National, plus operating expenses at Road Atlanta have gone up as well. We DID reinstate a discount for entering both the SARRC and ECR (not the Pro-IT since 50% of that money goes to the prize fund) plus reduced the cost of the second driver for ECR. The total entry fee for a two-driver ECR car remains the same as 2005 (i.e. - "share the ride").

The schedule is obviously set for Feb with the 90-minute ECR race on Sunday morning, mainly because "we've always done it that way". It was pointed out to me at Jekyll that trying to grid 60+ cars plus set up pit boxes for an 8:15 start puts an enormous burden on both participants and grid workers, so I'm open to input on how to fix that.

Reasonable options are:
1. Leave it Sunday morning
2. Run ECR as first race on Saturday afternoon (last session of the day)
3. Run ECR as last race on Sunday afternoon

(An unreasonable option is to have an ECR-only weekend :) ).

Whadda y'all think?

Butch Kummer
Atlanta Region Comp.Director

Although I've gotten no suggestions on where to move the 90-minute ECR race, I HAVE gotten feedback on the entry fees for our Road Atlanta events. While I'd like to push that off on others ("it's not my decision"), as former Treasurer I've very much been involved in these decisions both in the past and this year.

We have monthly Board meetings that are open to the public (and a membership meeting on Feb. 20) where I'd rather engage in discussion/debate on our funding, but I WILL use this forum to give some background into why we charge what we do. This is all public information.

Although we're a non-for-profit corporation, Atlanta Region needs to take in more money than we spend in order to survive. Our annual budget hovers in the $500,000 range, and last year we spent over $25K more than we received, primarily due to the cancellation of the AMS event. Costs are going up in 2006 - insurance, fuel (which impacts everything), sanction fees and increased spending toward worker incentives - so it figures that entry fees will go up as well.

We've been accused in the past of being "IT-centric" because we offer so much track time for IT cars vs. the non-IT classes, so when looking at our entry fee structure I calculated a "cost per minute" of track time for each series that we run. Using an average lap time of 1:40 I came up with the following for 2006:

SARRC: 2 15-minute sessions + 15-lap race @ $200 = $3.64 / min
Pro-IT: 2 15-minute sessions + 20-lap race @ $250 = $3.95 / min
ECR (1 driver): 2 15-minute sessions + 90 min race @ $275 = $2.29 / min
ECR (2 driver); 2 15-minute sessions + 90 min race @ $350 = $2.92 / min
National: 45 minutes P&Q + 18-lap race @ $250 = $3.33 / min

Take out the series fees and/or prize money and the numbers favor the IT cars even more (half the Pro-IT entry goes back to the racers, for instance, which effectively cuts their cost/minute in half). Perhaps we ARE charging more for the ECR than other regions, but we need to provide racing opportunities for ALL our racers, not just the IT drivers. Although still favoring the IT community (and thus supporting those IT critics), our current entry fee structure is the best compromise we can afford right now.

As I said, I'd rather discuss this in a face-to-face conversation with a free interchange of ideas, but I DO welcome your thoughts.

Butch Kummer

Edit this post to include a poll. I will have to agree that there is a lot of work to do to have everything ready by 8:15. Also, you can't start prepping too early in the morning this time of year or you'll be working in the dark. Sunrise today was 7:39. No way you can start late or we'll eat into the quiet time starting at 10.

My vote is last race on Sat if you're interested - I never was much of a morning person anyway. :birra: B)

[quote]


We have monthly Board meetings that are open to the public (and a membership meeting on Feb. 20) where I'd rather engage in discussion/debate on our funding, but I WILL use this forum to give some background into why we charge what we do. This is all public information.







As I said, I'd rather discuss this in a face-to-face conversation with a free interchange of ideas, but I DO welcome your thoughts.

Butch Kummer




Butch, I like your thoughts and ideas. I wish ALSCCA had open BOD meetings. We can address our BOD 30 min before every meeting but then we are asked to leave and cannot participate in any of the other discussions. Thank you for your concern with us racers!!

Thanks, Bobby Bitterman

Quote:

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Originally posted by tom_sprecher@Jan 26 2006, 11:59 AM
Edit this post to include a poll.

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I tried to, but I'm not sure how to do this (but then I'm not sure what my name is half the time anyway) :lol:. Can someone else set it up or am I the only one since I started the thread?

Three choices:
- 8:15 Sunday morning (current schedule)
- last session on Saturday
- last session on Sunday

Bruce Kramer

Ask and so shall you receive.

Should we expect a confirmation email? It would be nice to have some way of knowing our registration was actually recieved before we get to the window ;)

I'm meeting with Gwen tomorrow and will bring that up. You could always track the e-mail when you send it.

One thing we're talking about is having an "Express Window" for those that completed their entry forms correctly and have no changes to make - sign the waiver and head on in! What I'm thinking is having a control point just inside the registration area that checks on your entry and lets you know which line to get in. Since I won't be racing that weekend (and it's my idea), I may well be manning that booth on Friday night.