The Lawyers Win Again

[bg43wex]

this is very unfortunate!

Subject: SCCA To Discontinue ProRally, ClubRally Programs In 2005


For Immediate Release



SCCA TO DISCONTINUE PRORALLY, CLUBRALLY PROGRAMS IN 2005



TOPEKA, Kan. (Oct. 5, 2004) – Sports Car Club of America’s Board of Directors voted Monday to discontinue the sanction of its current stage-based rally format, including the ProRally and ClubRally Championships, beginning January 1, 2005 due to increasing risk exposure.



“This was a difficult and unfortunate decision to make,” SCCA Board of Directors Chairman Gary Pitts said. “However, from an insurance standpoint, the stage rally format has gotten to the point where it puts the entire Club, its activities and entities under an undue risk.”



“We have many SCCA members whose interests lie in rally,” SCCA President and CEO Steve Johnson said. “It is my intent to allow these members the opportunity to rally in the future and continue to access the sport. I am confident we can accomplish this task.



“We are in negotiations to transition SCCA’s elements of the stage-based rally activity to Rally America, a longtime partner and participant in the sport of rally.”



Unaffected by the decision are SCCA’s RallyCross and RoadRally programs.



SCCA began its special stage-format ProRally Championship in 1973. Since then, the ProRally Championship Presented by Hot Wheels has been regarded as the top domestic rally series. The 2004 Championship has one round remaining, Lake Superior ProRally (LSPR), which will run as scheduled Oct. 22 in Houghton, Mich.

[RSTPerformance]

Great… In one year we loose ProRally and gain "drifting" To bad the real drifting, and probably the only place it is every used to "optimize" performance is in Pro Rally... It is very disappointing to see the SCCA membership loose the most talented drivers from its roster.

I hope the "risk" of real racing doesn't affect us on the track to the point we have "club rules" such as with BMW club racing, Porsche club racing, and Vintage club racing. I think if SCCA allows such "risks" to effect the sport in which we participate it will be in a lot of trouble 10 years from now. We are all aware of the risks, and the risks have not changed since long before 1973. In fact I would say racing everywhere is much less of a risk now then ever before.

It is to bad someone had to get those darn lawyers involved... oh I hate those darn insurance companies also, but I think they are just reacting to the lawyers.

Raymond "Lawyers are about as good as Unions..." Blethen

* Not all Layers and/or Unions are bad... it’s just a well deserving stereotype of many.

** The opinions in this e-mail are my personal opinions and not necessarily everyone within RST Performance Racing family.

[mgyip]

The problem doesn't just lie with the lawyers (although the best lawyer is a dead lawyer as a general rule) but with the insurance companies that are desperately trying to retain their huge ROI and thus asessing "risk" at an absurd level. IIRC there were several deaths in the SCCA rally program this year and the reaction is most likely necessary to avoid further exposure in the future.

I share your concern that Road Racing and ultimately Solo will soon become too risky to insure either since these are competitive sports with inherent dangers even though the competitors willingly accept the risks. It just takes one pinhead (or a dead pinhead's pinheaded family) with a mindful lawyer to state that the dangers of the sport weren't fully detailed and thus any harm should come from the sponsoring club.

Perhaps it is time for all car clubs that sponsor "club races" to band together to standardize their safety rules. This should save a lawsuit from (for example) an injured PCA member whose car was originally built for SCCA - the claim being that SCCA's safety rqmts weren't safe and that PCA allowed the car to compete even though PCA's rqmts are different (however slightly).

As for Unions - they've outlived their usefulness, just look at the UAW and the "quality" of your new Cavalier.

[gsbaker]

Originally posted by RSTPerformance:
...We are all aware of the risks, and the risks have not changed since long before 1973. In fact I would say racing everywhere is much less of a risk now then ever before.

Absolutely. 50 years ago drivers were dropping like flies.

The Club lost two Rally drivers this year, but I'm not certain whether the concern is for the drivers or the fans.

------------------
Gregg Baker, P.E.
Isaac, LLC
http://www.isaacdirect.com

[This message has been edited by gsbaker (edited October 06, 2004).]

[JLawton]

Steve O,
I'm curious on your thoughts.......

Or are you not going to touch this one

[m glassburner]

To blame quality on the workers (all blue collar) is unjust.GM is to blame....they could change the quality standards...but do they ???

[joeg]

The Club lost two Rally drivers this year, but I'm not certain whether the concern is for the drivers or the fans.

This year? Who?

The risk is not with the competitors. It is transiting race cars on public streets and uncontrolled spectators on stages.

Competitors and workers are on releases, so that "risk" is manageable.

[SamITC85]

Someone on the Prod. Board made the comment that it probably had more to do with the Spectators since they really have no rules on where they can be on a course and don't have to sign a waiver. We as drivers in club racing sign waivers so the SCCA is partially covered, unless gross neglegance can be proven.
I would say it is more our society in which everyone wants to sue everyone, because some lawyers (not all, after all I am married to one) encourage people to sue over absurd things so the Insurance companies have to cover their butts. For instance the person who sued McDonalds for their cofee being too hot and then spilling it on themselves. ITS COFFEE ITS SUPPOSED TO BE HOT!!!

[gsbaker]

Originally posted by joeg:

The Club lost two Rally drivers this year, but I'm not certain whether the concern is for the drivers or the fans.

This year? Who?

I believe it was the ProRally series. Two drivers (actually driver and co-driver) died this spring--around June. Johnson had a followup letter in SportsCar.



------------------
Gregg Baker, P.E.
Isaac, LLC
http://www.isaacdirect.com

[David Ferguson]

This past weekend, two road racing drivers in the San Francisco region were killed in an accident during the test day preceeding an SCCA regional race at Thunderhill. Both were in closed-wheeled cars.

It seems that we have as many as 2 or 3 deaths per year in SCCA road racing, but most are kept pretty quiet. The deaths in the Pro Rally world of a top-running team seem to have caught the attention of the insurance folks, let's hope that Road Racing doesn't suffer the same fate.

[lateapex911]

In road racing on the amatuer level (SCCA), most of the deaths I have been aware of were caused by health failures.

Either the driver was dead before the incident, or died shortly thereafter due to causes beyond the crash induced trauma.

Rally spectating has always AMAZED me...it does appear that an innocent person is in the line of fire to be seriously hurt or killed sooner or later.

When it happens, it could become veeeeery ugly.

------------------
Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

[RKramden]

I worked on the Maine Forrest Rally last year to clear and mark the spectator areas.

They were the ONLY places that spectators were allowed on the rally.

Each area had a marshal in charge who had control of a "STOP" sign.

The spectators were all told the rules, and if anyone went outside the marked (and judged to be safe) areas, the stop sign would be displayed, the stage aborted, and then all the spectators would see absolutly nothing.

What actually happened was that they all understood the reasons, were supportive of what the club was doing in terms of safety, and caused absolulty no problems that I knew of.

In many cases, some of the early arrival spectators talked to the ones that were late to the area and explained what was going on, and were a big help. Everyone, including those required to leave their favourite spots and head to a marked area, were really, really nice about it.

[Diane]

Originally posted by lateapex911:

Rally spectating has always AMAZED me...it does appear that an innocent person is in the line of fire to be seriously hurt or killed sooner or later.

I wouldn't call a person who walks out onto a stage to spectate, stands in an apex when told not to, and runs into the road to get the perfect shot "innocent".

Seen it happen........


Diane

[joeg]

I think the deaths you refer to in Pro Rally were in 2003.

There were some serious injuries this year (one on a transit, I believe--public road, civilian traffic), but fortunately, so far as I know, no 2004 US deaths.

There is a big risk with Pro Rally because the sport mixes people on liability releases for the event and civilians who are not on releases.

In road racing, at the club level, everyone at the track--in whatever capacity--is on a release (hopefully).

Regards.

[gsbaker]

Originally posted by joeg:
I think the deaths you refer to in Pro Rally were in 2003.

Thanks. I stand corrected.

Gregg

[Steve Ostrovitz]

Jeff, just checked in here for the first time in a while. Of course its the lawyers' fault! I even had a class in law school titled "How to Ruin The Fun for Everyone". It met right after "The Myth of Personal Responsibility in American Culture". Great stuff!

Gotta run and finish shredding the Constitution before I hit the sack. Just three more Amendments and I'm done for the night!

Steve

Steve

[theracinglawyer]

I read with interest the recent Posts.

To those who want to tear up the Constition, My friend was arrested in canada and wanted Bail. Sorry their laws say you stay till you , you, you , prove you are innocent.America is a great place to live and the Criminal Justice System is part of it's greatness

To those who bash Unions, Before Unions, when a worker, steel mill or Coal miner was killed on the job they threw the body on the back porch and let the widow and all the small kids see it and said I'm sorry. They treated the mules in the mines better than the young breaker boys some as young as 6 years old.The Unions Help Stop that.

It's the Insurance companies who have mega millions who want the preium but don't want to pay pursuant to their contract. they dictate who gets covered and who does not.

Come sit in my office when the injured come in to see me , the parent's of the drunk driver victim, the person hurt when someone was at fault and the accident could have been so easily avoided.

To the non believers I always say DON"T BECOME A VICTIM.

My Blood Boils when I hear the bashing of the things that make America so great.

I'm Proud to be a Trial Lawyer,

------------------
Love "the commander"
Mike Cefalo
BE SAFE GO FAST HAVE FUN

[Quickshoe]

The two Pro Rally drivers that were killed in 2003 were Mark Lovell and Roger Freeman--Team Subaru...legends...Godspeed Mark and Roger.

[Tom Blaney]

Originally posted by theracinglawyer:
I read with interest the recent Posts.


I'm Proud to be a Trial Lawyer,

Ok so why not work the process like the 99 percent of all workers, work for an hourly rate that is in line with the rest of the high tech or higher education field. Why do you work for a percentage of the take, If I work hard and develop a new process for a customer that saves his/her company a lot of money I don't expect to get 40% of the companies gross. In other countries, the legal profession works on a realistic fixed rate or fixed hourly rate why not here?

The insurance company's roi is based on overall expenses, that includes the cost of settlement fees for cases lost, which includes legal fees.

This is an industry that is definatly broken and needs some fixing.
Tom Blaney

[theracinglawyer]

Tom

Thanks for the response to my triade. Trial lawyers work on a percentage basis because, if they lose You don't have to pay them.

A more important item is costs. Our firm has advanced over $1,000,000 in costs on behalf of clients who could not advance that money with no guarantee of winning.

The money is spent on Doctors depositions which run $4,000 to $5,000, expert witnesses, consultants, Trial exibits, computer animations, Research scientists in Drug recall cases, investigators, photos, If we lose the case we bite the bullet and absorb the lost money.We have lost $300,000 in some cases. On more thing the costs are not deduuctible as an expense, the IRS considers them as a loan to your client so the money advanced is after tax dollars. We pay 40% in taxes on the money we advance.

Contingent Fees are the poor mans key to the Court House, without them you would not have justice. Take the widow with three small children who has no money and just lost her husband to a drunk driver and expect her to come up with money for costs and an hourly rate for a lawyer. The Drunk driver and the insurance company gets off and the widow and the kids suffer.She doesn't know where she is going to get her next meal let alone money for a Lawyer. There are a ton of snior citizens who have been wronged, you can't expect these people who live on fixed income to spend their rent money from Social Security on a lawyer.

By the way recently I was awarded the Pennsylvania Bar Association Pro Bono Award for free legal services I provide to people who could not afford a lawyer. Of all the Professional Awards I have received in My years as a trial lawyer, it is the one I am the proudest of.

All Lawyers are not the ones you read about, Greedy,Selfish,unethical. There a lot of great Lawyers you just have to look for them.


------------------
Love "the commander"
Mike Cefalo
BE SAFE GO FAST HAVE FUN