I hesitate to even post this, but perhaps it will succeed in moving MattBerg's tirades from the General Discussion to the SEDIV area where they belong.

The reason no one answers you Matt, is because you DON'T LISTEN! You seize on one mistatement or misquote and shout from the rooftops that the black helicopters are swarming and life (or at least racing) as we know it today will cease to exist. You overreact, but that's part of the process.

Truth:

In the past month, all the RE's and anyone they want to bring (like Competition Directors, of which I am one) have been invited to a private, non-business gathering at Jekyll separate from the SEDIV events at the Holiday Inn. The purpose of this gathering is to discuss issues that we each face in a social atmosphere that should be more conducive to actually listening to and getting to know each other. No proposals will be offered, no motions will be made, no votes will be taken, no SEDIV business will be conducted and no SEDIV monies are being spent on this.

For the record, neither Barry Hair nor anyone from the Alabama region is organizing this gathering.

Opinion (mine, of course):

I wouldn't have done it this way, but it's not my meeting and I don't know all the reasons behind choosing this format. Perhaps the organizers felt an informal gathering would allow the RE's to let their guard down a bit and REALLY discuss what's on their minds rather that posturing for their members (sorta like the private summit conferences where the real work is done behind the scenes vs. the public ones where people beat on the table with their shoe).

I'm a bit uncomfortable attending because of it's "secret" nature and thought about skipping it, but that does a disservice to my region. I will attend, I will express my opinions about the challenges faced by both Atlanta Region and SEDIV, I will listen to the same from other regions and I will certainly form an opinion about ways that we may meet some of those challenges.

As much as I hate to agree with Matt, I think part of the problems we face in SEDIV is that we have too many regions in Area 12. I don't know the history of why they exist, so perhaps from this gathering I can gain a better understanding of that.

Personally I think we should drop all mileage and "consecutive weekend" restrictions and let the marketplace decide who survives and who doesn't - the problem WILL fix itself eventually. The GCR and SARRC rules do not allow this, however, and making such change is a bigger challenge than I'm willing to take on right now. Working to build GTA as a SARRC class and taking on the Competition Director position in Atlanta Region fills my plate.

As the driver of a big car, Roebling Road is my third least-favorite track that I've raced upon (Barber is the worst and Mid-Ohio close behind). A couple of years ago I floated the idea of rotating the SIC among multiple tracks and it was voted down by a majority of the SARRC drivers. Apparently the central location and/or track familiarity is more important to most of our participants. I will race at Roeling in 2006, but only because I need to in order to have a chance of winning the SARRC championship.

Finally, I will trot out what Matt calls the "volunteer chip". Like it or not, the SCCA IS a volunteer organization. Perhaps there are in fact power-hungry overlords whose only reason for holding a position is to satisfy their massive egos, but in my experience most of the elected and appointed officials are concerned about doing what's right for SCCA first. If you have a problem with one or more of these people, regular elections are held for all positions within SCCA. Run for an office, get your like-minded friends to vote for you and change things. SEDIV and/or SCCA may very well crumble under it's own weight tomorrow, but until then we STILL have the best amateur Solo & racing programs out there.

Let the banging and clanging begin, I'm done...

Butch Kummer