"Temporary" Memberships

[pballance]

How are your local regions handling the now required $5.00 fee(paid to National) for temporary memberships for workers at road racing events?

Are you charging volunteers the fee? Are you eating the fee? Have you increased entry fees to cover the charge?

Our region recently held a Hill Climb and enlisted 50-70 volunteer workers that are needed to have a successful event. Most of them were from other local car clubs and amateur radio operators that are needed for communications and corner response. Our region "ponied up" the fee rather than charging volunteers to work the event (we already supplied them with lunches 2 days and t-shirts).

Do you have any other ideas on how to attract workers to RR events and how to offset the additional costs that National has passed down to us? Autox and RallyX supply their own workers and I wonder if any consideration was given to how this will affect RR.

Thoughts........

[NutDriverRighty]

As someone who spends more time working corners than racing, I'm apalled at the idea of charging folks to volunteer. When I go from my home in western NC to CMP or to Road Atlanta to work a weekend, it costs me at least $100 in expenses (food, gas, lodging if needed, snacks, etc.). Regions often talk about paying for a lunch or two and mention the social as perks. After working corners for four years and getting event shirts at every one that I worked (for the most part), I've begun donating shirts to Goodwill, the local shelter, or wherever. Harkening back to my days as a Psychology student, "a reward is only a reward if the person receiving it feels it is rewarding". Another white t-shirt to go with the 50 I have at home just isn't a reward anymore. Also, I don't drink so the biggest expense of the social is wasted on me. As far as the "free lunch" goes, I've bought my own meals on one or two occasions because the stuff that the track/region served was too nasty for me to eat.
For most races at CMP, the region(s) will pay for a motel room at the Colony Inn. Not the nicest place, but WORLDS better than the Scottish Inn down from Road Atlanta. Atlanta Region has given out $20 gift cards to the workers. IIRC, San Francisco region has "worker bucks" that they can redeem for any number of things. When I work for PCA, it's $75 per day. When I worked for Road Atlanta, it was $10 per hour. I do enjoy working corners. I don't enjoy it as much as driving. Considering that I could be at the race spectating, eating, moving around at will, hanging out with friends, and all of the other things that non-workers get to do, I don't consider volunteering my time to work F&C (or any other specialty) as a perk in and of itself. I don't know what the answer is to getting workers to the track. I don't think it's money. The one thing that I can say for myself is that a feeling of being appreciated for taking my time, effort, and money to be there is a MAJOR factor in my working with that group/track/region/etc. again. Just my $0.02 worth.

Scott Franklin
www.NutDriver.org
F&C
SPU
ITA/IT7

[RacerBill]

I feel about charging volunteers for a 'temporary' membership the same way I feel about National announcing that they were going to make it easier for friends of the driver/team to get in to spectate by creating a new kind of pass that costs $15.00 rather than the $10 overcrew that the regions I race with do now. WUWT!!!!!!!

It is either a way to subsidize the cost of insurance, or some sort of legal manuvering to avoid legal action if a new volunteer gets hurt 'But you paid money to work, so you must have known there was some danger!'

Scott: Man, I wish I could work some of the events you have been to. I started working in 1966 and the most expensive thing I ever got was a golf umbrella! But then my wife got one and a friend that I brought along got one two. Now when I drive and pay $300 or so, I get only one tee shirt (which ends up in the same place that yours do!). Not knocking the volunteers. "Let's hear it for Sound Control!!!!!!"

[CaptainWho]

It is either a way to subsidize the cost of insurance, or some sort of legal manuvering to avoid legal action if a new volunteer gets hurt 'But you paid money to work, so you must have known there was some danger!' [/b]

I don't know if that's exactly what's happening, but I can't help myself from thinking that there must be something else going on beneath the surface. Whining out of one side of your mouth about dwindling worker turnout while the other side of your mouth is adding a new fee for them to volunteer to work corners is just a bit too much to accept at face value. As Scott mentioned, working anywhere except my home track, which is 45 minutes from my house, gets expensive quickly. My suspicion is that a lot of regions will end up footing this bill for the new workers. They can hardly turn folks away when nearly every station on the course is understaffed.

Not knocking the volunteers. "Let's hear it for Sound Control!!!!!!"
[/b]

We drive and work corners. While I enjoy working F&C, the biggest reason I do it is to help make sure that I'll have events to drive. Granted, I can't drive that one, but I can maybe give someone else a rest so they'll be working the next event I want to drive.

PS. I'm NutDriverRighty's brother. Created my account here before we came up with that whole NutDriver thing.

[pballance]

As someone who spends more time working corners than racing, I'm apalled at the idea of charging folks to volunteer. [/b]

I too am appalled. I realize there is "some" justification in charging in order to obtain insurance coverage on workers as not all events are "spectator" events.

I have worked 2 races and a hillclimb this year. plus a test day. I stood in the rain on Saturday at Barber and broiled in the sun Sunday. In return I received a lunch and some $$$ but not nearly enough to cover my fuel and hotel bill for the weekend as it is a 2 hour drive to the track.

Worked the Labor day race at Nashville plus the test day. They covered my room for one night as I drove home after the test day (another two hour trip). My expenses were still not covered but so what, I had fun and got to see some good close racing. Long ago (circa 1975) I worked several races at RA as a "quack." I was damn glad to get anything in the way of compensation. I still had fun and got to see some incredible racing, especially the IMSA races.

I don't want to sound like a whiner, but as a racer I see the need for workers. I don't get to go play and have fun if there are not workers. This policy effectively cuts off the ability to use volunteer, NON-member workers as a means of recruitment. Heck, we have a couple of people in our region that hold National licenses in F & C and as a scrutineer. Neither of them race these days!

The bottom line to this question is why has it been decreed that we must charge $5.00 for temporary memberships when in the past we could sign someone up for a temporary 90 membership that would provide them insurance coverage. Now we MUST send in the $ to national. Don't tell me it is just for the insurance coverage as that is just an attempt to justify the fee.

The second question is what is being done to recruit/retain/compensate workers in your region? I am looking for more ways to try and keep our worker pool alive.

[ddewhurst]

Is it true that these $5.00 temporary memberships workers SHALL be "outside the protection of a positive barrier"?

Trying to understand something I know nothing about. I had presumed all SCCA workers were required to be hold SCCA specialites licences.

[NutDriverRighty]

In the Central Carolina Region, we have a strong autocrossing group. We have socials once per month (one for the Charlotte area, another for the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville/Anderson area) and I'm always there trying to get folks to "cross over to the dark side". My current focus is to get autocrossers into road racing in some capacity. The autocross folks and I are working to get the younger bunch (ricers?) out of street racing and into autocross. I also wouold like to walk around in my whites at big races (The Petit, etc.) with an "I Want You" type of message and help recruit folks from the outside.
As has been stated previously, just feeling appreciated is a key for most of us. If you're a racer and see a corner worker or other race official wandering around, give them a beer (only after shut-down), pat them on the back, share a sandwich, or just say "thanks for being here". As petty as it seems, it does frustrate me to not get a wave after a race. Are you (we) still so focused on the race we just completed that we can't pull our heads up enough to throw a finger up to the workers (which finger is your choice, of course )
Just one "nut's" opinion.

Scott Franklin
www.NutDriver.org

[dlg208]

I generally F&C 6 races and drive 6...(this year I worked 10 and drove 8)

I can tell you from my home region the the temp memberships have really worked.

We have stewards at the corners during some races so we could really use some more flaggers.

So far as charging volunteers.....That wouldn't help the situation at all.

[KelleyHux]

I'm not sure that the latest iteration of temporary/trial/temporary memberships is any better or worse than the ones before it. We've been down this road a couple of different ways of the past 10 years. This will just be different.

Prior to the previous round of "free" 90-Day temporary memberships from SCCA, you had to purchase them. If memory serves me correctly, they were $10 to the region (purchased upfront), and the regions could decide what to charge. Most regions elected not to charge anything for them and used them as recruiting tools. Shortly after that, SCCA started giving them away for nothing.

The big twist this time is that the new "Weekend Memberships" are required for rallies and solos. I think that's going to be very difficult from a region administration standpoint. As far as the club racing goes, many of the folks who need to go into a hot area are already members. That makes it easy.

When recruiting new volunteers/workers, I can't imagine charging them the "Weekend Membership" fee. It seems counter-productive to me.

With waaayyy more years working races than I should admit, I have to say that I currently work races where I know I will have a good time. The appreciation factor is a big one for me. I've received almost every "trash and/or trinket" which could be bought for not much money. Heck, I've even picked some of them out as part of a race chair's committee. There have been some great ideas, but it seems like whenever one region thinks of a great idea, the other regions pick the same thing ... thus hampering your variety.

One example, the soft-side cooler given to the volunteers/workers at last year's Petit LeMans was fabulous! Our previous soft- side cooler had finally given up the ghost at Sebring the prior year (and didn't even get to come home with us ). But, once the 100% club awards were given out for 2006, we had 3 more soft-side coolers!

My personal "BEST" worker goodie - the cotton laundry bags. They were given out at the Ruan Greater Des Moines Grand Prix in the early 1990s. We used them for almost every trip we made from the time we got them. They were very threadbare ... then MiDiv pitched in and got new ones for the inaugural RunOffs at Heartland Park!!! It was absolutely wonderful!

(ah, but I'm drifting off topic ..., so I'll stop now)

TTFN ...
Kelley Huxtable
"PLAY SAFE"
DMVR
F&C/Registration/T&S

[loudes13]

damn workers, they've been getting a free ride for too long.




ps joke

[wcmcarlos]

Perhaps only "slightly" off thread, Central Florida Region workers are "only" being asked to work 22 events this coming year. The upside of this is that CFR event entrants get to enjoy very modest entry fees.
We get some perks, but I do not know any worker that does it for perks.
Any idea that interferes with recruitment is just bad thinking.
See you on the grid, [first to the social!]
CM & Liz

[dlg208]

Central Florida Region workers are "only" being asked to work 22 events this coming year.
[/b]

When does it maybe-possibly occur to a person that they may be taken advantage of?

Yea...Here is a free T-shirt (maybe) and a mystery meat sandwich I wouldn't feed my dog....

I'm looking for the SCCA to say it is OK to have one person on a corner....Then I'm quiting.

Free membership....AT LEAST....WTH?

[NutDriverRighty]

The mention of having only one person per corner is one of the primary reasons that Captain Who and I quit working for a particular track and organization. IMHO, there is no way to properly cover a corner with fewer than three. It can be done with two, but that's pushing it. We worked an event where there was only one person per corner (an HPDE) and when we brought our concerns to the powers that be, the response was "that's all the group will pay for". We haven't worked for either of them since.
We've mentioned that a feeling of appreciation is one of the things that brings workers back. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the race officials, especially control, play a major factor in this. I was working one weekend and had a car spin in my area. The car was sitting broadside, driver's side into traffic, in the center of the track. I went waving and called it in immediately. The car stalled and the driver couldn't get it restarted. I called this into control, hoping for a full course (at least). Control
's response was, "Where the h*ll is it? I can't see it!" In order to avoid a long rant, I'll stop here and let you consider the implications of control second guessing a corner's call when control can't even see the situation.

Scott Franklin
www.NutDriver.org

[thedemoguy]

Tell me what track that was so I can stay away from it...

As a driver I would just like to say, "Thank you" to all of you that make it possible for me to race safely and have a good time, racing is a way of life for me and my family and a very big part of it, and I suspect a big part of your life as well,... you have to love this stuff or you would be out of your mind to do it...lol

As for charging the flagers,...that's bull shit and they know it...I think it's a sneaky way just to raise prices for the racer...people are already bitching about how much it cost to race and if they raise the price more some will race elsewhere,...

So play on there compassion for the volunteers a little bit and they cover the cost...Now you've raised the price of racing and had the racer willingly pay more to spit you the controlling factor...

JMHO