Region dues

[jumbojimbo]

My regional dues are $20. About 5 gallons of gas. I can't even get to a the nearest racetrack without burning more gas than that. And I use twice that in tires at every Solo I go to.

You guys are being a bit race centric. Region dues have virtually nothing to do with the race (or solo or rally) program. No 300 member region is going to make a dent in the race budget by changing region dues.

The cost of putting on a race is a valid discussion, but don't confuse the question of regional dues by talking about race expense. It's high, we all know it.

Granted, you can argue that a small region shouldn't be putting on a race, especially if it is losing money doing it. In the old days a little region would make a healthy profit on its race and then use that money to support the rest of the regional program. But smart "business" from national in raising sanction fees and smart "business" from the tracks has squeezed that down to virtually nothing. Maybe it does make sense for the monster regions to suck up all the race dates. You see it happening already.

Region dues are generally used to cover the region member expenses. There are probably exceptions, especially in the big regions, but in the little regions membership dues don't even cover the cost of a member. Think about what it costs to send out a newsletter 10 times a year and you'll see how far $20 goes. I know in our region we lose money if a person joins and participates in no activites.

Granted, that little region might not need to send out a newsletter. But we tried that and participation suffered. You're not a region if you don't have communication and community. I'm a little new to road racing so I haven't lost my connection to the region yet. I still care about the Solo program and the Rallycross program.

Anyway, my point is that if your regional dues are too high, then you'll have to decide if the value you get from your region is enough. If it is not, then find another region with lower dues. If you feel like you are getting no value at all from your regional dues and you'd rather save that $20 then maybe you should look at who puts on the next race you attend. And think about whether they would be doing it if they weren't a part of a local region. And then decide if that's worth the cost of 4 beers or one table dance.

Wow, that came out a little stonger than I meant, but you get the idea.

jim

[gran racing]

Jim, I don't think anyone is complaining about $20 or $25, but $150 would be tougher to swallow which was the original question.

[tom_sprecher]

I'm sorry if I don't sugar coat my statements to make them more palatable to those who can’t stomach the truth but that’s just the way I am. I also grow tied of people reading something into my words and then trying to argue with me about what I wrote.

Case in point: how someone automatically correlated that in my statement of “Anyone who thinks the entry fees and dues are too high should find another sport” I automatically correlated that people are thinking regions are making large sums of money is read something into my words that I simply do not see and simply is not true.

It’s like this…

Racing is expensive. Either live with it or get involved with your region and try to find a way to make it cheaper. Actually, I defy you to do so. I know I have and the whole time thinking there has to be some gross mistakes being made by a motley crew of volunteers. This should be easy, right? Guess what? I was wrong! After sitting down and analyzing an annual budget that some small businesses would love to have I could not find anything worth changing. Nothing.

It's easy to sit behind a keyboard and make suggestions. Try stepping up and doing it yourself. Or at least make your suggestions useful with ideas on how to pay the bills.

Jim has a pretty good handle on what presents itself to racing regions. Some other suggestions have merit at first glance but lose much of it when you dig deeper.

• If you reduce the number of events you reduce revenue and increase risk to maintaining solvency since race dates usually never come back.
• Trying to negotiate better contracts with tracks sounds great but in reality there are so many other organizations that produce more revenue and can outspend you so you end up with what you have.
• Better marketing might work but unless you have a lot of extra cash it ends up being a waste of that precious resource because the cost of it is exponentially proportional to its effectiveness.
• I don’t know about other regions but we send our RE and one other person to the convention. Being a jumbo region I think we should at least do that.

And finally, from my experience in most cases, saying that a bunch of paid employees doing something as efficiently as possible while at work is um......."not accurate."

With a bunch of volunteers you actually get infinitely much more than you paid them for.

[tnord]

ya know what i get real tired of?

people that think if you don't volunteer your time, that you don't have the right to say anything negative. that's a big smelly pantload. if you participate in region activities and pay your money, you have just as much right to bitch as anyone else. does your input carry less weight than someone who participates and volunteers? probably, but that doesn't mean you have to bend over and take it.

Travis
-who has volunteered. who has made suggestions on how to improve. who has had his ideas shot down by the "old guard." who actually is a financial analyst overseeing billions of dollars in annual spend on a daily basis.

[dickita15]

Travis you have every right to complain but those that do the work have the right to take it with a grain of salt. I belong to a region that has an annual budget of over $750,000 and we spend about $2000 a year to pay some of the expenses attendees to 3 conventions a years. Not much effect on entry fees or dues.
The problem with those that complain that they are paying the bills and should receive more is the people doing the job are not putting a penny in their pocket.

[tnord]

Dick -

I agree. Any complaint from a person who has never volunteered their time should be met with a certain amount of skepticism. But I do disagree with the notion that event fees (club racing or otherwise), regional dues, and the financial viability of a region are separate issues. There are no separate/individual bank accounts for "typical region operating expenses," "club racing revenue," and "autox revenue."

Tom -

First of all, I have a problem with the notion that the people "volunteering" their time get zero benefit in return, and do it 100% out of the generosity of their heart. At least at *some* level, it's a hobby for those that do not drive just the same. Second, the speculation that it would cost us far more to participate in the club if we had paid employees is nothing but speculation at best. I know of another club that does pay their employees, and has the explicit mission of making money, and are at least comparable in cost to SCCA. Factually stating that our entry fees would at minimum triple is, and i mean this in the nicest possible way, oh......, i dunno, stupid??? In addition, despite your optimistic view of the operational effeciency of the club, there is most definitely money to be saved in the way we do things.

One thing i will agree with is that in a volunteer organization, yes, you do get what you get, and it's very hard to criticize those who offer up their services. But the idea that we should......damnit....i lost my train of thought....i got interrupted with something else that made me mad.

[JoshS]

But I do disagree with the notion that event fees (club racing or otherwise), regional dues, and the financial viability of a region are separate issues. There are no separate/individual bank accounts for "typical region operating expenses," "club racing revenue," and "autox revenue."

Not always! The club doesn't dictate how a region should handle its money. Here in San Francisco Region, Solo has its own money and own accounts.

[tom_sprecher]

Does your input carry less weight than someone who participates and spends countless hours working for the benefit of those who don't, yet still bitch....

Fixed that for ya.

That answer is yes in my book. I'm not saying that you should bend over and take it either. Instead of bitching, wouldn't it be more effective to offer viable solutions, in any form, aimed at rectifying any negative issues?

Look, I don't want to argue about this subject and am really tired of doing so. What I want to convey is that with any volunteer organization you get what you get. We could go to paid employees but what you pay to participate would at least triple if not more. That is not the answer but from my perspective we have managed with hard work and commitment to strive for a better racing product.

If that is not the case in your region, replace the "old guard". They may just thank you for it.

[lateapex911]