Scca It Is Time For Change Now!

[John Nesbitt]

NEDIV does this late - like November - and the only things over which NEDIV has de jure authority are the scheduling of Nationals and whether Pocono gets a Double National. Unless it has changed recently, there's little or no information sharing in advance. Cross-polination of a series is done in advance. As a region that has a (so far) successful racing program, I'm 100% opposed to granting NEDIV any authority to limit our ability to schedule regional races.

And there's the problem in a nutshell.

I think that we all agree that there are too many events compared to the total number of entries and volunteer days. The problem is how to improve the ratio.

As it is currently structured, SCCA Club Racing is essentially a regional affair. Each region gets its own track dates and promotes its own events, with little-to-none in the way of higher level coordination or authority.

So, in times like these, each individual region has little incentive to give up a track date (which it might never get back) in favor of the 'greater good'. The rational (for the individual region) move is to keep the date, and eke out the dollars, in hopes that the economy and entries will recover later. And in hopes that some other region will go bust and lose its date.

If one is '100% opposed' to letting some higher authority guide decisions on how many events will be scheduled, one cannot fuss when each region acts in its own interest, and we end up with the current over-supply of poorly-subscribed events.

[jjjanos]

So, in times like these, each individual region has little incentive to give up a track date (which it might never get back) in favor of the 'greater good'. The rational (for the individual region) move is to keep the date, and eke out the dollars, in hopes that the economy and entries will recover later. And in hopes that some other region will go bust and lose its date.

If one is '100% opposed' to letting some higher authority guide decisions on how many events will be scheduled, one cannot fuss when each region acts in its own interest, and we end up with the current over-supply of poorly-subscribed events.

1. I'm not certain there is systematic over-supply. At this point, I think it's a cyclical effect.
2. If there is systematic over-supply, let those regions who have a problem endure tha pain and leave healthy programs alone. If WDCR or NER is happy with its program but GOP needs those regions to drop an event to make the GOP event profitable, then TFB for GOP.

The immediate effect of NJMP will be decreased car counts every where else in NEDIV. NJMP may ultimately increase car counts, but not immediately. The economy is hitting us hard now. The economy hit us hard last year too.

Ham-fisted regulation by NEDIV that is of questionable legality vis-a-vis anti-competition laws is not needed. If events are losing money or low quality, they'll die on their own.

[dickita15]

The events at NHMS are similar in my mind to the events at Summit. Each has enough of a constituency to run events with just there regulars so there is no reason to drop events there. We do a lot of data analysis on entries. Last year when the gas price spiked at $4 per gallon we ran a very good event (170 cars I think) and going over the entry list found only three drivers not from New England. 5 regional weekends is not too much at NHMS.
Now the National we only do as a perceived obligation to our regions national drivers.

[Robert Zecca]

I love the participation and ideas. Andy B hit it on the head, education and understanding is key and though this may be a temporary problem because of the economy we need a long-term solution to grow SCCA. Let us all figure this out as racers and explain to the regions what may be best. YES I believe we need only one great regional series whatever it may be and have it mean something. Then we could work on the promotion, etc.... and the numbers will come.

[FastM3]

Hi Gang

There is no agenda in this message and I have no side, just a comment and a view from a family that races in the New England Region.

Linda and I live in Central Mass. We are 2.5 hours from Lime Rock and the same from NHMS. 7 hours from Watkins GLen and 7.5 from NJMP. We used to go to Summit when we raced Lay down Karts but that is over 10 hours. We do not go to Pocono (6 plus hours) as we never really enjoyed it when we raced karts there.

We have eliminated Lime Rock from our schedule. While the place is beautiful and great fun and a challenge to drive well it is :
Too Expensive for the race time you get.
Too easy to get a race cut short due to an accident
There seems to be a hight percentage of carnage there.
It is a lot of work for a one day event and the DE/Race combination is too expensive for a family with two drivers.
I do however enjoy instructing there for DEs.

We usually do all 5 events at NHMS and do not feel there are too many days there. The May triple seems to be the Jewel of the year. We especially enjoy the value of Doubles and would rather they all be doubles for the number of races and the value.

We travel to Watkins Glen 2 times a season recently. One to instruct at a DE and then the Fun One or the Last Chance Enduro.

Last year we also went to NJMP for the October event. Great fun and we plan on maybe 2 trips there this year. One DE with SCDA and then a race late in the season.

I also try and do 2 or 3 instruction DE days at NHMS.

So this is pretty busy for two old Farts who do it for fun.

We do not care about points. I agree with Steve Ulfelder's post completely. We do not race for points. We race for fun and enjoy seeing the same people at events so we can compare lies.

So that is about 12 events through the summer with maybe 3 or 4 autocrosses just to stay sharp.

If a Lime Rock day goes away it has no effect on us. If a NHMS day goes away we are not going to go to a Lime Rock or a Pocono event to make up for it. We will just be a little sadder as we grow older.

I do not know what the final answer is. Maybe give up the May 30 LimeRock and pick up a mid June event there to spread things out a bit. I agree, having races on back to back weekends is not a good idea. Having races that lose money is even worse. There needs to be more open communication between groups to better schedule the events.

Anyway just a viewpoint from midpack.

Phil Kogan

[Andy Bettencourt]

Phil,

Thank you for that perspective. I am the polar opposite of you and Linda. I am a points guy. The thrill for me is the championship hunt. But when the PTB were formulating points for the 2008 season, they scrubbed down the particiation numbers and saw that 80% of the racers did 4 events or less. They tried to incent drivers to get to that 5th race with some points.

What that tells makes me realize Phil is that I am in the 20%. What *I* think makes a great series is probably irrelevant. Maybe we need a few good LOCAL series instead of one Regional series.

Just thinking outloud. We need the PTB to stand up in front of us and tell us all the angles of all the issues.

[RSTPerformance]

I have not read all the posts... Been very busy lately

I think it Phil best describes "most" of the racers in respect to having individual preferences for races, tracks, or even series. Cutting race weekends won't increase participation IMO. Every event in the Northeast has it's own special feature that attracts certain people.

I personally think that the "club racing" regions need to be combined into one. We should not be selecting what races to host based on the profatability of a specific region, it hasn't and won't work. As long as regions compete in something they should be working together at (growing scca) it will forever fail. Knowone wants to be that region that stops hosting races but something has to give. Are we growing regions or scca?

Also if you want real answes ask the tough questions... Do a survey at every race for a year, you will get much better results/info than you will on line where most people lurk instead of write for fear of pissing someone off, and let's face it... This is political stuff we are talking about.

Just my opinion...

Raymond "SCCA supporter" Blethen