Development of mentor program?

[gran racing]

Yeah, I found that to be the case with myself too. It's pretty intimidating asking some guys (especially the fast ones!) for advice. It would be nice for each region to have someone call every new member with a quick "welcome to the club, if you have any questions about the process don't be afraid to reach out to us / me."

If anyone has suggestions on what it would take to make this a success, tips on it, or other ideas, please post them.

[DavidM]

I think it starts before a person gets to the track for the first time. I bought a car and was like WTF do I do now? I went to a few events first, but, like people said, it's a little intimidating just to walk up to someone and start asking them questions. Especially if they're busy working on the car. That's where the "Mentor" shirt could help - assuming you see said person. I posted on here to try and get some help. Bowie and Tristan were cool enough to meet up with me and help me get going. That was invaluable and I think I still have the list of stuff I wrote down somewhere.

I've always thought it would be good to have a list on the SCCA website of people newbies could contact. Break it down by region and then cities within the region. Maybe even have different people for different classes. Someone for IT, someone for Prod, etc. Someone looking to get going could contact a local person racing in their class.

I'd be up for helping out however I could. There are lots of IT people in the Atlanta area, most much more knowledgeable than me, but if someone needs a contact then I'm up for it. I'm definitely no mentor for driving. We all know that part of the fun of going to the track is the camaraderie and I think the more that we can include new folks the more likely they are to stick around. I certainly know the meeting I had with Bowie and Tristan made me feel much more comfortable.

David

[Dano77]

Why do you have to wait for the new guy to come to you? They are usually easy to spot and always open to "Hi Im dan ,need a hand with your tent thats taking flight" pretty soon everybody in the class knows them. The northeast guys are pretty open to new guys and helpful if for no other reason than our car breaks and we can help someone else. Cool club to be in if you ask me.
Dan 77 IT7

[gran racing]

Dan, while I agree but that's pretty late in the game if you ask me. By that time they've figured out much of the basics. How they even get to that point is the challenge.

When I originally heard the numbers, it shocked me. On average for the past several years, SCCA gain 10,000 members!!! That's quite a few. The sad part is we also lose an average amount of 10,000 members. So the goal here really is to reach out to those people that join and need some extra help. A written resource is nice and all, but sometimes having an actual human voice is what it takes to make things work out.

Club racing is only a part of this. Autocross and HPDE as well. My thought was that since SCCA is lacking a quality HPDE program (okay, so some regions host a PDX from time-to-time), a mentor program like this could help build a bridge into Club Racing for those that have that interest.

I personally think it's seriously as simple as someone speaking with a person before their first HPDE, a follow-up afterwords, and open line of communication. Maybe I'm totally off base with all of this? It wouldn't be the first time or the last.

David - it's not about racing lines or becoming a winning driver. It's primarily just about being there and what do I do when I arrive at my first event at Road Atlanta? In fact, sometimes I think someone whose still quite new to the game can be an even better mentor in some aspects compared to a seasoned veteran. The reason is people who have been in the game for a while sometimes take too many things for granted. A relatively new person to the scene vividly remembers what it was all like. There are positives to both experience levels.

[Dano77]

Now I got it.. Duh Didnt read first before I spoke,sounds like a cool idea.:cool:

[lateapex911]

"Hi Im dan ,need a hand with your tent thats taking flight?"
Dan 77 IT7

I'm using that line! From now on good looking girls, fame and fortune are mine!

[callard]

Dave's right about the need. I did some PDX instruction and those guys were prime candidates for next steps. I've since spent a couple years getting questions/updates from and providing guidance to some of those students.
If we can get enough interest in folks interested in volunteering as mentors, then we need to set up the infrastructure. Sounds like it could be web-based once some guidelines were established.
Regards,
Chuck

[alberto_mg]

I'd be interested in having a mentor. There has always been an excuse for me not to race - be it work, fear due to lack of knowledge on how to get started or worry about the financial aspects of racing.

I've been spending a lot of time this year just going to SCCA events in Nor Cal to watch a recently made friend race. Prior to meeting that friend, I'd go and walk around during a race weekend and strike up conversations with people in different series. Its hard to know who to approach. Some people are easy to talk to and helpful. Others are busy. Others are just not easy to talk to and don't communicate effectively. Gathering sufficient knowledge to feel comfortable is a long process - at least to someone like me.

I've been doing HPDE since 1988 on and off depending on how busy I've been or how crappy my car was. I stopped for a while to race karts which was a great learning experience. I now feel too old to race karts (my back isn't what it used to be) and recently acquired a free Miata that is being transformed at my leisure to a race car. My current plan is to do some HPDE NASA events to get familiar with the car and slowly get it prepped. Target for my first race is late 2010 or early 2011. I'll probably be too busy with work in the first half of this year. Having someone I can talk to (not just exchange messages on forums) would definitely make it easier.

I think I've read every book on the topic. Hopefully this is my year.

[gran racing]

Managing the program behind the scenes is where I'm at complete a loss. I agree, using some type of software such as a web based tools would be a huge plus. As it stands now, the only thing I can of doing sending out Word doc prepared questionnaires - one for students and one for mentors. Then taking that information and manually putting it into Excel. I realize that's not at all efficient or the best way to do it.

If anyone would be willing to help with this, there a ton of different areas where your help could be used in addition to mentors.

I've heard that a few people have attempted this in the past but it kinda fizzled away. I don't think this is something one person can effectively do by themselves.

[gran racing]

Alberto,

Actually, you could provide some initial help with this project as well. Even if it's as simple as reading the student questionnaire, and asking "how will this work" from a student's perspective. Sometimes as we gain more experience, we also take a lot for granted. If you'd be interested in assisting in this way, PM me your e-mail address along with first & last name.

For those interested in obtaining a mentor, the best way I could think of managing the communication was to implement a newsletter. (This website will be undergoing a significant amount of changes in the near future.) To sign-up for the newsletter, you can go to the below link.

http://www.goaheadtakethewheel.com/Newsletter.html