Development of mentor program?

[gran racing]

(Cross posted from roadraceautox, but know some don’t post over there.)

For a few years now I’ve pitched the idea to SCCA of developing a mentor program. They liked the idea, but for whatever reason it’s just never happened at least on a larger scale. From what I understand there are a couple of regions out there that have some form of a mentor program, but I’m not aware of them. If NASA has a mentor program, it’s certainly not easy to recognize at least from their national website.

As you might guess, I have quite a bit of contact with people new to motorsports. I’m in the process of creating a new website where the contents will be available to people for free, and Ryan Davies volunteered to create a chat form (thank you!) where people can ask various questions. Even with all of this, I know there would be quite a bit of value in establishing a mentor program. So why not?

Might any of you be interested in helping with something like this? It could be anything from making yourself available as a mentor, assisting with the creation and implimention of this program, contacting regions and/or other clubs to make them aware it exists, to other tasks. You choose how much you’d be willing to put into this.

Prospective Mentors: you don’t need to have a considerable level of experience in which ever type(s) of motorsports. The goal is really to make someone new to the sport more comfortable. You also don’t need to commit to a significant amount of time. Could be as simple as introducing yourself, answering a few e-mails, possibly being okay with some phone calls, to whatever you decide. I (hopefully we) will develop a questionnaire for mentors and students to appropriately find suitable matches.

At least in the beginning, I want to keep this fairly basic otherwise it’ll become too overwhelming and probably stop with this thread. What suggestions do you have to develop a mentor program? Anyone interested in helping with this? Think there are too many obstacles and efforts should be spent differently? Nice idea, but too much work?

- Added onto this, wondering if a similar volunteer mentoring program would be worthwhile.

[joeg]

Dave--A fine idea.

What I see sometimes at the track is maybe a reluctance of new drivers to approach any one for help, advice or just to chat, until they are desperate. There is a natural defensive mindset at play here...obviously.

One way to resolve it could be to have a Steward go up to them and tell them to make sure and chat with Mr. so and so (real good if in the same class or race group) and tell him where Mr. so and so is paddocked.

Mr. so and so could be warned in advance by the Stewards so when Mr./Ms. rookie drops by, Mr. so and so can greet him/her as "mr./Ms. rookie"...glad you stopped by!

[JLawton]

NER had talked a little bit about that last year. Possibly having mentors at the track wearing special shirts or hats IDing them as mentors.

[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